CA2792482A1

CA2792482A1 - Dynamically enabling guest device supporting network-based media sharing protocol to share media content over computer network with subset of media devices connected thereto

Info

Publication number: CA2792482A1
Application number: CA2792482A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Peter S. Warrick; Michael D. Mccarthy; Brendan G. Cassidy; Lindsey M. Carriere
Original assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd
Current assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd
Priority date: 2012-06-22
Filing date: 2012-10-18
Publication date: 2012-12-24
Anticipated expiration: 2032-10-18
Also published as: CA2792482C; CA2820654A1

Abstract

A media system includes a computer network, a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network, and a system controller coupled to the computer network. The computer network allows a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be coupled thereto. The computer network by default prevents the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with the media devices. The system controller selects a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices. The system controller dynamically reconfigures components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.

Description

GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent DYNAMICALLY ENABLING GUEST DEVICE SUPPORTING NETWORK-BASED
MEDIA SHARING PROTOCOL TO SHARE MEDIA CONTENT OVER COMPUTER
NETWORK WITH SUBSET OF MEDIA DEVICES CONNECTED THERETO
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention pertains generally to media and entertainment systems utilized at hospitality establishments such as hotels and resorts. More specifically, the invention relates to dynamically enabling a guest device operated by a guest of a hospitality establishment to utilize a network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with only a subset of the media devices of the hospitality establishment's media and entertainment system.

Guests often bring personal electronic devices with them when they stay at hotels, and these devices typically have stored therein pictures, movies, music, and other media content. One problem encountered by guests is how to utilize the capabilities of the hotel's media system to play media content stored on the guest's personal device. For example, a guest may wish to play vacation videos stored on their personal device on the big-screen television (TV) and high-fidelity audio system provided in their hotel room.

Published Canadian Patent Application No. 2,707,202 filed on June 17, 2010 and corresponding Published U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0314497 filed on June 10, 2011 disclose methods of integrating guest content from a guest's personal device with a hospitality media system. In an exemplary embodiment, a user of a room connects a guest device to the media system and has guest content available on the guest device cataloged by the media system to form a guest content list. The guest content is automatically associated with the user's assigned room, and the user can thereafter utilize any of the in-room media devices located within that room to perform media system functions utilizing content selected from the guest content list.

Some electronic devices brought to hospitality establishments by guests natively support one or more network-based media sharing protocols such as AirPlay by Apple Inc., DLNA by the Digital Living Network Alliance , AllShare by Samsung Inc., etc. It would be beneficial if the guest could stream content from their personal device to in-room media devices of the hotel's media and entertainment system using these protocols similar to how they can stream content to their home TV via a local area network (LAN) installed in their home.

GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent However, most hotels do not have separate computer networks installed in each guest room.
Instead, most hotels have a single media network to which all TVs and other in-room media devices within the hotel are connected in order to play media content from a central streaming server. Because existing network-based media sharing protocols (e.g., AirPlay , DLNA , AllShare , etc.) are designed for the residential industry, if a guest device supporting one of these protocols were allowed to be connected to the hotel's media network, it would automatically discover and be able to share media content with all compatible media devices available in the hotel. Such behavior is unacceptable in the hospitality industry because this would allow a guest device to stream personal media content to any TV in any room of the hotel.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a hospitality establishment's computer network by default prevents communication between guest devices and in-room media devices. This may be done by isolating the guest devices on a first virtual area network (VLAN) and the media devices on a second VLAN. In response to the occurrence of certain trigger events, a guest device supporting at least one network-based media sharing protocol and utilized by a guest staying in a particular guest room of a hotel is dynamically enabled to utilize the network-based sharing protocol to share media over the hotel's computer network with only one or more media devices in the guest's assigned room. A system controller enables certain network-based media sharing protocols to work between these devices by dynamically setting up an inter-VLAN
communication rule set in the default gateway of the hotel's computer network.
The inter-VLAN
communication rule set allows inter-VLAN communication between the network address of the guest device on the first VLAN and the network address(es) of the media devices in the guest's assigned room on the second VLAN. The system controller enables other network-based media sharing protocols to work between these devices by dynamically setting up a media proxy between the first and second VLANs. The media proxy acts as a media sever to which the guest device shares media content, and the media proxy then reroutes the shared media content to one or more media devices in the guest's assigned room. The ability to share content from the guest's device to the subset of media devices in the guest's assigned room is dynamically enabled in response to the guest of that room logging in to the hotel's High Speed Internet Access (HSIA) service from the guest device. Other events may also trigger the enabling of media sharing for a GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent guest device such as when receiving from the guest device a passkey that was displayed to the guest on a media device in the guest room, or when a guest reservation having a registered guest device reaches a start time, for example.

An advantage of the above embodiment is that the guest device is temporarily able to stream media content to the media devices of the guest's assigned room over the hotel's computer network while still being prevented from streaming media content to media devices in other rooms of the hotel. Media sharing between the guest device and the in-room media devices is only enabled while the guest device is being operated by a registered guest of the room. In this way, when a guest checks out of a room, the computer network at the hotel is dynamically reconfigured to cause the gateway and media proxy to deactivate the ability to communicate and share media with in-room media devices for all guest devices associated with the now checked out guest. By repeating this process for subsequent guests and their guest devices, each guest may utilize an existing network-based media sharing protocol supported by their personal guest device to share media content with the in-room media devices of their assigned room. Other network-based functions in addition to (or instead of) streaming can also be supported between the guest device and a particular in-room media device in a similar way.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention there is disclosed a media system including a computer network, a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network, and a system controller coupled to the computer network. The computer network allows a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be coupled thereto, and by default prevents the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with the media devices. The system controller selects a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices. The system controller dynamically reconfigures one or more components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention there is disclosed a method including allowing a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent coupled to a computer network, and by default preventing the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network. The method further includes selecting a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices. The method further includes dynamically reconfiguring one or more components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention there is disclosed a tangible computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the above method.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention there is disclosed an apparatus for controlling a media system. The media system has a computer network and a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network. The computer network allows a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be coupled thereto and by default prevents the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with the media devices. The apparatus includes a network interface coupled to the computer network, and one or more processors coupled to the network interface. The processors are operable to select a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices, and dynamically reconfigure one or more components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention there is disclosed an apparatus for controlling a media system. The media system has a computer network and a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network. The computer network allows a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be coupled thereto and by default prevents the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content GTK0049CAD00 CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent with the media devices. The apparatus includes a network interface coupled to the computer network, means for selecting a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices, and means for dynamically reconfiguring one or more components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention there is disclosed a media system and associated method for bridging connectivity between network segments through VLANing, subnetting, routing, port isolation and/or any combination thereof. A network component positioned between the network segments dynamically enables only certain devices on each network segment to share media content utilizing a network-based media sharing protocol. For example, a guest device on a first network segment is dynamically enabled by the network component to share media content with only certain in-room media devices on another network segment. Rather than enabling media content sharing (or in addition to enabling media content sharing), the network component may also dynamically enable certain devices on each network segment to utilize other protocols across the network segments or even enable them to directly communicate with each other across the network segments. In this way, protocols other than network-based media sharing protocols may also take advantage of the invention.

These and other advantages and embodiments of the present invention will no doubt become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings which represent preferred embodiments thereof:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a media system according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary block diagram of the system controller of FIG. 1;

GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent FIG. 3 illustrates how a guest device is enabled by the gateway of FIG. 1 to stream content to the in-room TV of a guest room according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 shows an example of the gateway rules that are in-place to support inter-VLAN
communication for the guest devices illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates how a guest device is enabled by the media proxy of FIG. 1 to stream content to the in-room TV of a guest room according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of proxy rules for supporting in-room media sharing by the guest devices illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 together illustrate a flowchart describing actions performed by the system controller of FIG. 1 to dynamically enable a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to share media content over a computer network with a subset of the media devices connected to the computer network according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 9 shows an example of an in-room media device table mapping each of the in-room media devices to a respective guest area of the hotel;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a guest access table provided by a property management system (PMS) handling room assignment at the hotel;

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart showing steps taken by a reservation manager when starting the process of FIG. 7 in response to reaching the start-time of a reservation having a registered guest device;

FIG. 12 shows an example of a user interface (UI) screen for inputting information into the reservation table of FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 13 illustrates a flowchart showing steps taken by a login portal when starting the process of FIG. 7 upon a registered guest logging in (e.g., signing up) at the hotel's web-based login portal;

GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent FIG. 14 illustrates a flowchart showing steps taken by a login portal when starting the process of FIG. 7 upon detecting network traffic from an unrecognized guest device on the hotel local area network (LAN);

FIG. 15 illustrates a user interface (UI) screen provided by the user profile server of FIG. 1 allowing a specific user to modify their information in a user profile database;

FIG. 16 illustrates a flowchart showing steps taken by a login portal when starting the process of FIG. 7 upon receiving a location-specific passkey from a guest device on the hotel local area network (LAN);

FIG. 17 shows an example of a user interface (UI) screen generated by the media device controller of FIG. 2 and displayed on a TV in a guest room to provide the guest staying in the room with the location-specific passkey;

FIG. 18 shows an example of a passkey-to-room table utilized to associate guest devices with particular guest areas and/or particular media devices of the hotel;

FIG. 19 shows examples of user interface (UI) screens generated by a login portal and displayed in a web browser or predetermined application of a guest device to allow the user of the guest device to enable in-room media content streaming according to a location-specific passkey; and FIG. 20 illustrates a flowchart describing actions performed by the media proxy of FIG. 1 to dynamically enable a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to share media content over a computer network with a subset of the media devices connected to the computer network according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a media system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. A system controller 102 is coupled between the Internet 104 and a computer network 112 of a hospitality establishment. In this embodiment, the hospitality establishment is a lodging establishment such as a hotel, and the computer network is a local area network (LAN) 112 installed at the hotel. The system controller 102 dynamically controls the ability of guest GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent devices 118, 120 at the hotel to share media content with in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 over the hotel's LAN 112.

The guest devices 118, 120 in this embodiment are personal electronic devices (e.g., mobile phones, laptop computers, netbook computers, tablet computers, digital cameras, etc.) operated by guests of the hotel. Each guest device 118, 120 supports at least one network-based media sharing protocol, for example, AirPlay by Apple Inc., DLNA certification by the Digital Living Network Alliance , AliShare by Samsung Inc., etc. The media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 are guest-facing audio-visual (AV) entertainment devices such as televisions (TVs), set-top boxes (STBs), and speakers distributed throughout different guest areas (e.g., rooms) of the hotel. The media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 provide media functions such as audio and/or video playback of TV shows, music, feature length movies, and other media content, and may or may not also support the same network-based streaming protocol(s) as the guest devices 118, 120.

The guest areas illustrated in this example include two exemplary guest rooms 101, 105. Each of these guest rooms 101, 105 has at least one of the hotel's media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 accessible therefrom. A first guest room 101 in this example is a suite and includes a first TV
121 in a living room, a second TV 122 in a bedroom, and a central set-top box (STB) 123. A
second guest room 105 in this example is a standard guest room and includes a single in-room TV 124. Although only two guest rooms 101, 105 are shown in this example for simplicity, other types and numbers of guest areas within the hotel such as lobby areas, other guest rooms, pool areas, meeting rooms, shopping areas, etc. may also be included in other embodiments. Further, although only four in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 are shown in this example, other types and numbers of media devices including projectors, gaming consoles, speaker systems, proprietary entertainment devices such as AppleTV , digital signs, etc. may also be distributed throughout the various guest areas of the hospitality establishment in other embodiments.

In this embodiment, the hotel's LAN 112 is logically divided into two separate virtual local area networks (VLANs), namely, VLAN-guest 114 being associated with a first subnet and VLAN-media 116 being associated with a second, different subnet. VLAN-guest 114 is used to isolate network traffic from the various guest devices 118, 120. Wireless access points (APs) 130 and switches 132 accessible to guest devices 118, 120 are pre-configured to place network traffic GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent from all guest devices 118, 120 on the subnet associated with VLAN-guest 114.
In contrast, VLAN-media 116 is used to isolate network traffic from the various media devices 121, 122, 123, 124. The switches 136 and APs 134 to which the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 are coupled are pre-configured to place network traffic from these media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 on the subnet associated with VLAN-media 116. A single AP or switch may also service both VLANs 114, 116 such as a single AP/switch that provides network connectivity to guest devices on VLAN-guest 114 and to media devices on VLAN-media 116.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system controller 102 is coupled between VLAN-guest 114 and VLAN-media 116 on the hotel's LAN 112. The system controller 102 in this embodiment includes a gateway 210 and a media proxy 212. The gateway 210 and media proxy 212 are utilized for dynamically enabling each of the guest devices 118, 120 to share media with a subset of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 at the hotel for limited times in response to the occurrence of certain triggering events.

By default, the various network components of the hotel's LAN 112 including the switches 132, 136; APs 130, 134; the gateway 210; and the media proxy 212 are configured to prevent guest devices 118, 120 from utilizing their built-in network-based media sharing protocol(s) to share media content with all of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 at the hotel. In particular, the switches 132, 136 and APs 13, 134 do not allow inter-VLAN communications and instead pass all traffic that is from one of the VLANs 114, 116 to the other of the VLANs to the gateway 210. The gateway 210 by default drops all inter-VLAN communication.
Additionally, the media proxy 212 does not reroute media shared by the guest devices 118, 120 to any of the hotel's in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124.

Gateway 210 acts as the default gateway on hotel LAN 112 and controls network traffic according to a number of dynamically updatable rules. These rules specifically authorize certain guest devices 118, 120 to communicate over hotel LAN 112 with various subsets of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124. For each guest device 118, 120, the system controller 102 selects the subset for which in-room media sharing is to be enabled. In this embodiment, the subset of media devices selected for a particular guest device 118, 120 only includes the in-room GTK0049CAD00 CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent media devices of the room of the hotel that is associated with the IP address of the guest device 118, 120.

Taking guest device 118 (associated with room 101 in FIG. 1) as an example, guest device 118 is dynamically enabled by the gateway 210 to communicate with only the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123 of room 101. In this way, guest device 118 can utilize its natively supported network-based media sharing protocol(s) to share media over the hotel LAN 112 with compatible in-room media devices 121, 122, 123 of guest room 101 that also support the same protocol, but not with compatible media devices 124 of other rooms of the hotel such as room 105.

The media proxy 212 acts as a media server supporting at least one network-based sharing protocol to which guest devices 118, 120 at the hotel may connect and share media content. By default the media proxy 212 does not reroute shared media from unauthorized guest devices to any media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 at the hotel. Media content shared by unauthorized guest devices is simply dropped by the media proxy 212 (e.g., passed to a null interface).

For authorized guest devices the media proxy 212 dynamically reroutes and optionally converts shared media content to one or more of the subset of authorized in-room media devices for that guest device 118, 120. Taking guest device 120 (associated with room 105 in FIG. 1) as an example, guest device 120 is enabled by the media proxy 212 to utilize a network-based media sharing protocol supported by both the media proxy 212 and guest device 120 to share media over hotel LAN 112 with in-room media device 124 of guest room 105 regardless of whether the in-room media device 124 of room 105 also supports the same network-based media sharing protocol. However, guest device 120 is not enabled to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media with media devices 121, 122, 123 of other rooms of the hotel such as room 101. Such unauthorized sharing is prevented because the media proxy 212 will not reroute shared media from this guest device 120 to other media devices that are not associated with room 105.

In the following description of a preferred embodiment, the system controller 102 includes both the gateway 210 and media proxy 212. One reason to include both is because some network-based media sharing protocols are better supported by the use of the media proxy 212 while GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent others are better supported by use of the gateway 210. For example, when utilizing certain network-based media sharing protocols (e.g., DLNA ) that do not require multicast discovery messages in both directions (i.e., from guest device to media device and also from media device to guest device), the gateway 210 facilitates a guest device and a compatible media device within the guest device's authorized subset to directly communicate using unicast transmissions. After assisting a guest device to discover such a compatible media device in its authorized subset, gateway 210 operates similar to a conventional gateway passing traffic from the guest device on the subnet associated with VLAN-guest 114 to the media device on the subnet associated with VLAN-media 116 and vice versa. In this way, when both a guest device 118, 120 and an in-room media device 121, 122, 123, 124 in the authorized subset for that guest device support the same network-based streaming protocol (which preferably does not require bi-directional multicast transmissions), these devices can communicate directly over the hotel LAN 112 subject to the dynamically programmed rules of the gateway 210. Very little load is placed on system controller 102 to perform such allowing and blocking operations.

In contrast, other media sharing protocols such as those that do require bi-directional multicast communications (e.g., AirPlay ) are better facilitated by media proxy 212 acting as a single media server to which all guest devices 118, 120 may connect and share media.
In this way, the media proxy 212 is able to multicast announce its availability to all guest devices 118, 120 at the hotel in response to a multicast query from a guest device 118, 120 at the hotel. All guest devices 118, 120 at the hotel receive the multicast announcement from the media proxy 212 and are able to connect to the media proxy 212 using a supported network-based media sharing protocol.
Each guest device 118, 120 at the hotel "thinks" it is communicating with a compatible media device such as a TV even though it is actually communicating with the central media proxy 212.
When a particular guest device 118, 120 begins to share content with the media proxy 212, behind the scenes the media proxy 212 reroutes (and optionally converts to a compatible protocol/format) the shared media and streams it to the appropriate room's TV
or another media device at the hotel. The particular destination media device is one that is within the authorized subset for the guest device and is set according to dynamically configured proxy rules.

Not only does the media proxy 212 in this embodiment facilitate the use of protocols requiring bi-directional multicast communications by preventing all guest devices 118,120 at the hotel GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent from receiving individual multicast announcements from all in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 (and vice versa), the media proxy 212 can also be utilized to allow a guest device 118, 120 to share media utilizing a particular network-based media sharing protocol with an in-room media device 121, 122, 123, 124 that does not support that particular network-based media sharing protocol. The protocols utilized by the guest device and the in-room media device are not required to be the same because the media proxy 212 can dynamically convert (e.g., decrypt, reformat, transcode, re-encrypt, etc.) the shared media and then stream it to the proper destination media device using any suitable streaming technique supported by the destination media device.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary block diagram of the system controller 102 of FIG.
1. In this embodiment, the system controller 102 is a computer server running a number of software modules 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, which are stored in a storage device 208 such as a hard disk or other tangible computer readable medium. A database containing a number of tables of data 232, 234, 236, 238, 240, 242 utilized in conjunction with the software modules 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222 is stored in another storage device 230.

The system controller 102 further includes a first network interface 200 coupled to the Internet 104, a second network interface 202 coupled to the hotel LAN 112, a clock unit 206 such as a real-time clock chip for tracking time, and one or more processors 204 coupled to the storage devices 208, 230, network interfaces 200, 202, and the clock unit 206. In the following description, the plural form of the word "processors" will be utilized as it is common for a CPU
of a computer server to have multiple processors (sometimes also referred to as cores); however, it is to be understood that a single processor 204 may also be operable to perform the disclosed functionality in other embodiments.

In this embodiment, the modules 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222 represent software modules executed by the processors 204 to cause the system controller 102 to perform a variety of functions at the hotel. The gateway 210 and the media proxy 212 were already briefly described with reference to FIG. 1. The reservation manager 216 reconfigures the gateway 210 and/or media proxy 212 to enable media sharing between a guest device 118 registered in a hotel reservation and media devices within a hotel room associated with the reservation. The login GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent portal 214 is a webserver to which guest devices 118, 120 at the hotel may connect in order to sign-up for in-room media content sharing and other services at the hotel such as high speed Internet access (HSIA). The expiry manager 216 is responsible for deactivating in-room media sharing support when a guest device 118, 120 is no longer authorized to share content with a subset of the hotel's in-room media devices. The DHCP server 220 provides network settings such as the IP address of the gateway 210 as the default gateway to guest devices 118, 120 when the guest devices 118, 120 are first coupled to hotel LAN 112. Finally, the media device controller 222 is operable to send commands that change the behavior of the various in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 at the hotel such as to display a temporally unique passkey currently associated with each hotel room.

In another embodiment, rather than software modules executed by processors 204, the modules 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222 of FIG. 1 represent hardware modules and may be implemented either internal or external to system controller 102. Combinations of software and hardware modules may also be utilized in other embodiments.

The database tables 232, 234, 236, 238, 240, 242 are utilized when performing the various functions of modules 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222. In this embodiment, the gateway rules 232 contain dynamically updatable network traffic processing rules utilized by gateway 210. The proxy rules 234 contain dynamically updatable associations between guest devices and media devices for which shared media will be rerouted by the proxy 212. The in-room media device table 236 maps each of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 with one or more respective rooms 101, 105. The passkey-to-room table 238 maps each of a plurality of unique passkeys to one or more respective rooms 101, 105. The guest access table 240 corresponds to the hotel's property management system (PMS) and stores details of guests at the hotel including room assignments and scheduled check-out times. The reservation table 324 stores details of reservations at the hotel such as individual guest room reservations and meeting/conference room reservations.

Further details of how the system controller 102 operates in various exemplary embodiments are provided in the following.

GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent FIG. 3 illustrates how guest device 118 is enabled by gateway 210 to stream content to the in-room TV 121 of guest room 101 according to an exemplary embodiment. The double arrow lines in FIG. 3 generally illustrate interactions between modules and devices of the system 100 in FIG.
1. The interactions are not restricted to the exact order shown, and, in other embodiments, shown interactions may be omitted or other intermediate interactions added. The interactions in this embodiment include the following:

1. Guest device 118 triggers the activation of the in-room media sharing feature at the hotel by providing a unique room passkey (associated with only room 101) to the hotel's login portal 214 during a log in process. This passkey may have been provided to the guest by the media device controller 222 causing the in-room TV 121 to display to the guest the passkey as a "connect code" (see FIGs. 17 and 18, described in further detail later).
2. The login portal 214 checks the passkey-to-room table 236 in the database 230 to determine which hotel room is associated with the received passkey, and then clears the MAC and/or IP address of guest device 118 for communication with the MAC
and/or IP
address of each of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123 of room 101 because this is the room found associated with the received passkey in this example. The IP/MAC
addresses of the in-room devices 121, 122, 123 of room 101 are loaded from the in-room media device table 236. Guest device 118 is only cleared for communication with this subset of the media devices at the hotel (i.e., only cleared for communication with TV
121, TV 122, and STB 123 in FIG. 1). By default, the gateway 210 will drop network traffic from guest device 118 to other media devices at the hotel such as to TV 124 in room 105. The rules needed to configure the gateway 210 to filter network traffic in this manner are dynamically stored by the login portal 214 in the gateway rules 232.
3. Guest device 118 sends a multicast discovery message looking for an available media device on LAN 112 that supports a particular network-based sharing protocol.
By using client isolation and port isolation techniques, the APs 130 and switches 132 on VLAN-guest ensure that only the system controller 102 receives the discovery message. Gateway 210 also preferably blocks the discovery message from being passed to the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 on VLAN-media 116. The purpose (in combination with the discover helper 300, described next) is to avoid spamming all in-room media GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent devices 121, 122, 123, 124 at the hotel with the multicast discovery query from guest device 118.
4. Discovery helper 300 of gateway 210 queries the in-room media device table 236 in database 230 to find which (if any) of the authorized subset of media devices for guest device 118 also supports the same network-based sharing protocol as the guest device is currently utilizing. For example, if guest device 118 is searching for a DLNA
compatible media device, discovery helper 300 queries in-room media device table 236 to see which of TV 121, TV 122, and STB 123 in room 101 (associated with guest device 118) supports DLNA . Assuming TV 121 supports the same protocol, the discovery helper 300 replies unicast to guest device 118 on behalf of TV 121 and provides guest device 118 with the IP address of TV 121 to use for future direct communications to TV
121.

5. Guest device 118 requests a connection with the IP address of TV 121 in order to being streaming media content to TV 121. Because TV 121 is on a different subnet than guest device 118, all unicast traffic from guest device 118 to TV 121 is sent via gateway 210.
6. A gateway controller 302 of gateway 210 receives the unicast network traffic from the source address of guest device 118 to the destination address of TV 121. The gateway controller 302 checks the gateway rules 232 to determine whether traffic matching this combination of destination and source addresses is to be passed or dropped.
7. Because in this example guest device 118 and TV 121 are authorized to communicate with each other according to the gateway rules 232, the gateway controller 302 passes the unicast traffic for delivery on the subnet associated with VLAN-media 116.
Replies from TV 121 to guest device 118 are also passed from VLAN-media 116 to VLAN-guest in a similar manner. Guest device 118 is now in direct bi-directional unicast communication with TV 121 over hotel LAN 112 via gateway 210, and any functions available by the network-based media streaming protocol supported by both guest device 118 and TV 121 may be performed. For example, guest device 118 may share media content for playback on TV 121 or may mirror its desktop output onto TV 121.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the gateway rules 232 that are in-place to support exemplary inter-VLAN communication for guest devices 118, 120 in FIG. 1. In this embodiment, the gateway rules 232 are organized in a table format and the gateway controller 302 searches for a matching GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent rule in an order from top to bottom. The gateway controller 302 applies the specified action for the first matching rule and then processes subsequent network traffic by again searching for a matching rule in the order from top to bottom.

As shown in FIG. 4, a client ID column 400 stores an identifier utilized to correlate each gateway rule with a specific client such as a guest of the hotel. This is useful, for example, when the guest checks out of the hotel to allow the system controller 102 to delete all the gateway rules 232 having the same client ID as the now checked-out guest.

A source VLAN column 402 specifies the VLAN tag indicating the source VLAN
from which received network traffic originated. In this embodiment, network traffic having a source VLAN
matching VLAN-guest 114 is thereby known to have originated from a guest device 118, 120 such as a personal device brought to the hotel by a guest. In contrast, network traffic having a source VLAN matching VLAN-media 116 is known to have originated from an in-room media device 121, 122, 123, 124 of the hotel's media system 100.

The source device column 404 specifies the source Internet protocol (IP) address of the network traffic. In this embodiment, each device, whether guest device 118, 120 or in-room media device 121, 122, 123, 124 has a unique IP address on the hotel LAN 112 assigned, for example, by the DHCP server 220 after that device's initial connection to LAN 112. (Each device further has a unique media access control (MAC) address which could also be utilized in this column 404.) The destination VLAN column 406 specifies the VLAN tag of the destination VLAN
to which the received network traffic is destined. The destination VLAN tag may be specified in the network traffic itself or may be determined on the fly by the gateway 210 according to the destination IP address (see column 408) included in the received network traffic.

The destination device column 408 specifies the destination IP address included in the received network traffic. Again, although source address column 404 and destination address column 408 are focused on IP addresses in this embodiment, MAC addresses, other types of network addresses, and/or other device identifiers may be utilized instead of or in addition to IP addresses in these columns 404, 408 for identifying the source and destination devices.

GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent The action column 410 specifies the action performed by the gateway 210 when the rule matches the received network traffic. For example, the action of "Pass" means the gateway 210 will pass the received network traffic to its specified destination IP address on the destination VLAN/subnet, and the action of "Drop" means the gateway 210 will drop the received network traffic.

A first example rule set 418 corresponds to a communication feature activated for guest device 118, which is operated by a guest of the hotel staying in room 101. In this example, room 101 has three in-room media devices (TV 121, TV 122, and STB 123). The first rule set 418 was dynamically added to rules 232 by the system controller 102 to allow guest device 118 to directly communicate with only this subset of the media devices coupled to LAN 112. In particular, three rules respectively allow network traffic to pass from guest device 118 to each of the three in-room media devices 121, 122, 123. Another three rules respectively allow network traffic to pass from each of the three in-room media devices 121, 122, 123 to guest device 118. If this guest device 118 tries to communicate with other media devices in other hotel rooms, the communication will be dropped (because default rule 430 will apply, see below).

A second example rule set 420 corresponds to a communication feature activated for guest device 120, which is operated by a guest of the hotel staying in room 105. The second rule set 420 was dynamically added by the system controller 102 to allow guest device 120 to communicate with the single in-room TV 124 of room 105. If guest device 120 tries to communicate with other media devices in other hotel rooms, the communication will be dropped (because rule set 430 will apply, see below).

At the end of the gateway rules 232, default rule set 430 is a static rule always present in rules 232 to isolate the VLANs 114, 16 from each other by preventing (e.g., action of "Drop" in column 410) inter-VLAN communication when none of the above rules apply.
Default rule set 430 prevents all unauthorized guest devices from communicating with in-room media devices and also prevents the two authorized guest devices 118 and 120 in this example from communicating with media devices of other rooms.

The gateway rules 232 illustrated in FIG. 4 show the rules when communication features for the first and second guest devices 118, 120 are activated. In this embodiment, each of the GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent communication features is only active for a limited time period. In order to deactivate the communication feature enabling the first guest device 118 to communicate with the media devices 121, 122, 123 in room 101 when its time period has expired, the system controller 102 dynamically removes the first rule set 418 from the gateway/firewall rules.
Communication between the first guest device 118 and the media devices 121, 122, 123 in this room 101 is thereby prevented due to the above-described VLAN isolation in combination with default rule 430. Likewise, to deactivate the communication feature enabling the second guest device 120 to communicate with the media device 124 in room 105, the system controller 102 dynamically removes rule set 420 from the gateway rules 232.

In an example usage scenario, after a new guest checks into the first hotel room 101, the system controller 102 dynamically configures the gateway/gateway rules 232 so that the network address of the guest's personal device 118 is cleared for access to the network addresses of the various media devices 121, 122, 123 in the guest's registered room 101.
Because communication is enabled between guest device 118 and the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123 of room 101, media functions such as direct streaming of media content between these devices is supported.
However, the media devices in other rooms of the hotel (e.g., TV 124 in guest room 105) remain inaccessible to guest device 118. In particular, there is no inter-VLAN
communication rule set allowing communication between the IP/MAC address of guest device 118 and the IP/MAC
addresses of the other media devices of the hotel such as TV 124.

At the guest's scheduled checkout time (or after another predetermined expiry event such as the guest of room 101 performing an early checkout), the system controller 102 dynamically reconfigures the gateway rules 232 to prevent guest device 118 from communicating with the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123 in room 101. This may involve removing all gateway rules 232 having the IP address(es) of the guest device(es) 118 associated with the guest that has now checked out of room 101, i.e., inter-VLAN rule set 418. In this way, guest device 118 will be unable to communicate with any of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123 in room 101 after its operator has checked out of that room 101.

In some embodiments the guest may continue to utilize their guest device 118 on the hotel's computer network 112 to access the Internet 102 for a period of time after the in-room media GTK0049CAD00 CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent sharing between guest device 118 and the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123 has been deactivated. This is beneficial to give the now-checked-out guest extra Internet access time while still preventing that user from disrupting the television viewing experience of a new guest staying room 101.

FIG. 5 illustrates how guest device 120 is enabled by media proxy 212 to stream content to the in-room TV 124 of guest room 105 according to an exemplary embodiment. The double arrow lines in FIG. 5 generally illustrate interactions between modules and devices of the system 100 in FIG. 1. The interactions are not restricted to the exact order shown, and, in other embodiments, shown interactions may be omitted or other intermediate interactions added.
The interactions in this embodiment include the following:

1. Upon system 100 start-up or reboot, a media server 500 within the media proxy 212 registers itself with a multicast domain name server (mDNS) 502 on LAN 112.
The function of mDNS 502 is to multicast reply to multicast queries received from guest devices 118, 120 at the hotel. The multicast response provided by the mDNS 502 provides the registered IP address utilized by the media server 500 as an available media device at the hotel. Other discovery helper modules (not shown) may similarly be included in other embodiments to facilitate discovery of the media server 500 by guest devices using protocols other than mDNS.
2. During the login process guest device 120 provides a unique room passkey (associated with only room 105 in this example) to the hotel's login portal 214. This step is similar to the corresponding step 1 of FIG. 3.
3. The login portal 214 checks the passkey-to-room table 236 in the database 230 to determine which hotel room is associated with the received passkey, and then associates the MAC and/or IP address of guest device 120 with the MAC and/or IP address of the in-room TV 124 of room 101 because this is the only media device of the room found associated with the received passkey in this example. The IP/MAC addresses of the in-room TV 124 of room 105 is loaded from the in-room media device table 236. The media proxy is configured to reroute shared media from guest device 120 to the in-room TV 124 in room 105. The rules needed to configure the media proxy 212 to reroute shared media in this manner are dynamically stored by the login portal 214 in the proxy rules 234.

GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent 4. Guest device 120 sends a multicast mDNS discovery message looking for an available media device that supports a particular network-based sharing protocol on hotel LAN
112. The mDNS 502 receives the discovery message and replies with a multicast announcement on VLAN-guest providing the address of the media server 500 as media device supporting the requested network-based sharing protocol (assuming the media server 500 does support this protocol). In a preferred embodiment, the multicast queries and replies are only sent on VLAN-guest 114 and do not cross over to VLAN-media 116 to avoid spamming all in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124. For example, when guest device 120 multicasts an mDNS query for AirPlay -compatible media devices, the only response it receives is from the mDNS 502 providing the IP address of media server 500 as an AirPlay compatible media device. Likewise, guest device 120 may also receive multicast responses that mDNS 502 sends when replying to other guest devices' mDNS
queries on hotel LAN 112. However, in a preferred embodiment, client isolation and port isolation techniques are employed by APs 130 and switches 134 providing VLAN-guest 114 so that multicast transmissions by guest device 118, 120 are only received by the system controller 101 and are not received by other guest devices 118, 120.
5. Guest device 120 opens a connection with the IP address of the media sever 500 and beings to stream media content utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol.
Again taking AirPlay as an example, the media server 500 may be listening for AirPlay connections on IP / UDP ports 7000 and 7100.
6. The media server checks the proxy rules 234 to determine which in-room media device(s) is (are) associated with the incoming shared media and checks the in-room media device table 236 to determine whether the associated media device(s) support(s) the network-based media sharing protocol being utilized by the guest device.
7. A - When the associated media device (e.g., TV 124) supports the same network-based media sharing protocol as is being utilized by guest device 120, the media server 500 opens a connection with that media device and redirects the stream received from guest device 120 to TV 124. Any connections made by TV 124 back to the media server related to this stream are redirected back to guest device 120 in a similar manner. In this way, the media proxy 212 operates as a transparent proxy between guest device 120 and TV 124. This interaction is shown in FIG. 5 with the double arrow line labelled "7a".

GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent B - Alternatively, when the associated media device (e.g., TV 124) does not support the same network-based media sharing protocol as is being utilized by guest device 120, the media server 500 passes the stream to a decrypt/convert/re-encrypt module 504 to convert the shared media to be compatible with the associated media device (e.g., TV
124). The converted media is thereafter sent to TV 124 by the media proxy 212 utilizing a method compatible with TV 124. In this way, the media proxy 212 operates as a format converter between guest device 120 and TV 124. This interaction is shown in FIG. 5 with the double arrow lines labelled "7b".

In addition to rerouting a streaming connection from guest device 120 to TV
124, the media proxy 212 may also reroute another type of connection made from TV 124 back to guest device 120. This secondary connection may be useful in some applications such as desktop mirroring as it can be utilized to keep clocks of the two devices 120, 124 in sync, for example. The media server 500 listens for this reverse connection request from TV 124 and looks up guest device 120 associated with TV 124 based on the source IP of TV 124 and the prior open connections on port 7000 already made. Alternatively, the media server 500 re-queries data stored in the database 230 (e.g., proxy rules 234), which associates TV 124 with guest device 120.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of proxy rules 234 for supporting in-room media sharing by the guest devices 118 and 120 illustrated in FIG. 1. The proxy rules 320 in this embodiment are a mapping of the IP address of a guest device on LAN 112 to the IP address of a particular media device with which the guest device is authorized to share media (i.e., one of the authorized subset of media devices selected for that guest device).

A guest device identifier (ID) column 600 stores the IP address of the guest device (similar to column 404 of FIG. 4) and a client ID column 602 stores the client number associated with the guest device (similar to column 400 of FIG. 4). A destination in-room media device column 604 stores the particular media device to which media content shared by the guest device will be rerouted by the media proxy 212. The particular media device stored in column 604 is one of the media devices in the authorized subset selected for the guest device.

For rooms that have more than one media device such as room 101 in FIG. 1, the guest may be enabled to select the desired destination media device from the subset of media devices 121, 122, GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent 123 in the guest's room. For example, the guest may make a selection at the login portal 214 or using a predetermined hotel application running on guest device 118 either during the login process or afterwards to cause the media proxy 212 to reroute shared media to a different media device of the guest's assigned room. When the guest chooses a new in-room media device at the login portal 214, for example, the login portal 214 updates the destination media device associated with the guest device in column 604 of the proxy rules 234. Again, the possible destination media devices are limited to only the subset of media devices that are associated with the guest device, i.e., the in-room media devices of the guest's assigned room. The guest cannot choose a media device outside of this authorized subset such as a TV in another, unrelated guest's room.

Multiple in-room media devices (selected from the authorized subset associated with the guest device) may also be stored in column 604. In this situation, the media proxy 212 will simultaneously reroute media shared by the guest device to multiple in-room media devices. This is useful to allow the guest to stream music or video content to all TVs and speakers in their registered hotel suite, for example.

The particular destination in-room media device(s) in column 604 may also be automatically selected and/or changed by the system controller 102 in response to activity by the guest such as by powering on a particular media device within the suite. When only a single media device is powered on, that media device may be automatically selected for storage in column 604.

The following description of the system controller 102 in this embodiment will continue to assume that both the gateway 210 and media proxy 212 are included in the system controller 102 as this is a preferred embodiment when some but not all of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 at the hotel natively supports a network-based media sharing protocol. However, it is to be understood that, in other embodiments, only one of the gateway 210 or the media proxy 212 is included.

In the case where only one of gateway 210 or media proxy 212 is to be included in system 100, the decision of which to include can be made according design decisions and trade-offs appropriate to the target application. For example, when all of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 natively support at least one network-based sharing protocols (e.g., AirPlay , GTK0049CAD00 CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent DLAN , AllShare , etc.) and the hospitality establishment only wishes to support these protocols, either gateway 210 or media proxy 212 can be used alone to enable media sharing using these protocols by guest devices 118, 120 at the hotel while also limiting each guest device 118, 120 to only share media content with a subset of the media devices (e.g., only media devices included in the room associated with the guest device 118, 120).
Alternatively, if none of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 at the hotel natively supports a network-based media sharing protocol that is desired to be supported by the hotel, then only the media proxy 212 may be included in the system controller 102 as the media proxy 212 will always be utilized to convert shared media using the desired protocol and then stream it to the in-room media device using another type of streaming protocol such as a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and/or Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).

Although separate VLANs 114, 116 are utilized in the above exemplary embodiments to ensure guest devices 118, 120 are by default unable to communicate and share content with in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124, a similar result can also be achieved using other types of network segments. Each guest device 118, 120 may be placed on a first network segment and all media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 may be placed on one or more separate network segments. A
gateway, proxy, network address translator, firewall, router, or any other network control component having dynamically updatable control rules may be placed between the different network segments similar to how gateway 210 controls traffic between VLAN-guestl14 and VLAN-media 116, and how media proxy 212 controls the rerouting of shared media between guest devices 118, 120 on VLAN-guest 114 and media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 on VLAN-media 116 in the above example. Other methods of blocking network traffic by default such as port isolation or other suitable control functions performed by a network component may be employed instead or in addition to VLAN isolation in these and other embodiments.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 together illustrate a flowchart describing actions performed by the system controller 102 to dynamically enable a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to share media content over a computer network with a subset of the media devices connected to the computer network according to an exemplary embodiment. The steps of the flowchart in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are not restricted to the exact order shown, and, in other embodiments, shown steps may be omitted or other intermediate steps added. In this GTK0049CAD00 CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent embodiment, the processors 204 execute one or more of the modules 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222 in order to cause the system controller 102 to perform the illustrated steps.

As shown by an initial group of steps labelled 700 in FIG. 7, the process beings in response to an event occurrence (step 702) and involves selecting a subset of the media devices on LAN 112 according to the particular type of event occurrence (step 704).

An example of an event occurrence that may trigger the process at step 702 is when a guest of the hotel logs in to the hotel from their guest device at the webserver provided by the login portal 214. The login process may involve the guest simply agreeing to terms and conditions, or may be more substantial such as when the guest is required to verify their identify and make or authorize a payment.

Other event occurrences may also start the process at step 702 of FIG. 7. For example, rather than starting the process upon guest login, the process may start in response to detecting a media content streaming / discovery attempt by a guest device associated with (or detected to be within) a particular guest room. This may occur after the login and room association of the guest device such as after the guest has logged in for HSIA at the hotel. A benefit of this embodiment is that if the guest device never attempts to stream media content to an in-room media device then no resources are wasted by system controller 102 setting up gateway rules 232 and proxy rules 234.
At step 704, the reservation manager 216 and/or login portal 214 select a subset of the hotel's media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device.
In the following embodiment the selected subset is assumed to be only the media devices accessible from a particular guest area (e.g., room number) of the hotel found associated with the guest device. For example, when the process of FIG. 7 is triggered to activate in-room media sharing for guest device 118 in FIG. 1, guest device 118 is found to be associated with room 101 and therefore the reservation manager 216 and/or login portal 214 select the subset for which in-room media sharing is to be enabled for this guest device 118 to be TV 121, TV
122, and STB
123. Other desired subsets may be utilized in other embodiments.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the in-room media device table 236 mapping each of the in-room media devices 121, 122, 123, 124 to a respective guest area 101, 105 of the hotel. At step 704, GTKO049CADOO CA 02792482 2012-10-18 Patent the reservation manager 216 and login portal 214 access the in-room device table 318 to determine the network addresses of the in-room media devices of the particular guest area found associated with the guest device.

The room ID column 900 stores an identifier of each guest area within the hospitality establishment. In this example, the guest areas are represented by their room numbers 101, 105.
In other applications, the guest areas may include seat numbers of an airline or cabin numbers on a cruise ship for example. English names with room numbers are shown in brackets in the example of FIG. 9 but in practical implementations the room IDs may be any unique identifier of the guest area.

An in-room media devices column 902 stores the various media devices that are associated with the room ID listed in column 900. Some guest areas may have more than one associated media device. For example, guest room 101 in this example has TV 121, TV 122 and STB
123. Other guest areas may have a single media device such as room 105 having only a single TV 124 in this example.

A type column 904 stores the network-based media sharing protocol(s) supported by each of the media devices shown in column 902. In this example, there are two types of network-based media sharing protocols utilized by media devices in the hotel: AirPlay by Apple Inc., and AllShare by Samsung Inc. In the first hotel room 101, two AirPlay certified devices are installed; whereas, in the second hotel room 105, an AllShare certified device is installed.
Some media devices may support multiple network-based media sharing protocols such as the TV in exemplary guest room "107", which supports both AirPlay and AllShare .
Other streaming protocols may also be supported by media devices in other implementations; for instance, digital living network alliance (DLNA ) certified media devices may be included in other rooms. Furthermore, some media devices such as STB 123 may not support any network-based media sharing protocols and may instead only be capable of receiving MPEG or RTSP
streams from media proxy 212 (similar to how video-on-demand (VOD) is sent to these devices by other servers of the hospitality media system 100); these media devices have a "" in column 904 in this example.

Claims

1. A media system comprising:
a computer network;
a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network; and a system controller coupled to the computer network;
wherein the computer network allows a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be coupled thereto;
the computer network by default prevents the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with the media devices;
the system controller selects a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices; and the system controller dynamically reconfigures one or more components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.

2. The media system of claim 1, wherein the system controller dynamically reconfigures the one or more components of the computer network in response to a second, later event occurrence to prevent the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media with the media devices.

3. The media system of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein:
at least one of the components is a media proxy that supports the network-based media sharing protocol;
the computer network allows the guest device to discover and share media with the media proxy utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol;
the media proxy by default does not reroute media shared by the guest device to any of the media devices; and the system controller dynamically reconfigures the media proxy in response to the event occurrence to cause the media proxy to reroute media shared by the guest device to one or more of the subset of the media devices.

4. The media system of claim 3, wherein, when rerouting media shared by the guest device to the one or more of the subset of the media devices, the media proxy converts shared media from the guest device to a format compatible with at least one of the subset of the media devices.

5. The media system of any one of claims 3 to 4, wherein the media proxy communicates with at least one of the subset of the media devices utilizing a protocol that is different than the network-based media sharing protocol utilized by the guest device.

6. The media system of any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein:
at least one of the subset of the media devices supports the network-based media sharing protocol; and when rerouting media shared by the guest device to the one or more of the subset of the media devices, the media proxy redirects a media stream received from the guest device to the at least one of the subset of the media devices that supports the network-based media sharing protocol.

7. The media system of any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein:
the computer network blocks multicast announcements from the media devices from reaching the guest device;
the media proxy periodically multicasts an announcement according to the network-based media sharing protocol that indicates the media proxy is available on the computer network; and the computer network allows the guest device to receive the announcement from the media proxy.

8. The media system of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein:

at least one of the components is a gateway that by default drops all unicast traffic between the guest device and each of the media devices; and the system controller dynamically reconfigures the gateway in response to the event occurrence to cause the gateway to pass unicast traffic between the guest device and each of the subset of media devices.

9. The media system of claim 8, wherein:
the gateway by default drops all multicast traffic between the guest device and each of the media devices; and the system controller dynamically reconfigures the gateway in response to the event occurrence to cause the gateway to pass multicast traffic between the guest device and each of at least the subset of media devices.

10. The media system of claim 8, wherein:
the gateway drops all multicast traffic between the guest device and each of the media devices;
the computer network allows the system controller to receive all multicast traffic from the guest device; and when receiving a multicast message from the guest device, the system controller sends a unicast response to the guest device on behalf of at least one of the subset of the media devices, the unicast response providing an address of the at least one of the subset of the media devices.

11. The media system of claim 10, wherein:
the computer network allows the system controller to receive all multicast traffic from the media devices; and when receiving a multicast message from one of the subset of the media devices, the system controller sends a unicast response to that media device on behalf of the guest device, the unicast response on behalf of the guest device providing an address of the guest device.

12. The media system of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein:
the guest device is operated by a guest of a hospitality establishment; and the subset of the media devices for which media sharing is enabled for the guest device provide media functions to the guest at a particular guest area of the hospitality establishment.

13. The media system of claim 12, wherein the event occurrence corresponds to a login portal of the hospitality establishment receiving information from the guest device over the computer network.

14. The media system of claim 13, wherein:
the information received from the guest device at the login portal identifies the guest of the hospitality establishment; and the system controller selects the subset of the media devices to be media devices associated with the particular guest area of the hospitality establishment that is registered to the identified guest.

15. The media system of claim 13, wherein:
the information received from the guest device includes a passkey that was displayed to the guest on a display device associated with the particular guest area; and the system controller selects the subset of the media devices by looking up in a database which of the media devices are associated with the received passkey.

16. The media system of claim 12, wherein:
the event occurrence corresponds to a reservation manager of the hospitality establishment determining that a start time of a reservation specifying the guest device as a registered device has been reached; and the system controller selects the subset of the media devices according to details of the reservation.

17. The media system of claim 12, wherein:

the event occurrence corresponds to the system controller detecting a device identifier of the guest device on the computer network; and the system controller selects the subset of the media devices according details of an active reservation of the hospitality establishment in which the device identifier is specified as a registered guest device.

18. The media system of claim 12, wherein:
the event occurrence corresponds to the system controller detecting a device identifier of the guest device on the computer network;
the system controller queries a user profile database to find a user identifier associated with the device identifier; and the system controller selects the subset of the media devices associated with a current guest of the hospitality establishment having a matching user identifier.

19. The media system of claim 12, wherein:
the event occurrence corresponds to the system controller receiving network traffic from the guest device;
the system controller traces the network traffic received from the guest device to the particular guest area from which the network traffic originated; and the system controller selects the subset of the media devices to be media devices associated with the particular guest area from which the network traffic originated.

20. The media system of any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein the hospitality establishment is a lodging establishment, the media devices are audio-visual (AV) entertainment devices, and the particular guest area is a specific guest room of the lodging establishment.

21. A method comprising:
allowing a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be coupled to a computer network;

by default preventing the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network;
selecting a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices; and dynamically reconfiguring one or more components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising dynamically reconfiguring the one or more components of the computer network in response to a second, later event occurrence to prevent the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media with the media devices.

23. The method of any one of claims 21 to 22, wherein at least one the components is a media proxy that supports the network-based media sharing protocol, the method further comprising:
allowing the guest device to discover and share media with the media proxy utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol, the media proxy by default not rerouting media shared by the guest device to any of the media devices; and dynamically reconfiguring the media proxy in response to the event occurrence to cause the media proxy to reroute media shared by the guest device to one or more of the subset of the media devices.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising, when rerouting media shared by the guest device to the one or more of the subset of the media devices, converting shared media from the guest device to a format compatible with at least one of the subset of the media devices.

25. The method of any one of claims 23 to 24, further comprising communicating with at least one of the subset of the media devices utilizing a protocol that is different than the network-based media sharing protocol utilized by the guest device.

26. The method of any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein at least one of the subset of the media devices supports the network-based media sharing protocol, the method further comprising redirecting a media stream received from the guest device to the at least one of the subset of the media devices that supports the network-based media sharing protocol.

27. The method of any one of claims 23 to 26, further comprising:
blocking multicast announcements from the media devices from reaching the guest device;
periodically multicasting an announcement according to the network-based media sharing protocol that indicates the media proxy is available on the computer network;
and allowing the guest device to receive the announcement indicating the media proxy is available on the computer network.

28. The method of any one of claims 21 to 27, wherein at least one of the components is a gateway that by default drops all unicast traffic between the guest device and each of the media devices, the method further comprising:
dynamically reconfiguring the gateway in response to the event occurrence to cause the gateway to pass unicast traffic between the guest device and each of the subset of media devices.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the gateway by default drops all multicast traffic between the guest device and each of the media devices, the method further comprising:
dynamically reconfiguring the gateway in response to the event occurrence to cause the gateway to pass multicast traffic between the guest device and each of at least the subset of media devices.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the gateway drops all multicast traffic between the guest device and each of the media devices, the method further comprising:

when receiving a multicast message from the guest device, sending a unicast response to the guest device on behalf of at least one of the subset of the media devices, the unicast response providing an address of the at least one of the subset of the media devices.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising, when receiving a multicast message from one of the subset of the media devices, sending a unicast response to that media device on behalf of the guest device, the unicast response on behalf of the guest device providing an address of the guest device.

32. The method of any one of claims 21 to 31, wherein:
the guest device is operated by a guest of a hospitality establishment; and the subset of the media devices for which media sharing is enabled for the guest device provide media functions to the guest at a particular guest area of the hospitality establishment.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the event occurrence corresponds to a login portal of the hospitality establishment receiving information from the guest device over the computer network.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:
identifying the guest of the hospitality establishment according to the information received from the guest device at the login portal; and selecting the subset of the media devices to be media devices associated with the particular guest area of the hospitality establishment that is registered to the identified guest.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the information received from the guest device includes a passkey that was displayed to the guest on a display device associated with the particular guest area, the method further comprising:
selecting the subset of the media devices by looking up in a database which of the media devices are associated with the received passkey.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the event occurrence corresponds to a reservation manager of the hospitality establishment determining that a start time of a reservation specifying the guest device as a registered device has been reached, the method further comprising:
selecting the subset of the media devices according to details of the reservation.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein the event occurrence corresponds to detecting a device identifier of the guest device on the computer network, the method further comprising:
selecting the subset of the media devices according details of an active reservation of the hospitality establishment in which the device identifier is specified as a registered guest device.

38. The method of claim 32, wherein the event occurrence corresponds to detecting a device identifier of the guest device on the computer network, the method further comprising:
querying a user profile database to find a user identifier associated with the device identifier; and selecting the subset of the media devices associated with a current guest of the hospitality establishment having a matching user identifier.

39. The method of claim 32, wherein the event occurrence corresponds to receiving network traffic from the guest device, the method further comprising:
tracing the network traffic received from the guest device to the particular guest area from which the network traffic originated; and selecting the subset of the media devices to be media devices associated with the particular guest area from which the network traffic originated.

40. The method of any one of claims 32 to 39, wherein the hospitality establishment is a lodging establishment, the media devices are audio-visual (AV) entertainment devices, and the particular guest area is a specific guest room of the lodging establishment.

41. A tangible computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 21 to 40.

42. An apparatus for controlling a media system, the media system having a computer network and a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network, the computer network allowing a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be coupled thereto and by default preventing the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with the media devices, the apparatus comprising:
a network interface coupled to the computer network; and one or more processors coupled to the network interface and operable to:
select a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices; and dynamically reconfigure one or more components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.

43. An apparatus for controlling a media system, the media system having a computer network and a plurality of media devices coupled to the computer network, the computer network allowing a guest device supporting a network-based media sharing protocol to be coupled thereto and by default preventing the guest device from utilizing the network-based media sharing protocol to share media content with the media devices, the apparatus comprising:
a network interface coupled to the computer network;
means for selecting a subset of the media devices for which media sharing is to be enabled for the guest device, the subset including at least one of the media devices but not all of the media devices; and means for dynamically reconfiguring one or more components of the computer network in response to an event occurrence to enable the guest device to utilize the network-based media sharing protocol to share media over the computer network with only the subset of the media devices.