Store employee locator system

• US 6,718,341 B1
• Filed: 01/28/1999
• Issued: 04/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Berstis, Viktors, Lisle, Linda Arnold
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, UYEN T
• Application Number:
  US09/239,338
• Time in Patent Office: 1,895 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104, 707/104.1, 707/1, 707/2, 705/7, 705/8, 705/9, 345/326, 345/329, 345/700
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• 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

The invention locates store employees by receiving a set of unique signature transmissions by a set of receivers on the store. Each transmission emanates from a badge worn by a store employee. In a database, each unique signature with an employee and employee biographical information, including an expertise of an employee. The transmissions from the badges are used to locate employees in the store. Responsive to a user request for employees having a given expertise, a store map is displayed on an informational kiosk wherein showing the location of the employees having the given expertise.

Claims

1. A method for locating store employees, comprising the steps of:

receiving a set of unique signature transmissions by a set of receivers on the store, each transmission emanating from a respective transmitter worn by a store employee;

associating each unique signature with employee biographical information, including an expertise of an employee;

using the transmissions to locate employees in the store; and

responsive to a user request for employees having a given expertise, displaying a store map on an informational kiosk display wherein a representation of the location of the employees having the given expertise is shown therein.

2. A method for locating subject matter experts, comprising the steps of:

receiving a set of unique signature transmissions by a set of receivers, each transmission emanating from a respective transmitter worn by an expert;

associating each unique signature with an expertise of an expert;

using the transmissions to locate experts in the vicinity of the receivers; and

responsive to a user request for an expert having a given expertise, displaying a location of at least one expert having the given expertise on a computer display.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising the steps of:

displaying a map on the computer display; and

responsive to the user requests, displaying representations of the expert on the map indicative of the location of the expert with respect to the computer display.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the locations of a plurality of experts are displayed and the location of a nearest expert is displayed in a highlighted manner.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising the step of responsive to user selection of an expert location, displaying biographical information about the expert.

6. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

testing each located expert for a status; and

responsive to a respective located expert having a predetermined status, not displaying the located expert on the computer display.

7. A system for locating subject matter experts including processor, memory, input device and display, comprising:

a set of receivers for receiving a set of unique signature transmissions, each transmission emanating from a respective transmitter worn by an expert;

means for associating each unique signature with an expertise of an expert;

means for using the transmissions to locate experts in the vicinity of the receivers; and

means responsive to a user request for an expert having a given expertise for displaying a location of at least one expert having the given expertise on the display.

8. The system as recited in claim 7 further comprising:

means for displaying a map on the display; and

means responsive to the user requests for displaying representations of the expert on the map indicative of the location of the expert with respect to the computer display.

9. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the locations of a plurality of experts are displayed and the location of a nearest expert is displayed in a highlighted manner.

10. The system as recited in claim 7, further comprising means responsive to user selection of an expert location for displaying biographical information about the expert.

11. The system as recited in claim 7, further comprising filtering means for filtering out located experts having a specified status from the display.

12. The system as recited in claim 7 wherein each transmitter is relatively low powered such that a strong signal is received by a respective one of the set of receivers relative to a remainder of the set of receivers.

13. The system as recited in claim 7 further comprising triangulating means to locate the transmitters.

14. The system as recited in claim 7 further comprising:

one or more informational kiosks;

a server computer; and

a network for coupling the informational kiosks, the server computer and the receivers together.

15. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for locating subject matter experts, comprising:

means for associating an unique signature with a respective transmitter of a set of transmitter and an expertise of an expert;

means for using the transmissions to locate experts in the vicinity of the receivers; and

means responsive to a user request for an expert having a given expertise for displaying a location of at least one expert having the given expertise on a computer display.

16. The product as recited in claim 15 further comprising:

means for displaying a map on the display; and

means responsive to the user requests for displaying representations of the expert on the map indicative of the location of the expert with respect to the computer display.

17. The product as recited in claim 15, wherein the locations of a plurality of experts are displayed and the location of a nearest expert is displayed in a highlighted manner.

18. The product as recited in claim 15, further comprising means responsive to user selection of an expert location for displaying biographical information about the expert.

19. The product as recited in claim 15, further comprising filtering means for filtering out located experts having a specified status from the display.