US-12627858-B2 - Person occupancy detection in hotels using UWB technology and integration with matter protocol in STB

US12627858B2US 12627858 B2US12627858 B2US 12627858B2US-12627858-B2

Abstract

Devices, systems and methods are described for detecting occupancy of persons within hotels using ultra-wide band tag and a MATTER protocol. A system may include a set top box (STB) coupled to a hotel management server (HMS) a user device (UD), an ultra-wideband tag (UWT) and an electronic device coupled to the STB located within a hotel room. The STB executes computer instructions which instantiate an STB user location engine (SULE), an STB user preference engine (SUPE) and an STB Room Configure Engine (SRCE). The STB performs STB User Location Operations (SULOs) include scanning at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency for a signal from the UWT, determining whether the UWT, when detected, is within an STB determined distance, receiving an association of at least one user preference with the UWT, and configuring the electronic device in view of the at least one user preference.

Inventors

Sreevastav Anupuru
Srinivasarao Duddu
Dileep Puramana
Ananda Siddappa

Assignees

DISH NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240403

Claims (16)

1 . A system comprising: a set top box (STB) associated with a given room; a local area network (LAN) coupled to the STB; a hotel management server (HMS) coupled to the STB via the LAN; a user device (UD), configured for use by a given user; an ultra-wideband tag (UWT); and an electronic device coupled to the STB and located within the given room; wherein the STB comprises: an STB processor (STBP); and a non-transient STB data store (STBDS), coupled to the STBP, non-transiently storing: first computer instructions (1CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB user location engine (SULE); second computer instructions (2CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB user preference engine (SUPE); and third computer instructions (3CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB Room Configure Engine (SRCE); wherein the SULE configures the STB to perform STB User Location Operations (SULOs) comprising: scanning at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency for a ranging signal transmitted by the UWT; and when the ranging signal is detected, determining whether the UWT is within an STB determined distance; when the UWT is within the STB determined distance: receiving an association of at least one user preference with the UWT; determining whether the STB determined distance is within a threshold range; when the STB determined distance is within the threshold range, determining whether the STB determined distance is decreasing over time; and when the STB determined distance is not within the threshold range, continuing scanning of the at least one UWB frequency for another ranging signal from the UWT or another UWT; and configuring the electronic device in view of the at least one user preference.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the determining of whether the STB determined distance is decreasing over time further comprises: detecting, at a second time, a second ranging signal from the UWT; determining, based on the second ranging signal, a second STB determined distance of the UWT from the STB at the second time; determining, based on the STB determined distance and the second STB determined distance, whether the UWT is approaching the STB; and when affirmative, executing the 2CIs.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the SUPE configures the STB to perform STB User Preference Operations (SUPOs) comprising: associating the UWT with a given user account.
4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the associating of the UWT with the given user account further comprises: receiving from the HMS an account identifier associated with the UWT; retrieving, from a data store accessible to the STB, the at least one user preference associated with the account identifier; and determining whether to configure the electronic device in the given room based on the at least one user preference.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the electronic device is configured using MATTER commands generated by the UD.
6 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the electronic device is a window covering; wherein the at least one user preference indicates that the window covering is to be configured into a first, closed state when the given user arrives at a first time of day; and wherein the at least one user preference indicates that the window covering is to be configured into a second, open state when the given user arrives at a second time of day.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the associating of the UWT with the given user account further comprises: receiving from the HMS an account identifier associated with the UWT; retrieving, from a data store accessible to the STB, the at least one user preference associated with the account identifier; and determining whether to apply the at least one user preference when configuring the electronic device in the given room for use by the given user.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the electronic device is a window covering; wherein the at least one user preference indicates that the window covering is to be configured into a first, closed state when the given user arrives at a first time of day; and wherein the at least one user preference indicates that the window covering is to be configured into a second, open state when the given user arrives at a second time of day.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the SRCE configures the STB to perform STB Room Configure Operations (SRCOs) comprising: generating at least one command to configure the electronic device in view of the at least one user preference.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one command configures the electronic device prior to the user arriving at the room.
11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one command is MATTER protocol compliant.
12 . A system comprising: a set top box (STB) associated with a given room; a local area network (LAN) coupled to the STB; a hotel management server (HMS) coupled to the STB via the LAN; a user device (UD), configured for use by a given user; an ultra-wideband tag (UWT); wherein the UWT further comprises a virtual ultra-wideband tag integrated into the UD; and an electronic device coupled to the STB and located within the given room; wherein the STB comprises: an STB processor (STBP); and a non-transient STB data store (STBDS), coupled to the STBP, non-transiently storing: first computer instructions (1CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB user location engine (SULE); second computer instructions (2CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB user preference engine (SUPE); and third computer instructions (3CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB Room Configure Engine (SRCE); wherein the SULE configures the STB to perform STB User Location Operations (SULOs) comprising: scanning at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency for a ranging signal transmitted by the UWT; and when the ranging signal is detected, determining whether the UWT is within an STB determined distance; when the UWT is within the STB determined distance: receiving an association of at least one user preference with the UWT; and configuring the electronic device in view of the at least one user preference.
13 . A method comprising: scanning, by a set top box (STB), at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency for a ranging signal transmitted by an ultra-wideband tag (UWT); wherein the UWT is a virtual ultra-wideband tag provided by a user device; when the ranging signal is detected, determining whether the UWT is within a determined distance of the STB; when the UWT is within the determined distance: receiving at least one user preference for a given user associated with the UWT; and configuring an electronic device, in a given room provided by a hotel operator, coupled to the STB in view of the at least one user preference by sending a MATTER command from the STB to the electronic device.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the UWT is a physical ultra-wideband tag provided by the hotel operator to the given user.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the receiving of the at least one user preference further comprises: associating the UWT with a given user account; receiving from a hotel management system for the hotel operator an account identifier associated with the UWT; retrieving, from a data store accessible to the STB, the at least one user preference associated with the account identifier; and wherein the method further comprises: determining whether to configure the electronic device in the given room based on the at least one user preference.
16 . A non-transitory computer readable medium containing first computer instructions (ICIs), second computer instructions (2CIs), and third computer instructions (3CIs), wherein, when executed by a processor in a set top box (STB) in a hotel room provided by a hotel operator, the 1CIs instantiate an STB user location engine (SULE) that configures to perform STB user location operations (SULOs), the 2CIs instantiate an STB user preference engine (SUPE) that configures the STB to perform STB user preference operations (SUPOs), and the 3CIs instantiate an STB room configure engine (SRCE) that configures the STB to perform STB room configure operations (SRCOs), and wherein the SULOs comprise: scanning at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency for a ranging signal transmitted by an ultra-wideband tag (UWT); wherein the UWT is a virtual ultra-wideband tag provided by a user device associated with the given user; and when the ranging signal is detected, determining whether the UWT is within an STB determined distance; and when the UWT is within the STB determined distance, instantiating the SUPE; wherein the SUPOs comprise: associating the UWT with a given user account maintained by a hotel management server (HMS) for the hotel operator; receiving from the HMS an account identifier associated with the UWT; retrieving, from a data store accessible to the STB, at least one user preference associated with the account identifier; and determining whether to configure an electronic device in the given room based on the at least one user preference; and when affirmative, instantiating the SRCE; and wherein the SRCOs comprise: generating, by the STB, at least one command that configures the electronic device in view of the at least one user preference; wherein the at least one command is a MATTER protocol compliant command.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The technology described herein generally relates to devices, systems, and methods for detecting a presence of a person within a given area, such as a hotel, and controlling one or more devices based thereon. BACKGROUND Hotels, offices and other places open to the public (herein, such areas being a “hotel”) commonly consume significant amounts of electricity due to the hotel being incapable of determining when a user is present/not present, entering/exiting, or otherwise utilizing one or more areas (e.g., a hotel room, an office, a gymnasium, a conference room, or the like, herein such areas being a “hotel room”) of the hotel. Common approaches used today to reduce the quantity of electricity used, in configuring a given hotel area for use of by a given user, may include using key cards that are inserted into a card reader located within the hotel room and the like. While such approaches may reduce the quantity of electricity consumed, such approaches commonly result in a hotel room that is not configured in accordance with a given user's preferences, such as being too hot or too cold, not having the curtains opened or closed, not having an Internet connection established or disestablished for the user, not having one or more lights on or off, and the like. Accordingly, devices, systems and methods are needed which address the above and other issues. SUMMARY Various implementations are described of devices, systems, and methods for user presence detection based configuring of a hotel room. For at least one implementation, a given hotel room may be configured for use by a given user based upon a detected presence of the given user relative to the hotel environs and at a given time. For at least one implementation, the detected presence of the user may be based on one or more signals generated by a smart tag, such as an ultra-wideband (“UWB”) tag. A non-limiting example of a UWB tag is an AIRTAG by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. For at least one implementation, configuring of the hotel room may occur in accordance with one or more user preferences. In accordance with at least one implementation of the present disclosure, a system of one or more computers can be configured to perform particular operations or actions by virtue of having software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof installed on the system that, in operation, cause(s) the system to perform the actions. One or more computer programs can be configured to perform particular operations or actions by virtue of including instructions that, when executed by a data processing apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the actions. For at least one implementation, a system may include a set top box (“STB”) associated with a given room, a local area network (“LAN”) coupled to the STB, a hotel management server (“HMS”) coupled to the STB via the LAN, a user device (“UD”), configured for use by a given user, an ultra-wideband tag (“UWT”), and an electronic device coupled to the STB and located within the given room. The STB may include an STB processor (“STBP”) and a non-transient STB data store (“STBDS”), coupled to the STBP. The STBP may non-transiently store: first computer instructions (“1CIs”) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB user location engine (“SULE”), second computer instructions (“2CIs”) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB user preference engine (“SUPE”), and third computer instructions (“3CIs”) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB Room Configure Engine (“SRCE”). For at least one implementation, the SULE configures the STB to perform STB User Location Operations (“SULOs”) including scanning at least one UWB frequency for a ranging signal transmitted by the UWT and, when the ranging signal is detected, determining whether the UWT is within an STB determined distance. The SULOs may further include, when the UWT is within the STB determined distance, receiving an association of at least one user preference with the UWT and configuring the electronic device in view of the at least one user preference. For at least one implementation, when the ranging signal is detected, the SULOs further include determining whether the STB determined distance is within a threshold range. When the STB determined distance is within the threshold range, the SULOs may further include determining whether the STB determined distance is decreasing over time. When the STB determined distance is not within the threshold range, the SULOs may include continuing scanning of the at least one UWB frequency for another ranging signal from the UWT or another UWT. For at least one implementation, the SULO of determining of whether the STB determined distance is decreasing over time may further include detecting, at a second time, a second ranging signal from the UWT, determining, based on the second ranging signal, a second STB determined distance of the UWT from the STB at the second time, determining