FR2928217A1 - METHOD, SYSTEM AND INSTALLATION FOR DELIVERING ACCESSIBILITY DATA TO A SITE - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, system and installation for delivering accessibility data to a site (11), said treaty, providing a service to users.The method comprises the following steps: - determining the number of points of open access based on data relating to the state of the counters / boxes of said treated site (11), - determination, according to the number of open access points of a level of accessibility to the service rendered by said site treated (11), - optional determination of the attendance on the site for the adjustment of the level of accessibility, - transmission, of data relating to said level of accessibility to a center (14), called processing, through a communication network, and- issuing, by said processing center (14), through a communication network, information relating to said accessibility level of said treated site (11).

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for delivering accessibility data to a site. It also relates to a system and an installation implementing this method. The field of the invention is the field of issuing accessibility data to a site, such as a swimming pool, a bank office, a parking lot, a supermarket. Accessibility to a site means the possibility of accessing, for users or customers, any service offered by the site in question at this site. Currently, there are methods and systems for determining the level of traffic to a site. Most often, we encounter such systems in car parks where these systems realize a display, on an external screen, of the availability or not of the parking spaces by a signal such as complete or free. The operation of these systems is as follows. In the case of car parks, detection means make it possible to determine the number of vehicles entering the car park and the number of vehicles leaving the car park. According to these data, calculation means determine the number of vehicles present in the car park. As the total number of parking spaces is known, display means arranged at the site concerned are ordered to indicate to users the filling status of the parking. However, these systems are limited in the provision of accessibility data to users or users of a site, that is to say the effective capacity of this site to provide the requested service. Indeed, the information delivered by these systems generally remain limited to the site's attendance. But this information in itself is not sufficient: a zero attendance can for example mean both the site is closed or the availability is total. In the case of identical attendance levels at two sites, their respective accessibility may also vary according to the number of wickets or access points to the service. - 2

An object of the invention is to overcome the drawbacks that have just been stated by delivering accessibility data relating to a site that is not solely a function of site use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method and a system for a simple and ergonomic control of accessibility data to the service provided on the site treated. The invention proposes to remedy the aforementioned problems by a method for delivering accessibility data relating to a site, said treaty, providing a service to users and comprising at least one access point to said proposed service, said method comprising the following steps: - determination of the number of open access points according to data relating to the state of the access points of said treated site, - determination, according to the number of open access points of a level of access. accessibility to the service rendered by said treated site, - transmission of data relating to said level of accessibility to a center, said processing, through a communication network, and - delivery, by said treatment center, through a communication network, information relating to said level of accessibility of said treated site. Access point means the boxes, counters, or any other installation through which the user can access the service offered by the site treated. The method according to the invention makes it possible to provide users with data relating to accessibility to a site in an ergonomic manner. The method according to the invention makes it possible to avoid an unnecessary displacement of the user to the treated site when he can not access the site, and therefore to the service proposed by the site, for example when the site is unavailable or when service access points of the treated site are closed. 20 - 3

Indeed, the user can access accessibility information to the treated site through the communication network without moving. The communication network between the processed site and the processing center may be the same as the communication network through which the processing center delivers the accessibility information to the users. Advantageously, the method according to the invention may further comprise a transmission of the treated site to the data processing center relating to the number of open access points to the service, and a delivery by said processing site, through the communication network. , information on the number of access points to the service open on the treated site. Furthermore, the method according to the invention may advantageously comprise, before the transmission step, the following steps: determination, by detection of presence, of the number of people frequenting said treated site, and adjustment of the level of accessibility based on data relating to said number of people attending said treated site. The level of accessibility can actually be adjusted according to the number of people attending the treated site. Indeed, when there is a significant attendance of the treated site then access to the service rendered by the treated site is more difficult. High attendance relative to the number of open crates causes high waiting times in a supermarket. A large number of swimmers per pool decreases access to the pool and the service provided by the pool. Knowing an average waiting time or presence per customer, 30 the number of customers and the number of service access points open, that is to say wickets, boxes, basins, etc. on the treaty site, the method according to the invention makes it possible to adjust the level of accessibility to the service at the level of the processing center. Accessibility data for the site is transmitted to the processing center which delivers information - 4

accessibility to users who can not go to the site treated when the level of accessibility to the service is low, for example when the waiting time is important.

The method of the invention allows a better regulation of access to the site treated by users through better information provided, particularly limiting peaks of dating. Advantageously, the method according to the invention may further comprise a transmission of the treated site to the data processing center relating to the number of people frequenting the treated site, and a delivery by said processing center of information relating to said number of people. . In a particular version of the method according to the invention, the determination of the number of people frequenting the treated site may comprise: a determination of the number of people entering said treated site, a determination of the number of people leaving said treated site, and subtracting said number of outgoing persons from said number of incoming persons. Determining the number of people entering and / or leaving the treated site includes detecting each of the persons entering and / or leaving by suitably positioned presence detecting means, and counting and / or counting the detected persons. Of course, before each opening of the treated site or after each closure of the treated site, the number of people present on the treated site can be automatically reset. The method according to the invention may advantageously comprise a manual decrease or increase in the number of people entering the treated site or the number of people leaving the treated site, to take into account the staff of the treated site or the people working on the site. treated site and so do not distort the count. - 5

The determination of the number of access points open service can be performed automatically according to data on the state of said access points, that is to say without manual intervention of an operator. In this case, the data relating to the state of each of the access points is sent automatically to the processing center. This data can be sent: - either by each of the access points, or - by a central module, communicating with all the access points and receiving from each of the latter data relating to its operation. This module groups the data relating to the state, open or closed, of all the access points. This module can send either the data relating to each of the access points, or directly the total number of open access points. The number of access points can also be entered manually by an operator either directly to the processing center or to the central module described above. Advantageously, the method according to the invention may comprise a display on display means at the level of the treated site, of at least one information selected from the following list: the level of accessibility of the service on said treated site, the number of open access points on said treated site, - the number of people attending said treated site. - a fill rate, that is to say a ratio between the number of people attending the treated site, and the maximum number of eligible persons - an estimated waiting time, determined according to a waiting time average per person, the number of people present, and the number of open access points on the site. The determination, transmission and display of data concerning the number of open access points on the treated site and / or the number of people frequenting the treated site can be achieved.

substantially in real time at a predetermined frequency by the site operator or the central system operator. The communication network between the treatment center and the treated site and the treatment center and / or the user may be an Internet or GPRS type network. In a particular embodiment, the delivery of information by the treated site may comprise: - a display of said information at a website available to users, - a sending of an SMS-type telephone message on a device through the GPRS network, and / or - sending an email on a computer device through the Internet.

Moreover, the sending of the telephone message and / or the email can be triggered by a predetermined limit, for example by the user, the level of accessibility. The user may request to be informed that the level of accessibility is below a lower and / or higher limit.

The method according to the invention can be implemented for the delivery of accessibility data relating to a plurality of treated sites, similar or not, for example a swimming pool, a parking lot, a supermarket, a gym, or other. Thus the user can organize his day to be more efficient.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for delivering accessibility data relating to a site, said treaty, providing a service to users and comprising at least one access point to the proposed service, said method comprising the steps of: - means for determining the number of open service access points as a function of data relating to the state of the service access points at said treated site, - calculation means for determining, according to the number of access points to the service open, a level of accessibility to the service rendered by the said treated site, - 7

transmission means, data relating to said level of accessibility to a processing center, through a communication network, and delivery means, through said processing center, through a network communication, information relating to said level of accessibility to said treated site. The system according to the invention may further comprise presence detection means arranged to determine the number of people attending said treated site. The level of accessibility can then be adjusted based on data on the number of people attending the treated site. The detection means may advantageously comprise at least one presence detection camera or any other automatic flow counting system such as for example one or more infrared counting barriers. More particularly, if a plurality of flow detection means are installed on different access areas, the system comprises means for calculating the total number of people present on the site as a function of the data received from each of the counting means. The system may further comprise, at the level of the treated site, display means performing the display of at least one information selected from the following list: the level of accessibility to the service. 25 - the number of open access points to the service, or - the number of people present on the treated site. a fill rate, that is to say a ratio between the number of people frequenting said treated site, and the maximum number of eligible persons; an estimated waiting time, determined according to a period of time; average wait per person, the number of people present, and the number of open access points on the site. The means for transmitting data from the site treated to the processing center may comprise Internet-type or GPRS-type communication means and at least partly wireless means. These communication means are arranged either to carry out a wireless communication or at least partly wired communication.

The means for issuing information by the processing center may comprise a website comprising one or more Internet pages displaying this information and means for sending messages through a GPRS network or the Internet. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an installation for delivering accessibility data relating to a plurality of treated sites, said installation comprising a plurality of counting systems according to the invention, each of said systems being arranged at the level of one of said treated sites, the processing center being common to said treated sites.

Other advantages and features will appear on examining the detailed description of a non-limiting embodiment, and the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an example of an installation according to FIG. invention implemented to deliver accessibility data and attendance of three sites treated; FIG. 2 is a representation of an example of a module carrying out the determination of the number of persons / customers on a treated site; FIG. 3 is a representation of an example of a module realizing the determination of the number of persons / customers on a treated site and the total number of access points to the service opened on this site; FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of an example of providing attendance data for the treated sites of FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of an example of accessibility data supply of a site treated according to the invention; and -9

Figure 6 is a schematic representation of an example in which two sites have the same attendance but not the same accessibility.

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of an installation according to the invention. In Figure 1 are shown three treated sites 11a, iib and 11c. These lia-iic treated sites may be sites such as swimming pools, ice rinks, car parks or similar sites.

On each of the lia-iic sites is installed a module, respectively 12a-12c, determining the number of customers present on the treated site and the number of open wickets on the lia-iic treated site. The modules 12a-12c transmit the counting data to a server 13 disposed at a processing center 14 common to all the processing sites 11a-iic. The transmission of the counting data of the modules 12a-12c to the server 13 is done through a network 15 of the Internet or GPRS type. The processing center 14 includes means for providing attendance information for each of the lia-iic treated sites as a function of the counting data. This may be the level of real-time attendance, or the daily attendance records. The means for providing information may for example comprise one or more Internet pages 16 displaying the traffic information of the treated sites lia-iic. This information is accessible to the potential customers of each of the lia-iic treated sites via the communication network 15. The potential customers can thus access the websites and consult the attendance information of each of the lia-iic sites without having to travel. to the lia-iic treated sites.

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a module 12 carrying out the determination of the number of clients on the treated site 11 comprising four service access points which are counters 20a-20d. The module 12 comprises an input port 21, for example an RS232 port, -10-

for the connection of one or more people detection and counting cameras, in real time, detected persons. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the module 12 is connected to two detection and counting cameras 22, one of which, for example the camera 22a, is positioned on a first access of the site 11 and the other, the camera 22b is positioned on a second access of the treated site 11. These cameras make it possible to count the number of people entering and leaving and communicates this number to the module 12. Each of the cameras communicates in real time with the module 12 which determines the number people present on the site based on the data received by the cameras 22a and 22b. Furthermore, the module 12 includes buttons + and - 23 allowing a manual adjustment, upwards or downwards, of the number of people / customers present on the treated site 11, for example to take account of the employees of the treated site 11. the number of people / customers counted on the site is not distorted by the entry and exit of the staff of the site treated 11, or to take into account manually the level of use of the site, in the case by example of a hotel where the receptionist can manually change the number of people present in the hotel. The module 12 furthermore comprises + and - buttons 24, making it possible to manually enter the number of open wickets among the wickets 20a-20d on the treated site 11. An Ethernet connection port 25 makes it possible to connect the module 12 to the network 15 and to communicate with the server 13 of the treatment center 14 through the network 15. The data relating to the number of people present on the treated site 11, and therefore to the attendance of the treated site 11, as well as the data relating to the number of open windows / boxes are sent, in real time, by the module 12 to the server 13 of the processing center 14 through the communication network 15. The module 12 also comprises display means 26, such as display panels. LED, realizing the display in real time of the number of people present on the treated site 11 and the number of opened wickets / cases on the site 11. -11-

On the other hand, color indicators 27 display service-accessibility status information at the processed site 11. An RS232-type multifunction I / O port 28 connects the module 12 to other ports. systems or devices such as, for example, an automatic counting device for open wickets / boxes, other means for counting attendance or accessibility, or display means. The module further comprises a power port 29, a switch 30 of unavailable site 11 module 12, and one or more USB port 31 for maintenance or connection of storage devices for example. Figure 3 is a schematic representation of a second connection version of the module 12. In this embodiment, the module 12 is in direct communication with the windows 20a-20d. When a window 20a-20d is open, the latter sends a signal to the module 12 to signal that it is open. Thus, the determination of the number of open wickets is done automatically without manual intervention of an operator.

In all cases, the server 13 receives in real time the data relating to the level of accessibility to the service on the sites iia-iic, as well as the attendance of each of the sites treated lia-iic and the number of wickets opened on each of these treated sites. The server 13 realizes the display of this information on an Internet page 16 in the form, for example of a table 40 shown schematically in FIG. 3. Each line 41 of this table corresponds to a treated site 11 and each column 42 to a information on the attendance of the treated site 11. Thus on the example shown in Figure 3: - Column 42a indicates the level of attendance of the treated site 11, corresponding to the number of people on the site divided by the maximum number of people that the site can accommodate. Column 42b indicates the average waiting time in minutes calculated according to the number of open wickets, the number of people -12-

present on the site, including queues, and average time spent by a person at a counter. column 42c indicates, by a color indicator, the level of accessibility to the service on the site being processed. The color indicator may be replaced by any other means of indication such as numbers or letters. This indicator indicates: - by a first color that the treated site is open, - by a second color that the treated site is in normal closure, which corresponds to a zero accessibility level, - by a third color that the treated site is in exceptional closure, which corresponds to a negative level of accessibility. The table may include other information relating to attendance and level of accessibility to the service; such as statistical information regarding the level of accessibility to the service per site, or average waiting time, etc. This statistical information can also be delivered in graphical form, by hour and / or by days of the week for each site.

Fig. 5 is a schematic representation of another example of data delivery. Thus for a site 11, are represented the total number of people present on the site, the maximum number of people that the site can accommodate 52, the total number of people waiting 53, as well as the total number of access points open to service 54. Figure 6 is a schematic representation of an example of a situation where two sites, site lia and site iib, which offer the same service and have the same attendance 53. The site iib, having a number of access points 54b to the higher service compared to the site 11a, the level of accessibility to the service is higher on the iib site. Of course, the invention is not limited to the example detailed above and can be used for determining ancillary data, which may have an interest in determining the overall level of service provided by the site.

Claims (16)

A method for providing accessibility data relating to a site (11), said treaty, rendering a service to users and comprising at least one access point to said service rendered, said method comprising the following steps: number of access points opened as a function of data relating to the state of the counters / cases of said treated site (11), - determination, according to the number of open access points of a level of accessibility to the service rendered by said processed site (11), - transmission, data relating to said level of accessibility to a center (14), said processing, through a communication network, and - delivery, by said processing center (14 ), through a communication network, information relating to said accessibility level of said treated site (11). 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a transmission of the treated site to the data processing center relating to the number of open access points, and a delivery, through the communication network, by said information processing center relating to said number of open access points. 3. Method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that it further comprises, before the transmission step, the following steps: - determination by presence detection, the number of people attending said site treated, and - adjustment of the level of accessibility based on data relating to said number of people attending said treated site (11). 4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that it further comprises a transmission of the treated site to the data processing center -14- relating to the number of people attending the treated site, and a delivery by said treatment center d information about this number of people. 5. Method according to any one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that the determination of the number of people attending the treated site (11) comprises: a determination of the number of people entering said treated site (11), - a determination of the number of people leaving said treated site (11), and - a subtraction of said number of people out of said number of people entering. 15 6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the determination of the number of incoming and / or outgoing persons comprises a detection of each of the persons entering and / or leaving by means of presence detection means (22) suitably positioned, and a counting and / or counting of detected persons. 7. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the determination of the number of open access points is performed automatically according to data relating to the state of said access points. 8. Method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that it further comprises a display, on display means (26) disposed at the treated site (11), of at least one selected information 30 in the following list: - the level of accessibility to the service on said treated site (11), - the number of open access points on said treated site (11), - the number of people present on said site treated (11), a filling rate on said treated site, or an estimated waiting time 9. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the communication network (15) is a network type Internet or GPRS. 10. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the delivery of information by the treated site comprises: - a display of said information at a website, - a sending of a telephone message on a device through the GPRS network, and / or - sending an email on a computer device through the Internet. 11. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is implemented to deliver accessibility data relating to a plurality of processed sites (11a-llc). A system for providing accessibility data relating to a site (11), said treaty, rendering a service to users and comprising at least one access point, said method comprising the following steps: means for determining the number of access points opened as a function of data relating to the state of the access points of said treated site (11), calculation means for determining, as a function of the number of open access points, a level of accessibility to the service rendered by the said treated site (11), - transmission means, data relating to said level of accessibility to a site (14), said processing, through a communication network, and means for issuing, by said processing center (14), information relating to said level of accessibility of said treated site (11). 13. System according to claim 12, characterized in that it further comprises presence detection means arranged to determine the number of people attending said treated site, the level of accessibility being adjusted according to data relating to said number of people attending the treated site (11). 14. System according to claim 13, characterized in that the detection means (22) comprise at least one presence detection camera (22a, 22b) or an infrared counting barrier. 15. System according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that the data transmission means comprise communication means (26) of the Internet or GPRS type. 16. Installation for delivering accessibility data relating to a plurality of processed sites (11a-11c), said installation comprising a plurality of counting systems according to any one of claims 12 to 15, each of said systems being arranged at the level of one of said treated sites (11a-11c), the treatment center (14) being common to said treated sites (11a-llc).