Automatically configuring computer network at hospitality establishment with reservation-specific walled garden sites available to non-logged in users

• US 10,069,754 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2017
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Inventors: Baker, Andrew B., Wookey, Joshua M., Ong, David T., Zhao, Difan
• Primary Examiner(s): DOLLY, KENDALL LYNN
• Application Number:
  US15/653,743
• Publication Number:
  US 20170366471A1
• Time in Patent Office: 412 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/528 Minimum bandwidth guarantee
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/826 Involving periods of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/828 Allocation of resources per group of connections, e.g. per group of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/108 when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information

Abstract

A system includes a storage device for storing details of a plurality of reservations of a hospitality establishment. A particular reservation includes a set of reservation-specific settings affecting behavior of the computer network at the hospitality establishment during the reservation. The settings may include a registered device setting for affecting behavior of a computer network at the hospitality establishment toward a user device having a specified device identifier. The system further includes a clock unit for tracking time, and a system controller coupled to the computer network and having access to the storage device and the clock unit. The system controller automatically configures one or more network components of the computer network when a start time of the particular reservation is reached in order to activate the reservation-specific settings.

Claims

1. A system providing access to a wide area network, the system comprising:

an access control device coupled to the wide area network and a local area network;

a storage device storing a plurality of stored reservations, wherein a particular reservation of the stored reservations includes a walled garden sites setting specifying one or more web sites on the wide area network that are to be made available to non-logged in user devices during the particular reservation;

a clock chip tracking time; and

a system controller having access to the storage device and the clock chip;

wherein the access control device includes a default rule that blocks access to the wide area network for non-logged-in user devices on the local area network and causes non-logged-in user devices to view a login portal;

the system controller automatically configures the access control device when a start time of the particular reservation is reached by sending one or more commands to the access control device to add one or more exceptions to the default rule, each exception allowing access to the wide area network from the local area network when a destination address corresponds to one of the web sites on the wide area network according to the walled garden sites setting, each exception thereby causing the access control device to allow network traffic between a non-logged-in user device on the local area network and the one or more web sites on the wide area network according to the walled garden sites setting of the particular reservation; and

the system controller automatically configures the access control device when an end time of the particular reservation is reached to thereby cause the access control device to block network traffic between the non-logged-in user device and the one or more web sites.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system controller automatically configures the access control device when the end time of the particular reservation is reached by sending one or more second commands to the access control device to delete the one or more exceptions to the default rule.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a web server providing the login portal;

wherein, when the start time of the particular reservation is reached, the system controller further sends one or more commands to the web server, the one or more commands causing the web server to add one or more links to the one or more web sites to content of a login page so that a user of the non-logged-in user device is aware the one or more web sites may be accessed without needing to login.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more commands are Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) commands sent via the local area network.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the links are Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) links.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the access control device is a gateway.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the access control device is a firewall.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a web server providing a user interface screen allowing a user to change the one or more web sites on the wide area network that are to be made available to non-logged in user devices during the particular reservation.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein, in response to a change of the one or more web sites, the system controller sends one or more update commands to the access control device to update the one or more exceptions to the default rule according to the change.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the wide area network is the Internet.

11. A system controller comprising:

a storage device storing a plurality of stored reservations, wherein a particular reservation of the stored reservations includes a walled garden sites setting specifying one or more web sites on a wide area network that are to be made available to non-logged in user devices during the particular reservation;

a clock chip tracking time; and

a processor;

wherein an access control device coupled to the wide area network and a local area network includes a default rule that blocks access to the wide area network for non-logged-in user devices on the local area network and causes non-logged-in user devices to view a login portal; and

by the processor executing software instructions loaded from the storage device, the processor is configured to cause the system controller at least to;

automatically configure the access control device when a start time of the particular reservation is reached by sending one or more commands to the access control device to add one or more exceptions to the default rule, each exception allowing access to the wide area network from the local area network when a destination address corresponds to one of the web sites on the wide area network according to the walled garden sites setting, each exception causing the access control device to allow network traffic between a non-logged-in user device on the local area network and the one or more web sites on the wide area network according to the walled garden sites setting of the particular reservation; and

automatically configure the access control device when an end time of the particular reservation is reached to thereby cause the access control device to block network traffic between the non-logged-in user device and the one or more web sites.

12. The system controller of claim 11, wherein the processor automatically configures the access control device when the end time of the particular reservation is reached by sending one or more second commands to the access control device to delete the one or more exceptions to the default rule.

13. The system controller of claim 11, wherein, when the start time of the particular reservation is reached, the processor further sends one or more commands to a web server providing the login portal, the one or more commands causing the web server to add one or more links to the one or more web sites to content of a login page so that a user of the non-logged-in user device is aware the one or more web sites may be accessed without needing to log in.

14. The system controller of claim 11, wherein the processor further provides a user interface screen allowing a user to change the one or more web sites on the wide area network that are to be made available to non-logged in user devices during the particular reservation.

15. The system controller of claim 14, wherein, in response to a change of the one or more web sites, the processor sends one or more update commands to the access control device to update the one or more exceptions to the default rule according to the change.

16. A method of providing access to a wide area network, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of stored reservations, wherein a particular reservation of the stored reservations includes a walled garden sites setting specifying one or more web sites on the wide area network that are to be made available to non-logged in user devices during the particular reservation;

tracking time;

automatically configuring an access control device coupled to the wide area network and a local area network when a start time of the particular reservation is reached to thereby cause the access control device to allow network traffic between a non-logged-in user device on the local area network and the one or more web sites on the wide area network according to the walled garden sites setting of the particular reservation; and

automatically configuring the access control device when an end time of the particular reservation is reached to thereby cause the access control device to block network traffic between the non-logged-in user device and the one or more web sites;

wherein the access control device includes a default rule that blocks access to the wide area network for non-logged-in user devices on the local area network and causes non-logged-in user devices to view a login portal; and

the method further includes automatically configuring the access control device when the start time of the particular reservation is reached by sending one or more commands to the access control device to add one or more exceptions to the default rule, each exception allowing access to the wide area network from the local area network when a destination address corresponds to one of the web sites on the wide area network according to the walled garden sites setting.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising automatically configuring the access control device when the end time of the particular reservation is reached by sending one or more second commands to the access control device to delete the one or more exceptions to the default rule.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising, when the start time of the particular reservation is reached, sending one or more commands to a web server providing the login portal, the one or more commands causing the web server to add one or more links to the one or more web sites to content of a login page so that a user of the non-logged-in user device is aware the one or more web sites may be accessed without needing to log in.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing a user interface screen allowing a user to change the one or more web sites on the wide area network that are to be made available to non-logged in user devices during the particular reservation.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising, in response to a change of the one or more web sites, sending one or more update commands to the access control device to update the one or more exceptions to the default rule according to the change.