Beacon-Based Virtual Queue Management for Customer Waiting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers face tedious and time-consuming waiting experiences in queues without real-time updates on service availability, leading to discouraged repeat visits and negative impacts on business revenue and customer satisfaction, while existing queue management systems fail to effectively integrate with beacon technology and indoor positioning systems to provide granular location information and manage queues efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method using beacons and indoor positioning systems to communicate with customer devices, providing real-time queue management by receiving device identifiers and location information, verifying user participation, assigning tokens for queue entry, and estimating processing times, allowing customers to join virtual queues and receive alerts for physical queue entry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If customers wait in physical queues without real-time information, then queue management is simple, but customer satisfaction decreases and time is wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows customers to join virtual queues in advance through mobile devices before physically arriving at the service location. This preliminary action enables customers to reserve their place in the queue remotely, eliminating the need to physically wait in line and reducing customer waiting time while maintaining manageable system complexity through digital token assignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a queue management server as an intermediary between customers and service providers. The server coordinates virtual queue participation, processes token assignments, and communicates wait times to customers via mobile devices. This intermediary layer enables real-time queue management and information dissemination without requiring complex direct communication between all system components.
2Measurement precision
If beacons transmit signals frequently, then location accuracy improves, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic beacon signal transmission at optimized intervals rather than continuous transmission. Mobile devices receive location updates from beacons at regular intervals sufficient for accurate queue management and positioning, while allowing beacons to enter low-power states between transmissions. This periodic operation maintains measurement precision for location tracking while significantly reducing overall energy consumption of the beacon network.
3Loss of information
If the system tracks all queue participants, then queue analytics improve, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The queue management system leverages the mobile devices of participants as self-service tracking units. Each participant's mobile device automatically reports its status, location, and queue participation information to the central server without requiring complex external tracking infrastructure. This approach achieves comprehensive queue information collection while keeping system complexity manageable by utilizing the inherent capabilities of participants' personal devices.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems disclosed herein utilize location signals received from beacons and other indoor positioning systems along with an application program on customer devices for better management of customer traffic in physical queues and virtual queues, specifically in environments such as airports, food courts, shopping malls, and amusement parks. These methods and systems also provide a customer with a token for his place in the queue on his mobile device, so he is free to continue with his activities until it is time for him to acquire a product or a service.