Method and system for facilitating shared use of a shared use facility

Abstract

There is described a method of facilitating shared use by multiple users of one or more shared use facilities. Each shared use facility comprises equipment for shared use by the multiple users. The method comprises: receiving at a control system an equipment use request from a particular one of the multiple users, the equipment use request identifying equipment desired for use (“identified equipment”); accessing by the control system an equipment reservation record identifying when equipment is reserved for use by one or more of the multiple users; validating by the control system the equipment use request based on the equipment reservation record and the equipment use request; transmitting, in response to validating the equipment use request, an activation instruction from the control system, wherein the activation instruction is for modifying an operating state of the identified equipment from a first operating state, in which the identified equipment is disabled for use, to a second operating state, in which the identified equipment is enabled for use.

1 . A method of facilitating shared use by multiple users of a shared use facility comprising equipment for shared use by the multiple users, the equipment for shared use comprising multiple pieces of equipment associated with multiple equipment controllers, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a central control module, an equipment reservation request from a user of the multiple users, wherein the equipment reservation request identifies a piece of equipment of the multiple pieces of equipment to be reserved for use by the user and a period of time during which the piece of equipment is to be reserved for use by the user;   updating, by the central control module, an equipment reservation record based on the equipment reservation request;   receiving an equipment use request from the user, wherein the equipment use request identifies the piece of equipment reserved for use by the user;   in response to receiving the equipment use request, accessing, by the central control module, the equipment reservation record;   validating, by the central control module and based on the equipment reservation record, the equipment use request;   in response to validating the equipment use request, transmitting an activation instruction from the central control module to an equipment controller associated with the piece of equipment reserved for use by the user; and   in response to receiving the activation instruction at the equipment controller, activating the piece of equipment reserved for use by the user, by modifying with the equipment controller an operating state of the piece of equipment from a first operating state, in which the piece of equipment is disabled for use, to a second operating state, in which the piece of equipment is enabled for use.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein validating the equipment use request comprises:
 accessing a user profile record comprising user identifiers each associated with a respective one of the multiple users;   determining that a user identifier inputted by the user corresponds to the user identifier associated with the user in the user profile record; and   determining that the piece of equipment:
 is not reserved for use at a current point in time; or 
 is reserved for use by the user at the current point in time. 
   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein activating the piece of equipment comprises controlling one or more relays associated with the piece of equipment. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more relays comprise one or more solenoids. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising recording, by the central control module, equipment usage data during use of the equipment, wherein the equipment usage data comprises one or more of: energy consumption by the equipment during use of the equipment; and usage characteristics of the equipment. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: comparing, by the central control module, a duration of time during which the piece of equipment is in the second operating state to the period of time during which the piece of equipment is reserved for use by the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving the equipment use request, activating a camera for capturing an image of the user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 receiving the equipment use request comprises receiving login input from the user; and   validating the equipment use request is further based on the login input.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 recording a total amount of time that the piece of equipment has been in use; and   in response to determining that the total amount of time is equal to a predetermined amount of time, transmitting an alert for alerting a system administrator that maintenance of the piece of equipment is required.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that a contract with one of the users has expired; and   in response to determining that the contract has expired, updating the equipment reservation record by removing any existing reservations made by the one of the users whose contract has expired.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, from the central control module, one or more firmware updates to the equipment or to one or more of the equipment controllers. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving, at the central control module, sensor data from one or more sensors associated with the piece of equipment. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising transmitting, by the central control module and to a remote user device, one or messages based on the sensor data. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more temperature sensors. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting an opening of a door of one or more of the equipment controllers; and   in response to detecting the opening of the door, activating a camera for capturing an image of a user of the one or more of the equipment controllers.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the activating the piece of equipment comprises activating the piece of equipment so as to allow the user to use the piece of equipment before the period of time during which the piece of equipment is reserved for use by the user. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising allowing the user to continue to use the piece of equipment after the period of time during which the piece of equipment is reserved for use by the user. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, in response to activating the piece of equipment, capturing an image of the user. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising capturing an image of a user tampering with the equipment. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each equipment controller is associated with a respective single piece of equipment from the multiple pieces of equipment. 
     
     
         21 . A system comprising:
 a shared use facility comprising:
 equipment for shared use by multiple users, the equipment for shared use comprising multiple pieces of equipment; and 
 a plurality of equipment controllers associated with the multiple pieces of equipment and operable to control operating states of the multiple pieces of equipment, the operating states comprising at least a first operating state in which the pieces of equipment are disabled for use and a second operating state in which the pieces of equipment are enabled for use; and 
   a central control module configured to:
 receive an equipment reservation request from a user of the multiple users, wherein the equipment reservation request identifies a piece of equipment of the multiple pieces of equipment to be reserved for use by the user and a period of time during which the piece of equipment is to be reserved for use by the user; 
 update an equipment reservation record based on the equipment reservation request; 
 receive an equipment use request from the user, wherein the equipment use request identifies the piece of equipment reserved for use by the user; 
 in response to receiving the equipment use request, access the equipment reservation record; 
 validate, based on the equipment reservation record, the equipment use request; 
 in response to validating the equipment use request, transmit an activation instruction to an equipment controller associated with the piece of equipment reserved for use by the user, so as to cause the operating state of the piece of equipment to be changed from the first operating state to the second operating state. 
   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising one or more manual bypass switches for modifying the operating states of the multiple pieces of equipment from the first operating state to the second operating state. 
     
     
         23 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer program code configured, when executed by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
 updating an equipment reservation record based on an equipment reservation request made by a user of the multiple users, wherein the equipment reservation request identifies a piece of equipment of the multiple pieces of equipment to be reserved for use by the user and a period of time during which the piece of equipment is to be reserved for use by the user;   receiving an equipment use request from the user, wherein the equipment use request identifies the piece of equipment reserved for use by the user;   in response to receiving an equipment use request from the user, accessing the equipment reservation record, wherein the equipment use request identifies the piece of equipment reserved for use by the user;   validating, based on the equipment reservation record, the equipment use request;   in response to validating the equipment use request, transmitting an activation instruction so as to activate the piece of equipment reserved for use by the user, by modifying an operating state of the piece of equipment from a first operating state, in which the piece of equipment is disabled for use, to a second operating state, in which the piece of equipment is enabled for use.