Media proxy that transparently proxies network-based media sharing protocol between guest device and an associated one of a plurality of media devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016014166-A1
Application number	US-201514865372-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 25, 2015
Priority date	Jun 22, 2012
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A media system includes a computer network, a media device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol, a plurality of output devices located at a plurality of physical locations within a hospitality establishment, and a system controller. In response to a first event, the system controller assigns the media device to a particular guest device by reconfiguring one or more components of the computer network to enable the particular guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with the media device, and commands an output device located at a physical location associated with the particular guest device to play media corresponding to the media signal outputted by the media device on the output port. In response to a second event, the system controller un-assigns the media device from the particular guest device and commands the output device to stop playing the media.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A media proxy comprising:
a storage device storing software and a set of proxy rules; a network interface coupled to a computer network; and one or more processors coupled to the storage device and the network interface; wherein, by the one or more processors executing the software loaded from the storage device, the one or more processors are operable to:
send via the computer network an announcement according to a network-based media sharing protocol, the announcement indicating availability of the media proxy as a streaming destination supporting the network-based media sharing protocol at a particular network address on the computer network, wherein the announcement is received by a guest device coupled to the computer network;
receive from the guest device over the computer network an incoming request to initiate media streaming playback utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol;
query the set of proxy rules in response to the incoming request to determine whether the guest device is currently associated with any of a plurality of media devices; wherein the media devices are coupled to the media proxy, are streaming destinations supporting the network based media sharing protocol, and are isolated from the guest device such that the media devices are not directly accessible over the computer network by the guest device;
drop the incoming request when the guest device is not currently associated with any of the media devices; and
when the guest device is currently associated with an associated one of the media devices, act as a transparent proxy between the guest device and the associated one of the media devices thereby enabling the guest device to initiate media streaming playback on the associated one of the media devices according to the network-based media sharing protocol.

2 . The media proxy of claim 1 , wherein:
the guest device is operated by a guest of a hospitality establishment; the media devices are audio-visual entertainment devices located within guest rooms of the hospitality establishment; the storage device further stores an in-room device table specifying which of the media devices are located in each the rooms of the hospitality establishment; and in response to a first event occurrence, the one or more processors are further operable to determine a registered room with which the guest device is associated according to information received from a property management system of the hospitality establishment, select an in-room media device located within the registered room according to the in-room device table, and update the proxy rules in order to store that the guest device is now associated with the selected in-room media device located within the registered room.

3 . The media system of claim 2 , wherein the event occurrence corresponds to a login portal of the hospitality establishment receiving information from the guest device over the computer network.

4 . The media proxy of claim 3 , wherein:
the information received from the guest device at the login portal identifies the guest of the hospitality establishment; and the media proxy looks up the registered room associated with the guest according to the information received from the property management system.

5 . The media proxy of claim 2 , wherein:
an output port of the associated one of the media devices is coupled to an output device in the registered room; and the one or more processors are further operable to send a command to the output device, the command causing the output device to beginning playing media outputted by the associated one of the media devices.

6 . The media proxy of claim 1 , wherein
the guest device is operated by a guest of a hospitality establishment; the media devices are audio-visual entertainment devices located at a central location of the hospitality establishment; each of the media devices has an output port coupled to a respective one of a plurality of encoders, each encoder encoding a media signal outputted by one of the media devices and transmitting a corresponding encoded media stream on the computer network; there are a plurality of output devices located within rooms of the hospitality establishment and coupled to the computer network; and in response to a first event occurrence, the one or more processors are further operable to select an available one of the media devices that is not currently in use by another guest device to be the associated one of the media devices, and send a command via the computer network to one of the output devices causing the one of the output devices to play the encoded media stream received from an encoder coupled to the output port of the associated one of the media devices via the computer network.

7 . The media proxy of claim 6 , wherein the first event occurrence corresponds to the one or more processors detecting that the guest device is attempting to share media content utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol with the particular network address of the media proxy on the computer network.

8 . The media proxy of claim 1 , wherein, while acting as the transparent proxy, the one or more processors are further operable to reroute a media stream received from the guest device to the associated one of the media devices for playback according to the network based media sharing protocol.

9 . The media proxy of claim 1 , wherein the guest device initiates playback of remote media content streamed from a remote device over the Internet.

10 . The media proxy of claim 1 , wherein the guest device is on a first virtual local area network (VLAN) on the computer network and the media devices are on a second VLAN on the computer network, the first VLAN being isolated from the second VLAN.

11 . A method comprising:
sending via a computer network an announcement according to a network-based media sharing protocol, the announcement indicating availability of a media proxy as a streaming destination supporting a network-based media sharing protocol at a particular network address on the computer network, wherein the announcement is received by a guest device coupled to the computer network; receiving from the guest device over the computer network an incoming request to initiate media streaming playback utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol; querying a set of proxy rules in response to the incoming request to determine whether the guest device is currently associated with any of a plurality of media devices; wherein the media devices are coupled to the media proxy, are streaming destinations supporting the network based media sharing protocol, and are isolated from the guest device such that the media devices are not directly accessible over the computer network by the guest device; dropping the incoming request when the guest device is not currently associated with any of the media devices; and when the guest device is currently associated with an associated one of the media devices, acting as a transparent proxy between the guest device and the associated one of the media devices thereby enabling the guest device to initiate media streaming playback on the associated one of the media devices according to the network-based media sharing protocol.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the guest device is operated by a guest of a hospitality establishment; the media devices are audio-visual entertainment devices located within guest rooms of the hospitality establishment; and the method further comprises, in response to a first event occurrence, determining a registered room with which the guest device is associated according t

Assignees

• Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd

Inventors

• Warrick Peter S
• Cassidy Brendan G
• Carriere Lindsey M
• Mccarthy Michael D

Classifications

• H04L65/1073 Primary

  Registration or de-registration · CPC title

• H04L41/0816

  the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events · 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

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title