System and method for sharing information between a concierge and guest

• US 8,250,620 B1
• Filed: 09/18/2001
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Basso, Andrea, Greenspan, Steven Lloyd, Weimer, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hossain, Farzana
• Application Number:
  US09/955,369
• Time in Patent Office: 3,990 Days
• Field of Search: 725/74, 725/78, 725/80, 725/82, 725/83, 725/85, 725/117, 725/25, 725/109, 725/110, 725/112, 725/113, 725/131, 725/134, 725/139, 725/142, 725/151, 709218-225
• US Class Current: 725/131
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/08 specially adapted for optional reception of entertainment or informative matter
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/14 cable networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/003 Click to dial services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 where the data service is an information service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1215 where a cable TV network is used as an access to the PSTN/ISDN
• 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 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/106 for domestic distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

A novel mechanism is disclosed by which a sender can direct information such as an audiovisual signal to a particular recipient'"'"'s audiovisual display device, such as a cable television set and, thereby, share information between the sender and the recipient. In one embodiment of the invention, a calling party originates a telephone call and associates that telephone call with audio-visual information that exists on the caller'"'"'s personal computer or on an Internet server. The called party answers the call, and can tune an associated cable television to the appropriate channel in order to view the audio-visual information. In another embodiment, the caller is a hotel guest and the called party is a hotel concierge and vice versa. The concierge provides information to the hotel guest such that the hotel guest can tune in to a channel on their hotel television set and access the information.

Claims

1. A method for sharing information between a concierge with access to a data network and a recipient'"'"'s display device, the method comprising:

registering the concierge and a recipient to share information;

establishing a voice connection between the concierge and the recipient;

associating the voice connection with information to be sent across the data network to the recipient'"'"'s display device;

initiating a broadcast of the information to the recipient'"'"'s display device;

providing a default image to the recipient'"'"'s display device;

allowing the recipient to view audio-visual information based on content of a particular URL on the display device, only in response to establishing a voice connection between the concierge and the recipient;

forwarding control information and the audio-visual information to customer premise equipment for storage to allow the recipient to view the stored audio-visual information on the display device after termination of the voice connection in accordance with the control information, the control information defining usage restrictions related to the audio-visual information forbidding printing and faxing and allowing retransmission of the audio-visual information by the recipient to another recipient; and

automatically clearing the default image after a predetermined time associated with the recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the voice connection comprises:

providing a signal that a voice connection between the concierge and the recipient is being established.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

terminating the voice connection between the concierge and the recipient by providing a second termination signal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the concierge initiates the establishing of the voice connection on a voice communication network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient is a hotel guest.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined time is when the guest checks out of the hotel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the concierge is a hotel concierge.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the hotel concierge establishes a voice connection to the recipient by using a hotel code and a room number of the recipient.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the display device is a hotel room television set.

10. A method for providing information from a concierge to a guest recipient via a plurality of modes of communication, the method comprising:

registering the concierge and the guest recipient for sharing of content over the plurality of modes of communication;

linking the concierge and the guest recipient together over a first mode of communication;

receiving content from the concierge via a second mode of communication;

providing content to the guest recipient over a third mode of communication;

providing a default image to the guest recipient;

allowing the guest recipient to view audio-visual information based on content of a particular URL on a display device only in response to linking the concierge and the guest recipient together over the first mode of communication;

forwarding control information and the audio-visual information to customer premise equipment for storage to allow the guest recipient to view the stored audio-visual information on the display device after termination of the link over the first mode of communication in accordance with the control information, the control information defining usage restrictions related to the audio-visual information forbidding printing and faxing and allowing retransmission of the audio-visual information by the recipient to another recipient; and

automatically clearing the default image after a predetermined time associated with the guest recipient.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first mode of communication is a private branch exchange system, the second mode of communication is a distributed information network and the third mode of communication is a cable television system.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the content is related to a request received from the guest recipient.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the concierge initiates the link between the concierge and the guest recipient.

14. A method for sharing information between an information provider and an information recipient who initially communicate via a first communication system, the information recipient having a cable based display device for viewing information from the information provider, the method comprising:

receiving content from the information provider designated for the information recipient;

providing the content from the information provider designated for the information recipient, wherein the content is provided initially by a second communication system and then provided via a third communication system to the information recipient'"'"'s cable based display device;

providing a default image to the information recipient;

allowing the information recipient to view audio-visual information based on content of a particular URL on the display device, only in response to the information provider and the information recipient communicating via the first communication system;

forwarding control information and the audio-visual information to customer premise equipment for storage to allow the information recipient to view the stored audio-visual information on the display device after termination of communication via the first communication system in accordance with the control information, the control information defining usage restrictions related to the audio-visual information forbidding printing and faxing and allowing retransmission of the audio-visual information by the recipient to another recipient; and

automatically clearing the default image after a predetermined time associated with the information recipient.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the information provider is a hotel concierge.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the information recipient is a hotel guest.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the concierge calls the hotel guest via a hotel PBX system.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the hotel guest calls the concierge via a hotel PBX system.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

providing a hardcopy of the content to the information recipient.