Search

EP-4004841-B1 - COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHOD FOR EMULATING A PHYSICAL, OPEN-OFFICE ENVIRONMENT, UC APPLICATION FOR CARRYING OUT THE METHOD, AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

EP4004841B1EP 4004841 B1EP4004841 B1EP 4004841B1EP-4004841-B1

Inventors

  • KOLAXIS, Ioannis

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20190725

Claims (10)

  1. Computer-implemented method for emulating a physical, open-office environment in which a plurality of teams (5, 6, 7) are working, each team (5, 6, 7) having a plurality of team members (1, 2, 3), wherein at least one team member (1) of a first team (5) is working remotely, and wherein the at least one remotely working team member (1) is connected to the other team members and to other teams (6, 7) by using a Unified Communications, UC, application for collaborating and communicating with the other team members and the other teams (6, 7), wherein the method comprises the steps of - providing a list of team members (1, 2, 3), wherein the team members (1, 2, 3) are grouped according to the team (5, 6, 7) they are working with; - establishing a virtual floor plan comprising the location of every team (5, 6, 7) in a virtual office, wherein the location of every team (5, 6, 7) on the virtual floor plan corresponds to the arrangement of the teams (5, 6, 7) in a real physical office building; - determining the distance between the teams (5, 6, 7) on the virtual floor plan according to the distance between the teams in the real physical office building; - detecting the conversations of the respective teams (5, 6, 7); and - outputting the conversations of the respective teams (5, 6, 7) via an output device located at the least one remotely working team member (1, 2, 3), wherein the volume of the conversations of the respective teams is adapted according to the distance between the teams (5, 6, 7) so as to provide a working atmosphere according to the real physical office building, wherein the step of determining the distance between teams (5, 6, 7) comprises a step of assigning a Distance Between Teams DBT value to the distances determined, wherein the DBT value is determined on the basis of the collaboration between the teams (5, 6, 7), wherein teams (5, 6, 7) that collaborate often, in particular, a predetermined number of times within a predetermined time period, are located adjacent to each other, wherein the distance between adjacent teams (5, 6) corresponds to a DBT value of 1, wherein the less a team (5, 6, 7) collaborates with another team (5, 6, 7), the further is the distance between the teams and the higher is the DBT value, wherein the UC provides a Graphical User Interface GUI for setting the DBT value, and wherein if a conversation is detected, the method comprises a further step of outputting a visual indication (8) on a screen of the UC application indicating that there is an ongoing conversation.
  2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the DBT value is automatically configured.
  3. Method according to claim 1, wherein the visual indication (8) is output for team members (1, 2, 3) of the team (5, 6, 7), in which the conversation takes place, and for teams that on the virtual floor plan are adjacent to the team, in which the conversation takes place.
  4. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein if a conversation is detected, the UC application automatically adjusts the sound volume of the conversation detected for each team member (1, 2, 3) who is listening depending on the distance of the team (5, 6, 7) of that team member to a team member, in particular, to the closest team member of the team in which the conversation takes place.
  5. Method according to claim 4, wherein the sound volume is decreased the further a team member (1, 2, 3) who is listening is located away from the team (5, 6, 7) in which the conversation takes place.
  6. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of outputting the conversations of the respective teams (5, 6, 7) further comprises distributing the sound detected to different output devices, wherein the sound detected for a first active conversation is output at a first speaker and the sound detected for a second active conversation is output at a second speaker.
  7. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the UC application further provides an interface for muting or unmuting a conversation.
  8. UC application which is adapted to carry out the computer-implemented method for emulating a physical, open-office environment according to any one of the preceding claims.
  9. Communication system for real time communication and collaboration, which comprises a server and a plurality of clients, wherein the server is adapted to run the UC application according to claim 8.
  10. Communication system according to claim 9, wherein each client comprises at least one output device, in particular, a sound system.

Description

The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method for emulating a physical, open-office environment, a UC application for carrying out the computer-implemented method, and a communication system for real-time communication and collaboration. Home office working has become very popular during the last years. However, although more and more organizations and companies are allowing their employees to work remotely, a trend to the opposite direction becomes apparent recently, by employers calling remote employees back to the office. For example, in the year of 2013, Yahoo abolished its work-at-home policy, ordering everyone to work in the office. As stated by Yahoo, the reason for this decision was that face-to-face interaction among employees fosters a more collaborative culture and stimulates innovation. According to studies, people who work from home are significantly more productive, but less innovative. In 2017, IBM took a similar decision, calling thousands of remote employees back to the office. As stated by IBM, this decision will help IBM to have the innovation and pace of the best small tech companies. According to studies, the value of innovation (achieved by employees working together, in a physical office) is so strong that it outweighs any productivity gains (achieved by remote employees). Particularly, companies like Apple and Facebook make around $2.000.000 per employee, whereas IBM makes only $200.000 per employee. IBM needs more than better productivity, with the company's strategy being to reinvent itself around new businesses like AI, and Cloud. Also, a Harvard study revealed that researchers who worked in close physical proximity produced more impactful papers, having a significantly higher number of citations compared to other papers. Thus, generally, on the basis of the above mentioned studies, which have revealed that in a physical office, employees have more chance encounters, and unplanned interaction, it is assumed that this unplanned, accidental communication promotes collaboration, and stimulates innovation in an organization. On the other hand, working at a home office or remotely from the company's office, brings about some advantages, too. Namely, the employee working at home, for example, saves the time that he or she would normally spend going back and forth to work; and also the employer has an advantage in saving office space and thus, money, since with a several percentage of the employees working at home, less office space has to be provided so that much money may be saved on office rent. Therefore, solutions for reconciling both objects, namely, allowing remote work for employees, but at the same time maintaining their working efficiency and creativity have been sought. However, in prior art, only solutions are provided for enhancing the working environment, e.g., during planned meetings or workshops, making use of specialized hardware. However, there exists no solution for unifying the two objects mentioned above for the everyday working practice, when team members perform their daily task with at least some of the team members not being located in the same office or office building since they work remotely. Thus, there exists a problem in prior art in enhancing collaboration products and real-time communication and collaboration platforms for remote communication and collaboration between for example, working teams so as to maintain the working efficiency, and in particular, to promote unplanned interaction between remote employees, foster a more collaborative culture, and thus stimulate innovation. Therefore, the present invention is based on the object to provide a method, a UC application, and a system which allow for at least one member of the team to work remotely, but, however, without having a negative impact on work efficiency and creativity of the remotely working team member. The object is solved by a computer-implemented method for emulating a physical, open-office environment having the features according to claim 1, a UC application having the features according to claim 13, and a communication system for real time communication and collaboration having the features according to claim 14. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the respective dependent claims. Thus, according to the present invention, a computer-implemented method for emulating a physical, open-office environment in which a plurality of teams are working is provided, wherein each team has a plurality of team members, wherein at least one team member of a first team is working remotely, and wherein the at least one remotely working team member is connected to the other team members and to other teams by using a Unified Communications, UC, application for collaborating and communicating with the other team members and the other teams, wherein the method comprises the steps of: providing a list of team members, wherein the team members are grouped according to the tea