SYSTEM FOR MANAGEMENT, MONITORING AND CONTROL OF HOTEL AMENITIES AND A METHOD THEREOF

• US 20120011033A1
• Filed: 07/20/2011
• Published: 01/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rahul Salgia
• Original Assignee: Rahul Salgia
• Inventors: Salgia, Rahul
• Application Number:
  US13/187,444
• Publication Number:
  US 20120011033A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

A system and a method for management, monitoring and control of hotel amenities for providing guests staying in discrete hotel rooms access to a plurality of hotel amenities through a single interface has been disclosed. The system 100 includes portable devices 102 which are provided to guests of a hotel and acts as a single point of access for controlling the use of all the amenities and a controller 112 which wirelessly interfaces with each of the portable devices 102 to facilitate the monitoring and control of the amenities.

Claims

1. A system for management, monitoring and control of hotel amenities for providing guests staying in discrete hotel rooms access to a plurality of amenities through a single interface, said system comprising at least one controller and a plurality of portable devices,

portable devices resident in hotel rooms adapted to provide a single point of access for controlling the use of amenities, each of said portable devices having:

display means adapted to discretely display various amenities available in a hotel;

selector means adapted to be enabled by guests to select at least one displayed amenity; and

transmitting means adapted to transmit a request for the selected amenity;

the controller co-operating with said plurality of portable devices comprising;

receiver means adapted to receive a transmitted request from said portable devices corresponding to said selected amenity;

enabling and disabling means adapted to enable or disable use of said selected amenity based on the received request; and

interfacing means co-operating with an existing hotel management server adapted to interface amenities provided by units associated with the hotel management server with said portable devices; and

a communication interface to provide a communication channel between each of said portable devices and said controller.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said portable devices is a battery operated wireless touch screen device and comprises a repository for storing a plurality of audio/video files for viewing on electronic devices.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said portable devices includes an RFID tag for facilitating tracking of its location.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said each of said portable devices comprises a billing and payment interface and said controller comprises billing and payment means adapted to enable guests to make payment and receive acknowledgement for the payment on said portable device.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said amenities include the electronic and electrical devices, telephony, intelligent controls, temperature controls, drapery controls, lighting controls, door controls, door strike controls, do not disturb sign controls, housekeeping services, aroma controls, butler services, travel desk services, billing services, wake-up services, maintenance services, booking services, beauty services, restaurant services, laundry services, room services, gaming services, video on demand services, audio on demand services, souvenir shopping services, front desk services, book on demand services, conferencing services and VOIP services.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system comprises a plurality of RFID tags which are attached to a plurality of electronic devices and non-complimentary consumables provided in hotel rooms to facilitate billing.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said display means is adapted to display said amenities using an user interface selected from the group consisting of an icon based user interface and a menu based user interface.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said selector means comprises touch screens, keypads and audio receivers.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said controller includes a Wi-Fi Access Point adapted to facilitate communication and data synchronization between said controller and said hotel room amenities, said Wi-Fi Access Point further adapted to provide wireless Internet access in hotel rooms.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said controller further comprises:

optimization means to automatically control operations of said amenities to increase guest experience and save energy; and

alarming means to provide audio and visual alarms/alerts to said amenities provided in each room and to the hotel management in the event of an emergency.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said communication interface is a real-time two-way communication based wireless interface adapted to carry encrypted communication signals on said communication channel for enhanced security.

12. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system comprises a plurality of controlling means co-operating with said amenities within a hotel room, each of said controlling means connected to said controller using an RS232 interface.

13. A method for management, monitoring and control of hostel amenities for providing guest staying in discrete hotel rooms access to a plurality of hotel amenities through a single interface, said method comprising the following steps:

displaying a plurality of said hotel amenities available in a hotel on a portable device'"'"'s user interface;

selecting a displayed amenity and the desired operation;

transmitting the signal consisting of the selected amenity and the desired operation;

receiving the transmitted signal at a remote controller; and

controlling the operation of the selected amenity based on the received signal for the benefit of the guest.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the step of displaying the various amenities includes the step of displaying the amenities via an icon based or menu based interface and in a language of the guests choice.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the step of controlling operation of the selected amenity includes the step of providing a plurality of controlling means for controlling operation of said amenities and sending control signals to said controlling means for facilitating operation of said selected amenity based on the received signal.