Hospitality media system operated by mobile device

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.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of Canadian Patent Application No. 2,709,651 filed Jun. 7, 2010 which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The invention pertains generally to hospitality media and entertainment systems. More specifically, the invention relates to operating a hospitality media system from a mobile device.[0003]In order to meet guest expectations, hotels must provide increasingly sophisticated media entertainment systems. However, the increased sophistication inevitably results in increased complexity, and thus the systems become “scary” to new users who may be unfamiliar with the operation of many remotes and other equipment such as set-top boxes (STBs) and personal digital recorders (PVRs) that may be found in the rooms.[0004]To solve this problem, hotel media systems are designed to be “user-friendly”. This generally means control elements such as menus and control buttons be as intuit...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]According to an exemplary configuration of the invention there is provided a hospitality media system including 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 fr

Problems solved by technology

However, the increased sophistication inevitably results in increased complexity, and thus the systems become “scary” to new users who may be unfamiliar with the operation of many remotes and other equipment such as set-top boxes (STBs) and personal digital recorders (PVRs) that may be found in the rooms.

However, regardless of how user-friendly a system may actually be, it will still be regarded as new and therefore troublesome by a guest who is unfamiliar with the system but who needs to learn it in order to enjoy their stay.

The process of learning to use yet another hotel media system can detract from the overall guest experience.

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