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Networked peripheral for visitor greeting

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1. y euo yono 1D S uO2IH 109 u iS5suOSnol Who are you here to see today vp HS CE s d ship Kan h 2 Steve i 27 ARoWan Faifdrov California Research G nter En 607 608 SN S007 ET A cc JO 6 39945 0 9469 SN Please choose the purpose of your visit Au M Technology Demonstration Sales Meeting Job Interview Other _ 610 611 613 S007 ET A cc J9 OT 39945 ce0 916 9 SN US 6 976 032 B1 Sheet 11 of 22 Dec 13 2005 U S Patent G 819 49 A444 444 suonndq y jo euo Buiss id Aue penuew JO ueos ssouisnq SSP S19 US 6 976 032 B1 Sheet 12 of 22 Dec 13 2005 U S Patent c9 0c9 c9 669 y dis Sx Ul UMOP ede INO enter your name and organization Press CNN Done when you are finished 628a 625 a 628b 629 juojeq 007 cc Jo EI 19945 Td c 0 9 6 9 SN U S Patent Dec 13 2005 Sheet 14 of 22 US 6 976 032 B1 634 632 633
2. gt Biological Biometric US 6 976 032 B1 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 6 154 601 11 2000 Yaegashi et al 5 491 511 A 2 1996 Odle 5 502 774 3 1996 Bellegarda et al 382 159 5 530 235 A 6 1996 Stefik et al 5 535 063 A 7 1996 Lamming 5 537 141 7 1996 Harper et al 5 539 665 A 7 1996 Lamming et al 5 596 581 1 1997 Saeijs et al 5 610 841 A 3 1997 Tanaka et al 5 673 016 A 9 1997 Lutes 5 686 957 A 11 1997 Baker 5 706 290 A 1 1998 Shaw et al 5 717 869 2 1998 Moran et al 5 717 879 2 1998 Moran et al 5 721 878 2 1998 Ottesen et al 5 729 931 A 3 1998 Wade 5 734 719 A 3 1998 Tsevdos et al 5 751 281 A 5 1998 Hoddie et al 5 760 767 6 1998 Shore et al 5 764 789 A 6 1998 Pare et al 382 115 5 767 897 6 1998 Howell 5 793 365 A 8 1998 Tang et al 5 799 150 A 8 1998 Hamilton et al 5 802 294 A 9 1998 Ludwig et al 5 845 261 A 12 1998 McAbian 705 26 5 854 831 A 12 1998 Parsadayan et al 5 862 292 A 1 1999 Kubota et al 5 946 654 A 8 1999 Newman et al 5 978 477 A 11 1999 Hull et al 5 986 655 A 11 1999 Chiu et al 5 987 454 11 1999 Hobbs 707 4 5 990 934 A 11 1999 Nalwa 5 991 429 11 1999 Coffin et al 382 118 5 999 173 A 12 1999 Ubillos 6 008 807 A 12 1999 Bretschneider et al 6 020 883 A 2 2000 Herz et al 345 721 6 084 582 A 7 2000 Qureshi et al A 6 154 771 A 11 2000
3. US 6 976 032 B1 Sheet 15 of 22 Dec 13 2005 U S Patent 669 aere ueiseH 969 9 Leg 643 Name Derek COPD Jf Organization RSV 645 Your last visit was 12 35 PM Wednesday August 11 1999 ze 641 juojeq 60 S007 cc 10 91 19945 ce0 916 9 sa U S Patent Dec 13 2005 Sheet 17 of 22 US 6 976 032 B1 647 646 Please say your name and press Done z Xs US 6 976 032 B1 Sheet 18 of 22 Dec 13 2005 U S Patent 099 59 is FA Aued aisy i pz EU OE w gt l xD US 6 976 032 B1 Sheet 19 of 22 Dec 13 2005 U S Patent 699 pe U S Patent Dec 13 2005 Sheet 20 of 22 US 6 976 032 B1 663 668 660 00 1999 T lish on the WWW Pub SEA NE KRS BIG ut 667 S 4 666 US 6 976 032 B1 Sheet 21 of 22 Dec 13 2005 U S Patent 9 4019201 8 QNVM HOLISIA ove r 4019201 MSO YOLISIA U S Patent Dec 13 2005 Sheet 22 of 22 22 810 Ky visited CRC July 18 1999 SERVER VISITOR KIOSK 5 0 US 6 976 032 B1 US 6 976 032 B1 1 NETWORKED PERIPHERAL FOR VISITOR GREETING IDENTIFICATION BIOGRAPHICAL LOOKUP AND TRACKING CROSS REFEREN
4. 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 as commands For example an email message sent to a visitor kiosk 100 at the address kiosk crc ricoh com having SHOW VISITORS in the subject line will cause the kiosk to return a list of visitors and the dates that the visitors signed in at the kiosk 100 The kiosk 100 can also receive notifications of visitors to expect in this way For example an email message with VISITOR 8 22 1999 Masamitsu Sakurai informs the kiosk computer 202 that this person is expected on August 22 In a specific embodi ment this information is used by the kiosk to post process the results of applying OCR software to an image obtained by scanning the visitor s business card Further in specific embodiments the information from the notification is used to populate the user interface A pull down menu for example is populated with the names of visitors that the kiosk has been notified to expect When one of the visitors arrives she can select her name from the pull down menu Information about expected visitors can also be used to notify persons expecting a visitor that a particular visitor did not arrive The user interface can also be modified based on expected visitors For example if a visitor from a prominent company X is expected photographs can be displayed on the screen that highlight the facility s relationship with company X In a specific embodiment the kiosk comput
5. 340 as well For example in a representative embodiment the locator 700 communicates a locator box descriptive identifier a locator box URL a geographical location such as longitude lati tude for example a current time of day and the like to the visitor wand 340 In a specific embodiment both the per sonal and location histories are updated with a time stamped event such as the arrival of a visitor possessing a particular visitor wand In the case of the personal history the event can include details about the location In particular the URL of the locator box 700 enables the user to subsequently retrieve information such as attendees of a meeting other than the visitor for example The location history can include details about the visitor Various specific embodi ments include other types of capture devices readily appar ent to those of ordinary skill in the art to augment these histories For example in a specific embodiment a passive badge or ID card is used to implement the visitor wand 340 A variety of communications technologies can be used to provide communication between the visitor wand 340 and the locators 700 704 For example Bluetooth direct connection visual e g as used by Timex Data Link watch mobile phone a pager or a short messaging service SMS magnetic card reading infrared link and the like provide the communications path in specific embodiments Further the locator 700 can connect t
6. Conference on Systems Man and Cybernetics Atlanta GA Oct 14 17 1986 pp 1592 1596 Lamming M G and Newman W N Activity based Information Retrieval Technology in Support of Personal Memory in F H Vogt ed Personal Computers and Intel ligent Systems Proceedings of Information Processing 92 vol III Elsevier Science Publishers 1992 pp 68 81 Lovstrand L Being Selectively Aware with the Khronika System Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work Kluwer Academic Publishers 1991 pp 265 277 Newman W M Eldridge and Lamming M G PEPOYS Generating Autobiographies by Automatic Tracking Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work Sep 25 27 1991 Amsterdam The Netherlands pp 175 188 Plamondon R and Lorette G Automatic Signature Verification and Writer Identification The State of the Art Pattern Recognition vol 22 No 2 1989 pp 107 131 Seiko Instruments Inc Smart Lobby The Electronic Sign In Book That Tracks Visitors and Prints Badges User Guide for Windows Manual Part No 22 93000 00 copyright 1997 Sony Music Corporation E Guide Unmanned Reception System Japan Industrial Journal May 20 1996 p 6 http salmon crc ricoh com 8001 hull 1999 8 11207 11207 html Vierdaz M A The Itsy Pocket Computer Version 1 5 User s Manual Technical Note TN 54 Compaq Western Resea
7. Rangan et al 6 189 783 B1 2 2001 Motomiya et al 235 375 6 209 000 B1 3 2001 Klein et al 707 203 6 249281 B1 6 332 147 B1 6 2001 Chen et al 12 2001 Moran et al 6 334 109 B1 12 2001 Kanevsky et al 705 4 6 349 297 B1 2 2002 Shaw et al 707 4 6 369 835 B1 4 2002 Lin 6 396 500 B1 5 2002 Qureshi et al 6 405 203 6 2002 Collart 707 10 6 469 711 B2 10 2002 Foreman et al 6 490 601 12 2002 Markus et al 715 507 6 646 655 B1 6 728 753 B1 6 779 024 B2 6 789 228 B1 6 816 858 B1 2002 0097885 A1 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 11 2003 Brandt et al 4 2004 Parasnis et al 8 2004 DeLaHuerga 709 217 9 2004 Merril et al 11 2004 Coden et al 7 2002 Birchfield et al JP 10246041 A 9 1998 EOSB 49 00 WO WO 02 013522 A2 2 2002 WO WO 02 058432 A2 7 2002 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Cunado D Nash J M Nixon M S and Carter J N Gait Extraction and Description by Evidencing Gathering Pro ceedings of the Second International Conference on Audio and Video based Person Identification Washington D C Mar 22 23 1999 pp 43 48 Eldridge M Lamming M and Flynn M Does A Video Diary Help Recall Technical Report EPC 1991 124 People and Computers VII eds Monk et al 1992 pp 257 269 Konneker L Automating Receptionists Proceedings of the 1986 IEEE International
8. The present inven tion can provide automated techniques for gathering orga nizing retrieving and archiving information about visitors Specific embodiments can capture information about a visi tor and the visit either with conscious capture or without unconscious capture the visitor s knowledge These and other benefits are described throughout the present specification A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention herein may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 50 55 60 65 4 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a representative visitor greeting and information collecting kiosk in a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIG 2 illustrates a block diagram of a representative visitor greeting and information collecting apparatus in a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIGS 3A 3C illustrate representative visitor wands in various specific embodiments according to the present invention FIG 4 illustrates a block diagram of a representative hardware implementation for a visitor wand in a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIG 5 illustrates a representative flowchart of processing visitor information in a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIGS 6A 6M illustrate representat
9. button 617 or a Restart button 618 FIG 6E illustrates an instruction screen for scanning the visitor s business card This screen provides a textual instruction 620 as well as picture examples 621 to assist the visitor in inputting a business card In this embodiment the visitor can also select a Back button 622 or a Restart button 623 FIG 6F illustrates representative screen for prompting the visitor to enter a name and an organization name The screen of FIG 6F can be displayed if the visitor has selected manual entry of this information responsive to the screen of FIG 6D or if the business card scanner was unable to read the visitor s business card for some reason FIG 6F provides a textual instruction 625 a name field 626 and an organization field 627 The visitor can enter the appropriate information into name field 626 and organization field 627 using the keyboard for example or other input device In this embodi ment the visitor can also select a Back button 628a a Next button 6286 or a Restart button 629 FIG 6G illustrates a representative screen requesting the visitor s permission to take a picture This screen provides a textual message 630 and an image 631 The visitor can select from either a Yes button 632 or a No button 633 In this embodiment the visitor can also select a Restart button 634 FIG 6H illustrates a representative screen showing the visitor the
10. captured by the one or more sensors 22 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the appliance uses the information received from the processor to determine an identify the visitor upon receiving a request from the visitor to use the appliance 23 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the appliance is a copy machine 24 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a set of one or more locators situated at locations within the facility and a portable device provided to the visitor while the visitor is visiting the facility the portable device configured to communicate with the set of locators using wireless communication wherein the set of locators are configured to track the visitor s location within the facility by wirelessly com municating with the portable device provided to the visitor 25 The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the portable device is configured to record information identifying one or more locations visited by the visitor at the facility and information identifying one or more persons met by the visitor at the facility 26 The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the portable device is configured to record information spoken during a meeting between the visitor and a person from the one or more persons 27 The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the portable device is configured to store an itinerary for the visitor s visit to the facility the itinerary identifying at least one location within the facility to be visited by the v
11. image provided by the camera 635 The visitor can take the picture by selecting the Take button 636 In this embodiment the visitor can also select a Back button 637 or a Restart button 638 A textual message 639 prompts the visitor with instructions In a specific embodi ment the camera 635 can capture a plurality of pictures of the visitor automatically Then the plurality of pictures is presented to the user so that the user can select one or more of the plurality of pictures using a mouse or other pointing US 6 976 032 B1 17 device or the keyboard In these embodiments the visitor does not have to select the Take button FIG 6I illustrates a representative results screen showing the visitor the image acquired along with the visitor s information The visitor may make changes to the text using an Edit Text button 640 or retake the picture by selecting the New Picture button 641 In this embodiment the visitor can also select a Restart button 642 When the visitor is satisfied with the image the visitor can select the Done button 643 to continue In an alternative embodi ment the steps illustrated by FIGS 6 61 are replaced with a single prompt enabling the user to select from a plurality of images that are captured by the camera automatically The images are captured automatically responsive to the visitor providing permission to take her picture by selecting the Yes button 632 in
12. name of the visitor is available from the business card OCR results or if it was manually entered it can be incorporated into the message by a speech synthesizer The telephony interface also enables the kiosk to act as a speakerphone If the person to be visited answers the telephone call from the kiosk a connection is opened with the visitor This allows the host to greet the visitor and let the visitor know that the host will arrive at the kiosk shortly to escort the visitor in the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 facility A video link can also be added to the interface to make this communication a video conference In some embodiments the kiosk 100 also receives tele phone calls via telephony interface 224 In these embodi ments the kiosk 100 is equipped with a touch tone interface that enables the caller to execute various options One option is to check the status of expected visitors Another option is to leave a voice message for an expected visitor which can be played when the visitor arrives The host for a visitor can be changed and an expected visitor can be added or deleted using a touch tone interface In specific embodiments security devices not shown such as a metal detector or an explosives detector can be incorporated to the kiosk These embodiments can provide greater security to persons working in secure areas In a specific embodiment a detector for RF transmission or
13. plurality of sensors and devices For example camera 310 biometric sensors 312a and 3125 and so forth are con nected with and accessible by CPU 460 via I O port 466 While the preceeding explanation refers to the visitor wand 300 illustrated by FIG 3A this explanation is intended as merely an example and is not intended to be limiting Further the visitor wands of embodiments illus trated by FIGS 3B 3C are realized using similar compo nents and techniques as discussed above with reference to FIG 4 Thus further discussion of the internal hardware of these embodiments will be omitted for brevity FIG 5 illustrates a representative flowchart of processing visitor information in a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIG 5 illustrates a step 502 of recording information about a visitor at the visitor kiosk 100 Then in a step 504 the information is placed in a format for storage In a specific embodiment the information is placed in HTML format However a variety of other formats are used in specific embodiments Next in a step 508 the information is stored in a database The database can be located in a sever 22 connected to the visitor kiosk 100 In another embodiment the information can be stored locally in a database resident at the visitor kiosk 100 In a step 508 information about the visitor can be obtained from the database as well as a variety of other sources such as for example the Internet
14. reception can detect the presence of listening devices on the visitor A detailed description of various examples of com mercially available sensors useful in creating certain specific embodiments may be had by referring to The Spy Store http www thespystore com In specific embodiments a printer not shown interfaces with visitor kiosk 100 In certain specific embodiments the visitor receives a printed receipt from the printer after signing in with the kiosk The receipt can include a URL assigned uniquely to the visitor The URL points to the web page created for the visitor which can be located on the public server 32 The web page provides a place to access information collected about the visitor and the visit Other potentially useful information can be printed on the receipt such as what has changed since the visitor s last trip to the facility The operation of these and other components of specific embodiments according to the present invention will be discussed in greater detail below In various specific embodi ments not all of these components will be present Yet further in many embodiments other components can be included These modifications will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art FIG 3A illustrates a visitor wand in a specific embodi ment according to the present invention Visitor wand 300 illustrated in FIG 3A is embodied as a hand held device having a display area 302 for pro
15. visitor came from standings and recent results for the home sports teams and the like can be retrieved to form a biographical profile that can serve as a basis for conversation with the visitor Recent cultural events such as theatre and the like in the visitor s home towns can also be retrieved Popular Internet sites such as YAHOO for example provide sources from which this data might be extracted The weather during the visitor s previous visit as well as a list of significant news stories at that time might be provided if the visitor is making a return visit to the facility This information can be trans mitted to the person to be visited via an email message before the visitor is scheduled to arrive The compilation of biographical information can also include security related information which may be useful in cases where the visitor has not previously visited the facility For example searching online newspapers for the visitor s US 6 976 032 B1 11 name can answer a plurality of security related questions Did the visitor recently write a letter to the Editor Was the visitor arrested recently Is the visitor on the FBI s ten most wanted list Should Security be alerted Newspapers in the town where the visitor is from can be searched for recent locally significant news stories Further one or more databases can be searched for the visitor s name These databases include readily available archives of genealogy i
16. visitor can serve to refresh the user s memory about that person Specific embodiments incorporating personal name lookup provide a solution to the problem of name to face mapping In an alternative embodiment the personal name lookup function is implemented using a proxy Accordingly the hypertext links 825 are automatically inserted In another specific embodiment the world wide web is searched for home pages or email addresses associated with each per son s name using one of a variety of popular search engines in web sites such as for example http www whowhere ly cos com and the like In an alternative embodiment a portable visitor kiosk comprising a digital camera and an option portable card scanner is provided Software running on the camera enables persons being visited to take pictures of the people they meet These persons can speak their names affiliations reason for meeting into a microphone attached to the camera or type this information using a keypad on the camera This data can be maintained on the camera or it can be downloaded to a server 22 In a specific embodiment the information can be sold as a web service The preceding has been a description of the preferred embodiment of the invention It will be appreciated that deviations and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined by the appended claims What is claimed is 1 A visitor information gathering apparatus
17. 14 WELCOME 6 310 006 304 Q VOUA 50 QUUD v N a N N IRAS ORS COOL ORS IICT CSIC D OCC X XXX PX X X XX XXX XX XX 0 X CX OX X XX XXX de OC XC XC fee 2 2944 4 460 9 0 A IRIS 06606040605 RRRS KLK 9060004060 S DC CX XX X9 ORY 2997 ae 066000000695 308 US 6 976 032 B1 U S Patent Dec 13 2005 Sheet 5 of 22 US 6 976 032 B1 U S Patent Dec 13 2005 HIGH FREQ SECTION 420 302 DISPLAY 304 KEY PAD Fig l PROCESSOR Sheet 6 of 22 US 6 976 032 B1 300 x 314 430 AUDIO PROCESSOR 308 460 466 o Fo 480 MEMORY 4 U S Patent Dec 13 2005 Sheet 7 of 22 US 6 976 032 B1 RECORD INFORMATION ABOUT VISITOR AT KIOSK FORMAT INFORMATION 90 FOR STORAGE YES 506 STORE INFORMATION IN DATABASE FOR RETRIEVAL OBTAIN INFORMATION 208 ABOUT VISITOR FROM OTHER SOURCES 510 PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT VISITOR TO HOST ANOTHER 512 VISITOR 2 US 6 976 032 B1 Sheet 8 of 22 Dec 13 2005 U S Patent 209 uiBaq Ao q
18. CES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority from U S Patent Appli cation Ser No 60 166 081 filed Nov 17 1999 the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to techniques for automated information collection and specifically to sys tems and apparatus for gathering information about visitors Everyday in work places throughout the world visitors are received at places of business government agencies real estate offices and so forth The visitor is often greeted by a receptionist who offers the visitor a sign in sheet to record information about the visit The visitor writes her name place of business person to be visited and the like in the sign in sheet In some cases this information might be entered into a computer database manually by a receptionist or a security officer Such information is typically used for security purposes Sometimes the visitor will be issued a guest pass or identity badge to announce her presence The receptionist often notifies the person to be visited that the visitor has arrived These activities occur so often that they have become part of the culture in the U S and many other countries as well Opportunities for improving techniques for gathering information about visitors exist Since the entry point to an office is one place where people are required to identify themselves valuable data abo
19. ENT DOCUMENTS JP 03129990 A 6 1991 H04N 7 18 Continued OTHER PUBLICATIONS Addlesee M D Jones A H Livesey F and Samaria F S The ORL Active Floor IEEE Personal Communications vol 4 No 5 Oct 1997 pp 35 41 ftp ftp uk research at t com pub docs att tr 97 11 pdf Continued Primary Examiner Greta Robinson Assistant Examiner Harold E Dodds Jr 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP 57 ABSTRACT According to the invention a visitor kiosk for the capture and storage of personal information about visitors The visitor kiosk is placed at the entry point to a facility being monitored Each visitor signs in at the kiosk Their business card and an image of their face are scanned If they do not have a business card their name and company are entered manually They also enter the name of the person they are visiting and the purpose for their visit The person they are visiting is notified of the arrival of the visitor by email or by voice telephone The data about the visitor is stored locally or remotely Automatic lookups of various information about the visitor are performed and communicated to the person being visited A network interface allows users to enter information about visitors they are expecting to arrive telephone interface is provided for input of voice greetings as well as checking on the arrival status of visitors 32 Claims 22 Drawing Sheets
20. FIG 6G In this embodiment the information gathered about the visitor is displayed 644 Optionally the kiosk can retrieve information about the visitor s previous visit and display it as well 645 FIG 6J illustrates a representative prompt screen for recording the visitor s speech The visitor is invited to say her name with a text message 646 The visitor can select the Done button 647 when complete FIG 6K illustrates a representative screen prompting the visitor if another person is present with the visitor 650 The visitor can reply by selecting the appropriate button If the visitor selects the Yes button 651 the next visitor is provided with the same prompts illustrated by FIGS 6A 6K Otherwise if the visitor selects the No button 652 the welcome screen illustrated in FIG 6L is displayed In this embodiment the visitor can also select a Restart button 653 FIG 6L illustrates a representative final screen displayed at completion of a session with a visitor In this embodiment the screen includes a textual message 655 The visitor is also provided with a last opportunity to restart the session by selecting a Restart button 656 FIG 6M illustrates a representative example HTML rep resentation of a visitor that is created from the information gathered by the visitor kiosk 100 in a specific embodiment according to the present invention Representation 660 com prises a digitized image 661 of the visitor and a digitize
21. a United States Patent Hull et al US006976032B1 US 6 976 032 B1 Dec 13 2005 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent 54 NETWORKED PERIPHERAL FOR VISITOR GREETING IDENTIFICATION BIOGRAPHICAL LOOKUP AND TRACKING 75 73 2 21 22 60 51 52 58 56 Inventors Jonathan J Hull San Carlos CA US Derek Poppink Mountain View CA US Marko Balabanovic London GB Michael Baxter Sunnyvale CA US Jamey Graham San Jose CA US Peter E Hart Menlo Park CA US Dar Shyang Lee Union City CA US Gregory Wolff Redwood City CA US Assignee Ricoh Company Ltd Tokyo JP Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 362 days Appl No 09 714 785 Filed Nov 15 2000 Related U S Application Data Provisional application No 60 166 081 filed on Nov 17 1999 Int Ck etes GO06F 17 00 US Gol iens 707 104 1 707 10 Field of Search 7071 10 100 104 1 709 200 203 217 219 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 578 718 A 3 1986 Parker et al 4 686 608 A 8 1987 Tompkins et al 4 787 063 A 11 1988 Muguet 4 905 094 2 1990 Pocock et al 4 963 995 A 10 1990 Lang 5 091931 A 2 1992 Milewski 5 164 839 11 1992 Lang 5 206 929 4 1993 Langford et al 5 265 205 A 11 1993 Schroder 5 321 396 A 5 475 741 6 1994 Lamming et al 12 1995 Davis et al Continued FOREIGN PAT
22. a plurality of different languages to communicate with the visitor The visitor can choose a preferred language at the initial login screen Prompts in the user interface can be supplemented with spoken directions Music can be added to improve the visitor s experience especially if the visitor must wait for the person to be visited The user interface of the visitor kiosk 100 can capture the name of the visitor the organization they represent the purpose for their visit and related events such as for example that the visitor is also in the United States to attend Comdex The date and time of the visit and the person to be visited can be entered manually or chosen from a list Whether the visitor is alone or a member of a group visiting together can also be collected by the visitor kiosk 100 The user interface can display a greeting for visitors to view Greetings can include a variety of types of informa tion such as a slide show of images or products advertise ments updated stock values and daily cartoons for example Information can be selected according to local preferences and varied depending upon the nature of the facility and the anticipated preferences of the audience In specific embodiments the date of a visitor s most recent previous visit is incorporated into the greeting for that visitor The data about the visitor s prior visits can be saved locally by the visitor kiosk computer 100 in order to prepare this type of g
23. amera at the kiosk is displayed on a computer monitor not shown of someone who expects a visitor The computer monitor is interfaced to the kiosk computer 202 via the network 20 for example Persons expecting a visitor can view the area around the kiosk for the arrival of the visitor This enables persons at the facility to greet the visitor as soon as the visitor approaches the kiosk thereby providing a personalized greeting if so desired A client monitor not shown can provide a real time indication of activity taking place at the keyboard and or touch screen of the kiosk computer 202 The client monitor can include a live audio feed from the microphone 204 at the kiosk 100 In specific embodiments the microphone 204 provides the audio feed without the visitor being aware of its operation unconscious capture Many kinds of system maintenance and updating func tions are enabled by the network interface In a specific embodiment once a visitor signs in at the kiosk a commu nication is entered into between kiosk computer 202 and server 22 In this specific embodiment the communication is implemented using a Unix socket that is opened to a process on the server 22 Then the kiosk computer 202 sends a message that indicates to the server 22 that a new visitor has arrived Responsive to this message a process on the server 22 opens an ftp connection for example to the kiosk computer 202 and obtains copies of the files associated with
24. bodiment of the present invention a copy machine in the facility can recognize that a specific visitor 15 requesting US 6 976 032 B1 7 copy services based upon the identification information gathered about the visitor at the visitor kiosk The visitor kiosk can combine information about a particular visitor s authorization to use certain devices to the networked machines in the facility These machines upon recognizing the visitor will determine whether the visitor is permitted to access that particular machine The speaker 208 can enable the kiosk to play pre recorded greetings These can be generic greetings like Welcome to the Ricoh California Research Center or they can be tailored to individual visitors For example after scanning a business card for Mr X the kiosk can greet the recognized visitor with Welcome to Our Company Mr X In specific embodiments instructions for a visitor are read aloud A computer synthesized voice which can be provided by DECtalk a product of Digital Equipment Corporation for example or by pre recorded audio clips can be used to provide the speech The kiosk 100 can also play music before or after a visitor signs in or at different points during the sign in process The docking station for visitor wands 210 provides a connection to visitor wands 300 Visitor wands can be used as identity badges for example Each visitor can be provided with a visitor wand and invited to carry it w
25. d image 662 of the visitor s business card In some embodi ments images of both sides of a two sided business card will be included A representative textual title 663 indicates the name of the visitor and the date and time of the visit AURL 664 provides the address of the web page for this visitor A data field 665 provides a link to results of an OCR program that has been applied to the visitor s business card A handling field 666 provides a link to a print process which provides a mechanism for printing the visitor s information For example a copy of the visitor s business card image or a formatted copy of the visitor s web page information can be printed A searching field 667 provides a mechanism for entering a search parameters for information about the visit For example a user can search for information about a visitor s previous visits search for documents containing the visitor s name or find other visitors who accompanied a particular visitor communications field 668 provides links to send the visitor information by email or publish the visitor information on the world wide web In various specific embodiments not all of these fields will be present Yet further in many embodiments other fields can be included These modifications will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art FIG 7 illustrates a representative example technique for tracking visitor wands in a specific embodiment according to the prese
26. e verification The state of the art Pattern Recognition 22 no 2 107 131 1989 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes Biological and biometric sensors 214 interfaced to the kiosk computer 202 provide data that can be used for subsequent biometric identification of the visitor Biological and biometric sensors 214 collect information associated with a person s body functions such as a persons weight a body temperature a heart rate a respiratory rate one or more fingerprints and an odor In a specific embodiment weight is measured using a pad in front of the kiosk Fingerprints are read through a special mouse space bar on the keyboard or touch screen For a detailed description of techniques for measuring weight reference may be had to a publication by M D Addlesee A H Jones F Livesey and E S Samaria entitled The ORL Active Floor IEEE Personal Communications Vol 4 No 5 October 1997 pp 35 41 ftp ftp uk research att com pub docs 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 att tr 97 11 pdf which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes In specific embodiments biometric identification and or visitor wand identification is used to identify the visitor s presence at a networked office machine such as a copier printer facsimile machine or the like Visitors with permis sion to use the machine are recogniz
27. e person being visited network interface allows users at the facility to enter information about visitors they are expecting A telephone interface provides a mechanism to input voice greetings as well as checking on the arrival status of visitors FIG 1 illustrates a representative visitor kiosk in a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIG 1 shows a visitor welcome area 10 that includes a stationary visitor kiosk 100 and a plurality of portable greeting devices 300 also known as visitor wands The present invention provides a variety of embodiments that implement the visitor kiosk 100 Different specific embodi ments can provide a variety of capabilities depending upon the configuration of components and processes that com prise the embodiment The visitor kiosk 100 is preferably implemented using a computer such as a personal computer PC The computer can have a touch screen for example and or a keyboard or keypad to enable visitors to enter information However other input devices such as touch pads track devices joy sticks mouse and the like can also US 6 976 032 B1 5 be used in various specific embodiments according to the present invention The use of buttons on the touch screen can obviate the need for a keyboard and the like in certain applications However in other applications the visitor kiosk 100 can also include a keyboard The user interface of the visitor kiosk 100 can use any of
28. ed by comparing the visitor s biometric information with a known biometric signature for the visitor and authorization information gathered by the visitor kiosk 100 Unconsciously captured images of the documents the visitor processes with the office machine can be sent to the visitor at the end of the visit The emotional state of the visitor can be recognized from a combination of biological measurements Techniques for inferring an emotional state from biological measurements are known in the art The visitor s emotional state can be determined and the results communicated to the persons being visited This information can assist persons being visited in responding to unspoken needs of the visitor For example someone who is nervous because she is worried about something at home might enjoy an opportunity to make a telephone call Accordingly knowing the visitor s emotional state enables persons at the facility to take action to reassure the visitor The business card scanner 216 interfaces to the kiosk computer 202 and resides proximately with the visitor kiosk 100 Event based software within the user interface of kiosk computer 202 controls the operation of the business card scanner 216 At an appropriate time while interacting with a visitor the visitor inserts her business card into the scanner This is detected and the scanner s operation is started An image of the business card is obtained and saved An optical character recogn
29. er 202 com prises a web server program providing a stand alone visitor information collection system on the network 20 In this configuration kiosk computer 202 maintains a home page that shows the visitors processed by the kiosk 100 as well as the person s visited Users can query this information based upon parameters such as a visitor name a host name a date or a date range a purpose and an associated event For example show me all the visitors in July who were here for the review meeting may be submitted as a query of the information stored by the visitor kiosk 100 In one embodi ment a CGI script can be executed by the kiosk computer 202 in order to retrieve the appropriate data and display it as a web page Expected visitors can be entered with a CGI script at the web server 22 A forms interface can allow visitors to enter the date name organization phone num bers email address purpose for visit expected time of arrival and agenda This can include the names of people in the facility and times when the visitor will meet with each one The network interface 222 provides connection to the world wide web via external network 30 In specific embodi ments personal information about the visitor can be gath ered automatically from the world wide web For example a person to be visited may desire to research conversation topics of interest to the visitor The weather during the previous few days or weeks in the town that the
30. f the camera and presses a Take button when she is ready for the system to capture her picture In some embodiments the camera captures a short video clip The clip can be captured in a time window around the time when the Take button is pushed for example best i e most web framed single frame from the clip can be chosen to represent the visitor In alternative embodiments the video capture is performed without the visitor s awareness This is known as uncon scious capture Embodiments employing unconscious cap ture obviate the need for a Take button Further such embodiments capture an image of each visitor that signs in at the kiosk A video clip can be captured starting when the visitor first started logging in until shortly after they were finished for example Both the clip and the best single frame from the clip can be saved In specific embodiments more than one camera is used in order to capture images of the visitor from different per spectives For example one of the cameras can be aimed to grab a frontal view full face image Other cameras can be deployed in the area nearby the kiosk and can be aimed to gather clips of the visitor viewed from different angles A wide angle view taken from a location that is a known distance from the visitor enables the system to determine the visitor s height The video clips can be used later to help identify the visitor in other environments If the clips sho
31. for a facility comprising a display one or more input devices a storage processor and one or more sensors wherein said processor is configured to gather information provided by a visitor to the facility using at least one input device from said one or more input devices responsive to prompts provided by said processor through said display wherein said processor is configured to substantially contemporaneously gather information about said visi tor using at least one sensor from said one or more Sensors wherein said processor is configured to store said infor mation about said visitor gathered from said at least one input device and said at least one sensor into said storage and wherein the processor is configured to communicate at least a portion of the information provided by the visitor using the at least one input device and the information about the visitor gathered by the at least one sensor to one or more appliances located within the facility wherein an appliance from the one or more appliances uses the information received from the processor to determine whether the visitor is permitted to use the appliance 2 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said information about said visitor is gathered using said at least one sensor without said visitor being aware of said gathering 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 20 3 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an audio output de
32. hile visiting the facility In specific embodiments the visitor wand can record the visitor s location who the visitor meets with and what is said during those meetings This information can be compiled into a visitor s diary a record of the visitor s experience at the facility The docking station for visitor wands 210 provides information about the times when wands are removed and replaced In conjunction with the user interface software of the visitor kiosk the identity of the visitor possessing each particular visitor wand is tracked The docking station also provides a mechanism for down loading data to and uploading data from a visitor wand Visitor wands will be described in further detail herein below with reference to FIGS 3A 3C Handwritting tablet 212 captures the signature of the visitor at the kiosk acting as a replacement for the sign in sheet of conventional receptionists The visitor is prompted by the user interface to write her signature on the tablet Preferably a pressure sensitive tablet is used However other types of writing tablets are used in various specific embodiments The handwriting tablet captures the sample of the visitor s signature to enable accurate verification of the visitor s signature subsequent to the visit For a detailed description of techniques for identifying individuals based upon handwriting reference may be had to a publication by R Plamondon and G Lorette entitled Automatic signatur
33. id visitor and said information about said visitor gathered at said kiosk to a person interested in said information code for communicating a portion of the information gathered about the visitor in the interactive session to one or more appliances located within the facility wherein an appliance from the one or more appliances uses the information received from the automated kiosk to determine whether the visitor is permitted to use the appliance and a computer readable storage medium for holding the codes
34. in the display 302 and pressing a button in keypad 304 The visitor wand establishes a telephone connection with the selected person Similarly a person to be visited can contact a visitor by calling the phone number of the wand that the visitor was issued This number is recorded by the kiosk computer 202 and communicated to the person to be visited listed in the visitor s itinerary The number can be posted on a web page accessible using the network 20 as well FIG 3B illustrates a representative visitor wand in an alternative embodiment according to the present invention Visitor wand 320 illustrated in FIG 3B is embodied as a hand held appliance having cellular telephone communica tions capability Wand 320 has a display area 322 for 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 providing messages to the visitor and displaying to the visitor entries made on a keypad 324 In the embodiment illustrated in FIG 3B the keypad 324 comprises an alpha meric style key arrangement However other arrangements including subsets and supersets of a standard qwerty key layout are used in other specific embodiments A micro phone 328 a speaker 334 and audio recording circuitry not shown provide audio input and output capability The microphone 328 speaker 334 and an antenna 336 also provide telephone access via the wand A video camera 330 can be incorporated into this embodiment as well A plu rality of biomet
35. isitor and display the itinerary to the visitor and display direction information for reaching the at least one location 28 A method for collecting information about visitors to a facility said method comprising gathering information about a visitor in an interactive session with an automated kiosk located at the facility placing said information for the visitor gathered in the interactive session into a format in which said infor mation may be stored storing said information for retrieval and 10 15 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 22 based upon said gathered information about said visitor automatically obtaining additional information about said visitor from one or more sources the additional information comprising information that is not pro vided during the interactive session and communicating at least a portion of said gathered infor mation and at least a portion of said additional infor mation to a user and communicating a portion of the information for the visitor gathered in the interactive session to one or more appliances located within the facility wherein an appli ance from the one or more appliances uses the infor mation received from the automated kiosk to determine whether the visitor is permitted to use the appliance 29 The method of claim 28 wherein gathering informa tion about said visitor at said automated kiosk comprises obtaining information from said visitor using a process
36. isitors In a representative embodiment according to the present invention a visitor information gathering apparatus is pro vided The apparatus can be embodied as a kiosk that comprises a display one or more input devices a storage a 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 processor and one or more sensors The processor captures information about visitors from inputs to the input devices made responsive to prompts provided by the processor through the display as well as information obtained from the sensors Then the processor stores the information about the visitors In specific embodiments the input devices can be any of a touch screen a keyboard a mouse trackball touch pad a combination thereof or other types of input devices The apparatus may display a greeting on the display The greeting can be customized to the interests of visitors and can include a slide show of product images advertising stock values daily cartoons and news for example The sensors can include any of a business card scanner a microphone a video camera a speaker a docking station for obtaining information from one or more visitor wands a handwriting tablet one or more biological or biometric sensors and or one or more security sensors The informa tion about the visitors includes one or more of a name an organization represented by the visitor a purpose of a visit a date and or time of the visit a per
37. ited can be selected In this specific embodiment persons are indicated by selection buttons 605 having the persons name How ever in alternative embodiments the selection buttons can be images of the person for example Some selection buttons can be used to indicate a group of persons 606 In the specific embodiment illustrated by FIG 6B an Unknown button 607 and a Restart button 608 enable the visitor to indicate she does not know the name of the person to be visited or that she would like to begin the sign in process again respectively FIG 6C illustrates a representative screen in which the visitor can specify a purpose of the visit The visitor can select a purpose using a scrolling window 610 Selection can be made by moving a cursor with a mouse trackball or keyboard or by using a touch screen The visitor can indicate to the kiosk that the selection is complete using a Done key 611 In this embodiment the visitor can also select a Back button 612 or a Restart button 613 In another specific embodiment the user types the purpose for the visit manually using a keyboard FIG 6D illustrates a representative prompt screen to scan a business card or manually enter the visitor s pertinent information using a keyboard This screen provides a textual instruction 615 as well as picture examples 616 to assist the visitor in inputting a business card In this embodiment the visitor can also select a Back
38. ition OCR program is applied to the image either locally by the kiosk computer or remotely at the server 22 The result of the OCR is displayed to the visitor by the interface software of kiosk computer 202 Fields such as the visitor s name are detected by the OCR and used by the user interface to address the visitor Visitors can be asked to confirm the OCR results with a prompt on the display screen or through a voice message or the like In specific embodiments a two sided business card scanner is used These embodiments provide the capability to input infor mation from foreign language business cards such as for example those used in Japan in which English and Japanese text appear on opposite sides of the business card The OCR software can detect which language is present and automati cally apply the appropriate algorithms A variety of interfaces can connect the kiosk 100 to computer systems networks and the like in order to pro vide information to persons in the facility A local network interface 220 enables communication between the kiosk 100 and client computers and other devices on the local network 20 which can be a local area network LAN for example The local network interface 220 connects kiosk 100 to a private server 22 via the local network 20 for example The private server 22 can be a company internal use only computer accessible only to employees within the facility for example Private server 22 provides a co
39. ive screens displayed during a representative greeting session with a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIG 7 illustrates a representative example of visitor wand tracking in a specific embodiment according to the present invention and FIG 8 illustrates a representative HTML description of a visitor instance in a specific embodiment according to the present invention DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS The present invention provides techniques for the capture and storage of personal information about visitors In a presently preferred embodiment the invention provides an interactive visitor kiosk that is placed at the entry point of a facility Each visitor to the facility is invited to sign in at the kiosk During the sign in process the kiosk collects certain information about the visitor and her visit The visitor s business card is scanned and an image of the visitor is obtained If the visitor does not have a business card the visitor s name and company name can be entered manually In specific embodiments the visitors speech is also recorded The visitor also enters a name of a person to be visited and a purpose for the visit The person to be visited is notified of the arrival of the visitor by email or by voice telephone The data about the visitor can be stored locally and or remotely A variety of information about the visitor is searched for automatically and the results communicated to th
40. n about the visitor without said visitor s aware ness unconscious capture as well as obtaining information about the visitor with prompts and the like of which the visitor is aware conscious capture In a further representative embodiment according to the present invention a system for tracking activity within a facility is provided The system can comprise a plurality of locator apparatuses a network interconnecting the plurality of locator apparatuses and one or more portable visitor wands The portable visitor wands communicate an identity of an associated visitor to one or more locator apparatuses and the locator apparatuses track position of a visitor based upon the communicated identities In specific embodiments the visitor wands can be handheld wand like apparatuses personal data assistants PDAs active badges portable telephone like apparatuses and the like The communication link between the locator apparatuses and the visitor wands can be any of an infrared communication link a radio communication link an optical communication link sensing a magnetic card a telephone communication link a pager communication link or a Bluetooth communication link Bluetooth is a wireless protocol standard developed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group see e g www blue tooth com In specific embodiments one or more logs are created that record the exchange of identifies communicated from the visitor wands to the l
41. nformation ham radio licensees aircraft pilots department of motor vehicles DMV data such as driver s licenses and registrations voter registration property ownership and tax roles and various criminal registries Visitor information obtained from the world wide web and other external sources can be augmented with informa tion stored in a database residing on server 22 or directly on the kiosk computer 202 about the visitor s personal inter ests This information can also be entered with an expected visitor web form For example information about the kind of car a visitor drives the visitors hobbies e g golf what the visitor likes to eat and where the visitor was taken to lunch or dinner during the previous visit can be incorporated into the biographical profile of the visitor This can be compared with an online restaurant guide to determine suggested resturants to take the visitor during her stay A history of the visitor s hotel stays can be used to suggest where the visitor should be housed The public server 32 that is connected to publically accessible communication network 30 enables the world wide web to be used as a focal point for follow up commu nication with visitors As described herein above a visitor is assigned a web page upon visiting the facility Each time the visitor comes to the facility the web page is updated with a record of the most recent visit Information such as whom the visitor met with with o
42. nt invention FIG 7 illustrates visitor kiosk 100 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 18 connected by network 20 to a plurality of locators including locators 700 702 and 704 that are spread throughout the facility Locators 700 704 communicate via a wireless com munication link to a representative visitor wand 340 Using a global positioning system GPS not shown the locators 700 704 can determine a position of a visitor within the facility when the visitor wand 340 is in communication with any of the locators 700 704 In specific embodiments visitor position information at various time intervals is gathered and recorded From such data one or more histo ries can be prepared For example a personal history for the visitor comprises where the visitor has been within the facility Another type of history called a location history comprises who has visited a particular location within communication range of one of the plurality of locators 700 704 Other types of histories can also be compiled For example histories tracking meeting locations and or fre quency visitor wand use and the like are compiled in specific embodiments The visitor wand 340 communicates information to the locator 700 This information comprises for example an identifier or business card information a visitor name a URL of a homepage and the like The locator 700 commu nicates information to the visitor wand
43. nvenient place to store information about visitors which has been gathered from one or more kiosks deployed in one or more facilities A browser not shown can access the visitor information on the server 22 A variety of devices not shown can com municate with kiosk 100 via network 20 such as a net worked copier such as the eCabinet product by Ricoh facsimile machines computers and the like for example A network interface 222 connects the kiosk 100 to a publically accessible network 30 for communications with US 6 976 032 B1 9 the public The network interface 222 provides communi cations between the kiosk 100 and publically accessible resources such as sites on the world wide web A public server 32 is connected to kiosk computer 202 via the network 30 network interface 222 and a firewall software application not shown to provide the public access to specific information about the visitors and or the facility for example A web browser not shown can provide the interface to this information A telephony interface 224 provides a telephone connec tion via the public switched telephone network PSTN or POTS The telephony interface 224 provides the capability to persons within the facility to provide information to and receive information from the kiosk 100 by telephone Network accessibility provides a variety of advantages in specific embodiments For example in one specific embodi ment a feed from the video c
44. o the Internet by a wireless connection FIG 8 illustrates a representative visitor information look up procedure in a specific embodiment according to the present invention In specific embodiments information about a visitor can be used to provide a personal name lookup function FIG 8 illustrates a workstation 850 view ing an email document 840 When reading a document such as the email 840 depicted on the screen of workstation 850 the user can invoke the personal name lookup function by clicking a browser button or a button on a user s toolbar for example The source for the document 840 is passed to a process that implements the personal name lookup function The personal name lookup process scans the document 840 to locate personal names Then the personal name lookup process requests information about the persons from the server 22 Personal names in the document for which there are records on the server 22 can be replaced by a hypertext link 825 to these records These hypertext links can point to US 6 976 032 B1 19 the record of visits that a person has made to the company for example The user clicks the hypertext link 825 to open an associated record 810 of the visitor s information The user may view information about the visitor stored in the associated record 810 For example the user may indicate that she wishes to view a picture of the visitor by selecting the hypertext link 825 with the mouse The picture of the
45. ocator apparatuses One type of log called a personal history provides a record of the locator apparatuses visited by a particular visitor Another type of log called a location hsitory provides a record of the visitors who visited a particular locator apparatus In a yet further representative embodiment the present invention provides an apparatus for automatically populat ing a database The apparatus comprises a display one or more input devices a storage and a processor The proces sor captures information from the input devices This infor mation is entered by the visitor responsive to prompts provided by the processor through the display The processor stores the information about visitors into the storage The information includes personnel information that may be used to annotate documents 15 a specific embodiment Fur ther in certain specific embodiments the personnel infor mation is used to replace one or more names by hypertext links to the personnel information In a still yet further representative embodiment a method for providing an image is provided The method comprises automatically capturing one or more images of a person The method also includes providing to the person the images so captured Receiving from the person an indication of a preferred image that 15 selected from among the Images 15 also part of the method Numerous benefits are achieved by way of the present invention over conventional techniques
46. of which said visitor is aware and obtaining information about said visitor using a process of which said visitor is not aware 30 The method of claim 28 further comprising deter mining a person to be visited by said visitor based upon said information gathered about said visitor and wherein com municating said portion of said gathered information and said portion of said additional information to said user comprises communicating said portions to said person to be visited 31 The method of claim 28 wherein obtaining said additional information comprises at least one of performing a search on the Internet searching a publicly available database searching a database of visitor information obtained from said automated kiosk and searching a local document database 32 Acomputer programming product for collecting infor mation about visitors to a facility said computer program ming product comprising code for gathering information about a visitor in an interactive session with an automated kiosk code for placing said information into a format in which said information may be stored code for storing said information for retrieval code for obtaining based upon said gathered information about said visitor additional information about said visitor from one or more sources the additional infor mation comprising information that is not provided during the interactive session code for providing said additional information about sa
47. olding a particular visitor wand who is in the facility to visit person B will be located by the signal from a visitor wand in close proximity to the office of person B Another option is to require persons to be visited to carry a trans ceiver similar to a visitor wand In this case the person to be visited can be assumed to be the person with the wand that is physically closest to the visitor Microphones in the facility not attached to the wand can supplement the visitor wand s recording capability These extra microphones can be attached to the fixed transceivers described above or through some other connection In one configuration the wand transmits its position and the audio signal it is recording to a base station The base station also receives audio input from other microphones in the facility base station determines which microphones are active given the physical position of the wand The audio from each such active microphone is captured and savend Alterna tively the audio from the microphone with a highest audio level is saved Audio signals from multiple microphones can also be compared to verify the choice of a non wand microphone whenever a reduced amplitude signal from a non wand microphone is present in the background of the sound recorded on the wand microphone An alternative to choosing one audio track is to save more than one audio track from the set of active microphones The N clearest signal
48. r without images meeting notes and the like is posted on the visitor s web page Other information could also be included such as for example what the weather was like the day of the visitor s last visit what the headlines were and the like In addition any technical reports or literature that the visitor received during the visit can be posted to the web page In embodiments employing an extranet a person inside the company can securely share selected information with a customer by posting the information to that customer s web page This can be useful beyond mere face to face visits and can be extended to cover any ongoing relationship even if initiated via email or telephone Specific embodiments can provide the persons being visited with a mechanism to control distribution of information by tracking whom they met with and what was discussed Further specific embodiments can assist the forgetful visitor with remembering what was discussed in meetings held during the visit The telephony interface 224 provides the capability to contact visitors and persons to be visited by telephone When a visitor registers at the kiosk and indicates who they are visiting the person to be visited can be contacted by telephone The kiosk notifies them that a visitor has arrived If the person to be visited does not answer a designated alternate is telephoned The kiosk plays a pre recorded message to the person to be visited or the alternate If the
49. rch Laboratory Jul 1998 pp 1 37 Want R Hopper A Falcao V and Gibbons J J The Active Badge Location System ACM TOIS Transactions on Information Systems vol 10 No 1 Jan 1992 pp 91 102 Rosenschein S New Techniques for Knowledge Capture from TTI Vanguard Conference Knowledge Management Comes of Age pp 1 3 Sep 23 24 2003 Foote J et al An Intelligent Media Browser Using Automatic Multimodal Analysis ACM Multimedia 1998 pp 375 380 Girgensohn A and Boreczky J S Time Constrained Keyframe Selection Technique Multimedia Tools 11 3 347 358 Rangan PV Software Implementation of VCRs on Personal Computing Systems IEEE 1992 pp 635 640 Rangan P V et al Window Based Editor for Digital Video and Audio IEEE 1992 pp 640 648 Product Description for Meeting Companion by Quindi Corporation downloaded from http quindi com product htm on Jan 24 2005 cited by examiner U S Patent Dec 13 2005 Sheet 1 of 22 US 6 976 032 B1 100 x Business 204 212 card Handwritin scanner tablet 224 216 Telephony 202 206 200 3 220 30 Lan I F Public 4 Server 208 210 21 Visitor Biological 32 wands Biometric Sensors 22 Visitor 20 Private 7 27 9 wand Server juojeq S007 ET A 19 c 19945 ce0 916 9 sa US 6 976 032 B1 Sheet 3 of 22 Dec 13 2005 U S Patent 3
50. reeting for visitors Also this data can be used to output a log of all visits during a given time period Such requests can be searched by a range of dates times company names persons to be visited and the like for example FIG 2 illustrates a block diagram of a representative visitor greeting and information collecting apparatus in a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIG 2 illustrates various components and interfaces of the visitor kiosk 100 of FIG 1 FIG 2 illustrates representative visitor kiosk 100 integrated into a visitor information sys tem The visitor kiosk 100 is enclosed by a dashed line in FIG 2 Visitor kiosk 100 includes a computer 202 connected with a variety of sensors input output devices and inter faces For example computer 202 exchanges information with a microphone 204 a video camera 206 a speaker 208 a docking station for visitor wands 210 a handwriting tablet 212 one or more biological or biometric sensors 214 and a business card scanner 216 Some specific embodiments include a subset of these components while other specific embodiments can include elements other than those depicted in FIG 2 Also kiosk 100 can include various devices that are not shown by FIG 2 such as for example a computer touch screen an optional keyboard a mouse trackball touch pad a combination thereof or other types of input devices can be incorporated into kiosk 100 The microphone 204 captures
51. ric sensors 332a and 332b can detect bio logical information about the visitor such as heart rate and the like FIG 3C illustrates a representative visitor wand in a further alternative embodiment according to the present invention The visitor wand 340 of FIG 3C is embodied as a personal data assistant PDA style device The wand 340 comprises a digital writing pad 344 with which visitors can input data such as notes for example The notes can be stored in memory of the wand 340 for later retrieval Wand 340 has a display area 342 for providing messages to the visitor and displaying to the visitor the entries made on the writing pad 344 A microphone 348 a speaker 354 and audio recording circuitry not shown provide audio input and output capability The microphone 348 speaker 354 and an antenna 336 provide telephone access via the wand A video camera 350 can be incorporated into this embodiment as well A plurality of biometric sensors 352a and 352b can detect biological information about the visitor such as heart rate and the like A record of whom a visitor meets with can be compiled using a triangulation technique in conjunction with a fixed physical position of persons visited The physical position of a person can be determined from an accurate mapping between an assumed and an actual physical position of persons to be visited This mapping can be determined from an office layout or the like For example a person A h
52. s from the active microphones might be chosen Alter natively the signals from all active microphones can be saved US 6 976 032 B1 15 FIG 4 illustrates a block diagram of a representative hardware implementation for a visitor wand in a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIG 4 illustrates visitor wand 300 that is provided with an antenna 316 coupled to a high frequency circuit 420 An audio circuit unit 430 connects the high frequency circuit 420 with the speaker 314 and the microphone 308 The audio circuit unit 430 and the high frequency circuit 420 are connected to a CPU 460 that controls various functions of the components of visitor wand 300 The CPU 460 controls the high frequency circuit unit 420 and the audio circuit unit 430 according to a control program stored in a memory 480 that is connected to the CPU 460 Memory 480 comprises RAM flash RAM and or ROM in various specific embodiments The CPU 460 is also connected to the keypad 304 and the display 302 which provide input and output of information to from the visitor The CPU 460 displays on the display unit 302 information necessary for communication such as a state of a connection a telephone number of a person being telephoned an e mail addresses e mail data to be received or transmitted and the like as well as information necessary for the user of the visitor wand 300 The CPU 460 is connected to an I O port 466 which provides interface to a
53. s of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to communicate a portion of the information provided by the visitor using the at least one input device or the information gathered about the visitor using the at least one sensor to a person that said visitor intends to visit 17 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to determine information about said visitor s previous visit the information identifying at least one per son visited by the visitor during the previous visit US 6 976 032 B1 21 18 The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the information about the visitors previous visit is determined from a database accessible to said processor and storing informa tion about said visitor 19 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to assign a web page for the visitor the web page storing information indicative of one or more persons visited by the visitor wherein the web page is updated after each visit of the visitor to the facility 20 The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the web page is communicated to a person to be visited by the visitor prior to the visitor s visit to the facility 21 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an output device configured to output information to the visitor the information output by the output device being customized for the visitor based upon the information provided by the visitor using the one or more input devices and the infor mation about the visitor
54. samples of the visitor s speech This can be done without the visitor s knowledge which is known as unconscious capture Alternatively the visitor s speech is sampled after obtaining prior permission in which case the audio capture capability of microphone 204 is activated after asking for and receiving the visitor s permission Microphone 204 can capture anything the visi tor might say while standing near the kiosk In specific embodiments using conscious capture the visitor is asked to Please say your name for example The recorded audio can be forwarded to the person being visited in order to help 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 identify the visitor The audio data can also be saved and used as training data for other algorithms that can identify speakers in unlabeled audio tracks or to recognize the words that the visitor spoke For further description of techniques for identifying individuals based upon audio data reference may be had to a U S Pat No 5 946 654 issued to M J Newman L S Gillick and Y Ito entitled Speaker iden tification using unsupervised speech models which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all pur poses Video camera 206 provides interactive information gath ering with the visitor For example the visitor can be asked whether she would like her picture taken If the visitor responds in the affirmative she poses in front o
55. son to be visited and an identity of a group visiting together Furthermore other kinds of information can be provided by the sensors attached to the apparatus For example the microphone can record a sample of the visitor s speech the video camera can record images of the visitor the handwriting tablet can record the visitor s signature Some information about the visitor is gathered from the sensors without the visitor being aware of the gathering This is referred to as unconscious capture herein Other information is gathered from the visitor with the visitor s knowledge and awareness This type of infor mation gathering is referred to as conscious capture These terms are not intended to be limiting In certain specific embodiments various types of inter faces can connect the kiosk to users of information For example a telephony interface can provide telephone con nections via the public switched telephone network One or more network interfaces can connect the kiosk to one or more networks for communications A public server can be communicated with using the connection to the network and network interface for example Further a local server can connect one or more kiosks to one or more users of infor mation using a local area network LAN for example The local server provides a storage place for holding information about visitors In a specific embodiment the business card scanner scans one or both sides of a busine
56. speaker wherein said information gathered about said visitor com prises information indicating a person to be visited and wherein said speaker is configured to output directions to reach said person to be visited 10 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a visitor wand configured to record experiences of said visitor 11 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one or more sensors include a biometric sensor configured to gather biometric information about said visitor 12 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a hand writing tablet configured to provide a sample of handwriting of said visitor 13 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said one or more sensors include a security sensor configured to provide information about potential threats 14 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a tele phone interface configured to communicate a telephone message to a person to be visited that said visitor has arrived 15 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said processor is configured to determine additional information about said visitor using a web interface wherein the additional infor mation is determined based upon said information about said visitor gathered from said at least one input device or said at least one sensor the additional information comprising information about the visitor that is not provided by the visitor using the one or more input devices and is not gathered by the one or more sensors 16 The apparatu
57. ss card having printing on one or both sides Then if the computer detects the presence of text on one or both sides it processes the text in accordance with the language of the text The text is processed using an OCR software in a particular embodiment In another representative embodiment according to the present invention a method for collecting information about visitors is provided The method can comprise a variety of elements such as for example gathering information about the visitors in an interactive session with an automated kiosk Placing the information into a format in which the information may be stored is also part of the method The method includes storing the information for retrieval Stor age is done either locally or remotely is specific embodi ments Automatically obtaining information about the visitor from one or more sources and providing the information about the visitor is also part of the method The information gathered at the kiosk can be provided to persons interested in the information In specific embodiments the obtaining information about the visitor from one or more sources can be one or more of performing a search on the Internet searching a publicly available database searching a database US 6 976 032 B1 3 of visitor information obtained from the kiosk searching a local database as well as others Further in some specific embodiments the obtaining information can include sensing informatio
58. ssively nervous can be offered a cup of herbal tea In specific embodiments an inertial sensor not shown can be incorporated into the wand For a detailed description of techniques for sensing inertia reference may be had to a publication by Marc A Viredaz entitled The Itsy Pocket Computer Version 1 5 User s Manual Technical Note TN 54 Compaq Western Research Laboratory July 1998 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes It can indicate when the wand was stationary for long periods of time This might indicate the visitor removed it from his person In specific embodiments visitor wand 300 maintains a wireless communication with one or more transceivers located in the facility using an antenna 316 coupled to internal communications circuitry not shown Visitor wand 300 can comprise circuitry not shown that enables it to determine a distance to other transceivers in the facility The facility is equipped with a multiplicity of fixed transceivers from which the wand 300 determines its position by trian gulation This positional information is also transmitted by the fixed transceivers to a common point such as kiosk 100 which serves as a base station The microphone 308 speaker 314 antenna 316 and associated circuitry not shown provide telephone function ality to the wand A visitor can contact a person to be visited using the telephone by scrolling a cursor to the person s name
59. the newly arrived visitor These files can include for example a business card image a result of processing the business card image using an OCR text data a sound file a video clip and the like The kiosk computer 202 can also respond to status requests made by server 22 over network 20 for example The kiosk computer 202 tracks its perfor mance using a variety of statistical measures such as a date program started a number of visitors a date of last visitor logged in and the like In specific embodiments statistical moments such as means mode average standard deviation kurtosis and the like known in the art track numbers of visitors their arrival times and the like Then upon request by server 22 which may be made using a socket call for example the kiosk computer 202 sends a list of logged events and or statistics to the requester The server 22 can verify that the kiosk 100 has been operating normally by analyzing the statistics sent to it by kiosk computer 202 In a specific embodiment the kiosk computer 202 sends email messages over the network 20 These email messages can notify persons connected to the network 20 that a visitor has arrived These persons can identify the visitor by the email messages Attachments such as the sound video and or still images of the visitor can be appended to the emails to assist in recognizing the visitor The kiosk com puter 202 also receives email messages which it processes 10
60. ty of the persons to be visited computed as described above This allows easy retrieval later either by the visitor or the person to be visited For example the visitor may wish to make queries like please retrieve the conversation I had with Ms X on August 9 The video camera 310 is incorporated into the wand 300 in order to record the visitor s activities and experiences while at the facility Its record can be supplemented with still images or video clips captured from other cameras in the facility For example an image from the camera in a particular room can be captured and saved on the wand or alternatively on a server when the visitor is in that room For a detailed description of a technique for capturing video recordings reference may be had to a publication by M Eldridge M Lamming and M Flynn entitled Does a Video Diary Help Recall Technical Report EPC 1991 124 published in People and Computers VII A Monk et al ed Cambridge University Press 1992 pp 257 269 Biological sensors 312a and 312b detect heart rate heat odor and the like These sensors can help identify the wand user and help detect if a wand is passed from one person to another Sensors 312a and 312b can also detect biometric data from which the emotional state of the visitor can be determined This information can assist persons at the facil ity in improving the experience of the visitor For example a visitor who is determined to be exce
61. ut the visitor can be readily gathered at this point What is needed are improved techniques for automating the collecting of information about visitors SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides techniques for collecting information about visitors In one embodiment the present invention provides a visitor kiosk system for the greeting identification biographical lookup and tracking of visitors to a facility The visitor kiosk is placed at the entry point of the facility being monitored Each visitor to the facility signs in at the kiosk The visitor s business card is scanned and an image of the visitor is obtained If the visitor does not have a business card the visitors name and company name can be entered manually In specific embodi ments the visitor s speech is also recorded The visitor also enters a name of a person to be visited and a purpose for the visit The person to be visited is notified of the arrival of the visitor by email or by voice telephone The data about the visitor can be stored locally or remotely Automatic lookups of various kinds of information about the visitor are per formed and communicated to the person being visited A network interface allows users to enter information about visitors they are expecting to arrive as well as to make notes about the visit after the visitor leaves A telephone interface provides the capability to input voice messages as well as check the status of v
62. vice configured to output audio information to said visitor said audio information determined based upon said information about said visitor gathered from said at least one input device and said at least one sensor 4 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said information gathered about said visitor comprises at least one of infor mation about a name of said visitor an organization repre sented by said visitor a purpose of a visit a date of a visit a time of a visit a person to be visited and an identity of a group of visitors visiting together 5 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said display is configured to display to said visitor at least one of a greeting a slide show of product images advertising stock values daily cartoons and news 6 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a scanner that is configured to scan at least one of a first side and a second side of a business card having printing on at least one of said first side and said second side and wherein respon sive to detecting text on said at least one of said first side and said second side said processor processes said text in accordance with a language of said text 7 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a micro phone wherein said microphone provides input of speech of said visitor 8 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a video camera configured to capture an image of said visitor 9 The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a
63. viding messages to the visitor and displaying to the visitor entries made using a keypad 304 In the embodiment illustrated in FIG 3A the keypad 304 comprises a qwerty style key arrangement However other arrangements including subsets and super sets of the qwerty key layout are used in other specific embodiments A hand grip 306 provides comfortable con tour to the visitor s hand A video camera 310 is incorpo rated into the wand in certain embodiments A plurality of biometric sensors 312a and 312b can detect biological information about the visitor such as heart rate and the like Visitor wand 300 can guide the visitor in the facility An itinerary for the visitor can be stored on visitor wand 300 prior to the visitor s arrival The visitor wand 300 then displays the itinerary together with directions for the visitor at specific intervals during the day For example at 10 00 AM visitor wand 300 might display the message take the elevator to the fourth floor turn right walk 50 feet to room 561 An alternative is to display directions graphically using a map The visitor wand 300 further comprises an audio recorder Amicrophone 308 and audio recording circuitry not shown provide the capability to save a copy of notes from meetings that the visitor attends as she travels through the facility Recorded information can be stored in the wand 300 The US 6 976 032 B1 13 recordings can be parameterized by the identi
64. w the visitor walking across the room the visitor can be identified using known techniques that demonstrate how people are often identifiable from a combination of their height body shape posture and gait For further description of techniques for identifying individuals based upon these features reference may be had to a publication by D Cunado J M Nash M S Nixon and J N Carter entitled Gait extraction and description by evidence gathering Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Audio and Video based Person Identification Washington D C Mar 22 23 1999 43 48 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes In a specific embodiment a plurality of close up images of a visitor are combined to generate a three dimensional representation for the visitor One specific embodiment employs a software product of Avatarme Ltd www ava tar com to generate a three dimensional representation of the visitor that can be used to identify the visitor later in other environments The information captured by the visitor kiosk can be used to identify the visitor at other office appliances This pro vides automatic identification for visitors at devices using unconscious capture In specific embodiments once the visitor kiosk supplies information about a visitor to other devices in the facility these devices can draw upon this information later to identify the visitor Thus according to an em
65. world wide web and the like Next in a step 510 the information about the visitor is provided to users of the information The users can query and retrieve the information about the visitor using their workstations or receive information on a telephone for example In various specific embodiments the order of these steps can be altered Further in some embodiments not all of these steps will be present Yet further in many embodiments other steps can be included These modifications will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art FIGS 6A 6M illustrate representative screens displayed during a representative greeting session with a specific embodiment according to the present invention FIG 6A illustrates a representative welcoming screen Welcoming screens can comprise displays of information as part of a greeting including a slide show of images or products advertisements updated stock values and daily cartoons for example Information can be selected according to local preferences and can vary depending upon target audience 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 Here the welcome screen includes a picture of the facility being visited 601 The visitor can select a preferred language using the touch screen keyboard or mouse to select from the language buttons 602 FIG 6B illustrates a screen presenting the visitor with a plurality of persons from which a person to be vis

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