Method and system for locating resources and communicating within an enterprise

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9766079-B1
Application number	US-201514871097-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2015
Priority date	Oct 3, 2014
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

A method and system of tracking and reporting locations of entity employees, the method for use with at least a first interface device including a display screen, the method comprising the steps of, providing a processor programmed to perform the steps of, storing schedules of entity employees where the schedules indicate scheduled locations of employees during time slots, receiving an indication from a first employee indicating at least a first future time slot, identifying locations of the entity employees during the future time slot, using the schedules of entity employees to generate a location representation indicating the locations of at least a subset of the entity employees during the at least a first future time slot and presenting the location representation via the first interface device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer generated interface for tracking locations of a tracked set of persons wherein at least a subset of the persons are located within a first facility space and a second subset of the persons are located outside the first facility space, the interface for presentation on a display screen, the interface comprising:
a border portion presented about the edge of the display screen, the border portion including representations of each person in the tracked set that is located outside the first facility space; and
a central portion presented within the border portion, the central portion including a map representation of the first facility space and representations of each person in the tracked set that is located within the first facility space at locations on the map representation that correspond to their actual locations within the first facility space.

2. The interface of claim 1 wherein the map representation extends to the edges of the display screen and wherein the border portion overlaps the map representation.

3. The interface of claim 2 wherein the border portion is at least somewhat transparent so that the portion of the map representation there below is at least somewhat visible.

4. The interface of claim 1 wherein the first facility space is located within a first time zone and wherein at least a subset of the tracked set of persons is located in at least a second time zone different than the first time zone and wherein the time in the at least second time zone is indicated at a location spatially associated with the representations of each person in the tracked set that is located in the second time zone.

5. The interface of claim 1 wherein each person in the tracked set that is located outside the first facility space is located in a direction relative to the display screen and wherein the representations of each person in the tracked set located outside the first facility space are at locations in the border portion that are aligned along the direction of an associated person relative to the display.

6. A method of tracking and reporting locations of entity employees, the method for use with at least a first interface device including a display screen, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a processor programmed to perform the steps of:
storing schedules of entity employees where the schedules indicate scheduled locations of employees during time slots;
receiving an indication from a first employee indicating at least a first future time slot;
identifying locations of the entity employees during the future time slot;
using the schedules of entity employees to generate a location representation indicating the locations of at least a subset of the entity employees during the at least a first future time slot; and
presenting the location representation via the first interface device.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the location representation indicates the locations of the at least a subset of entity employees relative to the first employee during the at least a future time slot.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the location representation includes a map of at least one facility space including the location of the first employee during the at least a first future time slot, a representation of the first employee on the map and representations of each of the at least a subset of the entity employees on the map relative to the first employee representation on the map.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the location representation indicates the distance of each of the at least a subset of entity employees relative to the first employee during the at least a future time slot.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the first interface device includes a portable computing device used by the first employee, the step of presenting including transmitting a wireless signal to the portable computing device.

11. A method for tracking favorite resources, the favorite resources including a subset of entity resources associated with an entity, the entity resources including both human and non-human resources, the entity including entity facilities, the method for use with at least one interface device, the method comprising the steps of:
providing sensors within entity facilities for sensing at least a subset of the entity resources;
providing a processor programmed to perform the steps of:
storing a favorite resources list for a first employee of the entity, the favorite resources list including a subset of the entity resources;
obtaining information from the sensors;
using information from the sensors to determine the status of at least a subset of the entity resources including at least a subset of the resources on the favorites resource list, the at least a subset of resources on the favorites list including at least one human resource and at least one non-human resource; and
presenting a resource representation via the interface device, the resource representation indicating the status of each of the at least a subset of resources on the favorites list.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein at least a first resource on the resource favorites list includes a first facility space, the sensors generating information useable to determine occupancy status of the first facility space.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the sensors generate information useable to determine identities of employees within the first facility space, the resource representation indicating identities of employees within the first facility space.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the sensors generate information useable to determine the locations of employees within the facility spaces, the resource representation indicating the location of at least one favorite employee within the facility spaces.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the resource representation indicates the locations of other employees proximate the at least one favorite employee.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the at least one favorite employee is located in a first facility space and wherein the resource representation indicates the locations of other employees within the first facility space.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the resource representation indicates the identities of the other employees within the first facility space.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the resource representation includes a map of the facility spaces and shows the location of the at least one favorite employee on the map.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the resource representation indicates the distance between the first employee and the at least one favorite employee.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the resource representation indicates a name of a facility space in which the at least one favorite employee resides.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein the interface device includes a portable interface device used by the first employee.

Assignees

• Steelcase Inc

Inventors

• Poel Robert
• Sculley Darrin

Classifications

• G01S2205/01

  specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• G01C21/206 Primary

  specially adapted for indoor navigation · CPC title

• G01S5/14 Primary

  Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location · CPC title

• G01S5/0242

  Determining the position of transmitters to be subsequently used in positioning (G01S5/0289 takes precedence) · CPC title