System and method of determining the location of an occupied physical space

• US 10,566,851 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2017
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZENS Group BV
• Original Assignee: ZENS Group BV
• Inventors: Plasmans, Johannes Barnardus, Van Der Voort, Ronald Hans
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US16/069,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20190027975A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,133 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/60 responsive to the presence of foreign objects, e.g. detection of living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge

Abstract

The application relates to a method and system for determining the occupancy of one or more physical spaces. The system comprises one or more charging devices configured to be arranged at the one or more physical spaces, each of the charging devices comprising a charging unit configured for wireless power transfer to a mobile telecommunication device when the mobile telecommunication device is placed in close proximity to the charging unit, a localisation unit configured to broadcast an information signal comprising identifying information of the localisation unit to the mobile telecommunication device; and a controller configured to determine the location of an occupied physical space upon detection of the charging of the mobile telecommunication device, wherein the location is determined based on the broadcast signal.

Claims

1. System for determining the location of one or more occupied or unoccupied physical spaces, the system comprising:

one or more charging devices configured to be arranged at the one or more physical spaces, each of the charging devices comprising a charging unit configured for wireless power transfer to a mobile telecommunication device when the mobile telecommunication device is coupled to the charging unit;

one or more localisation units associated with each of the charging devices, wherein each of the localisation unit is configured to broadcast an information signal comprising identifying information of the localisation unit to the mobile telecommunication device;

a controller configured to determine the location of an occupied physical space upon detection of the coupling between the mobile telecommunication device and the charging device, wherein the location is determined based on the broadcast signal received by the mobile telecommunication device, wherein the charging device is configured to generate a trigger signal when a coupling between the charging device and a mobile telecommunication device is detected and/or when the charging device starts charging the mobile telecommunication device, and wherein the localisation unit is configured to start broadcasting the information signal only if the trigger signal is generated.

2. System according to claim 1, comprising at least one of:

a mobile telecommunication device, wherein the controller of the mobile telecommunication device, is configured to start determining the location of an occupied space at the moment the coupling between the mobile telecommunication device and the charging device belonging to that space or the charging of the mobile telecommunication device is detected;

or a storage medium on which relationships between identifying information of the localisation units and geographic location information about the geographical locations of the charging devices associated with the localisation units are stored, wherein the controller is configured to determine the location of an occupied physical space based on the stored relationships.

3. System according to claim 1, wherein the controller and/or the storage medium are comprised in the mobile telecommunication device.

4. System according to claim 1, comprising a central registration system including a storage medium on which a database is stored comprising the identifying information of a plurality of localisation units as well as further information about the localisation units, the further information comprising geographic location information relating to the charging device and/or the localisation unit coupled to the charging device.

5. System according to claim 4, wherein the controller and/or the storage medium are provided as part of the central registration system.

6. System according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

a mobile telecommunication device, wherein the mobile telecommunication device is configured to generate a further trigger signal when a coupling between a charging device and the mobile telecommunication device is detected and/or when the mobile telecommunication device detects the charging device to start charging the mobile telecommunication device;

or a mobile telecommunication device, wherein the mobile telecommunication device is configured to detect the further trigger signal and wherein the mobile telecommunication device is further configured to determine only upon detection of the further trigger signal, from one or more received broadcast signals broadcast by one or more localisation units the nearest localisation unit relative to the position of the mobile telecommunication device, wherein at least one of the localisation units is configured to continuously broadcast the information signal.

7. System according to claim 1, comprising a mobile telecommunication device, wherein the mobile telecommunication device is further configured to send a further information signal comprising the identifying information received from the localisation unit to a central registration system only if the trigger signal and/or the further trigger signal has been generated.

8. System according to claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the localisation unit is powered by the charging device, and/or wherein the charging device is configured to power the localisation unit only if the trigger signal and/or the further trigger signal has been generated;

the mobile telecommunication device is further configured to generate a mobile telecommunication device identification signal comprising identifying information of the mobile telecommunication device, the mobile telecommunication device being configured to send the mobile telecommunication device identification signal to a central registration system;

a database stored on the central registration system, further comprises identifying information of a plurality of mobile telecommunication devices as well as further information about the mobile telecommunication devices, including information about a phone number associated with the mobile telecommunication device and/or information about the user of the mobile telecommunication device;

the controller is configured to determine both the location and the identity of the mobile telecommunication device placed in the physical space;

or the controller is configured to deduce and store in a database associations between a plurality of mobile telecommunication devices and/or users thereof and a plurality of geographic locations of localisation units, wherein these associations are obtained by combining the identifying information of the localisation unit sent by a mobile telecommunication device, the identifying information of that mobile telecommunication device sent by the mobile telecommunication device, as well as the geographic location information corresponding to said identifying information of the localisation unit retrieved from the database and optionally the further information about the mobile telecommunication units retrieved from the database.

9. System according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to send out a signal comprising the deduced and stored information about the geographic location of a plurality of mobile telecommunication devices and/or users thereof to the plurality of mobile telecommunication devices, and wherein the plurality of mobile telecommunication devices are configured to request and receive a signal comprising information about the location of a plurality of mobile telecommunication devices and/or users thereof for which the geographic location was deduced, and to display this information.

10. System according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to deduce and store information about the availability of a plurality of charging and localisation devices based on the information about the location of the plurality of devices for mobile communication for which the location was deduced and stored, and wherein the plurality of mobile telecommunication devices are configured to request and receive a signal comprising the information about the availability of a plurality of charging and localisation devices from the controller, and to display this information.

11. System according to claim 1, wherein if no information is received from a mobile telecommunication device during a period of time of a certain pre-set length, the association between a certain localisation unit and a certain mobile telecommunication device and/or user thereof is removed from the database.

12. System according to claim 1, further comprising an access control system configured to control the access to and departure from a geographical region wherein a plurality of physical spaces are arranged, wherein if the access control systems detects that a mobile telecommunication device enters or leaves the geographical region, an access signal is generated and sent to the controller, wherein if an association exists between the mobile telecommunication device and a localisation unit, the controller removes this association from the database upon receiving the access signal.

13. System according claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the controller is configured to deliver location based services depending on the determined geographical location of the mobile telecommunication device, wherein the location based service includes controlling one or more environmental parameters of the physical space, including temperature and brightness;

the location is determined based on which of the received broadcast signals has the largest signal strength, and/or on which broadcast signal is broadcast by the localisation unit which most recently started broadcasting;

the system comprises a power source configured to provide both the charging device and the localisation unit associated with the charging device with power, wherein the localisation unit is powered via the charging device;

or the localisation unit is configured for short-distance wireless communication and/or wherein the localisation unit is a Bluetooth beacon.

14. System according to claim 1, further comprising a housing, wherein the charging device and the localisation unit are both arranged in the housing, wherein the housing comprises at least a fastening element configured to fasten the housing in the physical space, wherein the fastening element is configured to fasten the housing to a workspace in the physical space, wherein the fastening element is configured to fasten the housing to or in a piece of furniture.

15. System according claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the charging device is configured to wirelessly charge a mobile telecommunication device;

the charging device comprises a power transmitter unit (PTU) for wireless power transmittal to a mobile communication device paced in close proximity and wherein the mobile telecommunication device comprises a power receiver unit (PRU) receiver for wireless power receipt;

or the identifying information comprised in the signal broadcast by the localisation unit comprises a unique identifying code, including a universally unique identifying information code, uniquely identifying a localisation unit from among a set of localisation units.

16. System according to claim 1, comprising at least one of:

a mobile telecommunication device configured to be wirelessly charged by the charging device, to wirelessly receive from a localisation unit the information signal comprising identifying information of the localisation unit and to send a further information signal comprising information representative of the identifying information received from the localisation unit wirelessly to a central registration system;

or a central registration system configured to receive signals from a mobile telecommunication device and to send signals to a mobile telecommunication device, the central registration system being configured to receive the further information signals from respective mobile telecommunication devices and to determine the locations of the physical spaces that are occupied or unoccupied.

17. System according to claim 1, wherein the central registration system is further configured to determine and send an occupancy signal to a mobile telephone device, the occupancy signal being indicative of which physical spaces are currently occupied or unoccupied.

18. Combination of a charging device and localisation unit as defined according to claim 1, for use in a system according to claim 1 for determining the location of one or more occupied or unoccupied physical spaces.

19. Method of determining the location of one or more occupied or unoccupied physical spaces, each physical space provided with the charging device and the localisation unit of the system according to claim 1, the method comprising the following steps:

coupling a mobile telecommunication device and the charging device when the mobile telecommunication device is placed in close proximity to the charging device;

wirelessly transferring power from a charging device to the mobile telecommunication device;

the charging device generating a trigger signal when a coupling between the charging device and a mobile telecommunication device is detected and/or when the charging device starts charging the mobile telecommunication device;

upon reception of the trigger signal, the broadcasting, by the localisation unit, of an information signal comprising identifying information of the localisation unit to the mobile telecommunication device;

determining the location of an occupied physical space upon detection of the coupling between the mobile telecommunication device and the charging device, wherein the location is determined based on the broadcast signal received by the mobile telecommunication device.

20. Method according to claim 19, comprising at least one of:

determining that a space is occupied at the moment the coupling between a mobile telecommunication device and a charging device or the charging of the mobile telecommunication device is detected and to start determining the location of this space only after it has been determined that the space has been occupied;

only broadcasting the information signal to the mobile telecommunication device if a mobile telecommunication device is coupled to the charging device with which the localization unit is associated;

determining which of a plurality of signals broadcast by localisation units received by a mobile telecommunication device is a signal corresponding to a charging device in close proximity to the mobile telecommunication device, wherein the determination is made on the basis of signal strength and/or on the basis of which broadcast signal is broadcast by the localisation unit which most recently started broadcasting;

determining which mobile telecommunication device is located at the occupied physical space based on identifying information of the mobile telecommunication device;

sending information about the occupancy of physical spaces to mobile telecommunication devices which request this information;

or determining that a physical space is no longer occupied based on the absence during a pre-set time of a signal from a mobile telecommunication device which was occupying the physical space.