Sharing remote content accessed with user credential within selected rooms of hospitality establishment

• US 9,967,604 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2017
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• 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 S., Cassidy, Brendan G., King, Brian W., Lorenzo, Lea, Read, Blake, McBeth, Ian S., MacMillan, Andrew T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dubasky, Gigi L
• Application Number:
  US15/583,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20170238031A1
• Time in Patent Office: 372 Days
• 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 catalog 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;

the method comprising;

allowing a user associated with a particular room, via a user interface screen displayed to the user, to configure the hospitality media system to access a remote device according to user credentials supplied by the user, wherein the remote device is at a location external to the hospitality media system and accessible via an external network;

selecting a plurality of selected rooms with which content stored on the remote device is to be made available within the hospitality establishment, the plurality of selected rooms at least including the particular room associated with the user and an additional room;

looking up a plurality of in-room media devices located within the selected rooms;

listing only on the in-room media devices in the selected rooms a plurality of media assets available from the remote device when accessed utilizing the user credentials;

transferring one or more of the media assets from the remote device to the hospitality media system via the external network; and

in response to user selections, playing the one or more of the media assets on at least one of the in-room media devices located within the selected rooms;

wherein selecting the plurality of the selected rooms includes,

dynamically generating a passkey;

storing in a 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 mobile device operated by the user;

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

querying the database to find the particular room correlated in the database with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the user is confirmed to be associated with the particular room and the particular room is included in the selected rooms.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the plurality of the selected rooms includes receiving sharing parameters from the user specifying the additional room of the hospitality establishment to include in the plurality of the selected rooms.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising directly transferring the one or more of the media assets from the remote device to a specific one of the in-room media devices via the external network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transferring the one or more of the media assets from the remote device to the media system controller via the external network; and

transferring the one or more of the media asserts from the media system controller to a specific one of the in-room media devices.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

confirming, via the user interface screen, that the user agrees to pay an additional fee for an upgraded bandwidth to transfer remote content from the remote guest device to the hospitality media system; and

when the user agrees to the additional fee, charging the user the additional fee and communicating with the remote device via the external network at the upgraded bandwidth in order to transfer the one or more of the media assets from the remote device to the hospitality media system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the upgraded bandwidth is suitable for streaming the one or more of the media assets from the remote device for real-time playback.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the external network is the Internet.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing the remote device utilizing the user credentials by the media system controller in order to generate a guest content list for display on only on the in-room media devices in the selected rooms.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically converting the one or more of the media assets into a format supported for playback by the at least one of the in-room media devices located within the selected rooms.

10. A hospitality media system comprising:

a media system controller; and

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;

wherein the media system controller is operable to;

allow a user associated with a particular room, via a user interface screen displayed to the user, to configure the hospitality media system to access a remote device according to user credentials supplied by the user, wherein the remote device is at a location external to the hospitality media system and accessible via an external network;

select a plurality of selected rooms with which content stored on the remote device is to be made available within the hospitality establishment, the plurality of selected rooms at least including the particular room associated with the user and an additional room;

look up a plurality of in-room media devices located within the selected rooms;

list only on the in-room media devices in the selected rooms a plurality of media assets available from the remote device when accessed utilizing the user credentials;

transfer one or more of the media assets from the remote device to the hospitality media system via the external network; and

in response to user selections, play the one or more of the media assets on at least one of the in-room media devices located within the selected rooms; and

wherein the media system controller is further operable to select the plurality of the selected rooms by;

dynamically generating a passkey;

storing in a 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 mobile device operated by the user;

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

querying the database to find the particular room correlated in the database with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the user is confirmed to be associated with the particular room and the particular room is included in the selected rooms.

11. The hospitality media system of claim 10, wherein the media system controller is further operable to select the plurality of the selected rooms by receiving sharing parameters from the user specifying the additional room of the hospitality establishment to include in the plurality of the selected rooms.

12. The hospitality media system of claim 10, wherein the one or more of the media assets is directly transferred from the remote device to a specific one of the in-room media devices via the external network.

13. The hospitality media system of claim 10, wherein the media system controller is further operable to:

receive the one or more of the media assets from the remote device via the external network; and

transfer the one or more of the media asserts to a specific one of the in-room media devices.

14. The hospitality media system of claim 10, wherein the media system controller is further operable to:

confirm, via the user interface screen, that the user agrees to pay an additional fee for an upgraded bandwidth to transfer remote content from the remote guest device to the hospitality media system; and

when the user agrees to the additional fee, charge the user the additional fee and communicating with the remote device via the external network at the upgraded bandwidth in order to transfer the one or more of the media assets from the remote device to the hospitality media system.

15. The hospitality media system of claim 14, wherein the upgraded bandwidth is suitable for streaming the one or more of the media assets from the remote device for real-time playback.

16. The hospitality media system of claim 10, wherein the external network is the Internet.

17. The hospitality media system of claim 10, wherein the media system controller is further operable to access the remote device utilizing the user credentials in order to generate a guest content list for display on only on the in-room media devices in the selected rooms.

18. 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;

the media system controller comprising one or more processors configured by executing software loaded from a storage device to;

allow a user associated with a particular room, via a user interface screen displayed to the user, to configure the media system controller to access a remote device according to user credentials supplied by the user, wherein the remote device is at a location external to the hospitality establishment and accessible via an external network;

select a plurality of selected rooms with which content stored on the remote device is to be made available within the hospitality establishment, the plurality of selected rooms at least including the particular room associated with the user and an additional room;

look up a plurality of in-room media devices located within the selected rooms;

list only on the in-room media devices in the selected rooms a plurality of media assets available from the remote device when accessed utilizing the user credentials;

transfer one or more of the media assets from the remote device to the media system controller via the external network; and

in response to user selections, play the one or more of the media assets on at least one of the in-room media devices located within the selected rooms;

wherein the one or more processors are configured by executing the software to select the plurality of the selected rooms by;

dynamically generating a passkey;

storing in a 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 mobile device operated by the user;

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

querying the database to find the particular room correlated in the database with the passkey received from the mobile device, whereby the user is confirmed to be associated with the particular room and the particular room is included in the selected rooms.

19. The media system controller of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured by executing the software to select the plurality of the selected rooms by receiving sharing parameters from the user specifying the additional room of the hospitality establishment to include in the plurality of the selected rooms.

20. The media system controller of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured by executing the software to:

confirm, via the user interface screen, that the user agrees to pay an additional fee for an upgraded bandwidth to transfer remote content from the remote guest device to the media system controller; and

when the user agrees to the additional fee, charge the user the additional fee and communicating with the remote device via the external network at the upgraded bandwidth in order to transfer the one or more of the media assets from the remote device to the media system controller.