Method of integrating content on guest device with hospitality media system, and hospitality media system thereof

• US 8,813,138 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2011
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Inventors: Warrick, Peter, Cassidy, Brendan, King, Brian, Lorenzo, Lea, Read, Blake, McBeth, Ian, MacMillan, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Dubasky, Gigi L
• Application Number:
  US13/157,520
• Publication Number:
  US 20110314497A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 725/38, 725/59, 725/74, 725/78, 725/80, 725/83
• US Class Current: 725/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• 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 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

A hospitality media system includes a media system controller and a plurality of media devices located in a plurality of rooms and coupled to the media system controller. Each room has one or more in-room media devices located therein for performing a media function. A connection port allows a user of a room to establish data communications between the media system controller and a guest device. The media system controller is coupled to the connection port and configured to catalogue guest content available on the guest device to thereby form a guest content list, associate the guest content with one or more associated rooms at least including the user'"'"'s room, and perform the media function utilizing content selected from the guest content list only on the in-room media devices located within the one or more associated rooms.

Claims

1. A method of integrating content with a hospitality media system having a plurality of media devices located in a plurality of rooms of a hospitality establishment and coupled to a media system controller, wherein the media devices and the media system controller are preconfigured to together provide entertainment to users in the rooms by performing a media function in each of the rooms utilizing original content selected from a first content list, the media system controller having access to a database correlating each of the rooms with one or more of the media devices that are located within each room, the respective one or more of the media devices that are located within each room hereinafter referred to as in-room media devices of the room;

the method comprising;

dynamically generating a passkey in response to an occurrence of a first event associated with a particular room;

storing in the database authentication data correlating the passkey to the particular room, the database further storing authentication data respectively correlating other passkeys to other rooms;

wherein the passkey for the particular room is also displayed on a display device in the particular room, and after being displayed in the particular room the passkey is entered into a user interface of a mobile device operated by a user of the particular room;

establishing data communications with the mobile device and receiving the passkey from the mobile device;

querying the database to find the user'"'"'s room being the room correlated in the database with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the user'"'"'s room is confirmed to be the particular room in which the passkey received from the mobile device was displayed;

allowing the user, via the user interface of the mobile device, to configure the hospitality media system to integrate guest content stored on a guest device;

establishing data communications with the guest device in order to enable the hospitality media system to transfer the guest content from the guest device;

automatically associating the guest content with only the user'"'"'s room by storing in the database an association of the guest content with the user'"'"'s room;

querying the database to find one or more in-room media devices that are located within the user'"'"'s room;

performing the media function utilizing the guest content only on the one or more in-room media devices located within the user'"'"'s room until an occurrence of a second event; and

removing from the database the association of the guest content with the user'"'"'s room in response to the occurrence of the second event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first event corresponds to a guest checking in to the particular room;

the second event corresponds to the guest checking out of the particular room; and

the method further comprises removing from the database the authentication data correlating the passkey to the user'"'"'s room in response to the guest checking out of the particular room.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second event corresponds to a predetermined time limit being reached.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second event corresponds to a predetermined amount of data being transferred from the guest device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the guest device storing the guest content is the mobile device from which the passkey is received.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the guest device storing the guest content is a different device than the mobile device from which the passkey is received.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the guest device providing the guest content is coupled to Internet at a remote location; and

the method further comprises communicating with the guest device via the Internet in order to transfer the guest content from the guest device to the hospitality media system.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user, via the user interface of the mobile device, to upgrade bandwidth made available by the hospitality media system for transferring the guest content from the guest device; and

charging the user an additional fee when the user chooses to upgrade the bandwidth.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user, via the user interface of the mobile device, to configure sharing options specifying one or more shared rooms of the hospitality media system in which the guest content is to be made available; and

performing the media function utilizing the guest content further on the in-room media devices located within the shared rooms until the occurrence of the second event.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user to choose a particular media asset of the guest content; and

caching the user'"'"'s chosen media asset within the hospitality media system so that it is ready to be played back at a later time on the one or more in-room media devices of the user'"'"'s room without requiring a connection to the guest device at the time of playback.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically cataloguing a plurality of the guest content made available by the guest device in order to generate a guest content list; and

performing the media function utilizing content selected from the guest content list only on the in-room media devices located within the user'"'"'s room until the occurrence of the second event.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically converting the guest content into a format supported by the one or more in-room media devices of the user'"'"'s room.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the method of claim 1.

14. A hospitality media system comprising:

a media system controller;

a plurality of media devices in a plurality of rooms of a hospitality establishment, the media devices coupled to the media system controller and preconfigured with the media system controller to provide entertainment to users in the rooms by performing a media function in each of the rooms utilizing original content selected from a first content list; and

a database correlating each of the rooms with one or more of the media devices that are located within each room, the respective one or more of the media devices that are located within each room hereinafter referred to as in-room media devices of the room;

wherein the media system controller is operable to;

dynamically generate a passkey in response to an occurrence of a first event associated with a particular room;

store in the database authentication data correlating the passkey to the particular room, the database further storing authentication data respectively correlating other passkeys to other rooms;

wherein the passkey for the particular room is also displayed on a display device in the particular room, whereby after being displayed in the particular room the passkey is entered into a user interface of a mobile device operated by a user of the particular room;

establish data communications with the mobile device and receive the passkey from the mobile device;

query the database to find the user'"'"'s room being the room correlated in the database with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the user'"'"'s room is confirmed to be the particular room in which the passkey received from the mobile device was displayed;

receive from the mobile device a user instruction, entered via the user interface of the mobile device, to configure the hospitality media system to integrate guest content stored on a guest device;

establish data communications with the guest device to enable transferring the guest content from the guest device;

automatically associate the guest content with only the user'"'"'s room by storing in the database an association of the guest content with the user'"'"'s room;

query the database to find one or more in-room media devices that are located within the user'"'"'s room;

send commands to cause the media function to be performed utilizing the guest content only on the one or more in-room media devices located within the user'"'"'s room until an occurrence of a second event; and

remove from the database the association of the guest content with the user'"'"'s room in response to the occurrence of the second event.

15. The hospitality media system of claim 14, wherein:

the first event corresponds to a guest checking in to the particular room;

the second event corresponds to the guest checking out of the particular room; and

the system controller is further operable to remove from the database the authentication data correlating the passkey to the user'"'"'s room in response to the guest checking out of the particular room.

16. The hospitality media system of claim 14, wherein the guest device storing the guest content is the mobile device from which the passkey is received.

17. The hospitality media system of claim 14, wherein the guest device storing the guest content is a different device than the mobile device from which the passkey is received.

18. The hospitality media system of claim 14, further comprising:

a bandwidth controller operable to control bandwidth made available for transferring the guest content from the guest device;

wherein the media system controller is further operable to;

allow the user, via the user interface screen displayed on the mobile device, to upgrade the bandwidth made available by the bandwidth controller for transferring the guest content from the guest device; and

charge the user an additional fee when the user chooses to upgrade the bandwidth.

19. The hospitality media system of claim 14, further comprising:

a guest content cache;

wherein the media system controller is further operable to;

allow the user to choose a particular media asset of the guest content; and

transfer the user'"'"'s chosen media asset into the guest content cache so that it is ready to be played back at a later time on the one or more in-room media devices of the user'"'"'s room without requiring a connection to the guest device at the time of playback.

20. A media system controller for controlling a plurality of media devices in a plurality of rooms of a hospitality establishment, wherein the media devices and media system controller are preconfigured to together provide entertainment to users in the rooms by performing a media function in each of the rooms utilizing original content selected from a first content list, the media system controller having access to a database correlating each of the rooms with one or more of the media devices that are located within each room, the respective one or more of the media devices that are located within each room hereinafter referred to as in-room media devices of the room;

the media system controller comprising one or more processors configured to;

dynamically generate a passkey in response to an occurrence of a first event associated with a particular room;

store in the database authentication data correlating the passkey to the particular room, the database further storing authentication data respectively correlating other passkeys to other rooms;

wherein the passkey for the particular room is also displayed on a display device in the particular room, and after being displayed in the particular room the passkey is entered into a user interface of a mobile device operated by a user of the particular room;

establish data communications with the mobile device and receive the passkey from the mobile device;

query the database to find the user'"'"'s room being the room correlated in the database with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the user'"'"'s room is confirmed to be the particular room in which the passkey received from the mobile device was displayed;

receive from the mobile device an instruction, entered by the user via the user interface of the mobile device, to configure the hospitality media system to integrate guest content stored on a guest device;

establish data communications with the guest device to enable transferring the guest content from the guest device;

automatically associate the guest content with only the user'"'"'s room by storing in the database an association of the guest content with the user'"'"'s room;

query the database to find one or more in-room media devices that are located within the user'"'"'s room;

send commands to cause the media function to be performed utilizing the guest content only on the one or more in-room media devices located within the user'"'"'s room until an occurrence of a second event; and

remove from the database the association of the guest content with the user'"'"'s room in response to the occurrence of the second event.