Indoor positioning systems and meeting room occupancy

• US 9,955,316 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2015
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Jampani, Krishnam Raju, Martin, Daryl Joseph, Tsai, I-Ming, Beckett, Jason Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DANH C
• Application Number:
  US14/803,530
• Publication Number:
  US 20170026806A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,009 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554563, 4554566, 455418, 4555501
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/02 Indoor
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02526 using non-dedicated equipment, e.g. user equipment or crowd-sourcing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

A method of determining room occupancy of a room in a facility having an indoor positioning system with wireless access point fingerprints each correlated to a location in the facility. The method may include receiving a request from a computing device for a room occupancy assessment associated with the room. It may further include obtaining location data that correlates to the location of one or more people from the indoor positioning system and determining from the location data associated with the room whether the room is occupied. The determination of whether the room is occupied is then sent to the computing device.

Claims

1. A method performed in a communication system for determining room occupancy of a room in a facility having an indoor positioning system with wireless access point (AP) fingerprints each correlated to a location in the facility, the method comprising:

receiving, at the communication system, a request from a computing device for a room occupancy assessment associated with the room;

obtaining location data, from the indoor positioning system, that correlates to the location of wireless devices associated with each of one or more people within the facility;

obtaining data correlated to room occupancy from at least one of the network connected devices selected from a room check-in scanner, an in-room data port, an in-room charging port, or an in-room telephone, the data being position-inference user data for the wireless devices associated with each of the one or more people;

determining, based on the location data and the position-inference user data, whether the room is occupied; and

sending the determination of whether the room is occupied to the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining room schedule data associated with the room from a room scheduling system and determining from the room schedule data whether a meeting is currently scheduled for the room, wherein said determining includes determining whether the room is occupied based on the location data and the room schedule data.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising identifying, from the room schedule data, the attendees of the meeting and wherein obtaining comprises obtaining location information associated with each of the attendees.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining includes determining that the room is likely unoccupied if the location data indicates that none of the attendees is located proximate the room.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the location data indicates two or more people located proximate the room, then determining comprises determining that the room is likely occupied.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the location data indicates fewer than two people located proximate the room, then determining comprises determining that the room is likely unoccupied.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises a wireless device, the request includes location data for the wireless device, and the method further comprises identifying the room based upon the location data for the wireless device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes room identifying information specifying the room.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further includes determining a level of confidence in the determination of whether the room is occupied.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining how many people are located proximate the room, and wherein the level of confidence is based, at least partly, upon the number of persons determined to be located proximate the room.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the method claimed in claim 1.

11. A communication system to determine room occupancy of a room in a facility having an indoor positioning system with wireless access point fingerprints each correlated to a location in the facility, the communication system comprising:

a network;

a plurality of network connected devices;

a network connection to receive a request from a computing device for a room occupancy assessment associated with the room via the network; and

a processor to

obtain location data, from the indoor positioning system, that correlates to the location of wireless devices associated with each of one or more people within the facility;

obtain data correlated to room occupancy from at least one of the network connected devices selected from a room check-in scanner, an in-room data port, an in-room charging port or an in-room telephone, the data being position-inference user data for the wireless devices associated with each of the one or more people;

determine, based upon the location data and the position-inference user data, whether the room is occupied, and

send the determination of whether the room is occupied to the computing device via the network connection.

12. The server of claim 11, wherein the processor is to obtain room schedule data associated with the room from a room scheduling system and determining from the room schedule data whether a meeting is currently scheduled for the room, wherein said determining includes determining whether the room is occupied based on the location data and the room schedule data.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the processor is to identify, from the room schedule data, the attendees of the meeting and to obtain location data by obtaining location information associated with each of the attendees.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein the processor is to determine by determining that the room is likely unoccupied if the location data indicates that none of the attendees is located proximate the room.

15. The server of claim 11, wherein, if the location data indicates two or more people located proximate the room, then the processor is to determine by determining that the room is likely occupied.

16. The server of claim 11, wherein, if the location data indicates fewer than two people located proximate the room, then the processor is to determine by determining that the room is likely unoccupied.

17. The server of claim 11, wherein the computing device comprises a wireless device, the request includes location data for the wireless device, and the processor is to identify the room based upon the location data for the wireless device.

18. The server of claim 11, wherein the request includes room identifying information specifying the room.

19. The server of claim 11, wherein the processor is to determine a level of confidence in the determination of whether the room is occupied.

20. The server of claim 19, wherein the processor is to determine how many people are located proximate the room, and wherein the level of confidence is based, at least partly, upon the number of persons determined to be located proximate the room.