Patent ID: 9430749
Filing Date: 2016-08-30
CPC Classification: G06F,G06Q,G06T

Claim Text:
1. An architectural planning method for use with an organization comprised of multiple organizational groups performing the operations of said organization, the method comprising the steps of: controlling a display state of a visual display based on user input received through an input device; storing, in memory, input data based on an evaluation of the organization to identify a plurality of organizational groups which make up the organization and which will be located at selected locations within at least one building defined on one or more floors corresponding to the building space to be outfitted with furniture, said organizational groups comprising a plurality of associated personnel who perform the respective operations tasks of said organizational group, wherein the input data stored in the memory at least includes initial group data for each of said organizational groups and building data, wherein the initial group data includes a group title, a head count of the number of personnel associated with each said group and building data, wherein the building data includes the floor plans for the building workspace to which said organizational groups are to be located; generating, using a planning processor, a planning interface configured to receive user input and to control the visual state of the display, wherein the planning interface controls the visual state of the display based at least in part on the user input and the input data stored in the memory; wherein said group data includes an initial density value defined by an initial amount of work area desired for each person of said head count; generating a bubble diagram, with the planning interface, based on the initial group data, and diagrammatically displaying, with the planning interface, the bubble diagram (also called adjacency diagram or adjacency map) on said visual display, wherein said bubble diagram includes a plurality of visual display bubbles for each of said groups which are displayed separately on the visual display in separate display locations within said bubble diagram, the plurality of visual bubbles being associated with a furniture requirement for each of the groups, wherein said generating the bubble diagram includes calculating bounds for each of said plurality of visual bubbles based on the initial group data; generating a blocking diagram, with the planning interface, based on the building data, wherein the blocking diagram is one or more floor plans of available workspace in which said groups may selectively be located; controlling, by the planning interface, a display on said visual display to show said blocking diagram in an initial display state having said available workspace in an unused visual state; moving, based on the user input received by the planning interface, one said group bubble from said display location in said bubble diagram to a further display location on said blocking diagram, wherein said group bubble is positioned within a selected location on a selected said floor plan; based on positioning of the group bubble within the selected location by the planning interface, calculating bounds for a group block to be positioned in an area of the floor plan corresponding to the selected location, wherein the bounds of the group block are calculated based on the initial group data associated with the group bubble; in response to placement of the group bubble at or near the selected location, automatically visually transforming the group visual bubble into the group block by automatically filling the area of the floor plan according to the calculated bounds of the group block such that the group block conforms to the floor plan in a desired spatial configuration that fills at least a portion of said workspace of said floor plan, the group block indicating a group furniture plan to outfit the desired spatial configuration with furniture based at least in part on the furniture requirement associated with the group visual bubble; and positioning, based on the user input received by the planning interface, said group visual display bubbles on said floor plan one after the other, said spatial configuration for each said group block being sized according to said head count for said respective organizational group and the work area assigned to each individual of said head count.