Dynamic building floorplans using retractable partitions

Disclosed are techniques for managing retractable privacy partitions to dynamically subdivide spaces in buildings into sub-spaces (or rooms). Retractable privacy partitions are distributed throughout a given space in a building such that the retractable privacy partitions can completely retract into a surface of the given space (for example, the floor or ceiling) such that when they are fully extended, the retractable privacy partitions create separate rooms within the given space, and when fully retracted, the retractable privacy partitions do not significantly impede movement or sightlines throughout the given space. Further disclosed are techniques to manage the retractable privacy partitions based on properties indicative of demand for rooms of various sizes within the given space. Some embodiments further disclose retractable privacy partitions including switchable glass to provide additional flexibility through dynamic opacity along with dynamic extension/retraction of the partitions.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the field of office building management systems, and more particularly to creating and operating dynamic floorplans for buildings using retractable partitions. As used in this document, the term floorplan is hereby defined to mean any set of computer data that represents the physical features (for example, walls, doors, other fixtures) of the physical space of at least a portion of a structure (for example, a building); “floorplans” are not limited to representations of the physical space that are in the form of scale diagrams; “floorplans” are not limited to representations of the arrangement of rooms in one story of a building structure.

In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a graphic, drafted to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a given structure.

Smart glass, also known as switchable glass (additionally as smart windows or switchable windows in those applications) is a glass or glazing whose light transmission properties are altered when voltage, light, or heat is applied. In general, the glass changes from transparent or translucent to opaque and vice versa, changing from letting light pass through to blocking some (or all) wavelengths of light and vice versa. Different types smart glass technologies include electrochromic, photochromic, thermochromic, suspended-particle, micro-blind, and polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal devices.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is a method, computer program product and/or system for use with a portion of floorspace of a building with a plurality of retractable privacy partitions throughout the portion of the floorspace that performs the following operations (not necessarily in the following order): (i) receiving a floorplan requirements dataset indicating floorspace requirements corresponding to quantities of at least one type of room needed within the portion of floorspace of the building; and (ii) determining an updated floorplan for the portion of floorspace of the building, based, at least in part, on the floorplan requirements dataset, where the updated floorplan includes a plurality of rooms of at least one type of room defined by at least partially extending at least some of the plurality of retractable privacy partitions and completely retracting at least some of the plurality of retractable privacy partitions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments of the present invention are directed to techniques for managing retractable privacy partitions to dynamically subdivide spaces in buildings into sub-spaces (or rooms). Retractable privacy partitions are distributed throughout a given space in a building such that the retractable privacy partitions can completely retract into a surface of the given space (for example, the floor or ceiling) such that when they are fully extended, the retractable privacy partitions create separate rooms within the given space, and when fully retracted, the retractable privacy partitions do not significantly impede movement or sightlines throughout the given space. Further disclosed are techniques to manage the retractable privacy partitions based on properties indicative of demand for rooms of various sizes within the given space. Some embodiments further disclose retractable privacy partitions including switchable glass to provide additional flexibility through dynamic opacity along with dynamic extension/retraction of the partitions.

I. THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT

A “storage device” is hereby defined to be any thing made or adapted to store computer code in a manner so that the computer code can be accessed by a computer processor. A storage device typically includes a storage medium, which is the material in, or on, which the data of the computer code is stored. A single “storage device” may have: (i) multiple discrete portions that are spaced apart, or distributed (for example, a set of six solid state storage devices respectively located in six laptop computers that collectively store a single computer program); and/or (ii) may use multiple storage media (for example, a set of computer code that is partially stored in as magnetic domains in a computer's non-volatile storage and partially stored in a set of semiconductor switches in the computer's volatile memory). The term “storage medium” should be construed to cover situations where multiple different types of storage media are used.

As shown inFIG.1, networked computers system100is an embodiment of a hardware and software environment for use with various embodiments of the present invention. Networked computers system100includes: server subsystem102(sometimes herein referred to, more simply, as subsystem102); John's smartphone104; client subsystems106,108; badge reader110; dynamic floorplan display112; and communication network114. Server subsystem102includes: server computer200; communication unit202; processor set204; input/output (I/O) interface set206; memory208; persistent storage210; display212; external device(s)214; random access memory (RAM)230; cache232; and program300.

Subsystem102may be a laptop computer, tablet computer, netbook computer, personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, or any other type of computer (see definition of “computer” in Definitions section, below). Program300is a collection of machine readable instructions and/or data that is used to create, manage and control certain software functions that will be discussed in detail, below, in the Example Embodiment subsection of this Detailed Description section.

Memory208and persistent storage210are computer-readable storage media. In general, memory208can include any suitable volatile or non-volatile computer-readable storage media. It is further noted that, now and/or in the near future: (i) external device(s)214may be able to supply, some or all, memory for subsystem102; and/or (ii) devices external to subsystem102may be able to provide memory for subsystem102. Both memory208and persistent storage210: (i) store data in a manner that is less transient than a signal in transit; and (ii) store data on a tangible medium (such as magnetic or optical domains). In this embodiment, memory208is volatile storage, while persistent storage210provides nonvolatile storage. The media used by persistent storage210may also be removable. For example, a removable hard drive may be used for persistent storage210. Other examples include optical and magnetic disks, thumb drives, and smart cards that are inserted into a drive for transfer onto another computer-readable storage medium that is also part of persistent storage210.

I/O interface set206allows for input and output of data with other devices that may be connected locally in data communication with server computer200. For example, I/O interface set206provides a connection to external device set214. External devices214will typically include devices such as a keyboard, keypad, a touch screen, and/or some other suitable input device. External devices214can also include portable computer-readable storage media such as, for example, thumb drives, portable optical or magnetic disks, and memory cards. Software and data used to practice embodiments of the present invention, for example, program300, can be stored on such portable computer-readable storage media. I/O interface set206also connects in data communication with display212. Display212is a display device that provides a mechanism to display data to a user and may be, for example, a computer monitor or a smart phone display screen.

John's smartphone104is a typical smartphone device, with a touchscreen display attached to a handheld computer device with wireless communication capabilities.

Badge reader110is a badge reader device capable of electronically reading badge information from identification badges presented to it (either by swiping through a typical electronic badge reader, holding up to a camera to visually read the information, or holding a badge proximate to an RFID reader).

Dynamic floorplan display112is a computer device with a connected touchscreen display device (not shown).

In this embodiment, program300is stored in persistent storage210for access and/or execution by one or more computer processors of processor set204, usually through one or more memories of memory208. It will be understood by those of skill in the art that program300may be stored in a more highly distributed manner during its run time and/or when it is not running. Program300may include both machine readable and performable instructions and/or substantive data (that is, the type of data stored in a database). In this particular embodiment, persistent storage210includes a magnetic hard disk drive. To name some possible variations, persistent storage210may include a solid state hard drive, a semiconductor storage device, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, or any other computer-readable storage media that is capable of storing program instructions or digital information.

As shown inFIG.1, networked computers system100is an environment in which an example method according to the present invention can be performed. As shown inFIG.2, flowchart250shows an example method according to the present invention. As shown inFIG.3, program300performs or control performance of at least some of the method operations of flowchart250. This method and associated software will now be discussed, over the course of the following paragraphs, with extensive reference to the blocks ofFIGS.1,2,3,4A and4B.

Processing begins at operation S255, where floorplan requirements datastore module (“mod”)302receives a floorplan requirements dataset. In this simplified embodiment, the floorplan requirements dataset includes information about a portion of a building with dynamic floorplan capabilities, where the portion of the building is an area of the floor/floorspace of one story of the building where there are a plurality of retractable privacy partitions arranged in a grid-like pattern. This grid-like pattern consists of sub-portions of the floor bounded by a square of retractable privacy partitions, with one on each side, or what may alternatively be referred to as a “unit room.” A unit room is the smallest type of room that may be formed by the retractable privacy partitions. Larger rooms may be formed by combining a number of unit rooms and completely retracting into the floor the retractable privacy partitions that would separate each unit room from their respective adjacent unit rooms. The retractable privacy partitions are room partitions with two segments and a motor that is electronically operated to extend and retract one or both segments of the partition out of or completely into the floor, such that the top of the retractable privacy partition is mostly flush with the adjacent floor when completely retracted into the floor, and when fully extended forms a floor-to-ceiling wall. Each retractable privacy partition includes a wireless communication module that receives machine instructions to operate the retractable privacy partition (for example, extending or retracting the segments of the partition) and sends state information corresponding to the status of the retractable privacy partition (such as which segments are extended, whether they are completely or partially extended, completely retracted into the floor, etc.).

In this simplified embodiment, the floorplan requirements dataset corresponds to the entire first story of an office building called “Example Office Building” and includes information indicating quantities of rooms that are required, namely that four unit room size offices and one conference room is required for the day, where the conference room is to be four unit rooms in size. Example Office Building is the headquarters for Example Corp., a corporation headed by John Doe that employs three other employees. Included with the floorplan requirements dataset is a calendar indicating how many employees are reporting to Example Office Building for the day and if there are any meetings requiring a conference room. The calendar indicates that there will be four employees reporting to Example Office Building and meetings with clients throughout the day. In this example embodiment, the floorplan requirements dataset is sent from client106, a server client owned and operated by Example Corp. that hosts a centralized calendar for John and all of the employees of Example Corp.

In some alternative embodiments, the floorplan requirements dataset corresponds to different buildings and different portions of different stories of said different buildings, including only portions of some stories or several different stories, up to and including the entirety of every story of a building. In some alternative embodiments, the retractable privacy partitions are made of switchable glass. In some of those alternative embodiments, the switchable glass is electrochromic, where a computer (such as John's smartphone104) can provide input to another computer connected to the retractable privacy partition to indicate how transparent or opaque the retractable privacy partition should be. In some alternative embodiments, the transparency/opacity can be adjusted independently for each segment of a given partition.

Processing proceeds to operation S260, where updated floorplan generator mod304generates an updated floorplan dataset. In this simplified embodiment, using the floorplan requirements dataset stored in floorplan requirements datastore mod302, updated floorplan generator mod304generates an updated floorplan dataset that includes four unit room sized cubicles and one conference room. This updated floorplan is shown in window402A of screenshot400A ofFIG.4A, where cubicles404A,406A,408A and410A are present, as well as conference room A402A. If a conference room is not needed on a given day, the floorplan requirements dataset might indicate a floorplan that includes additional cubicles in the place of conference room A. The updated floorplan dataset includes a series of machine instructions for instructing the extension and retraction of various retractable privacy partitions across the first story of Example Office Building to provide for the appropriate arrangement of rooms indicated by the floorplan requirements dataset.

Processing proceeds to operation S265, where retractable privacy partition management mod306manages retractable privacy partitions to enact the updated floorplan dataset. In this simplified embodiment, using the machine instructions included in the updated floorplan dataset, retractable privacy partition management mod306extends several retractable privacy partitions surrounding cubicles shown inFIG.4Aas404A,406A,408A and410A, with each partition extended such that one of the two segments is fully extended from the floor and the other segment rests within the other segment. Retractable privacy partitions surrounding the borders of conference room A402A are fully extended to the ceiling, and partitions that are not part of the perimeter of conference room A402A are completely retracted into the floor of Example Office Building.

Processing proceeds to operation S270, where updated floorplan output mod308outputs the updated floorplan dataset to at least one computer device. In this simplified embodiment, the updated floorplan dataset is outputted over network114ofFIG.1as a visual floorplan as shown in screenshot400A ofFIG.4Ato dynamic floorplan display112ofFIG.1. Dynamic floorplan display112is located inside of Example Office Building near the entrance, providing a graphic representation of the updated floorplan of the first story of Example Office Building. The visual floorplan is also sent to John's Smartphone104over network114, so that John Doe can view the floorplan on his way into work. In some alternative embodiments, a version of the outputted updated floorplan accessible for the visually impaired is provided by outputting, using text-to-speech techniques, audio information corresponding to a voice reading out the updated floorplan in the updated floorplan dataset using a notation based on horizontal and vertical coordinates corresponding to room units, such as (cubicle at 1H,1V for a cubicle at a first horizontal, first vertical position). In some alternative embodiments, the visual floorplan, as in screenshot400A ofFIG.4A, is outputted over network114to client108, where client108is a personal computer device associated with an employee of Example Corp.

Processing proceeds to operation S275, where occupied updated floorplan generator mod312, responsive to receiving active occupancy input in active occupancy input datastore mod310, generates an occupied updated floorplan dataset. In this simplified embodiment, John Doe is the first person into Example Office Building to report for work for the day. John provides active occupancy input indicating which cubicle he is reserving for himself by first swiping his identification badge through badge reader110ofFIG.1, which provides identification information to dynamic floorplan display112over network114indicating which employee of Example Corp. is reserving a cubicle. Dynamic floorplan display112, displaying the updated floorplan as in S270, receives touchscreen input selecting cubicle404A ofFIG.4A, which is correlated with the identification information from badge reader110and stored in active occupancy input datastore mod310. In response to this input, occupied updated floorplan generator mod312generates an occupied updated floorplan dataset indicating that John Doe has reserved cubicle404A ofFIG.4A.

Processing proceeds to operation S280, where occupied updated floorplan output mod314outputs the occupied updated floorplan dataset. In this simplified embodiment, occupied updated floorplan output mod314outputs the occupied updated floorplan dataset as a visual floorplan as shown in screenshot400B ofFIG.4Bto dynamic floorplan display112ofFIG.1, replacing the previous updated floorplan shown in screenshot400A ofFIG.4A. Screenshot400B now showing cubicle404B as occupied by John Doe (indicated simply as JOHN), while cubicles406B,408B and410B remain open and available for reservation. Conference room A is still indicated as present in the floorplan, unchanged from the updated floorplan dataset and shown as402B. In some alternative embodiments, the occupied updated floorplan dataset is also sent to John's smartphone104each time a new occupied updated floorplan dataset is generated, such as each time another employee of Example Corp. reserves a cubicle.

In yet other alternative embodiments, persons who reserve rooms formed from the retractable privacy partitions may, depending on their organizational privileges or permissions (privileges or permissions provided to them by an organization associated with the building implementing the embodiment of the present invention), may operate some of the features of the retractable privacy partitions that are either part of the perimeter of the room that they reserved or exist within the room that they reserved. For example, they may partially lower or raise some or all of the retractable privacy partitions. In instances where the retractable privacy partitions are made of switchable glass, they may adjust the transparency/opacity of the retractable privacy partitions. Where each retractable privacy partition is made of a plurality of segments of switchable glass, transparency/opacity for each segment may be controlled independently of the other segments, enabling simultaneous operation of some segments to be completely transparent, some segments completely opaque, and some segments as in-between stages between completely transparent and completely opaque. In further alternative embodiments, details corresponding to occupants in adjacent “rooms” are compared, using the information used to “reserve a room” to determine if they are on the same team or working on the same project. If such is determined, retractable privacy partitions might be lowered either partially or completely to facilitate interpersonal communication between the occupants working on the same team or project. In other alternative embodiments, other types of details are compared.

Some embodiments of the present invention recognize the following facts, potential problems and/or potential areas for improvement with respect to the current state of the art: (i) a floorplan of an office building is generated during a design phase before the construction or renovation start; (ii) while there are movable walls which can be used to re-divide a space into different rooms based on the new a floor plan, it takes time to do this kind of renovation and during the renovation, the building cannot be used; (iii) the second problem of the fixed floorplan is that the office space is not fully utilized; (iv) in a modern office building, there are conference rooms (closed area), cubicle areas (open), agile spaces (could be open or close area, but it is different from traditional conference); (v) some of the office buildings may also have one or more big open spaces, such as auditoriums or large classrooms for big seminars or organization all-hands meetings; (vi) it is typical to expect a range for the number of employees working in this kind of office space in order to make sure everyone has a cubicle space and enough conference room space for people to meet; (vii) usually enough regular cubicles (everyone has their own “seat”) and a decent number of conference rooms and agile places are built; (viii) this led to 30-50% of the office space is empty through the day in some instances; and (ix) there is a need for dynamically “converting” the office spaces into different number of function blocks (such as individual cubicles, small private rooms, conference room, auditorium . . . ) based on the day to day office space usage demand.

Some embodiments of the present invention recognize the following facts, potential problems and/or potential areas for improvement with respect to the current state of the art: (i) some technologies are available that may be used to divide each functional area on the floor; (ii) for example, a smartglass material which can fade from translucent to opaque in a second; (iii) switchable glass panels; (iv) pocket doors that can rise out of the ground or out of a wall panel; (v) sound insulation glass with an air gap in the windows/glass material, as well as many other suitable sound insulation materials are available for use; (vi) multiple LED-based lighting units arranged in a personal workspace may be conveniently controlled by an occupant of the workspace to customize or personalize workspace lighting; (vii) workspace customization, including lighting conditions, further is facilitated by various power distribution schemes to allow convenient access to power in the workspace for lighting units and other electronic devices; and (viii) workspace dividers, partitions and walls may be particularly configured to accommodate power distribution systems and various components of networked lighting systems in the workspace environment.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, of the following operations, features, characteristics and/or advantages: (i) complete floor plan adjustment and movement of autonomous spaces; (ii) dynamically configure a building floorplan with a number of functional areas/blocks (such as enclosed office space, conference room, open cubical area, a big classroom) to: (a) improve the building space utilization rate, (b) fast change the building floor plan based on the demand, and (c) deliver a better user experience; (iii) space occupancy planning while continuing to find ways to improve employee experiences in offices; (iv) this will help dramatically improve the building space utilization rate; (v) furniture that is not capable of self-rearranging is taken into account for any adjustments to partitions as taught in some embodiments; (vi) smart furniture pieces that can rearrange themselves where a number of smaller desks might come together for a larger conference room are used; (vii) movement of larger pieces would still be a manual process; (viii) extending/retracting privacy partitions based on a health index; (ix) there are a number of ways this can be done; (x) using existing wearable devices, track health information from individuals entering/reserving rooms; (xi) opted-in mobile applications where individuals respond to a questionnaire on their symptoms, which are used to automatically extend/retract some partitions based on their answers; (xii) for wearables, examples of health monitoring sensors include: (a) activity level, (b) time spent sedentary, (c) number of steps taken, (d) sleep patterns, (e) resting heart rate, (f) heart rate variability, (g) stress level, (h) body temperature, and (i) blood oxygen levels.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, of the following operations, features, characteristics and/or advantages: (i) record various assets and space restrictions within a facility; (ii) functional block reservation records are saved in a database (DB); (iii) the functional block reservation records includes at least some of, but not limited to, the following information: (a) functional block names, (b) functional block type (conference room, cubicle, classroom, etc.), (c) space needed (measured by “grid”), (d) technology resources needed in a functional block, (e) capacity needed (max number of the seats available in a functional block (such 1 for a cubicle, 10 for a conference room, and 50 for a classroom), (e) usage type (such as public or private), (f) booking type (one time booking or recurrently booking), (g) booking time (from when to when the functional block will be used), (h) a user identification (such as name, employee ID) who is booking the functional block, (i) attendees list of the event which this functional block will be used for, (j) number of people expected to join the event in person, (k) time stamp (for example, yy/mm/dd/minutes) of the booking record updated in the DB, (l) historical usage patterns for spaces, and (m) various amenities required such as: windows, whiteboards, projectors, etc.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, of the following operations, features, characteristics and/or advantages: (i) a service to access a user's meeting requirements is used to calculate the demand of the functional blocks from each user in a given time frame (e.g.: “a business day”); (ii) for example, it can be a user's calendar (or any other information available which can provide user's schedule; (iii) some tracking technology, (such as hardware/sensors) needs to be available in the building; (iv) it will be used as the identification and tracking of the user and their activities; (v) such hardware/sensors may include at least some, but is not necessarily limited to, the following: (a) occupancy sensors, (b) cameras, (c) badge swipes, (d) desk sensors, (e) Bluetooth device detection sensors, (f) mobile device proximity sensors, (g) geo-location trackers, and (h) wi-fi data usage tracking; (vi) Privacy Adjustable Separators—similar to pocket window in a car, this can be controlled by an individual (if they have permission) or the grid-floor system; (vii) a service to calculate the demand of the different functional blocks for a given time frame (such as next day); (viii) based on each user's calendar, the system will calculate how may conference rooms, classrooms or cubicles are needed (one assumption that may be applied assumes if a person is not invited to a meeting, a class, then she and he will use cubicle space); (ix) an optimization service, based on the demand of the functional areas, will configure the grid floor setup by changing the height of “adjustable walls” to form different set of functional blocks based on a new optimized floor plan; (x) this optimization service can do so on demand or at a fixed schedule, such as every evening; (xi) users will be notified (such as by email, slack or calendar update) with a location map for the next day schedule; (xii) a location could be identified by floor and grid E-N index), seeFIGS.6-9, described below, where E-N refers to East-North block index, such as floor2-E3-N4; (xiii) an “Office Space Usage Map” can be shown on a web page or a public screen (such as a display at the entrance of the office space; and (xiv) see an example office space usage map inFIG.9, described below.

An example retractable space divider retracting and adjusting opacity is shown in diagram500ofFIG.5. Connected to floor502are three example retractable space dividers comprising a lower portion (504,508and512) and an upper portion (506,510and514). Each lower and upper portion are made of a material with an electronically adjustable transparency/opacity level, such as in smart glass or switchable glass. While lower portion512and upper portion514are shown featuring smart glass that has been supplied an appropriate voltage to render them similarly transparent to typical glass, lower portions504and508as well as upper portions506and512are shown featuring smart glass that has been supplied an appropriate voltage to render them fully or nearly fully opaque.

An example second embodiment according to the present invention will now be discussed, with reference toFIGS.6,7,8and9.

On the evening of Feb. 26, 2020, the system optimization service ran and generated an updated floor plan, as shown in screenshot600ofFIG.6, which includes: several cubicles (patterned as602), 3 conference rooms (patterned as604), one agile area (patterned as610) and one large classroom (patterned as608). A classroom was required that day because there was a full day AI class is scheduled in that building on February 27th. Then the system control unit adjusted each privacy separators height and fade degree as shown inFIG.6(where612and614correspond to cubicle-height level privacy separators of full opacity and full transparency, respectively) to setup a new office space configuration. Additionally,616and618correspond to minimally and maximally raised privacy separators, with minimally raised separators fully retracted into the floor, and620corresponds to foot traffic routes. For some selected cubicle spaces, the system provides permission for each user to adjust privacy settings of the wall separator (height of the separator, degree of fade/opacity).

On the evening of Feb. 27, 2020, the system optimization service ran again and generated a new floor plan for the next day, Feb. 28, 2020, which was different from the floor plan as shown inFIG.6. As shown in screenshot700ofFIG.7, the new floor plan includes more cubicles (patterned as702),5conference rooms (patterned as704) and one agile area (patterned as710). No classrooms are included, which would be shown as pattern708if they were. Since there was no class scheduled on February 28th, so the space that was one big classroom the previous day was divided into several cubicles and conference rooms. Similar toFIG.6,712and714correspond to cubicle-height level privacy separators of full opacity and full transparency, respectively. Additionally,716and718correspond to minimally and maximally raised privacy separators, with minimally raised separators fully retracted into the floor, and720corresponds to foot traffic routes. For some selected cubicle spaces, the system provides permission for each user to adjust privacy settings of the wall separator (height of the separator, degree of fade/opacity).

On the morning of Feb. 28, 2020, John received a calendar update with meeting locations labelled on the map. A floorplan view of his calendar is shown in screenshot800ofFIG.8. John can pick any open cubicle he likes as his working space for that day. He is the first one to get into the office, so he picked floor2-N3-E4 as his office on February 28, right after he “parked” there, his name is labelled on the office map, as shown at812. This office map can be shared on a public screen, such as near the entrance to the building or at each entrance to a relevant floor (such as the elevators and stairs on floor 2 of the building) so that persons entering the building or floor know which spaces are occupied and where everyone is located. As in the previous floorplans shown inFIGS.6and7, cubicles are patterned as802, conference rooms as804, classrooms (though there are none on this day) as808, and agile spaces as810. John's floorplan view of his calendar shows his first meeting, Meeting-1 from 10-11, at814, his second meeting, Meeting-2 from 2:30-3:30, at816, and his third meeting, Meeting-3 at 4:30-5:00, at818.

At 11 AM on Feb. 28, 2020, most people have arrived at the office and “parked” at different cubicles, as shown in screenshot900ofFIG.9, which shows who was sitting where on the office map, which is dynamically updated based on the cameras or occupancy sensors. As in the previous floorplans shown inFIGS.6,7and8, cubicles are patterned as902, conference rooms as904, classrooms (though there are none on this day) as908, and agile spaces as910. John, who previously selected his cubicle as floor2-N3-E4 as his office on February 28, is shown at the same location as inFIG.8, now shown as912. Other people in the office have occupied various spaces, such as A. B. occupying cubicle floor2-N5-E3 (shown as914), or J. O. occupying one of the spaces in the agile space occupying floor2-N1-E7 to floor2-N2-E8, or a two cubicle by two-cubicle floor space amounting to four square cubicles of floor space.

According to a third embodiment of the present invention, there is a method to dynamically adjust a building floor plan to meet varying business needs comprising: (i) receiving a list of usage requirements including people, space, technical resources, attributes, and in person meeting attendees; (ii) applying a trained meeting model to the list of usage requirements to form an adjusted building floor plan schedule tailored to meet a demand for a set of functional blocks; and (iii) performing actions to dynamically adjust the building floor plan based on the adjusted building floor plan schedule. The method according to the third embodiment, wherein the functional blocks are selected from a group consisting of conference rooms, cubicles, classrooms, office areas, and etc. The method according to the third embodiment, wherein the functional blocks are selected from a group consisting of conference rooms, cubicles, classrooms, office areas, etc. and the adjusted building floor plan schedule is for a plurality of periods of time allowing for supporting a first plan for a first period of time and a second plan for a second period time. The method according to the third embodiment, further comprising: providing adjustable privacy separators with height and fade [translucent to opaque] control. The method according to the third embodiment, further comprising: providing office [cubical] identifications, and a notification means for identifying changes and a current floor plan.

Computer: any device with significant data processing and/or machine readable instruction reading capabilities including, but not limited to: desktop computers, mainframe computers, laptop computers, field-programmable gate array (FPGA) based devices, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), body-mounted or inserted computers, embedded device style computers, and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) based devices.

Without substantial human intervention: a process that occurs automatically (often by operation of machine logic, such as software) with little or no human input; some examples that involve “no substantial human intervention” include: (i) computer is performing complex processing and a human switches the computer to an alternative power supply due to an outage of grid power so that processing continues uninterrupted; (ii) computer is about to perform resource intensive processing, and human confirms that the resource-intensive processing should indeed be undertaken (in this case, the process of confirmation, considered in isolation, is with substantial human intervention, but the resource intensive processing does not include any substantial human intervention, notwithstanding the simple yes-no style confirmation required to be made by a human); and (iii) using machine logic, a computer has made a weighty decision (for example, a decision to ground all airplanes in anticipation of bad weather), but, before implementing the weighty decision the computer must obtain simple yes-no style confirmation from a human source.

Automatically: without any human intervention.