HK40005593A - System and method for delivering digital content - Google Patents

Description

System and method for delivering digital content

Cross reference to related applications

This application claims benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application serial No. 62/551,304 entitled "System and Method for rendering Digital Content" filed on 29.8.2017 and U.S. provisional patent application serial No. 62/580,486 entitled "Improved System and Method of rendering Digital Content" filed on 2.11.2017.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to a system and method for delivering digital content to a display device, and more particularly, to a system and method for selectively projecting audiovisual digital content from a user's mobile device only to chrome display devices in a hotel room where the user is registered, where the hotel has many chrome display devices running on the same network in its room.

Background

Chromecast^TMIs a digital media device that connects to an HDMI port of a high definition television or other suitable device and allows a user to use a compatible streaming application or "app" (e.g., Hulu)^TM、Netflix^TM、Pandora^TM、YouTube^TM、Spotify^TMEtc.) to display audiovisual digital content from a television streamed or projected on a user's cell phone or personal computer. The user downloads the Chromecast application to his/her handset, and during setup of the application,a user may identify, list, and name any number of televisions that include digital media devices and that are operating on the same network. The handset is also loaded with one or more streaming applications, and the user will open the desired streaming application, select a desired output device (e.g., television) from a list, select particular content to be projected or streamed on the streaming application, and press a project button on the application to stream the selected content to the selected output device. The streaming application is used to browse the content while displaying the content.

The Chromecast protocol discussed above operates as intended in a dedicated environment where a limited number of output devices can be selected. However, in a public environment, for example, in a hotel, there may be many output devices running on the same network as the Chromecast media player (e.g., in each individual hotel room). In the general Chromecast use case discussed above, a user can use a streaming application to identify and select from any of these output devices, such as output devices in other people's rooms, causing significant problems for other users in those rooms, making such general use unacceptable. Therefore, there is a need for a way to select only output devices in a user's room for streaming digital content.

Disclosure of Invention

The following discussion discloses and describes a system and method for selectively transmitting audio and/or visual digital content from a mobile device (e.g., a cellular telephone) to a display device (e.g., a Chromecast-enabled television in a hotel room). The method includes broadcasting an announcement signal from a plurality of display devices over a first WiFi network, the announcement signal indicating that the display devices are available to receive audio and/or visual digital content. The device controller receives the announcement signal over the first network and generates a database identifying each display device available and its location. Display commands are sent from a mobile device of a user registered in a hotel room over a second WiFi network to display audio and/or visual digital content on a display device in the room. The device controller receives the display command over the second network and identifies a registered room number of the mobile device that sent the display command. Based on the room location of the display device and the room location of the mobile device, a display command is sent from the display controller to the display device over the first network and audio and/or visual content is displayed on the display device.

Additional features of the disclosure will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a digital content delivery system for selectively controlling streaming of audiovisual digital content from a mobile device registered to a hotel room guest and a Chromecast-enabled device in the hotel room;

fig. 2 is a flowchart showing a process for identifying a Chromecast device set in a plurality of hotel rooms and registered guests of those hotel rooms; and

fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process for allowing a registered guest at a hotel with a Chromecast-enabled mobile device to stream only to the Chromecast device in his/her room.

Detailed Description

The following discussion of the embodiments of the present disclosure directed to a system and method for selectively projecting, streaming or otherwise delivering audiovisual digital content from a mobile device to a Chromecast-enabled device in a hotel or other public area is merely exemplary in nature, and is in no way intended to limit the invention or its applications or uses.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a digital content delivery system 10 for selectively controlling delivery of audiovisual digital content to certain display devices (e.g., televisions) in a public area (e.g., hotel 12). Although the hotel 12 is used herein to illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure, it is noted that the delivery of digital content discussed in other public areas may be equally applicable. The hotel 12 includes a plurality of hotel rooms 14, each of which includes a television 16 or other device equipped with a Chromecast display device 18, the Chromecast display device 18 allowing the television 16 to display audiovisual content projected or streamed from a suitably equipped source. Although the discussion herein refers to the Chromecast device 18 as a device that allows the display of audiovisual content on the television 16, this represents only an example of such a device, where other devices such as the Android TV may also be suitable.

A hotel guest 20 may occupy one of the hotel rooms 14 at any given point in time and may carry his/her personal mobile device 22, e.g., a cell phone, smart phone, laptop computer, desktop computer, tablet computer, etc. Personal device 12 may be loaded with the necessary Chromecast applications that allow it to identify and communicate with Chromecast device 18 over a public network, and may be loaded with one or more streaming applications, e.g., Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, etc., that allow device 22 to stream audio and/or visual digital content to device 18 in the manner described above. The system 10 also includes a controller 24 that is located in the network infrastructure of the hotel 14, for example, in a server cabinet. The controller 24 communicates with the Chromecast device 18 in each room 14 through a controller WiFi network 26 and with all registered personal devices 22 in the hotel 12 through a separate guest WiFi network 28. As will be discussed in detail below, controller 24 runs various processes and algorithms that only allow each personal device 22 to stream digital content to televisions 16 in rooms 14 of guests 20 registered with that device 22.

Each Chromecast device 18 broadcasts a signal or announcement over the controller WiFi network 26 indicating that it is available to receive commands from the Chromecast application to display audio-visual content on the television 16 to which it is connected. These signals are received by the controller 24, which generates a database or "map" in its memory, identifying which Chromecast devices 18 are available at which IP address and the particular room 14 in which each identified Chromecast device 18 is located. The controller 24 also monitors each Chromecast device 18 through the controller network 26, as it is used, to identify certain statistics of each of the devices 18, e.g., which application (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, etc.) they are currently running, so that the controller 24 knows whether the Chromecast device 18 is online and active.

The personal devices 22 do not see the signal or announcement broadcast from the Chromecast device 18 indicating that it is available to receive and display content because they are not connected to the controller network 26, but rather to the guest network 28. The controller 24 runs the Chromecast application protocol when communicating with the personal device 22 over the guest network 28 so that the personal device 22 thinks they are communicating with the Chromecast device 18 when in fact not communicating with the Chromecast device 18. When a guest 20 opens a streaming application on his/her personal device 22 that is suitably configured with a Chromecast application to project audiovisual digital content to the Chromecast device 18, the controller 24 identifies the room 14 to which the device 22 is registered, and displays only the selection of the Chromecast device 18 in the room 14 associated with the guest 20, so that the guest 20 cannot select any other Chromecast device 18 in the other rooms 14. In other words, when the guest 20 attempts to connect to the Chromecast device 18, the controller 24 receives a command signal from the guest's personal device 22 through the network 28, and then verifies with which room 14 the device 22 is associated, based on the previously stored IP address information. Typically, when a guest 20 attempts to connect his/her device 22 to the guest WiFi network 28, they need to enter their name and room number so that the controller 24 will have this information. The controller 24 transmits the streaming signal it receives from the personal device 22 over the guest network 28 to the selected Chromecast device 18 over the controller network 26. In other words, the controller 24 operates merely as a gateway or tunnel between the Chromecast device 18 and the personal device 22, as the controller 24 does not decrypt, interpret, or otherwise alter commands from the personal device 22 to the Chromecast device 18. In this manner, the controller 24 does not know which streaming applications or content is being streamed on the Chromecast device 18 by the personal device 22.

The above discussion regarding the selective display of audiovisual digital content on a certain Chromecast device 18 is described in more detail in the following two flowcharts. Fig. 2 is a flow chart diagram 30 showing an algorithm running in the controller 24 for identifying all of the running chrome devices 18 and their locations or room numbers available in the hotel 12, and identifying all of the personal devices 22 and their locations or registered room numbers registered via the network 28. At block 32, controller 24 reads from Google^TM(i.e., Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, etc.) obtains a list of all currently available Chromecast-compatible streaming applications, and uses RESTful, e.g., including all Chromecast applications^TMAn Application Programming Interface (API) generates a service profile that mimics the service availability of each of the Chromecast devices 18. This process may include starting or restarting a third party server daemon to announce the availability of the controller 24 and support streaming applications in the service profile on all network adapters.

At block 34, the controller 24 identifies each of the Chromecast devices 18 using, for example, a standard compliant service that supports projections connected to the controller network 26. The controller 24 arrives at the master Google database via the internet to obtain Chromecast mapping information identifying which Chromecast device 18 is in which room 14 and stores the mapping information for the Chromecast device 18 in the memory of the controller 24.

Personal devices 22 are authenticated or registered at block 36, which may include employing an authentication engine to authenticate personal devices 22 and create an in-memory database in controller 24 containing information about each device 22. If available, user access gateway integration is employed, which includes reaching a third party user access gateway or the same party user access gateway to obtain a list of currently authenticated personal devices 22 that have been registered through the network 28. This information is parsed and cleaned up and then stored in the verification engine database. This process may require the guest 20 to subscribe to a certain level of bandwidth or require the guest 20 to purchase the ability to use the in-room projection services. If user access gateway integration is not available or a third party does not support a user access gateway, controller 24 may use the API service to authenticate or register personal device 22 with a last name and a room number. When the registration information is published to the API service, if the information is available, the information is published to a third party property management system for verification. After parsing and cleaning, the information is stored in the authentication engine database. If the registration process of the personal device 22 in the controller 24 fails, an error message is returned.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart 40 showing how a guest 20 connects his/her personal device 22 to the Chromecast device 18 in his/her room 14. At block 42, the guest 20 connects his/her device 22 to the guest WiFi network 28 using a hotel registration process, and at block 44, the guest 20 authenticates his/her personal device 22 with a third party user access gateway or gets granted open access by, for example, selecting the guest network 28 in the settings of the personal device 22. At decision diamond 46, the algorithm determines whether the hotel 12 has user access gateway integration and, if so, the guest 20 opens a Chromecast enabled streaming application, e.g., Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, etc., on the guest device 22 and, at box 48, presses the "throw" button on the device 22. The guest 20 is then prompted to connect to the vCast on the personal device 22 or automatically to connect to the vCast, which connects the personal device 22 to the controller 24 through the network 28 at block 50. When the personal device 22 attempts to connect to the controller 24 to stream content, the device request is matched against information in the authentication engine to determine the room number registered by the guest 20 at block 52. If there is no registration information, the connection is immediately dropped or rejected. At block 54, controller 24 looks up the corresponding Chromecast device 18 in the guest's room and accepts the incoming connection from device 22 to Chromecast device 18. At block 56, the controller 24 then creates a connection to the corresponding Chromecast device 18, and the guest 20 continues to interact with the streaming application and project the content to the Chromecast device 18 for that particular guest room.

If the hotel 12 does not have a user access to the gateway integration at decision diamond 46, the guest 20 may access the application store on the device 22 and download, install and launch the vCast application at block 60. At block 62 discussed above, the application searches for the wireless network 28 for the API service and once located, the vCast application displays a prompt for the guest last name and room number at block 64. At block 66, guest 20 clicks or presses "check in" on personal device 22 and publishes the information discussed above to the API. If the registration has not failed, a success message is displayed. Once the device 22 is registered, the process proceeds to block 48 to launch the streaming application. Alternatively, if the hotel 12 does not have a user access gateway integration at decision diamond 46, the controller 24 may manage and display the pairing code on the Chromecast device 18 at block 68, wherein the guest 20 will enter the pairing code instead of the last name and room number at block 64.

The foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from such discussion, and from the accompanying drawings and claims, that various changes, modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined in the following claims.

Claims (20)

1. A method for communicating audio and/or visual digital content from a mobile device to a display device, the method comprising:

broadcasting an announcement signal from a plurality of display devices over a first WiFi network, the announcement signal indicating that the display devices are available to receive the audio and/or visual digital content;

receiving an advertising signal over a first network at a device controller, the device controller generating a database identifying each display device available and its location;

transmitting, from the mobile device, a display command to display the audio and/or visual digital content on one of the plurality of display devices over the second WiFi network;

receiving the display command over a second network at the device controller, the device controller identifying a location of a mobile device that sent the display command; and

transmitting the display command from the display controller to the selected one of the display devices through the first network based on the location of the selected one of the display devices and the location of the mobile device, and displaying audio and/or visual content on the selected one of the display devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining, by the display controller, a list of streaming applications that stream the audio and/or visual digital content, and generating a service profile for each streaming application that mimics the display device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating and registering the mobile device and its location as part of a database containing registrations for a plurality of mobile devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the location of the mobile device is a room number of a hotel room.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein registering the mobile device comprises employing a user access gateway integration.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein registering the mobile device comprises using an application programming interface.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein registering the mobile device comprises displaying a pairing code on the display device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of display devices are Chromecast enabled devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of display devices are Android devices.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a cellular phone, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, or any other computing device that supports the necessary communication protocols.

11. A method for selectively delivering audio and/or visual digital content in a hotel, the method comprising:

providing a Chromecast enabled device in each of a plurality of rooms of the hotel;

broadcasting an announcement signal from the Chromecast-enabled device over the first WiFi network, the announcement signal indicating that the Chromecast-enabled device is available to receive and display the audio and/or visual digital content;

registering, using a second WiFi network, mobile devices brought by guests admitted to the hotel room in a registration database, wherein each mobile device includes a Chromecast application capable of operating a Chromecast-enabled device in the hotel room and at least one streaming application capable of streaming audio and/or digital content to the Chromecast-enabled device;

providing a controller that controls the transfer of audio and/or digital content from the mobile device to a Chromecast-enabled device;

the controller receiving the announcement signal over a first network, the controller generating a display device database identifying each available Chromecast-enabled device and its room location;

sending a display command from a particular one of the mobile devices over the second network to display the audio and/or visual digital content on a Chromecast-enabled device;

receiving, at the controller, the display command over the second network, the controller identifying, from the registration database, a room location of a mobile device that sent the display command; and is

Transmitting the display command from the controller to the selected one of the chrome-enabled devices through the first network based on the location of the selected one of the chrome-enabled devices and the room location of the mobile device, and displaying audio and/or visual content on the selected one of the chrome-enabled devices.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining a list of streaming applications available for streaming digital content and generating a service profile for each streaming application that emulates a Chromecast-enabled device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein registering the mobile device comprises employing a user access gateway integration.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein registering the mobile device comprises using an application programming interface.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein registering the mobile device comprises displaying a pairing code on a Chromecast-enabled device.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein registering the mobile device requires obtaining a level of projected bandwidth.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the mobile device is a cellular phone, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, or any other computing device that supports the necessary communication protocols.

18. A system for transferring audio and/or visual digital content from a mobile device to a display device, the system comprising:

means for broadcasting an announcement signal from a plurality of display devices over a first WiFi network, the announcement signal indicating that the display devices are available to receive the audio and/or visual digital content;

means for receiving the announcement signal over a first network at a device controller, the device controller generating a database identifying each display device available and its location;

means for registering, using the second WiFi network, a mobile device brought by a guest that checked in to the hotel room in a registration database;

means for transmitting display commands from the mobile device over the second WiFi network to display the audio and/or visual digital content on a plurality of display devices;

means for receiving the display command over a second network at the device controller, the device controller identifying a location of the mobile device sending the display command; and

means for sending the display command from the display controller to the selected one of the display devices over the first network based on the location of the selected one of the display devices and the location of the mobile device, and means for displaying audio and/or visual content on the selected one of the display devices.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein means for registering the mobile device comprises means for employing a user access gateway integration, means for registering the mobile device using an application programming interface, or means for displaying a pairing code on the display device.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the display device is a Chromecast-enabled device or an Android device.