Method and system of providing media signals to hotels
A method and system of providing media services to a hotel. The method and system include receiving media signals at a hotel from a media provider located remotely from the hotel that represent media services provided to the hotel for in-room usage. The method and system includes storing data relating to the in-room usage of the media services at the remotely located media provider.
1 . A method of providing media services to a hotel, the method comprising:
receiving media signals at the hotel from a media provider located remotely from the hotel, the media signals representing the media services;
delivering the received media signals to a plurality of hotel rooms for in-room media usage; and
storing data relating to in-room usage of the media services at the remotely located media provider.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a request from the hotel to access the stored data for use in billing customers.
3 . The method of claim 2 further comprising configuring a graphical user interface (GUI) arranged to be in communication with the media provider and for operation from the hotel for remotely accessing the in-room media usage data stored at the media provider.
4 . The method of claim 3 further comprising configuring the GUI to calculate a customer bill for media services from the in-room media usage data stored at the media provider.
5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising billing the hotel on a non-daily basis for total in-room media usage by the hotel over a period corresponding to the non-daily basis.
6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising a second hotel receiving media signals from the media provider and each hotel logging into the media provider to receive data stored therein relating to the logged in hotel's in-room usage of media services.
7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a set-top box (STB) in each of the plurality of hotel rooms for receiving the media signals from the media provider and for outputting the received media signals to a media output device.
8 . The method of claim 7 further comprising receiving signals from each STB for identifying the in-room media usage of each hotel room.
9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving the media signals from a residential cable provider.
10 . The method of claim 1 further comprising connecting the hotel to an existing residential cable infrastructure to mimic the hotel as a residential subscriber, wherein the hotel receives the media signals over the existing residential cable infrastructure.
11 . The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a router at the hotel for relaying the media signals received from the media provider to the plurality of hotel rooms in the hotel.
12 . A system for providing in-room media signals to a hotel having a plurality of hotel rooms with at least one media output device in at least a portion of the hotel rooms, the system comprising:
a set-top box (STB) connected to each media output device for receiving media signals and outputting the received media signals to the media output device;
a media provider located remotely from the hotel for delivering the media signals representing the media services to the STBs, the media provider storing data relating to in-room usage of the media services.
13 . The system of claim 12 further comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) in communication with the media provider and for operation from the hotel for remotely accessing the in-room media usage data stored at the media provider.
14 . The system of claim 13 wherein the GUI is configured to calculate a customer bill for the media services from the in-room media usage data stored at the media provider.
15 . The system of claim 12 wherein the STBs communicate identifying signals to the media provider for identifying a customer with the stored in-room media usage data.
16 . The system of claim 12 wherein the media provider is a residential cable provider.
17 . The system of claim 12 wherein the media provider delivers the signals to the STB over an existing residential cable infrastructure to mimic the hotel as a residential subscriber.
18 . The system of claim 12 wherein the media provider includes a head-end unit.
19 . The system of claim 12 further comprising a router at the hotel for relaying the media signals received from the media provider to each STB.
20 . A method for providing in-room media services to a hotel having a plurality of hotel rooms, the method comprising:
connecting the hotel to an existing residential cable infrastructure of a cable provider so as to mimic the hotel as a residential subscriber, and
delivering media signals relating to the media services over the existing residential cable infrastructure to at least a portion of the plurality of hotel rooms.
21 . The method of claim 20 further comprising storing data for in-room usage of media services at a media provider located remotely from the hotel.
22 . The method of claim 21 further comprising configuring the media provider to permit remote access to in-room media usage data stored at the media provider from a graphical user interface (GUI) configured to operate at the hotel.
23 . The method of claim 22 further comprising configuring the GUI to calculate a customer bill from in-room media usage of data stored at the media provider.
24 . The method of claim 21 further comprising delivering the media signals to the hotel from a head-end unit of the media provider, the head-end unit located remotely from the hotel.
25 . A graphical user interface (GUI) for operation at a hotel having a plurality of hotel rooms receiving media signals from a remote media provider, the GUI configured for:
remotely accessing data stored at the media provider relating to in-room usage of media services from the hotel.
26 . The GUI of claim 24 further configured to calculate a customer bill relating to the in-room usage of media services.
27 . The GUI of claim 24 further configured to communicate with the media provider over an existing residential cable infrastructure.