Indoor Positioning for Meeting Room Occupancy Without Dedicated Sensors
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Indoor positioning systems struggle to accurately determine meeting room occupancy without dedicated sensors, leading to uncertainty for users trying to book or interrupt meetings, as they rely on manual reporting or labor-intensive fingerprinting processes.
Innovation Solution
An indoor positioning system using wireless access point fingerprints correlates location data from devices to determine room occupancy, leveraging position-inference data and crowd-sourcing to assess whether a room is occupied, even in the absence of direct sensors, by combining location data with calendar and other system data to achieve a threshold level of confidence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If dedicated occupancy sensors (motion sensor, temperature sensor, pressure sensor) are installed in meeting rooms to detect actual presence, then occupancy detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity and installation cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses wireless access points as intermediary devices to detect occupancy. Instead of installing dedicated sensors in meeting rooms, the system leverages existing WiFi infrastructure where access points broadcast signals and mobile devices receive them, thereby inferring occupancy status without direct sensor installation in rooms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes mobile devices that users already carry as self-service occupancy indicators. These devices automatically participate in occupancy detection by receiving and reporting access point signals, eliminating the need for users to manually report or for additional sensing infrastructure.
2Ease of manufacture
If manual reporting or labor-intensive fingerprinting processes are used for occupancy determination, then system implementation cost is reduced, but productivity and responsiveness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors occupancy status by having mobile devices constantly receive and report access point signals. This continuous data collection enables real-time occupancy determination without manual intervention or periodic fingerprinting campaigns, maintaining both ease of implementation and high productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where mobile devices continuously report their location and presence status to the occupancy management system. This real-time feedback enables dynamic updates of meeting room occupancy status, allowing the system to respond immediately to changes without manual reporting delays.
3Device complexity
If existing network infrastructure and device data are used to determine occupancy, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision may worsen without direct sensors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the occupancy detection function across multiple mobile devices rather than relying on a single sensor. Each device independently reports its presence and location, and the system aggregates this distributed data to determine overall room occupancy, thereby maintaining precision through multiple independent measurements.
Solution Approach 2:
The wireless access points serve multiple functions: providing network connectivity and enabling occupancy detection. By making the existing WiFi infrastructure multi-functional, the system achieves accurate occupancy measurement without adding dedicated sensing devices, thus reducing overall system complexity while maintaining precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of determining room occupancy of a room in a facility having an indoor positioning system with wireless access point fingerprints each correlated to a location in the facility. The method may include receiving a request from a computing device for a room occupancy assessment associated with the room. It may further include obtaining location data that correlates to the location of one or more people from the indoor positioning system and determining from the location data associated with the room whether the room is occupied. The determination of whether the room is occupied is then sent to the computing device.