Hospitality property management tool and system and method for use of same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10666452-B2
Application number	US-201816126607-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2018
Priority date	Sep 8, 2017
Publication date	May 26, 2020
Grant date	May 26, 2020

Abstract

A hospitality property management tool and system and method for use of the same are disclosed. In one embodiment of the system, set-top boxes are located in respective rooms at a hospitality establishment. The set-top boxes are joined in network communication with environmental amenities, such as lights and a thermostat that respectively control lighting and temperature. The set-top boxes utilize an unoccupied room profile and occupied room profile to set the environmental conditions, such as lighting and temperature, in the rooms. A guest preference profile may be activated within a room to provide guest-specific environmental conditions in the room associated with the guest.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for hospitality property management, the system comprising:
a plurality of set-top boxes located in a respective plurality of rooms at a hospitality establishment having the plurality of rooms;
an unoccupied room profile providing environment conditions in each of the plurality of rooms when unoccupied, the environmental conditions including lighting;
an occupied room profile providing the environment conditions in each of the plurality of rooms when occupied; and
each of the plurality of set-top boxes including:
a housing securing a signal input, a signal output, a processor, memory, storage, and transceiver therein,
a busing architecture communicatively interconnecting the signal input, the signal output, the processor, the memory, the storage, and the transceiver,
the signal input configured to receive a source signal from an external source,
the signal output configured to forward a fully tuned signal to a display,
the storage storing the unoccupied room profile and the occupied room profile,
the transceiver configured to be joined in network communication with an environmental amenity, the environmental amenity being co-located within the room of the respective set-top box, the environmental amenity controlling lighting, and
the memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
send environmental control information consistent with the unoccupied room profile via the transceiver to the environmental amenity when the room is unoccupied,
unless receipt of a guest preference profile, send environmental control information consistent with the occupied room profile via the transceiver to the environmental amenity when the room is unoccupied, the guest preference profile providing the environmental conditions in the room when occupied by the guest corresponding to the guest preference profile, and
upon receipt of the guest preference profile, send environmental control information consistent with the guest preference profile via the transceiver to the environmental amenity when the room is unoccupied.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the environmental conditions further include temperature.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the environmental conditions further comprise a condition selected from the group consisting of temperature, shade, security locks, and power outlets.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the guest preference profile further comprises an individual sub-profile, a group sub-profile, and selection rules, the individual sub-profile providing the environmental conditions, the group sub-profile providing the environmental conditions, the selection rules selecting between the application of the individual sub-profile and the group sub-profile.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
a housekeeping/maintenance profile, the housekeeping/maintenance profile providing environmental conditions; and
the memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to temporarily override the unoccupied room profile with the housekeeping/maintenance profile.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
a housekeeping/maintenance profile, the housekeeping/maintenance profile providing environmental conditions; and
the memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to temporarily override the occupied room profile with the housekeeping/maintenance profile.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
a housekeeping/maintenance profile, the housekeeping/maintenance profile providing environmental conditions; and
the memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to temporarily override the guest preference profile with the housekeeping/maintenance profile.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the guest preference profile is actuated in the room occupied by the guest corresponding to the guest preference profile.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the particular guest preference profile is actuated in only room of the plurality of rooms.

10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of set-top boxes further comprise a data connection interconnected in the busing architecture.

11. The system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the unoccupied room profile and the occupied room profile are received via the data connection.

12. The system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the unoccupied room profile and the occupied room profile are received via the transceiver.

13. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the transceiver is configured to communicate with the plurality of proximate amenities via a standard selected from the group consisting of infrared (IR), 802.11, 3G, 4G, Edge, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, near field communications (NFC), Bluetooth, and Bluetooth low energy.

14. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the hospitality establishment is selected from the group consisting of furnished multi-family residences, dormitories, lodging establishments, hotels, hospitals, and multi-unit environments.

15. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the environmental data is selected from the group consisting of amenity interaction, lighting status, thermostat status, window shades status, and door status.

16. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the housing further comprises a housing-dongle combination securing the television input, the television output, the processor, memory, storage, and the active sound control circuit portion therewith.

17. The system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the processor and the memory are distributed through the housing-dongle combination.

18. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the display is selected from the group consisting of televisions and electronic visual display devices.

19. A system for hospitality property management, the system comprising:
a plurality of set-top boxes located in a respective plurality of rooms at a hospitality establishment having the plurality of rooms;
an unoccupied room profile providing environment conditions in each of the plurality of rooms when unoccupied, the environmental conditions including temperature;
an occupied room profile providing the environment conditions in each of the plurality of rooms when occupied; and
each of the plurality of set-top boxes including:
a housing securing a signal input, a signal output, a processor, memory, storage, and transceiver therein,
a busing architecture communicatively interconnecting the signal input, the signal output, the processor, the memory, the storage, and the transceiver,
the signal input configured to receive a source signal from an external source,
the signal output configured to forward a fully tuned signal to a display,
the storage storing the unoccupied room profile and the occupied room profile,
the transceiver configured to be joined in network communication with an environmental amenity, the environmental amenity being co-located within the room of the respective set-top box, the environmental amenity controlling temperature, and
the memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
send environmental control info

Assignees

• Enseo Inc

Inventors

• Miller Thomas R
• Ogle Vanessa
• Fang William C
• Wolfe Edward H

Classifications

• H04L12/2814

  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 title

• H04L12/282 Primary

  based on user interaction within the home (receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204) · CPC title

• H04L12/2829 Primary

  involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered · CPC title

• H04N21/43615

  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 title

• H04L12/2832

  Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks (single bridge functionality H04L12/4625) · CPC title