PORTABLE SIGN-IN SERVICE

• US 20140032705A1
• Filed: 07/30/2012
• Published: 01/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Weckey
• Original Assignee: Telect Incorporated (Amphenol Corporation)
• Inventors: Williams, Wayne E., Davis, Sam
• Granted Patent: US 9,985,942 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Portable visitor stations that are easy to set up are disclosed. Portable visitor stations, including a visitor application stored on a portable computer may be set up for a facility by sending a location at which the portable computer is to be located at to a visitor processing service and sending a list of contacts associated with the facility to the visitor processing service. In some embodiments, the portable visitor station may be set up exclusively by sending only the received location and the received list to the visitor processing service.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of setting up a portable visitor station for an organization, the method comprising:

under control of a portable computing device comprising one or more processors configured with executable instructions,

storing, on the portable computing device, a visitor application that provides a user interface (UI) to a user of the portable visitor station;

sending a request to a server to set up the portable visitor station, the request including;

an identification of the portable computing device that sent the request; and

an identifier of a version of the visitor application stored on the portable computing device;

presenting information requesting a location at which the portable computing device is to be located;

receiving the location the portable computing device is to be located;

presenting information requesting a list of contacts associated with the organization;

receiving the list of contacts; and

sending the received location and the received list to the server to substantiate the portable visitor station.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending an identification of a piece of hardware connected to the portable computing device;

receiving an instruction to configure the piece of hardware connected to the portable computing device; and

configuring the piece of hardware connected to the portable computing device according to the received instruction.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received location is associated with a commercial facility.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the received list includes one or more names of employees associated with the commercial facility.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received location is associated with a commercial exhibition.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the received list includes one or more of names of vendors registered to attend the commercial exhibition.

7. A computer-implemented method of setting up a portable visitor station for an organization, the method comprising:

under control of one or more processors configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request to set up the portable visitor station, the request including;

an identification of a device that sent the request; and

an identifier of a version of a visitor application stored on the device;

receiving a location at which the device is to be located;

receiving a list of contacts associated with the organization; and

associating the received list with the received location, wherein the received list is used to send a notification to a contact on the received list.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising storing the associated received list and received location as an account.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an identification of a piece of hardware connected to the device; and

sending, to the device, an instruction to configure the piece of hardware connected to the device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the received location is associated with a commercial facility.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the received list includes one or more names of employees associated with the commercial facility.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the received location is associated with a commercial exhibition.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the received list includes one or more of names of vendors registered to attend the commercial exhibition.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising assigning a security level to each contact on the received list.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising sending a notification to a contact on the received list.

16. A portable computing device comprising:

a display;

one or more processors; and

memory storing a visitor application that, when executed by the one or more processors, performs acts comprising;

establishing a visitor station for an organization by;

sending a request to a server, the request including;

an identification of the portable computing device; and

an identifier of a version of the visitor application installed on the portable computing device;

presenting information on the display requesting an installer to provide a location at which the portable computing device is to be located;

receiving the location the portable computing device is to be located;

presenting information on the display requesting the installer to provide a list of contacts associated with the organization;

receiving the list of contacts associated with the organization; and

sending the received location and the received list to the server to substantiate the visitor station.

17. The portable computing device of claim 16, further comprising:

a piece of hardware connected to the portable computing device; and

wherein establishing the visitor station further includes;

sending an identification of the piece of hardware connected to the portable computing device;

receiving an instruction to configure the piece of hardware connected to the portable computing device; and

configuring the piece of hardware connected to the portable computing device.

18. The portable computing device of claim 16, wherein the piece of hardware comprises a printer to provide for printing a visitor badge for a visitor of a facility of the organization.

19. The portable computing device of claim 18, wherein the visitor badge includes a 2-dimensional machine readable code.

20. The portable computing device of claim 19, wherein the 2-dimensional machine readable code provides for signing the visitor out of the facility of the organization.

21. The portable computing device of claim 16, wherein the piece of hardware comprises a digital camera for capturing a digital image of a visitor.