SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED MANAGEMENT OF SERVICE INDUSTRY AND FOR-HIRE RESOURCES

• US 20170372411A1
• Filed: 06/27/2017
• Published: 12/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whiteboard, LLC
• Original Assignee: Whiteboard, LLC
• Inventors: Kolegraff, Nicholas Keith
• Granted Patent: US 10,339,599 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/77 using wireless control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/29 the pass containing active electronic elements, e.g. smartcards
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/38 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

A resource management system for a service industry business includes a recommendation engine that initiates one or more service actions and/or device actions based on inputs from one or more sensors and/or an obtained customer location within a building or facility. The resource management system automatically distributes, assigns, schedules, and/or reserves one or more resources for the benefit of the detected customer based on one or more recommendations of the recommendation engine.

Claims

1. A service industry resource management system comprising:

an access control device comprising;

a housing for installation adjacent to a rentable space; and

a controller within the housing; and

an automation engine comprising;

a processor in communication with the controller; and

a non-transitory memory configured to store executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

determine a location of a device relative to the rentable space, the device associated with a customer;

reserve the rentable space for the customer based on the location;

cause the controller to permit the customer to access the rentable space based on the location; and

initiate billing of the customer for the rentable space upon detecting the device within the rentable space.

2. The service industry resource management system of claim 1, wherein the access control device further comprises a receiver configured to determine the location of the device relative to the rentable space.

3. The service industry resource management system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

terminate billing of the customer for the rentable space upon detecting the device is not within the rentable space.

4. The service industry resource management system of claim 1, wherein the automation engine is in communication with a lighting controller configured to adjust lighting within rentable space.

5. The service industry resource management system of claim 4, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

communicate an instruction to the lighting controller to set the lighting within the rentable space according to a preference of the customer stored in the memory upon reserving the rentable space for the customer.

6. The service industry resource management system of claim 1, wherein the automation engine is in communication with a point-of-sale system.

7. The service industry resource management system of claim 5, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

communicate an instruction to the point-of-sale system to initiate a transaction according to a preference of the customer stored in the memory, in response to determining the location of the device relative to the rentable space.

8. A method of automatically billing a customer for temporary use of a resource within a building of a service industry business, the method comprising:

determining a location of a customer device within or adjacent to the building, the customer device associated with a customer;

accessing a preference database and determining a preference of the customer corresponding to the resource and the determined location;

after determining the customer preference, reserving the resource for the customer to prevent use of the resource by another customer;

receiving authorization from the customer to initiate billing of the customer for the resource;

determining a proximity of the customer device relative to the resource; and

initiating billing of the customer for the resource upon determining that the proximity is below a threshold.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising, after receiving authorization from the customer, instructing an access control device associated with the resource to permit the customer to access the resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the access control device comprises a controller configured to determine the proximity of the customer device relative to the resource.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the controller comprises a wireless receiver in communication with the customer device.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the resource is a rentable office space of a co-working business.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising, after initiating billing of the customer for the resource upon determining that the proximity is below the threshold, terminating billing of the customer for the resource upon determining that the proximity is beyond a threshold.

14. A method of automatically billing a customer for temporary use of a rentable space within a building of a service industry business, the method comprising:

determining entrance of a customer device within the building, the customer device associated with a customer;

reserving the rentable space for the customer to prevent use of the resource by another customer;

determining that the customer device is approaching the rentable space;

accessing a preference database to obtain a preference of the customer when the customer is within the rentable space;

causing an environmental controller to adjust a temperature within the rentable space based on the preference;

causing a lighting controller to adjusting lighting within the rentable space based on the preference;

causing an access control device to open a door to the rentable space; and

initiating billing of the customer for the rentable space upon determining that the customer device is within the rentable space.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising, after determining entrance of the customer device within the building, accessing the preference database to obtain a food service preference of the customer when the customer is within the building.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising causing a service action controller to initiate a food service transaction based on the preference database.