Server Device for Real-Time Position Tracking in Free Address Workspaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
In environments where employees use a free address system, it can be time-consuming for individuals to locate colleagues for meetings due to the lack of efficient tracking of user positions across a floor, especially when a large number of employees from different departments share the same space.
Innovation Solution
A server device and entry/exit management system that acquires biological information from users, stores user IDs and position information in databases, and transmits the location of desired meeting persons to authentication terminals upon successful authentication, allowing visitors to easily locate intended meeting participants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a free address system is implemented to allow employees to freely use vacant seats, then workspace flexibility and adaptability are improved, but the time required to locate colleagues for meetings increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements real-time feedback by continuously tracking user positions through terminal devices and immediately providing location information to visitors. The server receives position data from multiple terminals, stores it in the attendee management database, and quickly retrieves and transmits the desired person's location to the visitor's terminal, creating a closed-loop information feedback system that resolves the time loss issue
Solution Approach 2:
The server acts as an intermediary between attendees and visitors. Instead of visitors directly searching for colleagues in a flexible workspace, the server mediates by collecting position information from various terminal devices and providing it to visitors upon request, enabling efficient location discovery without compromising workspace flexibility
2Reliability
If biological information authentication is implemented for entry control, then security and reliability are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The server device performs multiple functions: it manages entry/exit authentication using biological information, tracks user positions throughout the facility, stores attendee information in databases, and provides location queries to visitors. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single server system, the patent achieves high security through biometric authentication while avoiding the need for multiple separate complex systems
Data Source
AI summary
The server device includes an acquisition unit, a user database, an attendee management database, and a processing unit. The acquisition unit acquires biological information for each of a plurality of users using an entry/exit management system. The user database associates the biological information with user IDs respectively identifying the users and stores the same. The attendee management database associates the user ID corresponding to an attendee in a restricted area, into which entry and exit is restricted, with position information for the attendee, and stores the same. The processing unit transmits the position information of a meeting candidate, who a visitor wants to meet, to an authentication terminal. The authentication terminal is a terminal which, if an authentication using the biological information recorded in the user database is successful, permits a successfully authenticated user to enter the restricted area.