Workplace Movement Visualizations Using Wireless Beacons
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current location-enabled devices lack effective methods to track and analyze the movement and productivity of individuals within a worksite, leading to inefficiencies and potential productivity losses due to inadequate data integration and visualization tools.
Innovation Solution
A digital turnaround system utilizing personal wireless beacons and Wi-Fi access points to track location data, providing real-time analysis and visualization tools that compare beacon presence with access control system data, enabling insights into productivity and efficiency improvements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If location tracking using personal wireless beacons is implemented, then workforce movement and productivity data can be captured, but system complexity and data integration requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces Wi-Fi access points as intermediary devices that facilitate communication between personal wireless beacons and the central server. These access points act as mediators that receive beacon signals, determine location based on signal strength, and relay information to the server, thereby reducing direct system complexity while enabling comprehensive tracking
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes existing Wi-Fi infrastructure to perform location tracking functions. Personal wireless beacons automatically transmit their presence and location information without requiring manual intervention or additional specialized tracking hardware, allowing the system to leverage existing resources for productivity enhancement
2Loss of information
If real-time location data collection is implemented across multiple work areas, then productivity analysis capability is improved, but data processing and analysis requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary data processing by having Wi-Fi access points determine location information and validate beacon presence data before transmitting to the central server. This preliminary filtering and processing reduces the volume of raw data requiring centralized analysis, thereby decreasing overall data processing time while maintaining comprehensive tracking coverage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the worksite into multiple designated work areas, each monitored by specific Wi-Fi access points. This segmentation allows parallel processing of location data across different zones, reducing the time required to analyze movement patterns and productivity metrics across the entire facility
3Measurement precision
If integration with access control systems is implemented, then data accuracy and verification are improved, but system integration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the personal wireless beacons serve multiple functions: they act as both location tracking devices and access control credentials. The same beacon used for authentication at access points also continuously transmits location data, eliminating the need for separate tracking devices and reducing overall system integration complexity while improving data accuracy
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus for generating workplace movement visualizations. A method includes receiving a request for a user interface presentation that presents time spent by individuals in productive areas of a work site; receiving data specifying the presence of a plurality of personal wireless beacons within each of a plurality of areas of the worksite, wherein a first area of the plurality of areas is designated a productive area and wherein a second area of the plurality of areas is designated a nonproductive area; —computing, for each of a plurality of time periods, a respective count of individuals within the first area designated as a productive area; generating a user interface presentation that presents the respective counts of individuals within the productive area; and providing the generated user interface presentation in response to the request.