Patent ID: 9608998
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: G06Q,H04L,H04W

Claim:
1. A method of controlling access to a network service provided over a computer network of a hospitality establishment, the method comprising: receiving network traffic from a guest device on the computer network, wherein the guest device is operated by a guest of the hospitality establishment and is not already authorized to access the network service; identifying, according to the network traffic, a guest area of the hospitality establishment with which the guest device is associated, wherein the guest area is one of a plurality of physically separate areas provided by the hospitality establishment, and assignment of the guest area for guest usage is managed by a property management system of the hospitality establishment; querying a login database to find an unexpired login for the guest area, the unexpired login indicating that another guest device associated with the guest area has previously been granted access to the network service and that an allowed access duration for the other guest device has not yet expired, the unexpired login specifying a stored guest identifier corresponding to information retrieved from the property management system of the hospitality establishment regarding a guest of the guest area at a time when the unexpired login was created; comparing the stored guest identifier of the unexpired login with a current guest identifier of the guest area, wherein the current guest identifier corresponds to information retrieved from the property management system regarding a current guest of the guest area; automatically allowing the guest device to access the network service for a remaining portion of the allowed access duration of the unexpired login when the stored guest identifier matches the current guest identifier; counting a total number of guest devices that are associated with the unexpired login; automatically allowing the guest device to access the network service for the remaining portion of the allowed access duration of the unexpired login only when the total number of guest devices has not already reached a predetermined allowable number of devices; and when the total number of guest devices has already reached the predetermined allowable number of devices, causing the guest device to display a billing screen giving an option to increase the predetermined allowable number of additional devices for a monetary charge.