System and method for enabling access to resources

#The disclosed technology pertains to a system for managing access and transit to resources in settings such as airplanes.

#Air travel can be an extremely stressful environment both for passengers and airplane staff. Freedom of movement is often limited, with passengers being required to remain in a seat or, at best, being allowed limited movement down narrow aisles which may be blocked by service carts and/or other passengers. Staff and other resources, such as restrooms, refreshments, or even areas where someone can stand and stretch may be in short supply and high demand, leading to additional congestion, friction, and frustration for involved parties. Even where a resource is available or unused it may be unreachable due to passengers being confined to their seats or aisles being blocked by other passengers or staff. Even where a resource is available and reachable, a passenger may not be aware that it is currently available, as the resource may be located at the end of a long aisle where visibility is blocked by other seats, walls, or curtains.

#These difficulties and challenges result in inefficient use of those resources, such as when they are available but parties needing the resources are unaware that they are available or are unable to easily reach them, and frustrating waits for the resources, such as when multiple parties are occupying aisles or areas near resources while waiting for them to become accessible. In addition to causing stress and frustration in a setting where anxiety is often already high, having passengers congregate in aisles and areas near resources can be a safety risk and can impede an airplane staff's duties. While the descriptions above are in the context of an airplane, many of these same or similar problems exist in other confined and restricted settings. This could include, for example, waiting rooms in health care or government agency settings that have limited restrooms, refreshments, and staff, as well as movie theaters, sports arenas, spectator events, or restaurants that have limited restrooms and narrow aisles or walkways.

#The drawings and detailed description that follow are intended to be merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention as contemplated by the inventors.

#FIG. 1 is a top down diagram showing an exemplary airplane setting;

#FIG. 2 is a top down diagram showing a magnified view of a portion of the exemplary airplane setting;

#The inventors have conceived of novel technology that, for the purpose of illustration, is disclosed herein as applied in the context of enabling access to resources. While the disclosed applications of the inventors' technology satisfy a long-felt but unmet need in the art of enabling access to resources, it should be understood that the inventors' technology is not limited to being implemented in the precise manners set forth herein, but could be implemented in other manners without undue experimentation by those of ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure. Accordingly, the examples set forth herein should be understood as being illustrative only, and should not be treated as limiting.

#The disclosed technology may be implemented in a variety of settings in order to receive information from and provide information to occupants or potential occupants of those settings that may be used to efficiently transit to and make use of resources. An airplane provides a useful context for discussion of the type of setting that the technology may be useful within. The system may be implemented in an airplane as an additional set of devices, or retrofitted using existing devices, or a mixture of both. When implemented, the system may be used to provide active traffic management functions for passenger transit to resources, such as restrooms, and access to those resources. Such active traffic management could include receiving an indication from a passenger that they would like to access a resource, and providing an indication to that passenger of which resources they should proceed to, when they should proceed, and in some cases what route they should take to reach the resource. A combination of information from different sources, for example, sensors, personal mobile devices, seat-back devices, may be used by a server implementing one or more active queue and transit management methods, functions, or activities to allow traffic to efficiently flow to and utilize limited resources, such as restrooms, in an airplane or other settings.

#FIG. 1 is a top down diagram showing an exemplary airplane setting (100).