Real-time Automatic Meeting Room Reservation Based on the Number of Actual Participants

Abstract

System and method for scheduling a meeting room includes accepting information defining a meeting type, which is associated with at least one preset resources. The method further includes displaying at least one preset parameter based on the meeting type including email address of attendees, receiving preset information from the at least one displayed preset parameter, automatically identifying and reserving a first room that is associated with a maximum capacity number by communicating with a scheduling server the availability of the at least one preset resources based on the received preset information, notifying the organizer of the first room, detecting a number of attendees physically presence in the first room during an attendance time period by utilizing at least one sensor, and sending at least one command to control at least one of the associated preset resources in response to a start time and end time.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for scheduling a meeting room, comprising:
 (a) accepting information defining a meeting type, the meeting type being associated with at least one preset resources including a presentation capture device;   (b) displaying at least one preset parameter based on the meeting type, the at least one preset parameter including at least one email address for each of a plurality of attendees;   (c) receiving preset information from the at least one displayed preset parameter, the preset information including a start time, an end time, and a number of attendees invited by an organizer;   (d) automatically identifying and reserving a first room that is associated with a maximum capacity number by communicating with a scheduling server the availability of the at least one preset resources based on the received preset information;   (e) notifying the organizer of the first room;   (f) detecting a number of attendees physically presence in the first room during an attendance time period by utilizing at least one sensor, wherein
 the attendance time period is a configurable time period; 
   (g) sending at least one command to control at least one of the associated preset resources in response to the start time and end time, wherein the at least one preset parameter includes a recording profile, the preset information includes a preconfigured recording profile, the preconfigured recording profile includes at least one AV workflow function, the at least one AV workflow function includes an encoding profile, and the encoding profile includes a video CODEC preset parameter, a resolution preset parameter and a video bitrate preset parameter; and   (h) if the number of detected attendees physically present in the first room exceeds or is less than the first room maximum capacity number by a configurable tolerance number, identifying a second room in real-time based on the preset information, wherein the second room is associated with a maximum capacity number, and
 (i) if the second room is available,
 notifying the organizer of the availability of the second room and requesting an acceptance or rejection of the second room, and 
 receiving a response from the organizer as to the acceptance or rejection of the second room, and
 (1) if the organizer accepts the second room, 
  reserving the second room and canceling the first room, and notifying the organizer that the second room has been reserved and that the first room has been cancelled, and 
 (2) if the organizer rejects the second room, 
  maintaining the reservation of the first room, and notifying the organizer that the reservation of the first room has been maintained; and 
 
 
 (ii) if the second room is not available,
 notifying the organizer that there are no other alternative rooms. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the configurable tolerance number is set by the organizer. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the configurable tolerance number is five more or five less than the first room maximum capacity number. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the second room in real-time based on the preset information includes matching as close as possible the second room maximum capacity number to the detected invitees. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the maximum capacity number of the first room and second room is a maximum number of seats available in each room, respectively. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of attendees invited by the organizer is the number of attendees accepting a meeting invite. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the attendance time period is a configurable time period that can begin prior to a start of a meeting time and end after the start of the meeting time. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the configurable time period is five minutes prior to the start time and five minutes after the start time. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of the following: thermal images, facial recognition, optical sensor, global positioning system, and pressure sensor. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein
 automatically identifying and reserving a first room that is associated with a maximum capacity number includes matching as close as possible the first room maximum capacity number to the number of attendees invited by the organizer.   
     
     
         11 . A system to schedule a meeting room, comprising:
 (a) at least one processor;   (b) a memory;   (c) at least one data storage device operably associated with the memory and the at least one processor;   (d) at least one communication interface operably associated with the at least one processor and memory, the at least one communication interface being configured to enable communication between an information handling system and one or more user communication devices; and   (e) at least one program of instructions stored in the memory and being executable in the processor, the program of instructions being operable to,
 (i) automatically identify and reserve a first room that is associated with a maximum capacity number by communicating with a scheduling server the availability of the at least one preset resources based on the received preset information; 
 (ii) detect a number of attendees physically present in the first room during an attendance time period by utilizing at least one sensor, and 
 (iii) if the number of detected attendees physically present in the first room exceeds or is less than the first room maximum capacity number by a configurable tolerance number, identify a second room in real-time based on the preset information, wherein the second room is associated with a maximum capacity number, and wherein
 the attendance time period is a configurable time period, and wherein 
 the configurable tolerance number is set by the organizer. 
 
   
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein
 the program of instructions is further operable to—
 (i) accept information defining a meeting type, the meeting type being associated with at least one preset resources including a presentation capture device; 
 (ii) display at least one preset parameter based on the meeting type, the at least one preset parameter including at least one email address for each of a plurality of attendees; 
 (iii) receive preset information from the at least one displayed preset parameter, the preset information including a start time, an end time, and a number of attendees invited by an organizer; 
 (iv) notify the organizer of the first room; and 
 (v) send at least one command to control at least one of the associated preset resources in response to the start time and end time, wherein
 the at least one preset parameter includes a recording profile, 
 the preset information includes a preconfigured recording profile, 
 the preconfigured recording profile includes at least one AV workflow function, 
 the at least one AV workflow function includes an encoding profile, and 
 the encoding profile includes a video CODEC preset parameter, a resolution preset parameter and a video bitrate preset parameter. 
 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one program of instructions is further operable to
 (a) if the number of detected attendees physically present in the first room exceeds or is less than the first room maximum capacity number by a configurable tolerance number, identify a second room in real-time based on the preset information, wherein the second room is associated with a maximum capacity number, and
 (i) if the second room is available,
 notifying the organizer of the availability of the second room and requesting an acceptance or rejection of the second room, and 
 receiving a response from the organizer as to the acceptance or rejection of the second room, and
 (1) if the organizer accepts the second room, 
  reserving the second room and canceling the first room, and 
  notifying the organizer that the second room has been reserved and that the first room has been cancelled, and 
 (2) if the organizer rejects the second room, 
  maintaining the reservation of the first room, and 
  notifying the organizer that the reservation of the first room has been maintained, and 
 
 
 (2) if the second room is not available,
 notifying the organizer that there are no other alternative rooms. 
 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein
 the configurable tolerance number is five more or five less than the first room maximum capacity number.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein
 identifying the second room in real-time based on the preset information includes matching as close as possible the second room maximum capacity number to the detected invitees.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein
 each of the maximum capacity number of the first room and second room is a maximum number of seats available in each room, respectively.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein
 the number of attendees invited by the organizer is the number of attendees accepting a meeting invite.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein
 the configurable time period can begin prior to a start of a meeting time and can end after the start of a meeting time.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein
 the configurable time is about five minutes prior to the start time and about five minutes after the start time.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein
 the at least one sensor includes at least one of the following: thermal images, facial recognition, optical sensor, global positioning system, and pressure sensor.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein
 automatically identifying and reserving a first room that is associated with a maximum capacity number includes matching as close as possible the first room maximum capacity number to the number of attendees invited by the organizer.   
     
     
         22 . A method for scheduling a meeting room, comprising:
 (a) accepting information defining a meeting type, the meeting type being associated with at least one preset resources including a presentation capture device;   (b) displaying at least one preset parameter based on the meeting type, the at least one preset parameter including at least one email address for each attendee of a plurality of attendees;   (c) receiving preset information from the at least one displayed preset parameter, the preset information including a start time, an end time, and a number of attendees invited by an organizer;   (d) automatically identifying and reserving a first room that is associated with a maximum capacity number by communicating with a scheduling server the availability of the at least one preset resources based on the received preset information;   (e) notifying the organizer of the first room; and   (f) detecting a number of attendees physically presence in the first room during an attendance time period by utilizing at least one sensor; and   (g) if the number of detected attendees physically present in the first room exceeds or is less than the first room maximum capacity number by a configurable tolerance number, identifying a second room in real-time based on the preset information, the second room is associated with a maximum capacity number, wherein
 the attendance time period is a configurable time period, and 
 the configurable tolerance number is set by the organizer. 
   
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 22 , further comprising:
 (h) sending at least one command to control at least one of the associated preset resources in response to the start time and end time, wherein the at least one preset parameter includes a recording profile, the preset information includes a preconfigured recording profile, the preconfigured recording profile includes at least one AV workflow function, the at least one AV workflow function includes an encoding profile, and the encoding profile includes a video CODEC preset parameter, a resolution preset parameter and a video bitrate preset parameter.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising:
 (i) if the second room is available, notifying the organizer of the availability of the second room and requesting an acceptance or rejection of the second room;   (j) receiving a response from the organizer as to the acceptance or rejection of the second room;
 (i) if the organizer accepts the second room, reserving the second room and canceling the first room and notifying the organizer that the second room has been reserved and the cancellation of the first room; and 
 (ii) if the organizer rejects the second room, maintaining the reservation of the first room and notifying the organizer that the reservation of the first room is maintained; and 
   (k) if the second room is not available, notifying the organizer that there are no other alternative rooms.   
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 22 , wherein
 the configurable tolerance number is about five more or about five less than the first room maximum capacity number.   
     
     
         26 . The method according to  claim 22 , wherein
 identifying the second room in real-time based on the preset information includes matching as close as possible the second room maximum capacity number to the detected invitees.   
     
     
         27 . The method according to  claim 22 , wherein
 each of the maximum capacity number of the first room and second room is a maximum number of seats available in each room, respectively.   
     
     
         28 . The method according to  claim 22 , wherein
 the number of attendees invited by the organizer is the number of attendees accepting a meeting invite.   
     
     
         29 . The method according to  claim 22 , wherein
 the attendance time period is a configurable time period that can begin prior to a start of a meeting time and end after the start of the meeting time.   
     
     
         30 . The method according to  claim 29 , wherein
 the configurable time period is about five minutes prior to the start time and about five minutes after the start time.   
     
     
         31 . The method according to  claim 22 , wherein
 the at least one sensor includes at least one of the following: thermal images, facial recognition, optical sensor, global positioning system, and pressure sensor.   
     
     
         32 . The method according to  claim 24 , wherein
 automatically identifying and reserving a first room that is associated with a maximum capacity number includes matching as close as possible the first room maximum capacity number to the number of attendees invited by the organizer.