AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURING COMPUTER NETWORK AT HOSPITALITY ESTABLISHMENT WITH RESERVATION-SPECIFIC SETTINGS

• US 20140351392A1
• Filed: 08/11/2014
• Published: 11/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Inventors: Wookey, Joshua M., Ong, David T., Zhao, Difan, Baker, Andrew B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,288,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/528 Minimum bandwidth guarantee
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/826 Involving periods of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/828 Allocation of resources per group of connections, e.g. per group of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/108 when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information

Abstract

A system includes a storage device for storing details of a plurality of reservations of a hospitality establishment. A particular reservation includes a set of reservation-specific settings affecting behavior of the computer network at the hospitality establishment during the reservation. The settings may include a registered device setting for affecting behavior of a computer network at the hospitality establishment toward a user device having a specified device identifier. The system further includes a clock unit for tracking time, and a system controller coupled to the computer network and having access to the storage device and the clock unit. The system controller automatically configures one or more network components of the computer network when a start time of the particular reservation is reached in order to activate the reservation-specific settings.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a storage device storing details of a plurality of reservations of a hospitality establishment;

wherein a particular reservation of the stored reservations includes a user isolation setting;

a clock chip tracking time;

a system controller coupled to a computer network at the hospitality establishment and having access to the storage device and the clock chip; and

an access point coupled to the computer network and broadcasting a service set identifier (SSID) with which user devices may be wirelessly associated in order to utilize network resources made available during the particular reservation;

wherein, when a start time of the particular reservation is reached, the system controller automatically configures the access point to selectively activate or deactivate client isolation for the SSID according to the user isolation setting of the particular reservation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

when the user isolation setting of the particular reservation is yes, the system controller automatically configures the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to activate the client isolation setting for the SSID and thereby prevent the user devices wirelessly associated with the SSID during the particular reservation from communicating with each other; and

when the user isolation setting of the particular reservation is no, the system controller automatically configures the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to deactivate the client isolation setting for the SSID and thereby enable the user devices wirelessly associated with the SSID during the particular reservation to communicate with each other.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of access points coupled to the computer network;

wherein particular reservation includes a location setting specifying a location within the hospitality establishment; and

the system controller automatically selects the access point broadcasting the SSID with which the user devices may be wirelessly associated in order to utilize the network resources made available during the particular reservation according to the location setting;

wherein the access point is selected to be within range of the location within the hospitality establishment.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system controller automatically configures the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to cause the access point to broadcast the SSID being a reservation-specific SSID for the particular reservation.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a switch coupled to the computer network providing a port to which a wired user device may be connected in order to utilize the network resources made available during the particular reservation;

wherein the system controller automatically configures the switch when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to selectively activate or deactivate port isolation on the port according to the user isolation setting of the particular reservation.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more switches coupled to the computer network;

wherein the particular reservation includes a location setting specifying a location within the hospitality establishment;

wherein the system controller automatically configures the one or more switches when the start time of the particular reservation is reached according to the user isolation setting of the particular reservation to selectively activate or deactivate port isolation on all ports accessible from the location.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the system controller further:

assigns the particular reservation to an unused virtual local area network (VLAN) of the computer network when the start time of the particular reservation is reached; and

de-assigns the particular reservation from the VLAN when the end time of the particular reservation is reached;

wherein network traffic from the user devices wirelessly associated with the SSID during the particular reservation is limited to the VLAN on the computer network.

8. A method of configuring a computer network of a hospitality establishment, the method comprising:

storing details of a plurality of reservations of a hospitality establishment;

wherein a particular reservation of the stored reservations includes a user isolation setting;

tracking current time;

a system controller coupled to a computer network at the hospitality establishment and having access to the storage device and the clock chip; and

broadcasting by an access point a service set identifier (SSID) with which user devices may be wirelessly associated in order to utilize network resources made available during the particular reservation; and

automatically configuring the access point when a start time of the particular reservation is reached to selectively activate or deactivate client isolation for the SSID according to the user isolation setting of the particular reservation.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

when the user isolation setting of the particular reservation is yes, automatically configuring the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to activate the client isolation setting for the SSID and thereby prevent the user devices wirelessly associated with the SSID during the particular reservation from communicating with each other; and

when the user isolation setting of the particular reservation is no, automatically configuring the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to deactivate the client isolation setting for the SSID and thereby enable the user devices wirelessly associated with the SSID during the particular reservation to communicate with each other.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing a plurality of access points coupled to the computer network; and

automatically selecting the access point broadcasting the SSID with which the user devices may be wirelessly associated in order to utilize the network resources made available during the particular reservation according to a location setting of the particular reservation;

wherein the access point is selected to be within range of the location within the hospitality establishment.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising automatically configuring the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to cause the access point to broadcast the SSID being a reservation-specific SSID for the particular reservation.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing a switch port to which a wired user device may be connected in order to utilize the network resources made available during the particular reservation; and

automatically configuring the switch port when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to selectively activate or deactivate port isolation according to the user isolation setting of the particular reservation.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing a plurality of switches coupled to the computer network; and

wherein the particular reservation includes a location setting specifying a location within the hospitality establishment;

automatically configuring the switches when the start time of the particular reservation is reached according to the user isolation setting of the particular reservation to selectively activate or deactivate port isolation on all ports accessible from a location setting of the particular reservation.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

assigning the particular reservation to an unused virtual local area network (VLAN) of the computer network when the start time of the particular reservation is reached;

de-assigning the particular reservation from the VLAN when the end time of the particular reservation is reached; and

limiting network traffic from the user devices wirelessly associated with the SSID during the particular reservation to the VLAN.

15. 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 8.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a storage device storing details of a plurality of reservations of a hospitality establishment;

wherein a particular reservation of the stored reservations includes a user isolation setting;

a network interface coupled to a computer network of a hospitality establishment;

a clock chip tracking time; and

one or more processors coupled to the storage device, the network interface, and the clock chip;

wherein the computer network includes an access point broadcasting a service set identifier (SSID) with which user devices may be wirelessly associated in order to utilize network resources made available during the particular reservation; and

the one or more processors are configured to automatically configure the access point when a start time of the particular reservation is reached to selectively activate or deactivate client isolation for the SSID according to the user isolation setting of the particular reservation.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

when the user isolation setting of the particular reservation is yes, the one or more processors are configured to configure the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to activate the client isolation setting for the SSID and thereby prevent the user devices wirelessly associated with the SSID during the particular reservation from communicating with each other; and

when the user isolation setting of the particular reservation is no, the one or more processors are configured to configure the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to deactivate the client isolation setting for the SSID and thereby enable the user devices wirelessly associated with the SSID during the particular reservation to communicate with each other.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

the computer network includes a plurality of access points;

the particular reservation includes a location setting specifying a location within the hospitality establishment;

the one or more processors are configured to automatically select the access point broadcasting the SSID with which the user devices may be wirelessly associated in order to utilize the network resources made available during the particular reservation according to the location setting; and

the access point is selected to be within range of the location within the hospitality establishment.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are configured to automatically configure the access point when the start time of the particular reservation is reached to cause the access point to broadcast the SSID being a reservation-specific SSID for the particular reservation.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the particular reservation is for a meeting held at the hospitality establishment.