Patent Publication Number: US-2021173368-A1

Title: Smart Hotel System

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/944,430, filed on Dec. 6, 2019. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to a smart hotel system and more particularly to a system including a hotel room occupancy sensor. 
     BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY 
     There are approximately 17 million hotel rooms in more than 180,000 hotels around the world. Every day these hotel rooms are serviced by hundreds of thousands of service personnel, who have to knock on every door, multiple times, to announce “housekeeping.” If the room is occupied, they have to return at a later time to try again, often repeatedly. 
     In accordance with the present invention, a smart hotel system is provided. In one aspect, the system includes an occupancy sensor and a processor. Another aspect provides an occupancy sensor associated with at least one hotel room and a programmable controller or processor configured to execute instructions stored in a nontransitory computer-readable medium. A further aspect includes programmed software instructions which include obtaining data indicative of occupancy status of the hotel room from the occupancy sensor and displaying the occupancy status of the hotel room. In another aspect, a controller or processor obtains data indicative of a cleaning status of at least one hotel room and displays the cleaning status of the hotel room. 
     The system according to the present disclosure is advantageous over traditional methods of cleaning hotel rooms. For example, the system allows service personnel to focus their attention on currently unoccupied rooms in need of cleaning, and it enables inspection personnel to conveniently examine newly cleaned rooms. All rooms can thus be serviced in the minimum time on the first attempt and without disturbing any of the hotel guests. Additional advantages and features of the present system can be ascertained from the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the appended drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram showing an exemplary smart hotel system according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagrammatic display showing an exemplary page on a mobile device of the smart hotel system; 
         FIG. 3  is a plan view showing an exemplary occupancy sensor; and 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart showing control logic employed in the smart hotel system. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a smart hotel system  10  is provided. System  10  provides the current cleaning status of hotel rooms on any given hotel floor, current occupancy status of hotel rooms and other details about the hotel rooms such as outlets and light fixtures that are conditionally enabled when a guest is present. Smart hotel system  10  includes one or more mobile devices  12  and one or more occupancy sensors  14 . Each mobile device  12  (e.g., a tablet, a smartphone, a laptop, or other similar device) is mounted on a hotel service cart or carried by service personnel. Each mobile device  12  includes a processor that is configured to execute instructions stored in a nontransitory computer-readable medium, such as a read-only memory (ROM) and/or random-access memory (RAM). 
     Each mobile device  12  includes a software application  16 . The functions of the software application  16  is accessed using, for example, native application editions of the software and/or web applications of the software. 
     One or more mobile devices  12  and one or more occupancy sensors  14  are configured to, using the software application  16 , communicate via wireless communication protocol. The wireless communication protocol includes an internet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, or cellular connection or any other wireless communication protocol, for example. For example, the one or more mobile devices  12  and the one or more occupancy sensors  14  communicate with each other over the internet via a Wi-Fi connection to a Wi-Fi router located in or associated with the hotel. 
     One or more mobile devices  12  are also in communication with a central reservation management system  18  via, for example, an internet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, or cellular connection or any other wireless communication protocol, for example. For example, each mobile device  12  communicates with the central reservation management system  18  over the internet via a Wi-Fi connection to a Wi-Fi router located in or associated with the hotel. Central reservation management system  18  includes data such as the cleaning status of each hotel room, the occupancy status of each hotel room, and any other relevant information about each hotel room (e.g., whether or not any special cleaning requests are noted for a particular room, whether or not late checkout has been requested for a particular room, or whether or not a particular room only needs a cursory cleaning based on the guests staying multiple nights in the room). Central reservation management system  18  communicates this data to the software application  16  included on each mobile device  12 . In this way, a user of the mobile device  12  may, using the software application  16 , view the check-out status of any hotel room, view current cleaning status of any hotel room, update the cleaning status of any hotel room, create workers orders for hotel rooms, and request emergency assistance to any hotel rooms, for example. 
     Each occupancy sensor  14  is associated within a particular hotel room and communicates to a user of each mobile device  12  whether someone is currently in the hotel room. Each occupancy sensor  14  includes a cardholder device  20 , a printed circuit board (PCB)  22  and a controller  24 . Cardholder device  20  is in communication with the PCB  22  and includes a cardholder  26  and a RFID antenna  28 . Cardholder device  20  detects when a keycard has been inserted into the cardholder  26  and activates LEDs  30  electrically coupled to the PCB  22  accordingly. For example, if a valid keycard has been inserted into the cardholder  26  then a green LED is activated to notify the occupant of the room that the keycard is valid. If an invalid key card has been inserted into the cardholder  26  then a red LED is activated to notify the occupant of the room that the keycard is invalid. In response to a valid keycard being inserted into the cardholder  26 , the system  10  will conditionally power one or more outlets and/or light fixtures associated with the room. LEDs  30  associated such outlets and/or light fixtures will activate to notify the occupant of the room that such outlets and/or light fixtures are now operable (powered). It should be understood that in the event that an invalid keycard is inserted into the cardholder  26 , LEDs  30  associated with such outlets and/or light fixtures will not activate, thereby notifying the occupant that such outlets and/or light fixtures are not operable (powered). It is understood that the keycard used for the cardholder device  20  is the same keycard used to access entry into the hotel room. In this way, the keycard must be removed when leaving the hotel room in order to gain re-entry into the hotel room. 
     It should also be understood that, in some configurations, the occupancy sensor  14  can be RFID receivers for properly equipped room keys, or key slots for metal hotel keys. These slots can have the dual function of allowing power to flow to certain power outlets and light fixtures only if the room is occupied, which is also an energy conservation measure. Use of other occupancy sensors, such as infrared sensors or motion detectors, are also possible. 
     Controller  24  is electrically coupled (e.g., via wires) to the PCB  22  and is in communication with the software application  16 . Controller  24  communicates to the software application  16  whether or not the hotel room is occupied based on the occupancy sensor  14 . In this way, the user of the mobile device  12  focuses on rooms that need cleaning and are unoccupied. 
       FIG. 2  shows an example page of the software application  16  user interface on the mobile device  12 . In such example, the layout of the third floor of a hotel is shown including the rooms on third floor and the current cleaning/occupancy status of each room. That is, the current cleaning/occupancy status of each room may be shown using color, symbols and/or text. 
       FIG. 3  shows an occupancy sensor  114  including a cardholder device  116 , a printed circuit board (PCB)  118  and a controller  120 . PCB  118  is wired to the cardholder device  116  and to the controller  120 . The PCB also includes LEDS  122 - 1 ,  122 - 2 ,  122 - 3 ,  122 - 4 ,  122 - 5  electrically coupled thereto. 
     With reference to  FIG. 4 , a flowchart illustrating exemplary software control logic  200  is shown. The control logic  200  begins at  204  when, for example, one of the mobile devices  12  is turned on. At  208 , the control logic  200  initiates, using a processor of the mobile device  12 , the software application  16 . As an example, the software application  16  may be initiated by opening a local copy of the application stored in the nontransitory computer-readable medium of the mobile device  12 . 
     At  212 , the control logic  200  obtains, using the software application  16 , data indicative of cleaning/occupancy status of one or more hotel rooms of the hotel. For example, the data may include information from the central reservation management system  18  such as the check-out status of any hotel room and/or the current cleaning status of any hotel room. At  216 , the control logic  200  determines, using the software application  16 , whether a valid keycard is inserted into the occupancy sensor  14 . That is, the occupancy sensor  14  may communicate with the software application  16  on whether a valid keycard has been inserted in the cardholder  26 , which signifies that the room is currently occupied. If so, the control logic  200  proceeds to  220 ; otherwise, the control logic  200  proceeds to  224  and ends. 
     At  220 , the control logic  200  may display, using the software application  16 , an interface enabling the user to, for example, view the current occupancy status of hotel rooms, view current cleaning status of hotel rooms, update the cleaning status of hotel rooms, create workers orders for hotel rooms, and request emergency assistance to hotel rooms. The control logic  200  then proceeds to  224  and ends. System  10  of the present disclosure provides the benefit of determining when guests are present in each hotel room, thereby no longer disturbing guests while providing daily cleaning services. The system  10  of the present disclosure also provides the benefit of enabling inspection personnel to examine newly cleaned rooms. 
     While various embodiments have been disclosed, other variations are envisioned. For example, controller  24  may be attached on the PCB  22  instead of connected thereto via wires. Furthermore, additional or different electronic components may be employed other than those specifically described. Variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the present disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope and spirit of the present invention.