DETERMINING INFORMATION RELATING TO OCCUPANCY OF A SPACE

• US 20130305261A1
• Filed: 05/09/2013
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infrared Integrated Systems, Ltd. (Fortive Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Infrared Integrated Systems, Ltd. (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Snell, William, Holliday, Stuart
• Granted Patent: US 10,606,668 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR

Abstract

A method of determining information relating to the occupancy of a space that includes receiving first data relating to the occupancy of the space over a time period, receiving second data indicative of either times of decrementing events or times of incrementing events affecting the occupancy of the space during the time period, and either, for each decrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated incrementing event time, or, for each incrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated decrementing event time. The method has particular application in the determination of waiting times, for example in the context of queue monitoring.

Claims

1. A method of determining information relating to the occupancy of a space, the method comprising:

receiving first data relating to the occupancy of the space over a time period;

receiving second data indicative of either times of decrementing events or times of incrementing events affecting the occupancy of the space during the time period; and

either;

for each decrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated incrementing event time, or

for each incrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated decrementing event time.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising using the second data and either the obtained estimated incrementing event times or the obtained estimated decrementing event times to obtain revised data relating to the occupancy of the space over the time period.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the first data comprises estimated numbers of objects or object groups in the space and the method comprises using corresponding decrementing and incrementing event times to determine a duration of occupancy of the space by an object or object group.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the first data comprises estimated numbers of objects or object groups in the space which include non-integer values for the number of objects or object groups in the space.

5. The method of claim 1, in which using the estimated numbers to obtain estimated incrementing or decrementing event times comprises finding an estimated event time for each of the event times in the second data for which an error value is minimised, where of is the number of objects or groups of objects in the space at time t obtained from the first data and qt is the number of objects or object groups in the space at time t determined using one or more event times from the second data and a possible estimated event time.

6. The method of claim 5 in which it is assumed that a step change of a predetermined amount occurs at each event.

7. The method of claim 6 in which the predetermined amount is an integer.

8. The method of claim 7 in which the predetermined amount is one.

9. The method of claim 5, in which finding an estimated event time is carried out only for values of t in a time window within the time period.

10. The method of claim 5, in which the second data comprises data indicative of times of decrementing events affecting the occupancy of the space during the time period and the step of using the first data to obtain an estimated incrementing event time comprises performing a search for incrementing event times over a time window preceding the decrementing event time.

11. The method of claim 10, in which the second data comprises data indicative of times of decrementing events of objects or object groups from the space during the time period.

12. A method of determining the length of a queue to use a facility comprising determining incrementing event times corresponding to increase in queue length using The method of claim 11.

13. The method of claim 12 in which each decrementing event time is taken to indicate a decrease in the queue length.

14. The method of claim 5, in which the second data comprises data indicative of times of incrementing events affecting the occupancy of the space during the time period and the step of using the first data to obtain an estimated decrementing event time comprises performing a search for possible decrementing event times over at least a time window following the incrementing event time.

15. The method of claim 14 in which performing the search for possible decrementing event times corresponding to a particular incrementing event time comprises:

a. estimating a decrementing event time for each incrementing event time in the time window following the particular incrementing event time; and

b. using any estimated decrementing event times in step a) to determine a possible decrementing event time corresponding to the particular incrementing event time.

16. The method of claim 15 in which in step a) a decrementing event time is estimated for each incrementing event time in the time window taking the incrementing event times in reverse chronological order.

17. The method of claim 1, in which receiving the second data comprises receiving data indicative of times of decrementing events of objects or object groups from the space during the time period.

18. A method of determining fulfillment duration comprising determining decrementing event times corresponding to fulfillment using The method of claim 17 and taking each decrementing event time as the end of a fulfillment time.

19. The method of claim 18 in which each incrementing event time is taken to be the start of a fulfillment duration.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising obtaining the first data from sensing apparatus positioned to monitor the space.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising obtaining the second data from electronic transaction apparatus.

22. A computer readable medium comprising instructions which when implemented in one or more processors of computing apparatus cause the apparatus to perform the method comprising:

receiving first data relating to the occupancy of the space over a time period;

receiving second data indicative of either times of decrementing events or times of incrementing events affecting the occupancy of the space during the time period; and

either;

for each decrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated incrementing event time, or

for each incrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated decrementing event time.

23. A computing apparatus comprising one or more processors configured to implement the method comprising:

receiving first data relating to the occupancy of the space over a time period;

receiving second data indicative of either times of decrementing events or times of incrementing events affecting the occupancy of the space during the time period; and

either;

for each decrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated incrementing event time, or

for each incrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated decrementing event time.

24. A system for determining information relating to occupancy of a space comprising

one or more sensors and associated signal processing circuitry configured to process signals from the one or more sensors to output data comprising estimated numbers of objects or object groups in the space over a time period;

and

a computing apparatus comprising one or more processors configured to implement a method comprising;

receiving first data relating to the occupancy of the space over a time period;

receiving second data indicative of either times of decrementing events or times of incrementing events affecting the occupancy of the space during the time period; and

either;

for each decrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated incrementing event time, or

for each incrementing event time, using the first data to obtain an estimated decrementing event time.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising electronic transaction apparatus from which the second data is obtained.