TITLE OF THE INVENTION

Line Management System

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a novel system based upon a custom built computerised device having its own unique logic, which eliminates the stresses of standing and/or waiting in line. Due to the novelty in this product, the present line management technique is widely applicable in industry.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A common problem faced by many persons all over the world is standing in long lines to wait for one's turn to be attended to. There are many times when, despite standing in long lines, a person is not attended to, due to insufficiency of time. There are also instances when a person is not able to take his place in the line in a timely manner due to long-distances. There are also instances, where there are changes to the schedule of the line attendants, which are, however, not communicated to the persons standing in the line. This leads to wastage of time and leads to overall inefficiency of the system of attending to the line.

There are several existing types of systems, which purport to regulate and maintain order of a line. However, none of the systems disclosed in the prior art show efficiency, either in terms of performance or in terms of its economics.

Further, the systems disclosed in prior art are not efficient for very long lines, which cannot be attended to, on the same day.
The systems disclosed in prior art are also not user-friendly for use via wired/wireless communication mediums.

There are many other disadvantages of systems disclosed in prior art, which would become apparent from the present invention.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a custom built line management system.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a line management system that is applicable in any field of industry where people are required to stand in a line to wait for their turn.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to disclose a line management system that can be simultaneously connected to additional computers over the local area network ("LAN").

Another objective of the present invention is to disclose a line management system that provides quantitative data regarding the line.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to disclose a line management system that, at the end of the day, permits the user to carry-over its position in the line to the next day.

Another objective of the present invention is to disclose a line management system that is capable of handling multiple window service with no limits.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to disclose a line management system wherein the administrator can put a cap on the number of people standing in the line.

Another objective of the present invention is to disclose a line management system that is capable of entering financial transactions against each person in the line.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to disclose a line management system wherein the end-user as well as the customer can access the administrator and the system over, wired or wireless communication, such as internet and/or through message services.

Another objective of the present invention is to disclose a line management system that has an in-built scheduler and calendar.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the detailed description taken in conjunction with the provided figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and the advantages of the invention will be made clearer with the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof, exemplifying, but not limiting, with reference to the attached drawings -

Figure 1 is a base system setup depicting the present invention along with main display, token printer, announcement system and various counters.

Figure 2 shows the present invention configured to use multiple displays.

Figure 3 depicts the present invention sending message alerts to the administrator as well as the customers.

Figure 4 shows the internet based appointment booking service.

Figure 5 depicts the appointment booking service via communication devices (wired or wireless)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The line management system provided in this present invention is a unique and novel system, which is highly efficient and economic, because of which, it is useful in industry.

In this system, a person can book his place in the line and be relieved of the stress of standing in a line for lengths of time.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has a user friendly interface, wherein, one can merely push a button, which will lead to the printing of a token / ticket / pass, after which one may go and take a seat and wait for their turn, rather than stand in a line.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a thermal printer is used, which has a keypad, which has many keys, and a combination of keys, which, when pressed, prints out a token with the next number in the line, with date and time of issue, name of issuing authority, plus one extra line of information which is customizable.

In an alternate embodiment of this invention, a person can book his place in the line by way of any wired / wireless mode of communication.

In this system, there are one or more screens / monitor which can display the Token Number, Counter Number and other statistics calculated and generated by the system. Along with such screen / monitor, there is an announcement system consisting of speakers with amplifiers, which are fed by an automatic voice mechanism.

Once the system prints the token for a person, the system registers such person in the line. The screen / monitor would then show the total number of such registered persons, along with the status of such persons as "waiting to be served".

Once a person is served, his status changes to "served", and the display on the screen / monitor changes to the next number in the line, along with a voice announcement in the preferred language.

The 'transfer' feature of the system, which is another novel feature of the invention, enables the administrator to transfer the token to another service or activity after completion of the first service, without the need for the person to go and print another token for a different service. This is especially important for areas like large hospitals where a patient may have to go for consultation first and then be directed by the doctor, to go for blood test, ECG, X-Ray, etc. The person in the line need not take repeated tokens for all the services. The same token enables such person to be properly put in line for all the services for which such person has been sent for by the doctor. The token will not be marked as 'served' until all the services are completed and the administrator decides when the token would be marked as 'served'.

In another very important feature of the present invention, if, due to any reason, a person in the line is not able to attend to their call in the line, such person would be shifted back to the end of the line, and would be attended to, at the end of the line, without being made to entirely lose his / her place in the line. In such a situation, the administrator would press a "skip" button, and attend to the next person in the line in the same manner as elucidated above. However, if required, such a person, who has skipped their place, can even be called up, at the discretion of the administrator, by directly clicking on such skipped person's respective number. However, the person cannot be just skipped by the administrator at his own wish and will. The person in the line has to be called a minimum number of times over the announcement system, which number is pre-decided by the administrator. This prevents the possible abuse of the system by the administrator.

Every time a person is attended to, the system calculates, records and displays several statistics such as:
1. total time taken to process the last user.
2. the expected time of wait per user based on the average processing time per user previously achieved.
3. any other statistics that are specific to any particular application area and / or demanded by the customer, if it is within the technical feasibility of the system.

These statistics can be aggregated annually, monthly, weekly or daily to generate a printable report.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, additional devices can be attached / linked to the system through any local area network (LAN), depending upon the specific application area. By way of this feature, there can be multiple counters that can attend / serve persons waiting to be in the line.

In the above system, where the system is capable of providing multiple window serving facility, the screen display and announcement will change to indicate both 'counter number' and 'token number', so that the user can approach the relevant counter to be served when their number is called out, along with statistics like, number of people waiting, number of people served, average waiting time between services for that counter, and also how many people are waiting for every activity or service. If the site of installation provides wireless access to the waiting person, the person can even convert his handheld device or smart phone into his own personal display monitor, so that he can see the token and counter information on his phone itself from wherever he is sitting near the area.

In the exemplary embodiment of this invention, all such appointments / reservations / bookings can be done without actually even visiting the place where such appointments / reservations / bookings would have been normally done, hence saving time, energy, money and making such system extremely convenient and efficient to use.

Another essential feature of the present invention is the feature that permits carrying-over one's position in the line to the next day. This feature greatly increases the utility of the system disclosed in the present invention, and makes it widely applicable in industry. By allowing the option of carrying over one's position in the line to the next day, the major area of application would be in Government departments, where the processing times are relatively higher and there is a need for streamlining. There are many specific areas within the government, as well as outside of it, where this invention would have wide applicability. When such feature is applied, the display and announcement will give priority to the previous day's tokens and then to the current day's token holders.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention also incorporates a function, by which the administrator can stop any new entrants from entering the line, when such line increases a particular length. This feature can save unnecessary waiting time and frustration for users who would have otherwise waited in vain and not been served due to lack of time.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention also incorporates a function by which the administrator can configure the system to issue tokens only during a set interval time. This feature will ensure that tokens are issued only at a prescribed time.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention also incorporates a function, by which the administrator can analyze how many persons could be attended in the day, by calculating the amount of time taken to attend to each person, and correlating it with the time remaining for that day, and, therefore, ask extra persons, who are already in the line, to come the next day.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, if due to an inadvertent error made by the customer in selecting his service or in case of the already issued token having been misplaced or damaged, the administrator can selectively print the token again for the same number, even for a different service, if needed.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the system can either through wire or wirelessly communicate to the extra persons in the line that they may come the next day, even though the administrator may not be in place to attend to such persons.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, despite the administrator not being in a position to serve the persons who are in the line, the system can either through wire or wirelessly communicate to such persons, his/her current status in the line.
The present invention also has provision for giving limited access to the administrator, confined only to such access as is necessary to perform its duty of managing the line.

In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the system can be wirelessly viewed and monitored by the administrator.
Again, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the administrator can communicate to the persons in the line of any change in waiting time, so that such persons can reschedule their plans and hence save their time.

The present invention also provides for an in-built calendar and / or scheduler, which increases its utility for the person using such system. This calendar and / or scheduler can streamline the procedure of assigning and allotting slots and/or places to persons, who wish to be attended to, on the basis of various factors, such as the waiting time, processing time, number of persons, number of slots, etc. The calendar and / or scheduler can also alert the administrator about various parameters such as the number of persons waiting to be attended to, the number of slots that are still free, etc.

Another very significant feature of the present invention is that the system disclosed herein allows the administrator to enter financial transactions against every slot / place for which a token has been issued in the line. This way, the administrator has to merely enter the opening and closing balance against each counter that is attending the persons in the line, and merely tally the cash collected at every counter on the basis of the number of tokens that have been printed personally and/or booked through any wired / wireless medium. The cash so collected can be secured from the counters at regular intervals of time, so as to maintain security of such cash collected and carry any, if at all, balance forward. This system, therefore, also helps in securing cash at the counter, where various administrators work in short / small shifts. Any discrepancy in cash collected during any shift can be easily detected by this system, and necessary action can be taken on the basis of the data produced by the system.

The system also does not allow insufficient cash to be entered against a transaction and does not complete the service of the token until the correct amount has been entered. It, therefore, also provides a means to correct human errors but not before the administrator has been informed that such human errors had been attempted. In addition, any correction or alteration of amount can only be one with the permission of the administrator, thereby fixing the responsibility correctly.

Such a system, again, is invaluable for various fields of industry, such as post-offices, railways, banks, where corruption is creating havoc, but where it is difficult to isolate who is the wrong-doer from amongst the many administrators of a particular counter.

The software improvements can be delivered to the system remotely through the internet thereby eliminating the need for physically going to every place where the system has been installed, to provide upgrades.

The foregoing description of a specific embodiment will so fully reveal the invention according to the conceptual point of view, so that others, by applying current knowledge will be able to modify and/or adapt, for various applications, such an embodiment without further research and without parting from the invention, and it is therefore, to be understood that such adaptations and modifications will have to be considered as equivalent to the specific embodiment. The means and the materials to realise the different functions described herein could have a different nature without, for this reason, departing from the field of the invention. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not for limitation. It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments, improvements, details and uses can be made consistent with the letter and spirit of the foregoing disclosure and within the scope of this patent.

I/We claim:

1. A line management system including:

atleast one user friendly interface, which allots a token/number to each person in the line, and contains an additional line of information, customizable as per need, in the manner described herein, which number in the line can be carried forward to the next day in case the number of a particular person in the line does not reach on a particular day, and which number can be transferred to another service or activity after completion of the first service, in the manner described herein;

atleast one administrator who controls, regulates and manages the system, which includes, stopping new entrants to the line once the line increases a particular length, communicating to persons already in the line, through wired/wireless modes of communication, that they may come the next day if they would not be attended on that day due to lack of time, or by not completing the service of the token until the correct amount has been entered against a transaction;

atleast one counter that can attend/serve the persons in the line;

atleast one screen/monitor which displays the token number/counter number, status of the number and/or other statistics calculated and generated by the administrator with respect to the line;

an in-built calendar/scheduler for streamlining the procedure for allotting slots to persons who wish to be attended to, which helps both the administrator and the persons in the line; and

an in-built accounting system wherein the administrator can insert financial transactions against each slot/number allotted/issued to the persons in the line.

one or more other devices connected through LAN;

2. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, in which, the administrator can provide quantitative data regarding the line, which can be aggregated for any duration of time to generate a printable report, in the manner described herein.

3. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, in which, alongwith screen(s)/monitor(s), there can be an announcement system consisting of speakers with amplifiers, which are fed by an automatic voice mechanism.

4. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the administrator can press a 'skip' button for a person who was unable to attend to their call in the line and attend to such person at the end of the line, or at any other time at the discretion of the administrator, in the manner described herein.

5. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the system can be configured to:

(a) issue/allot tokens only during a set interval of time or
(b) limit the number of tokens that can be issued.

6. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the calendar/scheduler can alert the administrator about various parameters, including, the number of persons waiting to be attended to and the number of slots that are still free, in the manner described herein.

7. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the administrator can communicate to persons in the line, through wire/wireless modes of communications, his/her current status in the line and inform them of any change in waiting time, so that such persons can re-schedule their plans, in the manner described herein.

8. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the administrator can tally the cash collected at every counter on the basis of, amongst others:

(a) the number of tokens that have been issued/allotted through any wired/wireless medium; and
(b) the opening and closing balance against each counter.
(c) the individual cash transactions recorded at every counter based on payment due, payment received and change due for every transaction
(d) the cash added or withdrawn from every counter by the administrator in order to provide for change or to secure the cash away from the counter.

9. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, which is helpful in securing cash at counters, even where various administrators are assigned in short/small shifts, in the manner described herein.

10. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, in which, the administrator can selectively print the token again for the same number, even for a different service, if needed, in the manner described herein.

11. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the administrator may either be a computerized device or a natural person.

12. A line management system, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the system can be wirelessly viewed by the administrator and the end-user, in the manner described herein.