An Innovative Queue Management System Based on Bluetooth Beacon Technology

Most of the existing queue management systems are based on printed paper tickets with a queue number. When a specific customer is called, his/her queue number is shown on a screen accompanied by an acoustic signal. We observed the trend that nowadays most people spend their waiting time using smartphones, which distracts them from noticing the call. In this research, we take advantage of the fact that people pay more attention to their smartphones to design an innovative queue management system which announces the call for a specific customer directly to his/her smartphone by using the Bluetooth beacon technology. Our innovation lies in that beacon devices need not advertise fixed identifiers all the time - we allow a single beacon device to change its advertised identifier dynamically to represent different customers. The paperless queue management system not only protects the environment but also sets customers' mind at ease of using smartphones during their waiting time.