Methods, systems, and media to improve employee productivity using radio frequency identification

• US 20070100677A1
• Filed: 11/01/2005
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HCL Technologies Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick, Boss, Gregory, Waters, Timothy, Le Sesno, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 8,639,543 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function

Abstract

Methods, systems, and media to improve employee productivity using radio frequency identification (RFID) are disclosed. Embodiments comprise a method of transmitting information from RFID tags, receiving the information in an RFID tag reader, analyzing the information to select a number of employees to work in a work area, and dispatching one or more employees to or from the work area according to the selected number of employees. Some embodiments select employees with certain skills, based on the RFID tag information. In other embodiments, an RFID tag reader monitors the movement of employees to ensure that they are moving according to the dispatch and potentially dispatching alternate employees. Some embodiments involve reading information from RFID tags attached to goods, whereas other embodiments involve reading information from RFID tags in cards carried by employees and customers, and RFID tags fastened to shopping carts and shopping baskets.

Claims

1. A method for dispatching, in real-time, employees of a business, the method comprising:

receiving information in at least one RFID tag reader located in a work area, analyzing the information to determine a number of employees to work in the work area,

selecting the number of employees to work in the work area based upon the analyzing the information, and

dispatching a first employee according to the number of employees selected to work in the work area.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring the first employee movement to ensure that the first employee moves toward the work area, and dispatching a second employee when the first employee does not move toward the work area within a predefined amount of time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein monitoring the first employee movement comprises monitoring an RFID tag carried by the first employee using a plurality of RFID tag readers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring the first employee movement to ensure that the first employee moves away from the work area, and dispatching a second employee when the first employee does not move away from the work area within a predefined amount of time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the information from at least one RFID tag.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the information from at least on RFID tag comprises transmitting the information from at least one RFID tag attached to an object, the object selected from the group consisting of an item of goods available for purchase from the business, an employee identification card, a customer frequent shopper card, a shopping cart, and a shopping basket.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information in at least one RFID tag reader comprises receiving the information in a plurality of RFID tag readers, the plurality of RFID tag readers arranged in a grid near a plurality of point of sale stations.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the information comprises determining a quantity of goods to which the at least one RFID tag is attached, estimating a quantity of time required to process the goods, and calculating the number of employees required to process the goods within a predetermined amount of time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the number of employees comprises selecting the number of employees based on a number of customers waiting in a line at a point of sale station.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the number of employees comprises selecting the number of employees based on skills of the number of employees.

11. A system for real-time dispatching employees of a business, the system comprising:

at least one RFID receiver to receive information transmitted from an RFID tag,

a computing module to evaluate the information and to select a number of employees to work in a work area; and

a dispatching module to send at least one employee to the work area based on the evaluation of the information in the computing module.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a tracking module to determine whether the at least one employee fails to arrive at the work area within a predetermined amount of time.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising a plurality of RFID tag readers to receive the information based upon location of the RFID tag and transfer the information to the computing module, wherein the computing module monitors the employee movement after the employee is dispatched to the work area and selects at least one alternate employee whenever the employee fails to arrive at the work area within a predetermined amount of time.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising at least one RFID tag attached to an object, the object selected from the group consisting of an item of goods available for purchase, an employee identification card, a customer identification card, a shopping cart, and a shopping basket.

15. A machine-accessible medium containing instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations for dynamically dispatching employees in a business, comprising:

receiving information from an RFID tag reader, the RFID tag reader located in a work area,

analyzing the information to determine a number of employees to work in the work area,

selecting the number of employees to work in the work area based upon the analyzing the information, and

dispatching an employee according to the number of employees selected to work in the work area.

16. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, further comprising tracking the employee to ensure that the employee arrives at the work area, and dispatching a second employee to the work area if the employee does not arrive at the work area after a quantity of time.

17. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein analyzing the information to select a number of employees comprises analyzing real-time data to select the number of employees based upon the real-time data, the real-time data consisting of a number of items in one or more point of sale lines.

18. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein analyzing the information to determine a number of employees comprises calculating average checkout times for a number of previous customers.

19. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein analyzing the information to determine a number of employees comprises evaluating an estimated quantity of time for at least one customer payment method.

20. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein analyzing the information to determine a number of employees to work in the work area comprises evaluating estimated quantities of times associated with purchasing a plurality of goods attached to a plurality of RFID tags at a point of sale station.