ES1220705U - Card board-device set for a work management and distribution system (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Set of board-card device for a work management and distribution system susceptible to synchronization with the help of a synchronization server (4) and an ALM server (5), said set (1) of a board (2) and at least one card device (3) adapted to be removably attached to said board, characterized said assembly because the card device is configured with: a) at least one front face (30) based on a material capable of being written manually and capable of being erased, and b) at least one adhesion area (31) disposed on the back face (32) opposite said front face having the capacity to adhere to the board (2) removably, and c) an NFC chip (33) with a unique identifier, also arranged on the rear face (32) capable of being read wirelessly by means of an external reading device (DEL).

Description

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DESCRIPTION

BOARD SET-CARD DEVICE FOR A WORK MANAGEMENT AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

SECTOR OF THE TECHNIQUE

It is known that work teams that use Kanban labels for the organization and distribution of work do so on physical Kanban boards and virtual Kanban boards. Those teams that use both types of boards have to synchronize the same work information manually and this causes delays and failures when organizing and distributing work among team members.

The present model comes to solve this problem of having to synchronize without help the information of both types of boards; by providing the physical kanban cards with an NFC chip that together with a mobile application resident in an external reading device or a board with NFC chip readers connected to a microcontroller can help us synchronize virtual kanban cards. In this way the number of errors in the management and distribution of the work is reduced and the speed of this is improved by not having to invest the time in having to synchronize both boards individually.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are different similar solutions but all of them are based on synchronization based on detection of printed codes on physical kanban labels. However, this type of solution forces the teams to print these codes for each physical label, which causes a great loss of time. In addition, this type of solutions has a worse speed in the process of detecting the printed code compared to the reading of the NFC chip of the kanban label. Finally, it should be noted that these types of solutions prevent the reuse of physical kanban cards which makes this utility model a more environmentally responsible solution.

Next, reference is made to commercially available products that make use of such solutions:

to)
https://spartez.com/products/agile-cards-for-jira

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b)
https://spartez.com/products/agile-cards-for-vsts-and-tfs

C)
https://www.wallsync.net/

EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

This kanban card is composed of a front layer that allows the writing and erasing of the activity of the work to be done, with a small fold on the side to facilitate the takeoff of it; behind the layer and right in the central part is the NFC chip, which will interact with the mobile application that will support the panel synchronization process; followed by the NFC chip it will be protected so that the metallic components of the physical panel do not prevent the chip from working; after the protection optionally there could be another NFC chip that would interact with the physical panel to aid in the synchronization of its state; and finally there would be a small layer on the side of the label with the magnet that makes it possible to adhere the kanban label to the board.

Additionally, a message, logo or company name or advertising with a direct visual impact could be printed or recorded on the front layer. The edges of the same front layer or the fold of it could be printed in different colors to increase the help of visual facilitation of work.

The present model comes to solve the problem of synchronization and loss of time that is created by using a physical kanban board and a virtual kanban board for the management and distribution of work; by providing the physical kanban cards with an NFC chip protected from metal surfaces and a magnet that together with a mobile application or a board with NFC chips help in such problems. In this way there is no management of the two boards at the same time, which reduces valuable time and reduces the number of errors; Kanban labels are reused, which saves costs; and also offers a help in the synchronization of the boards very interesting for those teams that are relocated.

In an embodiment according to the invention, the Kanban card is constructed of a plastic material that allows to erase the information written on it and with one of its sides raised with a fold to facilitate the manipulation of the card. On this front of the kanban card you could print or record a message, logo or company name or advertising with a direct visual impact. Also in the central part of your opposite face will go

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arranged a first passive NFC chip that will store the physical card identifier. Through this identifier a mobile device with NFC reading capability and through an application resident therein, synchronization between the physical board and the virtual board will be performed.

In an embodiment of the invention when the board is provided as a plate based on a material, the passive NFC chip will be protected with a ferrite layer so that the mobile device can interact with it without problems in the event that the card Kanban is magnetically adhered to the Kanban board.

Optionally on the opposite side of the ferrite protective layer an additional NFC chip can be positioned so that it can interact with the board in the same way as it would with the mobile external reading device. In this way, when the state of a kanban card is changed, the board will recognize that change and update the new state on the virtual board.

On the opposite side to the front and just on the side opposite the side raised by the fold, the permanent magnet will be placed allowing the kanban card to adhere to the metal board.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the invention will result more clearly from the description that follows with the help of the attached drawings, referring to non-limiting examples of execution and in which:

Figure 1 shows a scheme of principle of the system for work management and distribution in which the card-board assembly capable of synchronization according to the invention is used.

Figures 2 and 3 show respective front and rear perspective views of a card device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 shows an exploded detailed view of a card device in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the suit device of the invention.

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Figure 5 shows a schematic view of an alternative embodiment of the board according to the invention.

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate respective schematic views of additional embodiments of the card-board assembly susceptible to synchronization according to the invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

As shown in the figures, the board-device assembly indicated in general with reference (1) consists of a board (2) and at least one card-shaped device (3), hereinafter card device, which can be fixed removably on said board. This set is intended for use in a work management and distribution system which, as shown in figures 1, 6 and 7, comprises a synchronization server (4) and an ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) server (5) as Will explain in detail later.

As can be seen especially clearly in Figures 2 and 3, the card device (3) has a front face (30) based on a material that can be written manually and capable of being erased, and a back face provided of an adhesion area (31) that has the ability to adhere to the board (2) removably. In addition, it is appreciated that this card device (3) in, at least one of its edges, is configured with a handle portion (34) as a flange / flap that extends obliquely upwards from the board (2), so that its separation or detachment of said board is facilitated.

It can also be seen that said card device (3) is provided with an NFC chip (33) with a unique identifier, which is arranged on the back side (32) and whose chip can be read wirelessly by an external reading device (DEL), for example, an electronic device with mobile communications capability and adapted for reading said NFC chip.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the board (2) is provided based on a ferromagnetic material, while the adhesion area (31) of the device

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card (3), is configured as a band of permanent magnet material. Here, the NFC chip (33) is provided with a protective ferrite cover (35) to allow wireless reading even when it is attached to said ferromagnetic material board.

As illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 according to an alternative embodiment of the invention, the board (2) is equipped with at least one NFC reader (20), while the card device (3) is provided with a Additional NFC chip (36) arranged behind the protective ferrite cover (34). As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art so that this / these NFC reader (s) (20) can read the corresponding additional NFC chip (36) will be arranged in a corresponding hole / s or openings. (21) practiced on the board (2) devoid of ferromagnetic material.

According to an embodiment of the invention, as shown in Figure 5, the plurality of NFC readers (20) is arranged on the gaps (21) of the board (2), forming a set of rows and columns (n x m).

In yet another embodiment according to the invention as shown in Figures 6 and 7, the board (2) can be configured with a plate of ferromagnetic material (22) with holes (21) for mounting respective NFC readers (20) and a plate of material adapted for handwriting and manual eraser (23) superimposed in front of said ferromagnetic plate (22).

As can also be seen in said figures 6 and 7, according to the invention the NFC readers (20) can be connected to a microcontroller device (6) adapted for wireless communication with the synchronization server (4) as will be explained in detail later.

Although it is not part of the invention for reasons of clarity, the operation of the work management and distribution system of Figure 1 is described below, using the board-card assembly (2-3) of the invention as a kanban board and Kanban card by a work team.

Adding a work item

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In the first place, the title and a brief description of the task to be performed are written on the front face (30) of a card (3), then positioning said in the first column of the board (2).

Once said card (3) is positioned by means of a mobile application loaded in the external reading device (DEL), we will read the card positioned and it will be indicated in such application that it is a new work item in introducing with the application all the information fields required by the ALM server (5), that is, by registering a new work item in the life management system of the work items. It should be taken into account that the information we will enter is more detailed information than what we can physically write on the Kanban card (3).

All communication between the mobile application resident in the DEL device and the ALM server (5) will be done through a synchronization server (4) accessible by the mobile application and connected to the ALM server (5). In this synchronization server (4) the relationship between the physical identifiers that reside in the NFC chips (33) of the respective cards (3) and identifiers that are generated in the ALM server (5) will be stored.

Reading a work item

To read a work item, it will be enough to put into read mode the application that resides in the external reading device (DEL) and approximate it to the NFC chip (33) of a respective card (3) to be read, reading more exactly the identifier that resides in such an NFC chip (33) and sending a read request to the synchronization server (4). This server (4) will obtain the corresponding ALM server identifier (5) associated with the received NFC chip identifier and will obtain the requested work item information. The information received from the ALM server (5), is sent by the synchronization server (5) to the mobile application resident in the reading device DEL where the user can see it in detail.

Modification of a work item

To modify the information of an element and that is reflected in the ALM server (5), first, we proceed to read the card (3) kanban to modify.

Once the information is displayed in the mobile application on the DEL device the

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User will have the possibility to change it. The most common will be that you want to change the status of the card by having advanced in its progress. As an example, a work item could go through the following states: to be performed, analyzed, in progress, tests and completed. Each state will be reflected in a column of the board (2).

Desynchronization alert of a work item

The synchronization server (4) stores all work items and those that have not been completed will be checking that the status that resides on the ALM server (5) is the same as the one registered and that it will be the one in the physical board If at any time it detects that an item has been desynchronized by having a different status information between the ALM server (5) and the physical board, it will send a push notification to all users of the physical board so that they can resolve the desynchronization.

Linking a new existing element in the ALM server (5)

The synchronization server (4) at the time it detects that a new kanban card has been created on the ALM server (5) and is not registered on the physical board sends a push notification to the applications installed on the DEL devices of the users of the board to register the element created on the ALM server on the physical board

(5) . For this, the application will show all the information registered in the ALM server (5) and the user will only have to position his DEL device on the new physical kanban card created.

In turn, the operation of the system according to Figure 6 is as follows:

Modifying the status of a work item without a DEL device

To change the status of a kanban card (3), we will just have to place the card to change in the new status title and the NFC reader (20) that is positioned just behind the title will read the kanban card chip identifier and through the microcontroller

(6) the change of status will be requested from the synchronization server.

The synchronization server (4) will translate the identifier received by the ALM server identifier (5) to perform the action. The result of the request to be made to the server

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ALM (5) will in turn be sent to the microcontroller which, by means of a beep or light signal, will indicate to the user that the action could be performed correctly or not.

With regard to according to figure 7, its operation is as follows:

Modifying the status of a work item without a mobile device (DEL)

To change the state of a kanban card (3), we will only have to place the card to change in its new position inside the board and the NFC reader (20) that is positioned just behind it will read the NFC chip identifier (36 ) additional of the positioned kanban card and by means of the microcontroller (6) the change of state will be requested to the synchronization server (4).

The synchronization server (4) will translate the identifier received by the ALM server identifier (5) to perform the action. The result of the request that will be made to the ALM server (5) will be sent in turn to the microcontroller (6) which, by means of a beep or light signal, will indicate to the user that the action could be performed correctly or not.

Display of the status of the board positions with respect to the ALM server (5)

The microcontroller (6) will constantly be reading the NFC identifiers that have the kanban cards (3) that are positioned on the board (2) and receiving the status of the kanban cards (3) that are on the ALM server (5). Depending on the information received by the microcontroller, it will update the color of the board positions (3).

Here is a possible color scheme to use:

a) Blue: position available for a card (3) kanban.

b) Green: position occupied and synchronized with the ALM server (5).

c) Orange: position occupied and synchronized with the ALM server (5) but with some type of blocking or warning.

d) Red: position occupied and out of sync with the ALM server (5). It can happen when on the ALM server (5) a kanban card (3) has been positioned that has not been reflected on the physical board. Or when the card on the physical board is no longer in that state on the ALM server (5).

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Numerical references

1 Board-device card set

2 Board

20 NFC board chip readers

21 Board gaps 2

22 Ferromagnetic Board Plate

23 Board susceptible to writing / erasing the board

3 Card device

30 Front face card device

31 Card device membership area

32 Back side card device

33 NFC Chip

34 Portion of card device handle

35 Ferrite Protective Cover

36 additional NFC chip

4 Synchronization Server

5 ALM server

6 Microcontroller

DEL External reading device

A series of variants and modifications that, respecting the essentiality of the invention, adapt the execution to the design and the manufacturing possibilities will be evident to the person skilled in the art.

Claims (9)

5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 35 1. Board-card device set for a work management and distribution system capable of synchronization with the help of a synchronization server (4) and an ALM server (5), said set (1) consisting of a board ( 2) and at least one card device (3) adapted to be removably attached to said board, said set characterized in that the card device is configured with: a) at least one front face (30) based on a material that can be written manually and capable of being erased, and b) at least one adhesion area (31) disposed on the rear face (32) opposite said front face that has the ability to adhere to the board (2) removably, and c) an NFC chip (33) with a unique identifier, also arranged on the back side (32) that can be read wirelessly by an external reading device (DEL). 2. Board-device assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the external reading device (DEL) is an electronic device with mobile communication capability, adapted for remote reading of an NFC chip (33). 3. Assembly according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the card device (3) is provided on at least one of its edges, with a handle portion (34) as a flange / flap that extends obliquely upwards from the board (2) to facilitate its separation / detachment from said board. 4. Assembly according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the board (2) is provided as a plate (22) based on a ferromagnetic material, the adhesion area (31) of the card device being provided as a band of permanent magnet material and the NFC chip (33) being provided with a ferrite protective cover (35) to allow wireless reading even when it is attached to said ferromagnetic material board. 5. Assembly according to claim 4, characterized in that the board (2) consists of an additional plate based on non-metallic material (23) capable of being written manually and capable of being erased and whose additional plate (23) is superimposed in front of the ferromagnetic plate (22) 6. Assembly according to at least one of the preceding claims that the on-board (2) is equipped with at least one NFC reader (20) housed in at least one hole 5 (21) devoid of ferromagnetic material practiced on the board (2) and the card device (3) with an additional NFC chip (36) arranged behind the protective ferrite cover (35). 7. Assembly according to claim 6 characterized in that on the board (2) 10 equipped with a plurality of NFC readers (20) forming a set of rows and columns (n x m). 8. Assembly according to at least one of claims 5 and 6, characterized in that each NFC reader (20) is connected to a microcontroller device (6) 15 capable of wireless communication with the synchronization server (4). 9. Assembly according to at least one of the preceding claims characterized in that it is provided as a kanban board-card assembly.