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US 11,889,390 B2Granted
System for monitoring a state of occupancy of a pre-determined area
AssigneeRoomz S.A.
InventorsRoger Meier, Patrick Terreaux
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to the management of shared work spaces. A goal is to accurately reflect the actual status of a booking as close to real time as possible. Embodiments of the invention allow for low-power, battery operated, motion sensor devices to report the actual status of shared work spaces to a centralised server using existing wireless communications means in the environment where the shared work spaces are to be managed.
Claims11
A system for monitoring a state of occupancy of a pre-determined area by at least one live presence, the system comprising:
- a first sensor comprising a first time counter, the first sensor being configured to detect at least one movement of a live presence within a first pre-determined zone within the pre-determined area and being further configured to maintain a first log comprising, for each movement detected by the first sensor, a corresponding first event timestamp having a value which is based on a value of the first time counter when said movement within the first pre-determined zone is detected;
- at least one second sensor comprising a second time counter, the second sensor being configured to detect at least one movement of a live presence within a second pre-determined zone within the pre-determined area and being further configured to maintain a second log comprising, for each movement detected by the second sensor, a corresponding second event timestamp having a value which is based on a value of the second time counter when said movement within the second pre-determined zone is detected;
- and
- a server configured to receive the first and second logs via a wireless communications network, the first and second sensors further configured to attach or otherwise insert, respectively, a first and a second send timestamp to their corresponding logs, the first and second send timestamps having values derived from their respective time counters when the respective logs are sent, the server being further configured to analyze the first and second logs to provide the state of occupancy of the pre-determined area;
- wherein:
- the first sensor and the second sensor are battery-operated passive infra-red motion sensors;
- and
- the server has access to a reference time counter and to topographic information concerning at least the first and second pre-determined zones, the first, second and reference time counters being configured to count at substantially a same frequency;
- and
- wherein said analysis by the server includes combining the topographic information of the first and second pre-determined zones and the timestamps synchronised according to the reference time counter.
7 more elements
A method for monitoring a state of occupancy of a pre-determined area, the method comprising:
- receiving a first report of a time when a movement was detected within a first pre-determined zone within the pre-determined area from a first sensor, the first sensor being a battery-operated passive infra-red motion sensor, the first report including a time when the movement was detected according to a local real-time clock of the first sensor and a message delivery time for the first report according to the local real-time clock of the first sensor;
- receiving a second report of a time when a movement was detected within a second pre-determined zone within the pre-determined area from a second sensor, the second sensor being a second battery-operated passive infra-red motion sensor, the second report including a time when the movement was detected according to a local real-time clock of the second sensor and a message delivery time for the second report according to the local real-time clock of the second sensor;
- comparing the message delivery time for the first report with a reference clock and using the comparison to calculate the time that the movement was detected by the first sensor in terms of the reference clock;
- comparing the message delivery time for the second report with the reference clock and using the comparison to calculate the time that the movement was detected by the second sensor in terms of the reference clock;
- verifying, in a database having topographic data on the first and second pre-determined zones, whether the first and second sensors have overlapping footprints;
- and
- attributing the two movements to be a single movement by a same live presence if the two movements have the same time in terms of the reference clock and if the two footprints have an overlap;
- attributing the two movements to be two separate movements by two separate live presences if the two movements have the same time in terms of the reference clock and if the two footprints do not overlap;
- and
- attributing the two movements to be separate movements by different live presences if the two movements have different times in terms of the reference time;
- wherein the first, second and reference time counters are configured to count at substantially a same frequency.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.