Positional information management system

• US 20040140906A1
• Filed: 12/16/2003
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PositionTech LLC (Endpoint IP LLC)
• Original Assignee: Aruze Corp.
• Inventors: Fujimoto, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 6,965,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825.49
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2417 having a radio frequency identification chip
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons

Abstract

A positional information management system according to the present invention comprises: a card carried by a user in a hotel and having a tag IC for storing a tag ID; a plurality of detectors each having a detector ID and being installed in the hotel, for detecting the tag ID via transmittance from the tag IC, the tag ID and the detector ID being transmitted; recording device for recording a pair of the tag ID and the detector ID, and a time at which the detector has detected; and positional information management device including the recording device, for managing positional information of the user, base on the pair and the time. Positional information of the users in the hotel or in the various hotel facilities can be obtained by the present invention.

Claims

1. A positional information management system comprising:

a card carried by a user in a hotel and having a tag IC for storing a tag ID;

a plurality of detectors each having a detector ID and being installed in the hotel, for detecting the tag ID via transmittance from the tag IC, the tag ID and the detector ID being transmitted;

recording means for recording a pair of the tag ID and the detector ID, and a time at which the detector has detected; and

positional information management means including the recording means, for managing positional information of the user, base on the pair and the time.

2. The positional information management system according to claim 1,

wherein the positional information management means specifies a position of the user based on the detector ID, and specifies the time so as to obtain a movement history of the user.

3. The positional information management system according to claim 2,

wherein the user comprises a customer of the hotel and a staff member of the hotel;

wherein the positional information management system separately manages a movement history of the customers and a movement history of the staff member, based on the tag ID.

4. The positional information management system according to claim 1,

wherein the detectors each have specific ranges in which each of the detectors detects the tag ID;

wherein the positional management system detects a movement state of the user, based on the specific ranges and the tag ID detected in the specific ranges.

5. The positional information management system according to claim 4,

wherein the user comprises a customer of the hotel and a staff member of the hotel;

wherein the positional information management system separately manages a movement state of the customer and a movement state of the staff member, based on the tag ID.

6. The positional information management system according to claim 1,

wherein the positional information management means specifies the detector ID based on the tag ID of the user to specify a position of the user based on the detector ID.

7. The positional information management system according to claim 6,

further comprising a terminal connected with the positional information management means, and

wherein, when the tag ID is input into the terminal, the positional information management means searches for the user based on the tag ID to transmit the positional information of the user to the terminal.

8. The positional information management system according to claim 6,

wherein the recording means records a relationship between a name of the user and the tag ID, and the positional information management means specifies the tag ID of the user based on the name of the user.

9. The positional information management system according to claim 8,

further comprising a terminal connected with the positional information management means, and

wherein, when the name of the user is input into the terminal, the positional information management means searches for the user based on the name to transmit the positional information of the user to the terminal.

10. The positional information management system according to claim 1,

wherein the user comprises a customer of the hotel and a staff member of the hotel, the positional information management system further comprises service management means for managing services for the customer;

the service management means transmitts the tag ID of the customer to the positional information management means;

the positional information management means specifies the detector ID to transmit positional information of the detector with the detector ID to the service management means; and

the service management means manages the services for the customer based on the positional information.

11. The positional information management system according to claim 10,

wherein the service management means manages services by the staff member for the customer to transmit the tag ID of the staff member to the positional information management means;

the positional information management means specifies the detector ID to transmit positional information of the detector with the detector ID to the service management means; and

the service management means manages the services by the staff member for the customer based on the positional information.

12. The positional information management system according to claim 1,

wherein the positional information management means determines an area defined by at least one of the detector ID and determines whether or not the user is in the area based on the detector ID.

13. The positional information management system according to claim 12,

wherein the positional information management system defines the area as a restricted area and manages security by generating an alarm or by setting a flag in the recording means when the user is in the restricted area.