Interaction analyzer

• US 8,228,203 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Craine, Ari
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu, Shirley
• Application Number:
  US12/621,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20100066541A1
• Time in Patent Office: 979 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.13, 340/572.1, 340/573.1, 340/825.49, 235/375, 235/385
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence

Abstract

A method of analyzing participant activity includes providing an identification unit to a participant, receiving signals from the identification unit, determining location of the participant based on the received signals, storing the location information and the associated timestamp and analyzing the stored information.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of identification units, each of the plurality of identification units being associated with a different one of a plurality of participants and configured to be carried by the plurality of participants at a conference; and

a monitoring station that is configured to receive signals from the plurality of identification units, to determine locations of each of the plurality of participants based on the signals from the plurality of identification units and associate a timestamp with the locations of each of the plurality of participants to provide associated timestamps for the locations of each of the plurality of participants, to store the locations of each of the plurality of participants and the associated timestamps, and to analyze the locations of each of the plurality of participants to determine an activity of the plurality of participants,

wherein the monitoring station is further configured to;

determine that at least two of the plurality of participants have interacted with one another in response to identifying that locations associated with the least two participants were in close proximity to one another and have associated timestamps that overlap for at least a predetermined amount of time; and

receive a request from at least one of the at least two of the plurality of participants that have interacted with one another to provide information about at least one of remaining ones of the at least two of the plurality of participants that have interacted with one another.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring station is further configured to determine when identification units carried by two of the participants are in close proximity to one another and have associated timestamps that overlap for at least the predetermined amount of time.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the tracking module is further configured to transmit the identification of signals to the monitoring station using radio frequency signals.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the tracking module includes a radio frequency identification module configured to transmit the identification of signals to the monitoring station using radio frequency signaling.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the tracking module is configured to respond to a request signal from the monitoring station by transmitting the identification of signals to the monitoring station.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the tracking module comprises a memory for storing information received from at least one external transmitter device, and the tracking module is further configured to relay the information received from at least one external transmitted device to the monitoring station.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the tracking module is configured to receive the information from an external transmitter device that resides at a vendor booth at a conference.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein:

a tracking module in a first one of the plurality of identification units is configured to transmit the information to a tracking module of a second one of the plurality of identification units for storage in the tracking module of the second one of the plurality of identification units and for subsequent relay from the second one of the plurality of identification units to the monitoring station.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein:

a tracking module in a first one of the plurality of identification units is configured to receive information from a tracking module of a second one of the plurality of identification units which was received by the second one of the plurality of identification units from at least one other external transmitter device, and is configured to store the information in the memory and to relay the information to the monitoring station.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the monitoring station is further configured to determine a number of signals that are received from an external transmitter device at a particular location over a plurality of predetermined time periods, and to rank the signals by volume over the plurality of predetermined time periods.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the predetermined amount of time corresponds to a defined number of hours.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of identification units includes a tracking module, the tracking module being configured to transmit to the monitoring station an identification of signals that the identification unit has received from external transmitter devices.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring station is further configured to provide the information about at least one of remaining ones of the at least two of the plurality of participants that have interacted with one another responsive to the request.

12. A monitoring station comprising a computing device, the computing device comprising:

an input means that is configured to receive signals from a plurality of identification units, each of the plurality of identification units being associated with different participants and configured to be carried by a plurality of participants at a conference;

a processor configured to determine locations of each of the different participants based on the signals from the plurality of identification units that are received and associate a timestamp with the locations of each of the different participants that are determined to provide associated timestamps for each of the different participants; and

a memory configured to store the locations of each of the different participants that are determined and the associated timestamps for each of the different participants,

wherein the processor is further configured to;

analyze the locations of each of the different participants to determine an activity of each of the different participants and to determine that at least two of the different participants have interacted with one another in response to identifying that the locations of identification units associated with the least two different participants were in close proximity to one another and had associated timestamps that overlap for at least a predetermined amount of time; and

receive a request from at least one of the at least two of the plurality of participants that have interacted with one another to provide information about at least one of remaining ones of the at least two of the plurality of participants that have interacted with one another.

13. The monitoring station of claim 12, wherein:

the processor is further configured to determine a number of signals that are received from an external transmitter device at a particular location over a plurality of predetermined time periods, and to rank the signals by volume over the plurality of predetermined time periods.

14. The monitoring station of claim 13, wherein:

the plurality of predetermined time periods corresponds to a defined number of hours.

17. The monitoring station of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of identification units includes a tracking module, the tracking module being configured to transmit to the monitoring station an identification of signals that the identification unit has received from external transmitter devices.

18. The monitoring station of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to provide the information about at least one of remaining ones of the at least two of the plurality of participants that have interacted with one another responsive to the request.