Room management system

Abstract

To improve convenience when users want to use rooms.SOLUTION: When an operation to use a room is input to a mobile terminal device 90, a management device 14 extracts one or more unused rooms from among a plurality of rooms. For each of the extracted rooms, the management device calculates travel costs from locations where wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d that relay communication with the mobile terminal device 90 are installed. The mobile terminal device 90 displays the rooms extracted by the management device 14 in ascending order of the travel costs calculated by the management device 14.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a room management system for managing rooms such as conference rooms.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a conference room reservation system.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In the conference room reservation system of Patent Document 1, since the position of the conference room user terminal is specified from GPS or base station information, when reserving a conference room near the conference room user terminal, it is not necessary to specify the location on the conference room reservation screen. However, these positioning methods have relatively low accuracy and it is difficult to measure the position inside a building. In particular, in an office spanning multiple floors, it is not always easy to identify the conference room closest to the user. This invention aims to solve problems such as these, and while suppressing equipment costs, to grasp detailed position information including the floor information where the user is located.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] The room management system includes a plurality of wireless communication access point devices installed at predetermined locations for relaying communication with mobile terminal devices carried by users, and a management device for managing the usage status of a plurality of rooms. When an operation to use a room is input to the mobile terminal device, the management device extracts at least one unused room from the plurality of rooms, and calculates the moving cost from the location where the wireless communication access point device relaying communication with the mobile terminal device is installed for each of the extracted rooms. The mobile terminal device displays the rooms extracted by the management device in ascending order of the moving cost calculated by the management device.

Advantages of the Invention

[0006] Based on the wireless communication access point device to which the mobile terminal device is connected, the position of the user can be grasped, so that detailed position information including the floor information where the user is located can be grasped while suppressing the equipment cost. Then, based on the position information grasped in this way, a room close to the position where the user is located is presented, so that an appropriate room can be presented to the user.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0008] Referring to FIG. 1, the office 80 will be described. The office 80 is a space where users such as employees work, and has, for example, a plurality of floors 81a and 81b. On the floor 81a, there are provided offices 82a, and meeting rooms 84a and 84b, and in the office 82a, a plurality of seats 83a and 83b are provided. Similarly, on the floor 81b, there are provided offices 82b, and meeting rooms 84c and 84d, and in the office 82b, a plurality of seats 83c and 83d are provided. The office 80 has, for example, a free address system. In principle, users can choose a preferred seat from among seats 83a to 83d, sit down, and work there. The conference rooms 84a to 84d are, for example, reservation-based. If a user wishes to use one of the conference rooms 84a to 84d, they need to specify the usage time and make a reservation in advance. If it is an urgent meeting and a reservation cannot be made in advance, it is also possible to reserve an available conference room on the spot. In addition, the office 80 has wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d. The wireless communication access point devices 13a and 13b are provided on floor 81a, and the wireless communication access point devices 13c and 13d are provided on floor 81b.

[0009] Referring to FIG. 2, the room management system 10 will be described. The room management system 10 manages the reservation status and usage status of rooms such as the conference rooms 84a to 84d. The room management system 10 has, for example, NFC tags 12a to 12d (near-field communication tags), the above-described wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d, and a management device 14.

[0010] The NFC tag 12a is installed on the seat 83a. Similarly, the NFC tag 12b is installed on the seat 83b, the NFC tag 12c is installed on the seat 83c, and the NFC tag 12d is installed on the seat 83d. The NFC tags 12a to 12d each store in advance data representing the seats 83a to 83d on which the tags are installed. The NFC tags 12a to 12d can communicate wirelessly with the portable terminal device 90 (such as a smartphone) carried by the user when the portable terminal device 90 is within a very narrow range of about 10 cm (centimeters) in radius. When the user sits down on the seat, the user brings the mobile terminal device 90 he / she is carrying closer to the NFC tags 12a to 12d installed on that seat. When the mobile terminal device 90 enters the communicable range with the NFC tag, the NFC tag transmits the stored data to the mobile terminal device 90. By receiving this, the mobile terminal device 90 acquires the data representing the seat on which the user is sitting. The mobile terminal device 90 transmits the acquired data to the management device 14. Thereby, the management device 14 can grasp the seat on which the user is sitting.

[0011] The wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d are connected to a LAN (Local Area Network) installed in the office 80. The wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13e can perform wireless communication with the mobile terminal device 90 when the mobile terminal device 90 is within a relatively wide range of, for example, about 15 m (meters) in radius. When the mobile terminal device 90 carried by the user enters the communicable range of the wireless communication access point device, the mobile terminal device 90 communicates with the wireless communication access point device. When the wireless communication access point device successfully authenticates the mobile terminal device 90, the wireless communication access point device permits access to the LAN by the mobile terminal device 90 and relays communication between the mobile terminal device 90 and, for example, the management device 14. In addition, the wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d transmit a list of the mobile terminal devices 90 connected to the wireless communication access point device to the management device 14 at a predetermined interval (for example, 1 minute). If the mobile terminal device 90 is included in this list, it can be known that the mobile terminal device 90 (and the user carrying it) is within the communicable range of the wireless communication access point device.

[0012] The management device 14 is, for example, a server device and manages the usage status of the conference rooms 84a to 84d. For example, install in advance an application program for reserving a meeting room in the mobile terminal device 90. The user starts this application program and inputs operations such as tapping a button displayed on the screen. The operations input by the user are transmitted to the management device 14 via a wireless LAN, a public communication line, or the like. The management device 14 accepts the reservation of the meeting room based on the operation content received from the mobile terminal device 90. The management device 14 stores the reservation accepted in this way and manages it so that no duplicate reservation occurs.

[0013] For example, when the user operates the mobile terminal device 90 to input conditions such as the number of meeting participants, the time period when the meeting is to be held, and the time required for the meeting, the mobile terminal device 90 transmits these conditions to the management device 14. The management device 14 extracts a meeting room that matches the conditions transmitted from the mobile terminal device 90 based on the stored reservation status and transmits a list thereof to the mobile terminal device 90. When the mobile terminal device 90 displays the list transmitted from the management device 14 and the user selects a meeting room to be reserved from the displayed list, the mobile terminal device 90 transmits the selected meeting room to the management device 14. The management device 14 finalizes the reservation of the meeting room transmitted from the mobile terminal device 90 and updates the stored reservation status.

[0014] Also, when the user wants to use a meeting room immediately, the management device 14 extracts a meeting room that is close to the current location of the user from the unused meeting rooms. For example, when the user taps the "Use Meeting Immediately" button displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal device 90 by the application program, the mobile terminal device 90 notifies the management device 14 of this. The management device 14 extracts unused meeting rooms from among the meeting rooms 84a to 84d based on the stored reservation status. Here, "unused" may include not only the case where it is vacant at that time but also the case where it will become vacant in the very near future, for example, when the previous meeting is scheduled to end within 5 minutes.

[0015] In addition, the management device 14 grasps the position of the mobile terminal device 90 (and the user carrying it) based on the information received from the mobile terminal device 90 and the wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d. For example, when the mobile terminal device 90 carried by the user is connected to any one of the wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d, it can be known that the mobile terminal device 90 is near the connected wireless communication access point device. Therefore, the management device 14 determines that the user is at the position where the wireless communication access point device is installed. When the mobile terminal device 90 carried by the user is not connected to any of the wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d, the position of the user cannot be grasped based on the connected wireless communication access point device. In that case, it is considered that the user is outside the communicable range of the wireless communication access point devices 13a to 13d, such as being temporarily out. In that case, it is considered that the user will soon return from going out, and when returning, it is assumed that the user will sit down again at the seat where the user was sitting before going out. Therefore, the management device 14 may determine that the user is at the seat where the user last sat.

[0016] Then, the management device 14 creates a list in which the extracted conference rooms are arranged in ascending order of proximity to the position of the user based on the grasped position of the user. Here, whether it is close or far may be determined based on the cost required to move from the position of the user to the conference room, rather than the straight-line distance. For example, the length of the movement path from the position of the user to the conference room may be calculated to determine whether it is close or far. Also, moving between floors requires more cost than moving within the same floor. Therefore, for moving means such as elevators and stairs that move between floors, even if the length of the movement path is the same as when moving within the floor, it may be treated as having a high movement cost. For example, weighting may be performed based on the height difference.

[0017] The management device 14 transmits the created list to the mobile terminal device 90. The mobile terminal device 90 displays the list received from the management device 14 in ascending order of proximity to the location of the user. The user selects a meeting room to use from this list. Note that the list created by the management device 14 and displayed by the mobile terminal device 90 may include information such as the available number of people (the size of the meeting room) and the available time (the time until the start time of the next reservation), which is useful for the user to select a meeting room. In addition, the mobile terminal device 90 may input conditions such as the number of users and the use time, and display a filtered list based on the input conditions. Even in such a case, it is preferable that the mobile terminal device 90 first displays the list received from the management device 14 without filtering, and only displays the filtered list when the user inputs conditions. This is because in such cases, securing a meeting room is the top priority, and conditions are often secondary, so it is possible to reduce the effort of user operations.

[0018] When the user inputs conditions to the mobile terminal device 90, the user may input other users who will participate in the meeting. In that case, the management device 14 may rearrange the list of available meeting rooms based on the locations of the mobile terminal devices carried by other users input by the mobile terminal device 90. For example, for each user using the meeting room, calculate the moving cost to the meeting room, rearrange the list in ascending order from the meeting room with the smallest total, transmit it to the mobile terminal device 90, and display it on the mobile terminal device 90. Note that the moving cost in this case may be weighted based on the user's position, age, handicap, etc.

[0019] When the user selects a meeting room to reserve from the displayed list, the mobile terminal device 90 transmits the selected meeting room to the management device 14. The management device 14 finalizes the reservation of the meeting room transmitted from the mobile terminal device 90 and updates the stored reservation status.

[0020] In this way, the position of the user is grasped based on the wireless communication access point device to which the mobile terminal device is connected or the position of the seat where the user was seated. Therefore, while suppressing equipment costs, it is possible to grasp detailed position information including the floor information where the user is located. Then, based on the position information grasped in this way, a room close to the position where the user is located is presented, so that an appropriate room can be presented to the user.

[0021] The embodiments described above are examples for facilitating the understanding of the present invention. The present invention is not limited thereto, and includes various modifications, changes, additions, or removals without departing from the scope defined by the appended claims. This can be easily understood by those skilled in the art from the above description.

[0022] When the user wants to use a meeting room immediately, there is no need to check for available meeting rooms from a calendar app or the like linked to the meeting room system and then select and reserve the corresponding meeting room. In addition, in order to select the meeting room closest to oneself among a large number of meeting rooms, it is linked with a detailed position detection system at the level inside the building including the floor number. The position of a person is detected at the level inside the building including the floor number information, and when making a meeting reservation with a hand-held terminal (assuming a smartphone), the closest meeting room is reserved. When an employee needs a meeting room, the closest meeting room is selected and reserved using the Wifi information connected to the employee's hand-held terminal. At that time, the number of people and the usage time are selected, and a meeting room that meets the conditions is automatically selected. The overall flow of this system is shown below. (1) An employee who wants to use a meeting room connects to the system from a hand-held terminal or a PC. (2) The position information of the person making the reservation at the level inside the building is obtained from the Wifi information connected to the employee's terminal or the NFC touch (work area) history, and the closest currently available meeting rooms are displayed in ascending order of proximity. (3) The person making the reservation can input the number of people and the usage time, and when input, the display of meeting rooms that do not meet the conditions is erased. By cooperating with a position detection system capable of acquiring position information at the building level, even when there are multiple conference rooms in the building, the conference room closest to the user can be selected with higher accuracy, and the trouble of movement can be saved. By enabling easy registration when wanting to use a conference room, convenience is improved and the utilization rate of the conference room space is enhanced.

Explanation of Signs

[0023] 10 Room management system, 12a~12d NFC tags, 13a~13d Wireless communication access point devices, 14 Management device, 80 Office, 81a,81b Floors, 82a,82b Offices, 83a~83d Seats, 84a~84d Conference rooms, 90 Mobile terminal device.

Claims

1. A plurality of wireless communication access point devices respectively installed at predetermined locations and relaying communication with a portable terminal device carried by a user, and a management device for managing the usage status of a plurality of rooms. The system is provided with: The management device: When an operation to use a room is input to the portable terminal device, at least one unused room is extracted from the plurality of rooms, For each of the extracted rooms, the movement cost from the position where the wireless communication access point device relaying communication with the portable terminal device for which the operation was input is installed is calculated, The portable terminal device: Displays the rooms extracted by the management device in ascending order of the movement cost calculated by the management device. A room management system.

2. A plurality of wireless communication access point devices respectively installed at predetermined locations and relaying communication with a portable terminal device carried by a user, and a management device for managing the usage status of a plurality of rooms. The system is provided with: The management device: When an operation to use a room is input to the portable terminal device, unused rooms are extracted from the plurality of rooms, For each of the extracted rooms, the movement cost from the position where the wireless communication access point device relaying communication with the portable terminal device carried by the user using the room is installed is calculated, The portable terminal device: Displays the rooms extracted by the management device in ascending order of the movement cost calculated by the management device. A room management system.

3. The management device: When none of the wireless communication access point devices relays communication with the portable terminal device, calculates the movement cost from the seat where the user carrying the portable terminal device last sat. The room management system according to Claim 1 or 2.

4. The system further includes a plurality of short-range wireless communication tags respectively installed on a plurality of seats, The management device: When the portable terminal device communicates with any one of the short-range wireless communication tags, determines that the user has taken a seat at the seat where the short-range wireless communication tag is installed. The room management system according to Claim 3.

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