Networked peripheral for visitor greeting, identification, biographical lookup and tracking

• US 20060041542A1
• Filed: 10/14/2005
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Graham, Jamey, Hart, Peter E., Hull, Jonathan J., Lee, Dar-Shyang, Balabanovic, Marko, Baxter, Michael, Wolff, Gregory, Poppink, Derek
• Application Number:
  US11/250,780
• Publication Number:
  US 20060041542A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

According to the invention, a visitor kiosk for the capture and storage of personal information about visitors. The visitor kiosk is placed at the entry point to a facility being monitored. Each visitor signs in at the kiosk. Their business card and an image of their face are scanned. If they do not have a business card, their name and company are entered manually. They also enter the name of the person they are visiting and the purpose for their visit. The person they are visiting is notified of the arrival of the visitor by email or by voice telephone. The data about the visitor is stored locally or remotely. Automatic lookups of various information about the visitor are performed and communicated to the person being visited. A network interface allows users to enter information about visitors they are expecting to arrive. A telephone interface is provided for input of voice greetings as well as checking on the arrival status of visitors.

Claims

1. A system for tracking activity within a facility, said system comprising:

a plurality of locator apparatuses;

a network, interconnecting said plurality of locator apparatuses; and

at least one of a plurality of portable visitor wands;

wherein,

said at least one of a plurality of portable visitor wands communicates an identity to at least one of said plurality of locator apparatuses; and

wherein said at least one of said plurality of locator apparatuses track position of a visitor based upon said communicated identities.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said communication is performed by at least one selected from an infrared communication link, a radio communication link, an optical communication link, sensing a magnetic card, a telephone communication link, a pager communication link, and a Bluetooth™

communication link.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said locator apparatuses are further operative to provide a history of visitors to at least one of said locator apparatuses.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said locator apparatuses are further operative to provide a history of locator apparatuses visited by a particular visitor.