Queue information transmission

• US 9,892,371 B1
• Filed: 07/13/2015
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Prosports Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Prosports Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Cronin, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Kevin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nelson, Freda A
• Application Number:
  US14/798,291
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• Field of Search: 705 143, 705 729, 705 5- 6, 705 1458, 4554041, 4554563, 455526, 382103, 340 125
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/53 Recognition of crowd images, e.g. recognition of crowd congestion

Abstract

Information may be determined about one or more queues located within an event venue, the information including how many people are in the queue and an average rate at which the queue is moving forward. The queues may each be associated with commercial enterprises such as concession stands. If a particular queue suffers from a low queue population or a low queue movement rate, a queue broadcast may be transmitted using one or more local wireless transmitters which each have a wireless transmission zone that is at least partially within the event venue. The queue broadcast may include queue information and may include an advertisement or perk, such as a discount or special offer for the commercial enterprise associated with the queue, thus incentivizing eventgoers to go to less-crowded or less-popular queues.

Claims

1. A method for queue management, the method comprising:

executing instructions stored in memory by a processor, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to;

receive a location of a receiver device,

receive a camera feed from a camera, the camera feed depicting a first queue that is within a predetermined range of the location of the receiver device,

receive a first purchase dataset from a first concession device corresponding to the first queue, the first purchase dataset identifying purchases made using the first concession device,

generate a first queue population value based on a plurality of edges detected within the camera feed, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of edges represent people waiting in the first queue, the first queue population value identifying a number of people waiting in the first queue,

calculate a first queue movement rate based on the camera feed, wherein the first queue movement rate indicates a rate at which a person waiting in the first queue moves toward a front of the first queue,

evaluate wait times for the first queue and for a second queue based on the first queue population value, the first queue movement rate, the first purchase dataset, a second queue population value, a second queue movement rate, and a second purchase dataset, wherein the second queue population value and the second queue movement rate describe the second queue, and wherein the second purchase dataset describes a second concession device corresponding to the second queue, wherein the second queue is also within the predetermined range of the location of the receiver device,

generate a recommendation to wait in the first queue rather than the second queue based on the evaluating of the wait times,

select a first wireless transmitter of a plurality of wireless transmitters based on the location of the receiver device, wherein the location of the receiver device is within a wireless transmission zone of the first wireless transmitter, and

transmit the recommendation and associated advertisement content wirelessly to the receiver device via the first wireless transmitter.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting at least one of the first queue movement rate or the first queue population value to the receiver device via the first wireless transmitter.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the recommendation and associated advertisement content to the receiver device via a second wireless transmitter as well as the first wireless transmitter.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a perk for a commercial enterprise associated with the first queue and the first concession device to the receiver device via the first wireless transmitter, the perk being at least one of a discount or a special offer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a second camera feed from a second camera, the second camera feed depicting the second queue, and wherein execution of the instructions by the processor further causes the processor to:

generate the second queue population value based on a second plurality of edges detected within the second camera feed, wherein at least a subset of the second plurality of edges represent people waiting in the second queue, the second queue population value identifying a number of people waiting in the second queue, and

calculate the second queue movement rate based on the second camera feed, wherein the second queue movement rate indicates a rate at which a person waiting in the second queue moves toward a front of the second queue.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless transmission zone includes at least a portion of an eventgoer area of an event venue.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless transmitters includes at least one non-selected local wireless transmitter that is distinct from the first wireless transmitter.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein selecting the first wireless transmitter of the plurality of wireless transmitters is also based a distance between the wireless transmission zone and the first queue.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to identify at least one of a queue movement rate deficiency or a queue population deficiency, the queue movement rate deficiency indicating that the first queue movement rate falls below a predetermined lower bound queue movement rate, the queue population deficiency indicating that the first queue population value falls below a predetermined lower bound queue population value.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to calculate a purchase rate based on the first purchase dataset.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising notifying a managing device of a cost associated with transmitting the recommendation and associated advertisement content wirelessly to the receiver device via the first wireless transmitter.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first purchase dataset is a purchase log associated with the first queue and the first concession device, and wherein further execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to calculate an average time between purchases in the purchase log.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless transmitter transmits the recommendation and the associated advertisement content via one or more wireless transmissions that include at least one of a Bluetooth data transmission, a Wi-Fi data transmission, a cellular data transmission, a radio wave data transmission, a microwave data transmission, a magnetic induction data transmission a magnetic resonance data transmission, an electromagnetic radiation data transmission, a visible light communication data transmission, an ultrasonic audio data transmission, an sonic audio data transmission, or an infrasonic audio data transmission.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to select the perk based on a distance between the first queue and the location of the receiver device.

15. A system for queue management, the system comprising:

a communication receiver, wherein the communication receiver;

receives a location of a receiver device, and

receives a camera feed from a camera, the camera feed depicting a first queue that is within a predetermined range of the location of the receiver device;

a plurality of wireless transmitters; and

a traffic management system including a memory and a processor, wherein execution of instructions stored in the memory by the processor causes the processor to;

generate a first queue population value based on a plurality of edges detected within the camera feed, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of edges represent people waiting in the first queue, the first queue population value identifying a number of people waiting in the first queue,

calculate a first queue movement rate based on the camera feed, wherein the first queue movement rate indicates a rate at which a person waiting in the first queue moves toward a front of the first queue,

evaluate wait times for the first queue and a second queue based on the first queue population value, the first queue movement rate, a first purchase dataset, a second queue population value, a second queue movement rate, and a second purchase dataset, wherein the second queue population value and the second queue movement rate describe the second queue, wherein the first purchase dataset describes a first concession device corresponding to the first queue, wherein the second purchase dataset describes a second concession device corresponding to the second queue, wherein the second queue is also within the predetermined range of the location of the receiver device,

generate a recommendation to wait in the first queue rather than the second queue based on the evaluating of the wait times,

select a first wireless transmitter of the plurality of wireless transmitters based on the location of the receiver device, wherein the location of the receiver device is within a wireless transmission zone of the first wireless transmitter, and

transmit the recommendation and associated advertisement content via the first wireless transmitter.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a queue database stored in the memory, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to:

store the first queue population value and the first queue movement value in the queue database, and

retrieve the second queue population value and the second queue movement value from the queue database.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising a concessions database stored in the memory, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to store the first purchase dataset in the concession database.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first wireless transmitter transmits the recommendation and the associated advertisement content via one or more wireless transmissions that include at least one of a Bluetooth data transmission, a Wi-Fi data transmission, a cellular data transmission, a radio wave data transmission, a microwave data transmission, a magnetic induction data transmission a magnetic resonance data transmission, an electromagnetic radiation data transmission, a visible light communication data transmission, an ultrasonic audio data transmission, an sonic audio data transmission, or an infrasonic audio data transmission.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for queue information transmission, the method comprising:

receiving a location of a receiver device;

receiving a camera feed from a camera, the camera feed depicting a first queue that is within a predetermined range of the location of the receiver device;

receiving a first purchase dataset from a first concession device corresponding to the first queue, the purchase dataset identifying at least one purchase made using the first concession device;

generating a first queue population value based on a plurality of edges detected within the camera feed, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of edges represent people waiting in the first queue, the first queue population value identifying a number of people waiting in the first queue;

calculating a first queue movement rate based on the camera feed, wherein the first queue movement rate indicates a rate at which a person waiting in the first queue moves toward a front of the first queue;

evaluating wait times for the first queue with and a second queue based on the first queue population value, the first queue movement rate, the first purchase dataset, a second queue population value, a second queue movement rate, and a second purchase dataset, wherein the second queue population value and the second queue movement rate describe the second queue, and wherein the second purchase dataset describes a second concession device corresponding to the second queue, wherein the second queue is also within the predetermined range of the location of the receiver device;

generating a recommendation to wait in the first queue rather than the second queue based on the evaluating of the wait times;

selecting a first wireless transmitter of a plurality of wireless transmitters based on the location of the receiver device, wherein the location of the receiver device is within a wireless transmission zone of the first wireless transmitter; and

transmitting the recommendation and associated advertisement content wirelessly to the receiver device via the first wireless transmitter.