Dynamic occupancy monitoring

• US 8,587,446 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2010
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matthew Thomas Hefferon
• Original Assignee: Matthew Thomas Hefferon
• Inventors: Hefferon, Matthew Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): AKKI, MUNEAR T
• Application Number:
  US12/873,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20110050442A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,175 Days
• Field of Search: 297/217.3, 297/217.4
• US Class Current: 340/679
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/221 Local indication of seats occupied in a facility, e.g. in a theatre

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for monitoring and displaying occupancy of a seating area, such as a theater. In a seating area there are chairs for use by patrons. There is a system and method for determining and communicating occupancy information to a display corresponding to the chairs in the seating area. On each chair there is affixed a wireless sensing device that detects when a patron has sat in the chair. When a patron sits in the chair, the wireless sensing device sends an occupied signal to an occupancy monitoring computer system. The occupancy monitoring system changes the status of the corresponding chair to occupied and updates the output on the display available for viewing by all patrons. When the occupied state of the chair changes, the wireless sensing device updates the occupancy status at the occupancy monitoring system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting an occupied signal to a computing device when a moveable seat of a chair has moved to a first position;

activating a timer upon sensing that the moveable seat of the chair has moved to the first position; and

changing a status of the chair from available to occupied after the computing device has received the occupied signal and the timer has reached a first threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retransmitting the occupied signal to the computing device when an acknowledgement signal has not been received from the computing device within a period of time.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

activating the timer upon sensing that the moveable seat of the chair has moved from the first position;

transmitting a reserved signal to the computing device that causes the status of the chair to change from occupied to reserved; and

changing the status of the chair from reserved to available when the timer has reached a second threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

entering a sleep mode of a sensing device when the status of the chair has changed from available to occupied and an acknowledgement signal is received from the computing device.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

entering a sleep mode after changing the status of the chair from reserved to available.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device communicates wirelessly.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the first and second thresholds being of sufficient time to avoid erroneously changing the status of the chair.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the timer is housed in the computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the timer is housed in a sensing device that is coupled to the chair.

10. A system comprising:

a sensing device coupled to a chair;

a timer that is activated when a seat of the chair is occupied by a patron;

a computing device capable of communicating with the sensing device, the sensing device transmitting an occupied signal to the computing device; and

a display device capable of displaying real-time data including an occupancy status of the chair when the sensing device transmits the occupied signal to the computing device and the timer reaches a first threshold.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the display device is further capable of displaying real-time data corresponding to a reserved state and an available state of the chair.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the reserved state of the chair is entered from an occupied state when the sensing device senses the moveable seat of the chair is moved from the first position.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the available state of the chair is entered from the reserved state when the timer has reached a second threshold after the status of the chair is changed to the reserved state.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the display device is housed in a mobile display unit.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the display device is further capable of displaying advertisements.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the advertisements are received from at least one of the computing device and an advertisement server.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the timer is housed in the sensing device.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the timer is housed in the computing device.

19. A method comprising:

transmitting an occupied signal to a computing device when a moveable seat of a chair has moved to a first position;

activating a timer upon sensing that the moveable seat of the chair has moved to the first position;

changing a status of the chair from available to occupied after the computing device has received the occupied signal and the timer has reached a first threshold;

activating the timer upon sensing that the moveable seat of the chair has moved from the first position;

transmitting a reserved signal to the computing device that causes the status of the chair to change from occupied to reserved; and

changing the status of the chair from reserved to available when the timer has reached a second threshold.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising retransmitting the occupied signal to the computing device when an acknowledgement signal has not been received from the computing device within a period of time.