Hospitality media system operated by mobile device

• US 9,060,197 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2013
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Inventors: Warrick, Peter S., Cassidy, Brendan G., King, Brian W., Lorenzo, Lea, Read, Blake, McBeth, Ian S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Hai V
• Application Number:
  US14/010,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20130347028A1
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• 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 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation

Abstract

A hospitality media system includes a media system controller and a plurality of controllable devices operable by the media system controller, each of a plurality of rooms having one or more in-room controllable devices. A communication module performs data communications with a mobile device. An authentication module receives identification information from the mobile device, determines a registered room currently associated with the identification information, and includes in an authorized subset of the controllable devices for which the mobile device is authorized to operate at least the in-room controllable devices of the registered room. The media system controller operates the authorized subset of the controllable devices in dependence upon commands received from the mobile device.

Claims

1. A hospitality media system comprising:

a media system controller;

a plurality of controllable devices accessible from within a plurality of rooms of a hospitality establishment, the controllable devices coupled to the media system controller by a computer network and preconfigured such that each of the controllable devices is in communication with and remotely operable by the media system controller via the computer network; and

a database storing an association between each of the rooms and one or more of the controllable devices that are accessible to a user within each room, the one or more of the controllable devices that are accessible within a particular room hereinafter referred to as in-room controllable devices of the particular room;

wherein the media system controller is operable to;

generate a passkey in response to an occurrence of a first event associated with the particular room without establishing data communications with a mobile device operated by a user of the particular room;

store in the database an association between the passkey and the particular room;

cause the passkey to be displayed on a display device located within the particular room, whereby after being displayed in the particular room the passkey is entered into the mobile device by the 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 particular room currently associated with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the particular room currently associated with the passkey is found to be the particular room in which the passkey was displayed;

query the database to find the in-room controllable devices of the particular room found associated with the passkey received from the mobile device;

include in an authorized subset of the controllable devices for which the mobile device is authorized to operate at least the in-room controllable devices of the particular room found associated with the passkey received from the mobile device;

operate the authorized subset of the controllable devices in dependence upon commands received from the mobile device until an occurrence of a second event associated with the particular room; and

remove from the database the association between the passkey and the particular room in response to the occurrence of the second event.

2. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the first event corresponds to a guest checking in to the particular room and the second event corresponds to the guest checking out of the particular room.

3. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the first event corresponds to a guest entering the particular room and the second event corresponds to a new guest entering the particular room.

4. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the second event corresponds to an end time of a conference or other event at the hospitality establishment.

5. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the second event automatically occurs a specific time duration after the first event.

6. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein media system controller is further operable to randomly generate the passkey in response to the occurrence of the first event associated with the particular room.

7. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the media system controller is further operable to transfer status information corresponding to the authorized subset of the controllable devices to the mobile device.

8. The hospitality media system of claim 7, wherein the status information includes data for displaying an interactive program guide on the mobile device customized to list only content that is available on the in-room controllable devices of the particular room.

9. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the media system controller is further operable to:

transfer customization information specific to the hospitality establishment to a predetermined application running on the mobile device after a connection to the mobile device has been established;

wherein the predetermined application is compatible with and may be customized by a plurality of different hospitality establishments.

10. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the media system controller is further operable to authorize a plurality of mobile devices to operate a single controllable device.

11. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the media system controller is further operable to include in the authorized subset the in-room controllable devices of a plurality of rooms of the hospitality establishment that are currently associated with the passkey in the database.

12. The hospitality media system of claim 1, wherein the media system controller is further operable to:

store in the database an association between a unique identifier received from the mobile device and the particular room after determining the particular room currently associated with the passkey received from the mobile device; and

perform subsequent authentications of the mobile device according to the unique identifier of the mobile device and its association with the particular room as looked up in the database.

13. A method of operating a plurality of controllable devices accessible from within a plurality of rooms of a hospitality establishment, the controllable devices coupled to a media system controller by a computer network and preconfigured such that each of the controllable devices is in communication with and remotely operable by the media system controller via the computer network, the media system controller having a database storing an association between each of the rooms and one or more of the controllable devices that are accessible to a user within each room, the one or more of the controllable devices that are accessible within a particular room hereinafter referred to as in-room controllable devices of the particular room;

the method comprising;

generating a passkey in response to an occurrence of a first event associated with the particular room without establishing data communications with a mobile device operated by a user of the particular room;

storing in the database an association between the passkey and the particular room;

displaying the passkey on a display device located within the particular room, whereby after being displayed in the particular room the passkey is entered into the mobile device by the 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 particular room currently associated with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the particular room currently associated with the passkey is found to be the particular room in which the passkey was displayed;

querying the database to determine the in-room controllable devices of the particular room found associated with the passkey received from the mobile device;

including in an authorized subset of the controllable devices for which the mobile device is authorized to operate at least the in-room controllable devices of the particular room found associated with the passkey received from the mobile device;

operating the authorized subset of the controllable devices in dependence upon commands received from the mobile device until an occurrence of a second event associated with the particular room; and

removing from the database the association between the passkey and the particular room in response to the occurrence of the second event.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first event corresponds to a guest checking in to the particular room and the second event corresponds to the guest checking out of the particular room.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the second event automatically occurs a specific time duration after the first event.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the first event corresponds to needing to display the passkey within the particular room.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising storing in the database the association between the passkey and the particular room when the passkey is displayed on the display device located within the particular room.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the hospitality establishment is a hotel, and

the controllable devices are audio/visual entertainment devices accessible from guest rooms of the hotel.

19. 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 13.

20. A media system controller for operating a plurality of controllable devices accessible from within a plurality of rooms of a hospitality establishment, the controllable devices coupled to the media system controller by a computer network and preconfigured such that each of the controllable devices is in communication with and remotely operable by the media system controller via the computer network;

the media system controller comprising;

a database storing an association between each of the rooms and one or more of the controllable devices that are accessible to a user within each room, the one or more of the controllable devices that are accessible within a particular room hereinafter referred to as in-room controllable devices of the particular room; and

one or more processors operable to;

generate a passkey in response to an occurrence of a first event associated with the particular room without establishing data communications with a mobile device operated by a user of the particular room;

store in the database an association between the passkey and the particular room;

cause the passkey to be displayed on a display device located within the particular room, whereby after being displayed in the particular room the passkey is entered into the mobile device by the 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 particular room currently associated with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the particular room currently associated with the passkey is found to be the particular room in which the passkey was displayed;

query the database to find the in-room controllable devices of the particular room found associated with the passkey received from the mobile device;

include in an authorized subset of the controllable devices for which the mobile device is authorized to operate at least the in-room controllable devices of the particular room found associated with the passkey received from the mobile device;

operate the authorized subset of the controllable devices in dependence upon commands received from the mobile device until an occurrence of a second event associated with the particular room; and

remove from the database the association between the passkey and the particular room in response to the occurrence of the second event.