GB2408616A

GB2408616A - Mobile attendance and location data terminal

Info

Publication number: GB2408616A
Application number: GB0327353A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Maurice Gamble
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-11-25
Filing date: 2003-11-25
Publication date: 2005-06-01
Also published as: GB0327353D0

Abstract

A mobile terminal 1 has a GPS system to determine its position and a means of recording the identity of a person 2 together with location and time. Identity can be read from a radio tag, an electronic chip or can be biometrically determined (fingerprint or retina scan). Information stored on the terminal is sent to a computer 11, wirelessly, by land line or via the Internet 10.

Description

24086 1 6

MOBILE TIME ATTENDANCE AND LOCATION DATA TERMINAL

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a data capture and data transmission device.

Backaround to the invention

There are a wide range of applications which require data to be captured and for that data to be subsequently transmitted on demand. If the data that is captured is initiated by a person then it if often necessary to know who that person is, the time and date it was captured and the geographical location of where it took place. Examples of such situations include time and attendance records of the work force for calculating the payment of wages or invoices relating to a persons activities. In particular to this, confirmation would be required that they have started work, finished work, or in the specific example of Service Engineers, when they started the service and finished the service. Another example could be a driver of a vehicle registering the start and the end of his driving period. If that person happened to be a contractor then the time of arrival on site and the time of departure from site.

For further clarification a typical example would be the contracting industry which involves a large mobile work force where it is often difficult to manage time and location as they can be spread over a large and diverse area, thus making their accountability at any particular time difficult. Health and Safety issues and European Legislations often require the management to know where their work force are, or are not. For instance it is necessary to know who the driver is of a company vehicle or who is in or out of a building in case of an emergency to highlight just a few examples.

The problem exists that existing time and attendance devices need to be in a fixed location to prove that the particular employee was at that location at that time and that date. Known systems achieve this by issuing each employee with an unique electronic tag, clockcard or pin number to which the employee is made accountable, or in some systems a Biomectric device is used. This is known as an unique personal identifying system. Within these systems the employee uses their unique identifying device which is read by the time and attendance machine where the data is recorded and stored against that fixed location. The location is achieved by knowing the exact position of the time and attendance machine which has to be hard fixed to a wall or a support in a known location. Clearly this kind of equipment for time and attendance will not work for the work force when they are mobile- that is when they are away from the fixed time and attendance machine. Because of this fraudulent claims can be made by the work force.

The object of the invention is to provide a device which when used by the work force enables them to prove their geographic location at that specific time and date. In order to achieve this the work force would be provided with a personal identification tag or system, which when presented to the time and attendance device record the personal data stored on that tag or system. Accordingly this invention provides electronic readers located in and on a portable device for further embodied devices to provide data of which some of it will be specific to time, date and location of the employee.

Preferably the invention should be hand held and easily portable. The personal identification system could take any one of the following forms.

- Electronic chip encased in a small can or button.

- Electronic chip attached to a card - Electronic chip attached to a wireless device - A biomectric finger print scan or retina recognition The invention should be preferably made robustly from a rugged material that allows the devices within it to operate correctly allowing a wireless reception and transmission through it. It should have a visual display to display text and symbols together with a key pad for further data input. The invention should have external data readers for the purpose of reading personal identification devices and data collection from other external devices or products where a physical contact with them is required. The embodiment should contain wireless data devices where physical contact with the data source is not required. The invention should be able to onward transmit the captured data to a remote computer server on demand. Because of the portable nature of the invention it should have the capability of being placed in a cradle for the purpose of charging the internal batteries or in the situation where the data needs to be transmitted by a fixed land line, the cradle provides the interface. It should also have a plug to receive a flying lead to enable the device to be charged in other situations such as in a vehicle.

Brief description of the drawings.

For better understanding of the invention and to show how the same maybe carried into effect, there will now be described by way of example only, specific embodiments, methods and processes according to the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1- Illustrates schematically components of the system showing data transfer between the invention 1, 2, 7,12, 3 and other device elements contributing to the data transfer system, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8,9 10 and 11.

Figure 2- Illustrates schematically a plan view of the front of the invention 1, showing the external devices 14,15,16,17,18, 19 and 20.

Figure 3- lilustrates schematically a plan view of the back of invention 1, showing the external devices 13, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21.

Figure 4- Illustrates schematically in cut away side view the invention 1 showing both internal and external devices. 1, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34.

Detailed description.

There will now be described by way of example a specific mode contemplated by the inventors. In the following description numerous details are set out in order to provide a thorough understanding. It will be apparent, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In other instances, well know method and structures have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the description.

In this specification, the term wireless is intended to encompass all means of communication which are possible without the need for a physical, electrical conductor. These include radio frequency transmissions and receptions, as well as transmission and reception in the infra red, and visible regions of the electro magnetic spectrum, and ultrasonic signals.

Referring to figure 1 herein there is illustrated schematically components of the system showing data transfer between the invention 1 and contributing data transmitting devices. The invention 1 shows how it communicates to receive and transfer the data as follows: The personal identification tagisystem 2 can be placed on 14, the external contact reader or around the invention 1, where the data is captured for forward transmission. At the same time the invention 1 locks on to three satellites 4, 5 and 6 storing the global positioning data accordingly.

Should a lock on satellites 4, 5 and 6 not be possible because of a shadowed signal then a wireless repeater 3 located outside the shadow can transmit the satellite's data wirelessly to the invention. Further data can be captured using further wireless embedded devices within the invention from additional data sources 8 or from other data sources 7, which require a contact type reader device 13. The invention 1 uses the wireless connection via a GSM network 9 or private network to send the data onward via either the Internet 10 or direct to a remote computer server 11.For situations which require a land line then the data may be transferred via a telephone or data line 14 directly to the remote computer server 11.

Referring to figure 2 herein there is illustrated schematically in plan view of the front of the invention 1. The user presents his personal tag/identification system 2, to the data reader 14. The display 15 displays information about the user by way of confirmation that the personal identification system is the correct one for that user and if necessary the user can additionally use a pin number which can be inputted by the keypad 16. A menu is selectable via the keypad for the specific transactions that the user wishes to perform. All transactions are time, date and location recorded together with the personal identification details.

These transactions may be simply a clocking in and clocking out action for the purpose of attendance at work or clocking In and clocking out for purpose of carrying out a job function, such as servicing equipment, driving vehicles, collecting data from plant and machinery, ordering component related to the servicing of the plant and machinery.

Referring to figure 3 herein there is illustrated schematically in plan view of the back of the invention 1. The external data reader 13 can be used for collecting data from sources which require a physical contact. Such as devices which require a serial connection. The clear window enables the bar code reader 21 and infra red reader 22 to capture data from those sources which require that type of data reading devices. The invention 1 has the capability of being placed in a suitable cradle where the positive charge pin 18 and the negative 19 locate in corresponding pins within the cradle to charge the internal batteries 33 and also the connection of the data land line port 20 for the transmission of data where wireless transmission is not required.

Referring to figure 4 herein this is illustrated schematically in cut away side view of the invention 1 showing internal and external devices. Within the wireless module there are four devices namely, GSM modem 23; a GPS receiver 24; a radio transmitter/receiver 25; REID base station 26. These devices have external antennas suitably located within the invention, namely the radio antenna 27, the GMS antenna 28, the REID antenna 29 and the GPS antenna 30. A central control unit 31 controls the whole functionality of the invention 1 and the data captured from all the various devices is stored in the data flash memory 32. The whole invention 1 is powered by internal batteries 33 and these have a charging, monitoring and power supply system 34.

Claims

1. A time attendance location and data terminal including A sealed enclosure including an external contact type data reader to read a personal identification device an internal wireless receiver to receive global positioning data so that a person using the invention is globally positioned at exactly the same time as using their personal identification system so recording time attendance and location of that person

2. A terminal as claimed in claim 1 where within the sealed enclosure An internal wireless type data recorder to read a personal identification device

3. A terminal as claimed in claim 1 or 2 which is a handheld mobile device

4. A terminal as claimed in claim 1 2 or 3 which has a screen and keypad for the manual input of date and display of data

5. A terminal as claimed in claim 1 2 3 or 4 which has further internal wireless and external data readers for the collection of data

6. A terminal as claimed in 1 2 3 4 and 5 which has a wireless transmitter for the transferring of the recorded data to a remote server

7. A terminal as claimed in claim 1 2 3 4 5 and 6 which has a port for connection to a communication cable for the transfer of data to a remote server

8. A terminal as claimed in any preceding claim including a battery charging device for charging the internal batteries and a cradle or docking station

9. A terminal as claimed in any preceding claim which is made from metal plastic materials or any form of combination of these materials

10. A time attendance and data location terminal substantially as herein described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings