Description:BACKGROUND
Field of Invention
[001] Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an attendance system and particularly to a smart attendance system.
Description of Related Art
[002] Attendance tracking and indoor navigation remain critical operational elements across a wide range of environments such as educational campuses, corporate offices, government buildings, seminars, and public events. Existing attendance methods often rely on biometric authentication, RFID scans, or manual registers. These approaches introduce inefficiencies due to physical infrastructure requirements, potential for proxy attendance, and human error. They also lack adaptability in high-traffic or dynamic environments where real-time monitoring proves essential.
[003] Indoor navigation tools, although increasingly available through mobile applications, generally offer limited functionality within enclosed or multi-floor premises. Navigational technology fails to provide accurate location data indoors, while beacon-based and augmented reality systems demand high setup costs and ongoing maintenance. These systems frequently operate in silos, catering only to specific sectors or buildings without a standardized or scalable solution for real-world complexity.
[004] The absence of integrated systems that address both attendance tracking and navigation in a seamless manner creates operational blind spots. Users must rely on multiple platforms to perform tasks that require synchronization, such as verifying presence and guiding individuals through unfamiliar venues. This disjointed approach results in lost time, reduced productivity, and greater demand on administrative resources.
[005] There is thus a need for an improved and advanced smart attendance system that can administer the aforementioned limitations in a more efficient manner.
SUMMARY
[006] Embodiments in accordance with the present invention provide a smart attendance system. The system comprising a wearable device adapted to be worn by an attendee. The wearable device is adapted to identify a geographical location of the attendee in a premise. The system further comprising beacons installed in a distributive manner in the premise. The beacons are adapted to communicate with the wearable device for receipt of the identified location of the attendee. A processing unit communicatively connected with the beacons The processing unit is configured to receive the identified location of the attendee from the beacons; triangulate addresses of the beacons received the identified location of the attendee; compare a required timely presence of the attendee in the triangulated address, with a predefined time and location; and mark the attendee as present in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time, when the timely presence of the attendee with the triangulated address corresponds with the predefined time and location.
[007] Embodiments in accordance with the present invention further provide a method for managing attendance using a smart attendance system. The method comprising steps of receiving an identified location of an attendee from beacons; triangulating addresses of the beacons received the identified location of the attendee; comparing a required timely presence of the attendee in the triangulated address, with a predefined time and location; and marking the attendee as present in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time..
[008] Embodiments of the present invention may provide a number of advantages depending on their particular configuration. First, embodiments of the present application may provide a smart attendance system.
[009] Next, embodiments of the present application may provide a smart attendance system that eliminates the need for biometric scanners or manual check-ins by using wireless communication protocols, allowing automatic and hygienic attendance capture without physical interaction.
[0010] Next, embodiments of the present application may provide a smart attendance system that analyzes behavioral patterns and habitual movements to verify authenticity, reducing the possibility of fraudulent check-ins or proxy attendance.
[0011] Next, embodiments of the present application may provide a smart attendance system that features voice assistants and live tracking enable dynamic routing, helping users avoid congested areas or reroute during emergencies or events.
[0012] Next, embodiments of the present application may provide a smart attendance system that reduces administrative overhead, enhances user experience, and boosts operational efficiency across diverse environments like offices, institutions, and events.
[0013] These and other advantages will be apparent from the present application of the embodiments described herein.
[0014] The preceding is a simplified summary to provide an understanding of some embodiments of the present invention. This summary is neither an extensive nor exhaustive overview of the present invention and its various embodiments. The summary presents selected concepts of the embodiments of the present invention in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detailed description presented below. As will be appreciated, other embodiments of the present invention are possible utilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features set forth above or described in detail below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] The above and still further features and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of embodiments thereof, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and wherein:
[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates a smart attendance system, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a processing unit, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
[0018] FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method for managing attendance using a smart attendance system, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0019] The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include”, “including”, and “includes” mean including but not limited to. To facilitate understanding, like reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate like elements common to the figures. Optional portions of the figures may be illustrated using dashed or dotted lines, unless the context of usage indicates otherwise.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] The following description includes the preferred best mode of one embodiment of the present invention. It will be clear from this description of the invention that the invention is not limited to these illustrated embodiments but that the invention also includes a variety of modifications and embodiments thereto. Therefore, the present description should be seen as illustrative and not limiting. While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, it should be understood, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.
[0021] In any embodiment described herein, the open-ended terms "comprising", "comprises”, and the like (which are synonymous with "including", "having” and "characterized by") may be replaced by the respective partially closed phrases "consisting essentially of", “consists essentially of", and the like or the respective closed phrases "consisting of", "consists of”, the like.
[0022] As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” designate both the singular and the plural, unless expressly stated to designate the singular only.
[0023] FIG. 1 illustrates a smart attendance system 100 (hereinafter referred to as the system 100), according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 may be adapted to receive a physical location of an attendee in a premise using radio communications. Further, the system 100 may compare a time and the presence of the attendee with a predefined time and location. If the physical location of the attendee inside the premise at the corresponding time matches the predefined time and location, then the system 100 may mark the attendee as present. Else, the system 100 may mark the attendee as absent.
[0024] The system 100 may be installed in premise such as, but not limited to, a school, an office, a seminar hall, a movie theater, a train, a plane, a bus, and so forth. Embodiments of the present invention are intended to include or otherwise cover any premise, including known, related art, and/or later developed technologies, for installation of the system 100.
[0025] According to the embodiments of the present invention, the system 100 may incorporate non-limiting hardware components to enhance the processing speed and efficiency such as the system 100 may comprise a wearable device 102, beacons 104, a processing unit 106, a centralized cloud database 108, a navigational unit 110, and a machine learning algorithm 112. In an embodiment of the present invention, the hardware components of the system 100 may be integrated with computer-executable instructions for overcoming the challenges and the limitations of the existing systems.
[0026] In an embodiment of the present invention, the wearable device 102 may be adapted to be worn by the attendee. The premise may be geofenced, such that the wearable device 102 may automatically be activated upon entering of the attendee inside the geofenced periphery of the premise. The wearable device 102 may be, but not limited to, a strap, a watch, a bracelet, a tag, and so forth. Embodiments of the present invention are intended to include or otherwise cover any type of the wearable device 102, including known, related art, and/or later developed technologies. The wearable device 102 may be worn at locations such as, but not limited to, a hand, a wrist, a neck, an arm, and so forth. Embodiments of the present invention are intended to include or otherwise cover any location for wearing of the wearable device 102, including known, related art, and/or later developed technologies.
[0027] In an embodiment of the present invention, the wearable device 102 may be adapted to identify a geographical location of the attendee in the premise. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the identified geographical location may be represented in x° North, y° East coordinated format. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the identified geographical location may be in x° North y minute and z second, a° East b minute, and c second coordinated format. In yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the identified geographical location may be in any format.
[0028] According to embodiments of the present invention, the wearable device 102 may comprise a tracker such as, but not limited to, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), a Real-time locating systems (RTLS), and so forth. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the location-tracking unit 116 may be a Global Positioning System (GPS). Embodiments of the present invention are intended to include or otherwise cover any type of the tracker, including known, related art, and/or later developed technologies, that may be encompassed in the wearable device 102.
[0029] In an embodiment of the present invention, the beacons 104 may be installed in a distributive manner in the premise. The beacons 104 may be adapted to communicate with the wearable device 102 for receipt of the identified location of the attendee. the beacons 104 may comprise a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio.
[0030] In an embodiment of the present invention, the processing unit 106 may be communicatively connected with the beacons 104. The processing unit 106 may be, but not limited to, a Programmable Logic Control (PLC) unit, a microprocessor, a development board, and so forth. Embodiments of the present invention are intended to include or otherwise cover any type of the processing unit 106 including known, related art, and/or later developed technologies. In an embodiment of the present invention, the processing unit 106 may further be explained in conjunction with FIG. 2.
[0031] In an embodiment of the present invention, the centralized cloud database 108 may be adapted to store a log sheet of each corresponding attendee. The log sheet may represent an absence and/or a presence of the attendee in the premise. The centralized cloud database 108 may be for example, but not limited to, a distributed database, a personal database, an end-user database, a commercial database, a Structured Query Language (SQL) database, a non-SQL database, an operational database, a relational database, an object-oriented database, a graph database, and so forth. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the centralized cloud database 108 may be a cloud database. Embodiments of the present invention are intended to include or otherwise cover any type of the centralized cloud database 108 including known, related art, and/or later developed technologies.
[0032] Further, the centralized cloud database 108 may be stored at a cloud server, in an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, the cloud server may be remotely located. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the cloud server may be a public cloud server. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the cloud server may be a private cloud server. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the cloud server may be a dedicated cloud server. According to embodiments of the present invention, the cloud server maybe, but not limited to, a Microsoft Azure cloud server, an Amazon AWS cloud server, a Google Compute Engine (GCE) cloud server, an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) cloud server, and so forth. Embodiments of the present invention are intended to include or otherwise cover any type of the cloud server including known, related art, and/or later developed technologies.
[0033] In an embodiment of the present invention, the navigational unit 110 may be adapted to enable the attendee to navigate inside the premise for achieving the timely presence at a designated location. The navigation may be carried out using an augmented reality (AR) wayfinding. Further, the navigational unit 110 may provide a step-by-step and turn-by-turn audible navigational commands to the attendee. The navigational unit 110 may be, but not limited to, a smartphone, a smartwatch, a Radio Frequency (RF) based tacker, and so forth. Embodiments of the present invention are intended to include or otherwise cover any type of the navigational unit 110, including known, related art, and/or later developed technologies. The navigational unit 110 may further be coded with the machine learning algorithm 112 to verify habitual movement patterns and prevent proxy attendance.
[0034] In an exemplary scenario, if the navigational unit 110 may be present in a cafeteria of a college, and an exemplary student hands over the wearable device 102 to a fellow student for a purpose of marking fake attendance, then the machine learning algorithm 112 may monitor said inconsistency and may discard the attendance marked through the shared use of the wearable device 102. Hence, the exemplary student may be deemed as absent.
[0035] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the processing unit 106, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The processing unit 106 may comprise the computer-executable instructions in form of programming modules such as a data receiving module 200, a data triangulation module 202, a data comparison module 204, and an attendance module 206.
[0036] In an embodiment of the present invention, the data receiving module 200 may be configured to receive the identified location of the attendee from the beacons 104. The data receiving module 200 may further transmit the identified location of the attendee to the data triangulation module 202.
[0037] The data triangulation module 202 may be activated upon receipt of the identified location of the attendee from the data receiving module 200. In an embodiment of the present invention, the data triangulation module 202 may be configured to triangulate addresses of the beacons 104 that receive the identified location of the attendee. The triangulation of the addresses of the beacons 104 may enable the data triangulation module 202 to interpolate a sub-location of the attendee in the premise.
[0038] In an exemplary scenario of the present invention, a beacon A, a beacon B, and a beacon C, are installed in a conference room of an office, and a beacon X, a beacon Y, and a beacon Z, are installed in a cafeteria of the office. If an identified location of an employee ‘N’ be transmitted to the beacon B and the beacon C, as the beacon B and the beacon C may have received the identified location of the employee ‘N’, then the data triangulation module 202 may triangulate the beacon B and the beacon C with the beacon A. The triangulation of the beacon A may initiate a handshake of the beacon A with the wearable device 102 of the employee ‘N’. If a handshake may be patched, then an assurance of the presence of the wearable device 102 corresponding to the employee ‘N’ in the conference room may be affirmed. However, if the handshake may not be patched, then the presence of the wearable device 102 corresponding to the employee ‘N’ in the conference room may be discarded.
[0039] Moreover, if an identified location of an employee ‘N’ is transmitted to the beacon X and the beacon Y, as the beacon X and the beacon Y may have received the identified location of the employee ‘N’, then the data triangulation module 202 may triangulate the beacon X and the beacon Y with the beacon Z. The triangulation of the beacon Z may initiate a handshake of the beacon Z with the wearable device 102 of the employee ‘N’. If a handshake may be patched, then an assurance of the presence of the wearable device 102 corresponding to the employee ‘N’ in the cafeteria may be affirmed. However, if the handshake may not be patched, then the presence of the wearable device 102 corresponding to the employee ‘N’ in the cafeteria may be discarded.
[0040] The data triangulation module 202 may further transmit the triangulated addresses of the beacons 104 to the data comparison module 204.
[0041] The data comparison module 204 may be activated upon receipt of the triangulated addresses of the beacons 104 from the data triangulation module 202. In an embodiment of the present invention, the data comparison module 204 may be configured to compare a required timely presence of the attendee in the triangulated address, with a predefined time and location. In the above exemplary scenario, if the employee ‘N’ may be predefined to be present in the conference room between 3 PM to 4 PM, then the data comparison module 204 may be configured to compare a current time with time lapsing between 3 PM and 4 PM, and compare the triangulated address, that may be conference room (triangulated using the beacon A, the beacon B, and the beacon C), with the predefined location.
[0042] Upon comparison, if the timely presence of the attendee with the triangulated address corresponds with the predefined time and location, then the data comparison module 204 may transmit a present signal to the attendance module 206. Else, the data comparison module 204 may transmit an absent signal to the attendance module 206.
[0043] The attendance module 206 may be activated upon receipt of the present signal from the data comparison module 204. In an embodiment of the present invention, the attendance module 206 may be configured to mark the attendee as present in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time.
[0044] However, if the attendance module 206 may be activated upon receipt of the absent signal from the data comparison module 204. In an embodiment of the present invention, the attendance module 206 may be configured to mark the attendee as absent in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time.
[0045] In an embodiment of the present invention, the attendance module 206 may be configured to update the status of the attendee either as absent or present in the log sheet that may further be uploaded to the centralized cloud database 108.
[0046] FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method 300 for managing attendance using the system 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0047] At step 302, the system 100 may receive the identified location of the attendee from the beacons 104.
[0048] At step 304, the system 100 may triangulate the addresses of the beacons 104 received the identified location of the attendee.
[0049] At step 306, the system 100 may compare the required timely presence of the attendee in the triangulated address, with a predefined time and location. If the timely presence of the attendee with the triangulated address corresponds with the predefined time and location, then the method 300 may proceed to a step 308. Else, the method 300 may proceed to a step 310.
[0050] At step 308, the system 100 may mark the attendee as present in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time.
[0051] At step 310, the system 100 may mark the attendee as absent in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time.
[0052] While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and various embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the appended claims.
[0053] This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined in the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements within substantial differences from the literal languages of the claims. , Claims:CLAIMS
I/We Claim:
1. A smart attendance system (100), the system (100) comprising:
a wearable device (102) adapted to be worn by an attendee, wherein the wearable device (102) is adapted to identify a geographical location of the attendee in a premise; and
beacons (104) installed in a distributive manner in the premise, wherein the beacons (104) are adapted to communicate with the wearable device (102) for receipt of the identified location of the attendee; and
a processing unit (106) communicatively connected with the beacons (104), characterized in that the processing unit (106) is configured to:
receive the identified location of the attendee from the beacons (104);
triangulate addresses of the beacons (104) received the identified location of the attendee;
compare a required timely presence of the attendee in the triangulated address, with a predefined time and location; and
mark the attendee as present in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time, when the timely presence of the attendee with the triangulated address corresponds with the predefined time and location.
2. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit (106) is configured to mark the attendee as absent in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time, when the timely presence of the attendee with the triangulated address does not correspond the predefined time and location.
3. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit (106) is configured to maintain a log sheet of the attendee, such that the log sheet is stored in a centralized cloud database (108).
4. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, comprising a navigational unit (110) adapted to enable the attendee to navigate in the premise for achieving the timely presence at a designated location, wherein the navigation is carried out using an augmented reality (AR) wayfinding.
5. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the beacons (104) comprise a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio.
6. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the addresses of the beacons (104) are triangulated using an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) triangulation.
7. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit (106) is configured to geofence the premise, such that the wearable device (102) is automatically activated inside of the geofenced periphery of the premise.
8. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit (106) is configured to verify habitual movement patterns, using a machine learning algorithm (112), to prevent proxy attendance.
9. A method (300) for managing attendance using a smart attendance system (100), the method (300) characterized by steps of:
receiving an identified location of an attendee from beacons (104);
triangulating addresses of the beacons (104) received the identified location of the attendee;
comparing a required timely presence of the attendee in the triangulated address, with a predefined time and location; and
marking the attendee as present in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time.
10. The method (300) as claimed in claim 9, comprising a step of marking the attendee as absent in the corresponding triangulated address at the corresponding time, when the timely presence of the attendee with the triangulated address does not correspond to the predefined time and location.
Date: May 02, 2025
Place: Noida

Nainsi Rastogi
Patent Agent (IN/PA-2372)
Agent for the Applicant