METHOD OF PROVIDING USER-TAILORED ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIENCE AT HOSPITALITY LOCATION AND HOSPITALITY MEDIA SYSTEM THEREOF

• US 20110314502A1
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Published: 12/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Inventors: Levy, Arnon, Warrick, Peter, Carriere, Lindsey, Ziebart, Darren, Kullos, Joseph, Fontes, Diego, MacMillan, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,713,612 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1435 volume-based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42607 for processing the incoming bitstream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6193 involving transmission via a satellite arrangements for data linking, networking or transporting, or for controlling an end to end session in a satellite broadcast system H04B7/18526
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/106 for domestic distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A hospitality media system includes a plurality of entertainment devices installed at a hospitality location and a content selector. The content selector is configured to retrieve a plurality of user profiles corresponding to current users of the hospitality location, and automatically adjust content made available on each of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location according to information stored in the user profiles.

Claims

1. A method of providing a user-tailored entertainment experience by a hospitality media system, the method comprising:

retrieving a plurality of user profiles corresponding to current users of a hospitality location; and

automatically adjusting content made available on each of a plurality of entertainment devices at the hospitality location according to information stored in the user profiles.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically making at least a same set of content available on each of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location; and

dynamically adjusting what content is included in the set according to the user profiles of the current users of the hospitality location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically making at least a first set of content available on a first entertainment device at the hospitality location, the first set of content being determined based upon information in a first user profile; and

automatically making at least a second set of content available on a second entertainment device at the hospitality location, the second set of content being determined based upon information in a second user profile;

wherein the first set of content and the second set of content are different.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the content available on each of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location by dynamically selecting, according to at least the information stored in the user profiles, which channels to decode with a predetermined number of satellite receivers, the decoded channels being distributed to the entertainment devices at the hospitality location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising only streaming from a content source to the hospitality location content that is being played by at least one of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location, the content source being coupled to the hospitality location via a computer network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating a first user profile according to usage of an entertainment device associated with a first user of the hospitality location, the first user having a user identifier corresponding to the first user profile.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising customizing an interactive program guide (IPG) available on a first entertainment device at the hospitality location by listing content available at the first entertainment device in an order determined according to information in a user profile corresponding to a user currently associated with the first entertainment device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically determining user-targeted content by matching an aspect of content provided from a content source with at least one preference specified in a first user profile, the aspect selected from the group consisting of content language, genre, title, and region; and

making the user-targeted content available on at least one of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location when a first user corresponding to the first user profile is one of the current users of the hospitality location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the hospitality location is a hotel and the entertainment devices are audio-visual (AV) devices in guest rooms at the hotel.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a plurality of second user profiles corresponding to current users of a second hospitality location; and

automatically adjusting content made available on each of a plurality of entertainment devices at the second hospitality location according to information stored in the second user profiles.

11. A hospitality media system comprising:

a plurality of entertainment devices installed at a hospitality location; and

a content selector configured to;

retrieve a plurality of user profiles corresponding to current users of the hospitality location; and

automatically adjust content made available on each of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location according to information stored in the user profiles.

12. The hospitality media system of claim 11, wherein the content selector is further configured to:

automatically make at least a same set of content available on each of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location; and

dynamically adjust what content is included in the set according to the user profiles of the current users of the hospitality location.

13. The hospitality media system of claim 11, wherein the content selector is further configured to:

automatically make at least a first set of content available on a first entertainment device at the hospitality location, the first set of content being determined based upon information in a first user profile; and

automatically make at least a second set of content available on a second entertainment device at the hospitality location, the second set of content being determined based upon information in a second user profile;

wherein the first set of content and the second set of content are different.

14. The hospitality media system of claim 11, wherein the content selector is further configured to adjust the content available on each of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location by dynamically selecting, according to at least the information stored in the user profiles, which channels to decode with a predetermined number of satellite receivers, the decoded channels being distributed to the entertainment devices at the hospitality location.

15. The hospitality media system of claim 11, further comprising a controller of a first entertainment device configured to update a first user profile according to usage of the first entertainment device associated with a first user of the hospitality location, the first user having a user identifier corresponding to the first user profile.

16. The hospitality media system of claim 11, further comprising a controller of a first entertainment device at the hospitality location, the controller configured to customize an interactive program guide (IPG) available on the first entertainment device at the hospitality location by listing content available at the first entertainment device in an order determined according to information in a user profile corresponding to a user currently associated with the first entertainment device.

17. The hospitality media system of claim 11, wherein the content selector is further configured to:

automatically determine user-targeted content by matching an aspect of content provided from a content source with at least one preference specified in a first user profile, the aspect selected from the group consisting of content language, genre, title, and region; and

make the user-targeted content available on at least one of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location when a first user corresponding to the first user profile is one of the current users of the hospitality location.

18. The hospitality media system of claim 11, wherein the hospitality location is a hotel and the entertainment devices are audio-visual (AV) devices in guest rooms at the hotel.

19. The hospitality media system of claim 11, wherein the content selector is further configured to:

retrieve a plurality of second user profiles corresponding to current users of a second hospitality location; and

automatically adjust content made available on each of a plurality of entertainment devices at the second hospitality location according to information stored in the second user profiles.

20. A hospitality media system comprising:

a plurality of entertainment devices installed at a hospitality location;

means for retrieving a plurality of user profiles corresponding to current users of the hospitality location; and

means for automatically adjusting content made available on each of the entertainment devices at the hospitality location according to information stored in the user profiles.