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US 2018/0005142 A1Published application
Method for determining venue and restaurant occupancy from ambient sound levels
OwnerAli Meruani, Benjamin Leigh Greenawayinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention is a method and device system for determining publishing and taking reservation requests against a venue offering a restricted or resource-limited service or, a restaurant, bar or café whose occupancy is limited. The method can function unattended and provide the measure of availability from ambient sound levels, using digital acoustic sensors (microphones) and a machine learning process to predict and publish the availability of the resource or occupancy level of the space in which it is contained.
Claims19
1:
- an apparatus able to determine either the occupancy level of the venue or space in which it resides or the availability of services within the venue or space in which it resides from a combination of the venue or space's ambient sound level, a recent history of the venue or space's ambient sound level and a series of training inputs recorded over the duration of the recent history of the venue or space's ambient sound level.
2:
- an apparatus of claim 1 comprising:
- a combined wireless digital audio recording device and wireless touchscreen;
- a networked central computing device;
- and a custom software application running on the networked central computing device.
1 more element
3:
- an apparatus of claim 1 comprising:
- a wireless digital audio recording device;
- a wireless touchscreen input device;
- a networked central computing device;
- and a custom software application running on the networked central computing device.
2 more elements
4:
- the combined wireless digital audio recording device and wireless touchscreen of claim 2 wherein values for the minimum, maximum and mean power levels of sound most recently recorded are updated and relayed regularly to the networked central computer and custom software application.
5:
- the wireless digital audio recording device of claim 3 wherein values for the minimum, maximum and mean power levels of sound most recently recorded are updated regularly by the networked central computer and custom software application receiving the devices recordings.
6:
- the combined wireless digital audio recording device and wireless touchscreen of claim 2 wherein touchable button inputs may be pressed to assign a level of availability to a resource indicated on the screen and relayed to the networked central computing device.
7:
- the wireless touchscreen device of claim 3 wherein touchable button inputs may be pressed to assign a level of availability to a resource indicated on the screen and relayed to the networked central computing device.
8:
- the combined wireless digital audio recording device and wireless touchscreen of claim 2 wherein touchable button inputs may be pressed to assign a level of occupancy to a venue or space indicated on the screen.
9:
- the wireless touchscreen device of claim 3 wherein touchable button inputs may be pressed to assign a level of occupancy to a venue or space indicated on the screen.
10:
- the custom software application of claim 2 wherein values for the minimum, maximum and mean sound power level from the combined wireless digital audio recording device and wireless touchscreen is processed and recorded to constitute an ambient sound level history.
11:
- the custom software application of claim 3 wherein values for the Minimum, maximum and mean sound power level from the wireless digital audio recording device is processed and recorded to constitute an ambient sound level history.
12:
- the custom software application of claim 10 wherein the ambient sound level history is combined with levels for availability and or occupancy from inputs to the touchscreen to train a machine learning model for availability and or occupancy of the venue and or space.
13:
- the custom software application of claim 11 wherein the ambient sound level history is combined with levels for availability and or occupancy from inputs to the touchscreen to train a machine learning model for availability and or occupancy of the venue and or space.
14:
- the networked central computing device of claim 2 wherein the networked central computing device is located remotely of the combined wireless digital audio recording device and wireless touchscreen and connected to said combined device via an Internet connection.
15:
- the networked central computing device of claim 3 wherein the networked central computing device is located remotely of the wireless touchscreen device and the wireless digital audio recording device and is connected to them both via an Internet connection.
16:
- the custom software application of claim 2 wherein a schedule of optional training inputs for training a machine learning model for availability and or occupancy may be defined in calendar form and included along with the machine learning model's other inputs when they become due.
17:
- the custom software application of claim 3 wherein a schedule of optional training inputs for training a machine learning model for availability and or occupancy may be defined in calendar form and in along with the machine learning model's other inputs when they become due.
18:
- the custom software application of claim 2 wherein is made available to a web application programming interface (Web API or “web-service endpoint”) the determined availability and or occupancy level.
19:
- the custom software application of claim 3 wherein is made available to a web application programming interface (Web API or “web-service endpoint”) the determined availability and or occupancy level.