Collection of information using contactless devices in combination with mobile computing devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9613477-B2
Application number	US-201514692202-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2015
Priority date	Apr 21, 2015
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

An approach for collecting information in a facility including a plurality of users, wherein each of the plurality of users includes at least one contact-less device for accessing the facility, wherein the contact-less device stores an identifier, and at least one of the plurality of users includes a wireless computing device, is provided. The approach broadcasts an interrogation signal by a selected wireless computing device from at least one of the plurality of users. The approach receives a response signal to the interrogation signal by the selected wireless computing device from each of one or more proximal contact-less devices of one or more contact-less devices within the operating range of the selected wireless computing device. The approach generates a collection message from the selected wireless computing device. The approach transmits the collection message from the selected wireless computing device to a central computing system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for collecting information in a resort including a plurality of users, wherein each of the plurality of users includes at least one contact-less device for accessing the resort, wherein the at least one contact-less device stores an identifier, and at least one of the plurality of users includes a wireless computing device, the method comprising:
responsive to an interrogation request, broadcasting, by one or more computer processors, an interrogation signal by a selected wireless computing device from at least one of the plurality of users, wherein the interrogation signal includes an operating range;
receiving, by the one or more computer processors, a response signal to the interrogation signal by the selected wireless computing device from each of one or more proximal contact-less devices of one or more contact-less devices within the operating range of the selected wireless computing device, wherein the response signal includes an identifier of each of the one or more proximal contact-less devices;
generating, by the one or more computer processors, a collection message from the selected wireless computing device based, at least in part, on one or more response signals received from each of the one or more proximal contact-less devices;
transmitting, by the one or more computer processors, the collection message from the selected wireless computing device to a central computing system;
detecting, by the one or more computer processors, a collision condition from the selected wireless computing device, wherein the collision condition indicates a possible collision involving a user carrying the selected wireless computing device; and
responsive to detecting the collision condition, generating, by the one or more computer processors, the collection message from the selected wireless computing device, wherein the collection message includes a collision message indicative of the collision condition and the identifier of each of the one or more proximal contact-less devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the collision condition from the selected wireless computing device, further comprises:
monitoring, by the one or more computer processors, an indication of an acceleration of the selected wireless computing device along at least one axis; and
detecting, by the one or more computer processors, the collision condition based, at least in part, on the at least one acceleration.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the collision condition from the selected wireless computing device, further comprises:
monitoring, by the one or more computer processors, a position of the selected wireless computing device in a monitoring period following the detection of the collision condition based, at least in part, on the at least one monitored indication of an acceleration; and
confirming, by the one or more computer processors, the collision condition based, at least in part, on the position of the selected wireless computing device in the monitoring period.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein confirming the collision condition, further comprises:
responsive to the position of the selected wireless computing device remaining within a position range in the monitoring period, confirming, by the one or more computer processors, the collision condition.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said generating a collection message by the selected wireless computing device, further comprises:
adding, by the one or more computer processors, at least one of an indication of a current time, an indication of a current position of the selected wireless computing device, an indication of a distance of each of the one or more proximal contact-less devices from the selected wireless computing device to the collision message, wherein the distance of each of the one or more proximal contact-less devices being calculated according to a delay of a corresponding response signal from an interrogation signal.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more computer processors, the interrogation request from the selected wireless computing device at the central computing system.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the interrogation request includes an indication of a target identifier of a plurality of identifiers to be searched, and wherein the collection message is a finding message indicative of a finding of the user carrying the contact-less device storing the target identifier, and generating, by the one or more computer processors, a collection message by the selected wireless computing device comprises:
searching, by the one or more computer processors, the target identifier in the response signal received from each of the one or more proximal contact-less devices; and
responsive to a positive result of the searching of the target identifier, generating, by the one or more computer processors, the finding message.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more computer processors, an enlargement request for enlarging the operating range from the selected wireless computing device from the central computing system; and
repeating, by the one or more computer processors, said broadcasting the interrogation signal with an enlarged operating range, said receiving the response signal, said searching the target identifier, said generating the finding message, and said transmitting the finding message.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating, by the one or more computer processors, the interrogation request periodically from the selected wireless computing device, wherein the collection message is a tracking message indicative of tracking information corresponding to one or more consecutive interrogation requests, for each interrogation request the tracking message comprising an indication of the identifier of each proximal contact-less device, an indication of a further current time and/or an indication of a further current position of the selected wireless computing device.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more computer processors, a status message by each of one or more wireless computing devices from the central computing system, the status message comprising an indication of a crowd condition of each one of a plurality of sections of the resort, the crowd condition being determined by the central computing system based, at least in part, on one or more tracking messages received from each of the one or more wireless computing devices; and
displaying, by the one or more computer processors, a representation of the status message on each of the one or more wireless computing devices.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the resort comprises one or more access barriers for controlling access thereto, and wherein the status message comprises an indication of a waiting time for each access barrier being determined by the central computing system according to each of one or more contact-less devices being detected by the access barrier in a corresponding queuing area.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resort is a ski resort and each of the one or more contact-less devices is a ski-pass.

13. A computer program product for collecting information in a resort including a plurality of users, wherein each of the plurality of users includes at least one contact-less device for accessing the resort, wherein the at least one contact-less device stores an identifier, and at least one of the plurality of users includes a wireless computing device, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer readable stora

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bonanni Cristina
• Manganelli Patrizia

Classifications

• G07C9/10

  Movable barriers with registering means · CPC title

• G07C9/28 Primary

  the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence · CPC title

• G07C9/00896 Primary

  specially adapted for particular uses · CPC title

• G06K17/0029 Primary

  the arrangement being specially adapted for wireless interrogation of grouped or bundled articles tagged with wireless record carriers · CPC title

• G07C2011/04

  related to queuing systems · CPC title