Support for requirements of people in a public site or venue

• US 10,210,469 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2018
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Balchin, Ann K., Baldi, Susanna, Bonanni, Cristina, Borden, Audrey D., Brown, Timothy I., Longobardi, Giuseppe, Santoro, Gabriella, Towles, Lisa Marie
• Primary Examiner(s): White, Dylan C
• Application Number:
  US15/907,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20190026673A1
• Time in Patent Office: 356 Days
• Field of Search: 705 725
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A computer-implemented method and system for supporting a person at a site, venue, or location where the person may have a requirement. The method and system include storing a requirement code in a handheld device, and storing the requirement code and at least one characteristic relating to the requirement code in a requirement certification database. The requirement code is transmitted from the handheld device to a sensor at the site, and action data is received by a facility of the site from the requirement certification database. The action data is indicative of an action to be performed by the facility, dependent on the requirement code and the at least one characteristic, such that the facility adapts its function to a requirement of the person having the requirement.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for supporting a person at a site where the person has one or more requirements when visiting the site, the method comprising:

storing a requirement code in a handheld device, wherein the handheld device is selected from a group consisting of;

a smartphone, a smartwatch, a tablet computer, a dedicated disability system, smart glasses, and a smart bracelet;

storing the requirement code and at least one characteristic relating to the requirement code in a requirement certification database, wherein the requirement certification database stores action data for one or more sites, and the requirement certification database is operated by a trusted data center, the trusted data center operating under special conditions including data security and privacy conditions;

transmitting the requirement code from the handheld device to a sensor at a site where a person has a requirement, corresponding to the requirement code, when visiting the site, wherein the transmitting and the receiving is based on communication technology used in one or more of;

mobile telephone communication, WLAN, NFC, Bluetooth®

, or, optical signals;

receiving action data by a facility of the site from the requirement certification database, the action data being indicative of an action to be performed by the facility dependent on the requirement code and the at least one characteristic such that the facility adapts its function to the requirement of the person;

receiving action data required to control facilities in a useful way for the person having the requirement, using a controller connected to the requirement certification database, the controller being for local processing at the site, and the controller communicating with an application repository for storing applications for the handheld device, applications including inside or in-house navigation applications using in-house beacons for orienting the person in places within the site without GPS data, the controller receiving an application from the repository and sending the application wirelessly to the handheld device, the application repository being a site-specific database operated at the site, or operated and managed by the trusted data center;

based on privacy and security rules, the requirement certification database storing a history of entering sites having a required equipment to support the person with the requirement, wherein history data including the stored history is added to a requirement record of a specific person;

accessing a local notification database by the controller, activating an alert when a wrong or unknown requirement code is received, and based on a wrong or unknown requirement code being received, notifying, by the controller, a personal assistant;

detecting, by the controller, when the person with the requirement has left the site;

recording, by the controller, all used facilities by the person and time data about the visit in statistical form, in order to improve the services delivered by the site over time;

connecting the controller to a local notification database, recording an entering of the person with the requirement to the site; and

based on privacy and security rules, the local notification database recording interaction of the person with the facilities of the building and the services required and used, in order to improve services provided to the person having the requirement over time.