Remote Agent Kiosk for Airport Check-In Assistance Coverage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Airline agents must be physically present at airports to assist passengers with check-in, leading to high costs and limited coverage, and there is no assistance available outside airports or when agents are not on duty.
Innovation Solution
A self-service kiosk system that allows remote airline agents to assist passengers using cloud-based services, equipped with proximity sensors, directional microphones, cameras, and dual virtual monitors for live bi-directional communication, enabling agents to work from any location with internet access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If agents are physically present at airports to assist passengers, then passenger assistance is available, but operational costs increase and coverage is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical presence of agents at physical airport locations with a remote agent system that uses video conferencing technology. Agents communicate with passengers through video calls from remote locations, eliminating the need for physical presence at airports while maintaining assistance availability. This substitution of mechanical presence with digital communication resolves the contradiction between assistance availability and operational cost efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a video conferencing system as an intermediary between agents and passengers. This intermediary technology enables remote interaction, allowing agents to assist passengers without being physically present at the airport. The video conferencing system serves as the mediator that bridges the gap between remote agent locations and airport passengers, resolving the contradiction by enabling assistance availability without proportional increases in operational costs.
2Productivity
If agents work from remote locations, then operational costs decrease, but real-time assistance capability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes the mechanical limitation of physical distance with digital communication technology. By using video conferencing systems, the patent enables real-time interaction between remote agents and passengers despite physical separation. This substitution maintains reliability of real-time assistance while achieving operational cost efficiency through remote agent locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent ensures continuity of useful action by maintaining continuous video communication channels between agents and passengers. The system enables uninterrupted real-time interaction, allowing agents to provide ongoing assistance from remote locations without interruption. This continuous communication capability resolves the contradiction by maintaining reliability while reducing operational costs through remote work.
3Area of stationary object
If agents are deployed at multiple airport locations, then coverage area increases, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the agent presence requirement from specific physical locations. By removing the constraint that agents must be physically present at airports, the system can serve multiple airports from a single remote location. This extraction of the location requirement simplifies the deployment model, allowing one agent to potentially serve multiple airports simultaneously through remote video conferencing, thus increasing coverage area without proportional increases in system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal remote agent system that can serve multiple airports and locations from a single base. The video conferencing infrastructure provides multi-functionality, enabling agents to assist passengers at various airports simultaneously or sequentially. This universal approach increases the effective coverage area while maintaining relatively simple system architecture, as the same remote infrastructure serves all locations.
Data Source
AI summary
A kiosk or terminal for use by a passenger, customer or user is provided the kiosk or terminal comprising: detector configured to detect presence and/or movement of the passenger, customer or user in a predetermined area defined in relation to the kiosk or terminal; wherein the detector is communicatively coupled to a module wherein the module is configured to: receive a detection signal from the detector in response to the presence and/or movement of the passenger, customer or user within the predetermined area; in response to receiving the detection signal, initiate a session with a remote agent terminal; wherein the kiosk is configured to allow the agent to remotely login to the kiosk and to control the kiosk and/or view a display device of the kiosk to complete one or more functions initiated by the user. A corresponding method, a computer program and a system are also provided.