Patents by Inventor Darren T. Ziebart

Darren T. Ziebart has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11706464
    Abstract: A media system includes a plurality of set-top boxes coupled to a coax network and a controller. The controller displays a first passkey to a user in response to receiving a request from the user to activate playback of a media content on a particular set-top box. The set-top box receives the first passkey from the user and determines whether the user is authorized to activate playback of the media content by comparing the first passkey received from the user with a second passkey obtained from a passkey module on the set-top box. When the user is determined by the set-top box to be authorized to activate playback of the media content, the set-top box determines a radio frequency channel of the coax network according to the first passkey received from the user and begins playback of the media content received on the radio frequency channel on a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Brendan G. Cassidy, Gary R. Court, Lindsey M. Carriere, Brian W. King, Darren T. Ziebart, Michael D. McCarthy
  • Publication number: 20220239659
    Abstract: A service controller includes a network interface for coupling to a local area network of a hospitality establishment, and one or more processors coupled to the network interface. The one or more processors are configured to detect a device identifier of a user device on a local area network of a hospitality establishment, determine whether a guest of the hospitality establishment is associated with the device identifier, and automatically activate a service for the user device at the hospitality establishment in response to detecting the device identifier on the local area network when a guest of the hospitality establishment is determined to be associated with the device identifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2022
    Publication date: July 28, 2022
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Joshua M. Wookey, David T. Ong, Ian S. McBeth, Darren T. Ziebart, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Publication number: 20220182683
    Abstract: A media system includes a plurality of set-top boxes coupled to a coax network and a controller. The controller displays a first passkey to a user in response to receiving a request from the user to activate playback of a media content on a particular set-top box. The set-top box receives the first passkey from the user and determines whether the user is authorized to activate playback of the media content by comparing the first passkey received from the user with a second passkey obtained from a passkey module on the set-top box. When the user is determined by the set-top box to be authorized to activate playback of the media content, the set-top box determines a radio frequency channel of the coax network according to the first passkey received from the user and begins playback of the media content received on the radio frequency channel on a display device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Inventors: Brendan G. Cassidy, Gary R. Court, Lindsey M. Carriere, Brian W. King, Darren T. Ziebart, Michael D. McCarthy
  • Patent number: 11336652
    Abstract: A service controller includes a network interface for coupling to a local area network of a hospitality establishment, and one or more processors coupled to the network interface. The one or more processors are configured to detect a device identifier of a user device on a local area network of a hospitality establishment, determine whether a guest of the hospitality establishment is associated with the device identifier, and automatically activate a service for the user device at the hospitality establishment in response to detecting the device identifier on the local area network when a guest of the hospitality establishment is determined to be associated with the device identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Joshua M. Wookey, David T. Ong, Ian S. McBeth, Darren T. Ziebart, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Patent number: 11284121
    Abstract: A media system includes a plurality of set-top boxes coupled to a coax network and a controller. The controller displays a first passkey to a user in response to receiving a request from the user to activate playback of a media content on a particular set-top box. The set-top box receives the first passkey from the user and determines whether the user is authorized to activate playback of the media content by comparing the first passkey received from the user with a second passkey obtained from a passkey module on the set-top box. When the user is determined by the set-top box to be authorized to activate playback of the media content, the set-top box determines a radio frequency channel of the coax network according to the first passkey received from the user and begins playback of the media content received on the radio frequency channel on a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Brendan G. Cassidy, Gary R. Court, Lindsey M. Carriere, Brian W. King, Darren T. Ziebart, Michael D. McCarthy
  • Patent number: 11057676
    Abstract: A content selector retrieves customization criteria corresponding to a plurality of guests of a hospitality location. According to the criteria, a core set of channels is automatically selected to make available from a plurality of available channels for streaming via the external computer network. Bandwidth between the external computer network and the hospitality location is reserved to ensure all core channels can be concurrently streamed to the hospitality location. An interactive program guide available on the entertainment devices is customized to list at least one of the core channels as available for viewing. For each channel of the core set, the channel is streamed to the hospitality location only when the channel is being viewed on at least one of the entertainment devices. Updated guest related customization criteria is retrieved and the core channels available for viewing are dynamically changed as the guests of the hospitality location change over time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Arnon Levy, Lindsey M. Carriere, Darren T. Ziebart, Joseph A. Kullos, Diego Fontes, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Publication number: 20210152853
    Abstract: A media system includes a plurality of set-top boxes coupled to a coax network and a controller. The controller displays a first passkey to a user in response to receiving a request from the user to activate playback of a media content on a particular set-top box. The set-top box receives the first passkey from the user and determines whether the user is authorized to activate playback of the media content by comparing the first passkey received from the user with a second passkey obtained from a passkey module on the set-top box. When the user is determined by the set-top box to be authorized to activate playback of the media content, the set-top box determines a radio frequency channel of the coax network according to the first passkey received from the user and begins playback of the media content received on the radio frequency channel on a display device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2020
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Brendan G. Cassidy, Gary R. Court, Lindsey M. Carriere, Brian W. King, Darren T. Ziebart, Michael D. McCarthy
  • Publication number: 20210120005
    Abstract: A service controller includes a network interface for coupling to a local area network of a hospitality establishment, and one or more processors coupled to the network interface. The one or more processors are configured to detect a device identifier of a user device on a local area network of a hospitality establishment, determine whether a guest of the hospitality establishment is associated with the device identifier, and automatically activate a service for the user device at the hospitality establishment in response to detecting the device identifier on the local area network when a guest of the hospitality establishment is determined to be associated with the device identifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2020
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Joshua M. Wookey, David T. Ong, Ian S. McBeth, Darren T. Ziebart, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Patent number: 10863209
    Abstract: A media system includes a plurality of set-top boxes coupled to a coax network and a controller. The controller displays a first passkey to a user in response to receiving a request from the user to activate playback of a media content on a particular set-top box. The set-top box receives the first passkey from the user and determines whether the user is authorized to activate playback of the media content by comparing the first passkey received from the user with a second passkey obtained from a passkey module on the set-top box. When the user is determined by the set-top box to be authorized to activate playback of the media content, the set-top box determines a radio frequency channel of the coax network according to the first passkey received from the user and begins playback of the media content received on the radio frequency channel on a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Brendan G. Cassidy, Gary R. Court, Lindsey M. Carriere, Brian W. King, Darren T. Ziebart, Michael D. McCarthy
  • Patent number: 10771470
    Abstract: A service controller includes a network interface for coupling to a local area network of a hospitality establishment, and one or more processors coupled to the network interface. The one or more processors are configured to detect a device identifier of a user device on a local area network of a hospitality establishment, determine whether a guest of the hospitality establishment is associated with the device identifier, and automatically activate a service for the user device at the hospitality establishment in response to detecting the device identifier on the local area network when a guest of the hospitality establishment is determined to be associated with the device identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Joshua M. Wookey, David T. Ong, Ian S. McBeth, Darren T. Ziebart, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Publication number: 20200162790
    Abstract: A content selector retrieves customization criteria corresponding to a plurality of guests of a hospitality location. According to the criteria, a core set of channels is automatically selected to make available from a plurality of available channels for streaming via the external computer network. Bandwidth between the external computer network and the hospitality location is reserved to ensure all core channels can be concurrently streamed to the hospitality location. An interactive program guide available on the entertainment devices is customized to list at least one of the core channels as available for viewing. For each channel of the core set, the channel is streamed to the hospitality location only when the channel is being viewed on at least one of the entertainment devices. Updated guest related customization criteria is retrieved and the core channels available for viewing are dynamically changed as the guests of the hospitality location change over time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2020
    Publication date: May 21, 2020
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Arnon Levy, Lindsey M. Carriere, Darren T. Ziebart, Joseph A. Kullos, Diego Fontes, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Patent number: 10582263
    Abstract: A user profile server stores a user profile corresponding to a user identifier. The user profile includes user-specific information of a user associated with the user identifier. The server receives a location update associated with the user identifier, the location update representing a current location of the user associated with the user identifier and determine a hospitality location within a predetermined distance of the current location represented by the location update. The server communicates at least one of the user-specific information to a controller associated with the hospitality location thereby allowing the controller to provide the user-tailored experience to the user according to the at least one of the user-specific information received from the user-profile server. In this way, users who travel during unplanned trips or to locations that do not accept reservations may benefit from user-tailored experiences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Arnon Levy, Lindsey M. Carriere, Darren T. Ziebart, Joseph A. Kullos, Diego Fontes, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Publication number: 20190182546
    Abstract: A user profile server stores a user profile corresponding to a user identifier. The user profile includes user-specific information of a user associated with the user identifier. The server receives a location update associated with the user identifier, the location update representing a current location of the user associated with the user identifier and determine a hospitality location within a predetermined distance of the current location represented by the location update. The server communicates at least one of the user-specific information to a controller associated with the hospitality location thereby allowing the controller to provide the user-tailored experience to the user according to the at least one of the user-specific information received from the user-profile server. In this way, users who travel during unplanned trips or to locations that do not accept reservations may benefit from user-tailored experiences.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Arnon Levy, Lindsey M. Carriere, Darren T. Ziebart, Joseph A. Kullos, Diego Fontes, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Publication number: 20190158888
    Abstract: A media system includes a plurality of set-top boxes coupled to a coax network and a controller. The controller displays a first passkey to a user in response to receiving a request from the user to activate playback of a media content on a particular set-top box. The set-top box receives the first passkey from the user and determines whether the user is authorized to activate playback of the media content by comparing the first passkey received from the user with a second passkey obtained from a passkey module on the set-top box. When the user is determined by the set-top box to be authorized to activate playback of the media content, the set-top box determines a radio frequency channel of the coax network according to the first passkey received from the user and begins playback of the media content received on the radio frequency channel on a display device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Inventors: Brendan G. Cassidy, Gary R. Court, Lindsey M. Carriere, Brian W. King, Darren T. Ziebart, Michael D. McCarthy
  • Patent number: 10257574
    Abstract: A user profile server stores a particular user profile corresponding to a user who belongs to a plurality of separate loyalty programs, and the particular user profile includes a plurality of different loyalty program user identifiers each identifying the user on a respective one of the separate loyalty programs. The user profile server communicates user a preference included on the particular user profile to a first controller via the computer network and communicates the user preference included on the particular user profile to a second controller via the computer network. The first controller is associated with a first hospitality location where the user is identified according to a first loyalty program user identifier included on the particular user profile, and the second is controller is associated with a second hospitality location where the user is identified according to a second loyalty program user identifier included on the particular user profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Arnon Levy, Lindsey M. Carriere, Darren T. Ziebart, Joseph A. Kullos, Diego Fontes, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Patent number: 10230994
    Abstract: A media system providing customized media functions at a hospitality establishment includes a first device operable to display a first passkey to a user attempting to activate a media function on a particular media device. The hospitality establishment includes a plurality of media devices installed at a plurality of different locations therein. A second device is operable to receive the first passkey from the user, determine whether the first passkey received from the user matches a second passkey associated with the particular media device, and activate the media function on the particular media device in response to determining that the first passkey received from the user matches the second passkey associated with the particular media device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2019
    Assignee: Guest Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Brendan G. Cassidy, Gary R. Court, Lindsey M. Carriere, Brian W. King, Darren T. Ziebart, Michael D. McCarthy
  • Publication number: 20180367543
    Abstract: A service controller includes a network interface for coupling to a local area network of a hospitality establishment, and one or more processors coupled to the network interface. The one or more processors are configured to detect a device identifier of a user device on a local area network of a hospitality establishment, determine whether a guest of the hospitality establishment is associated with the device identifier, and automatically activate a service for the user device at the hospitality establishment in response to detecting the device identifier on the local area network when a guest of the hospitality establishment is determined to be associated with the device identifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2018
    Publication date: December 20, 2018
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Joshua M. Wookey, David T. Ong, Ian S. McBeth, Darren T. Ziebart, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Patent number: 10044724
    Abstract: A service controller includes a network interface for coupling to a local area network of a hospitality establishment, and one or more processors coupled to the network interface. The one or more processors are configured to detect a device identifier of a user device on a local area network of a hospitality establishment, determine whether a guest of the hospitality establishment is associated with the device identifier, and automatically activate a service for the user device at the hospitality establishment in response to detecting the device identifier on the local area network when a guest of the hospitality establishment is determined to be associated with the device identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: Gust Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Joshua M. Wookey, David T. Ong, Ian S. McBeth, Darren T. Ziebart, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Publication number: 20180213283
    Abstract: A user profile server stores a particular user profile corresponding to a user who belongs to a plurality of separate loyalty programs, and the particular user profile includes a plurality of different loyalty program user identifiers each identifying the user on a respective one of the separate loyalty programs. The user profile server communicates user a preference included on the particular user profile to a first controller via the computer network and communicates the user preference included on the particular user profile to a second controller via the computer network. The first controller is associated with a first hospitality location where the user is identified according to a first loyalty program user identifier included on the particular user profile, and the second is controller is associated with a second hospitality location where the user is identified according to a second loyalty program user identifier included on the particular user profile.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Publication date: July 26, 2018
    Inventors: Peter S. Warrick, Arnon Levy, Lindsey M. Carriere, Darren T. Ziebart, Joseph A. Kullos, Diego Fontes, Andrew T. MacMillan
  • Publication number: 20180091831
    Abstract: A media system providing customized media functions at a hospitality establishment includes a first device operable to display a first passkey to a user attempting to activate a media function on a particular media device. The hospitality establishment includes a plurality of media devices installed at a plurality of different locations therein. A second device is operable to receive the first passkey from the user, determine whether the first passkey received from the user matches a second passkey associated with the particular media device, and activate the media function on the particular media device in response to determining that the first passkey received from the user matches the second passkey associated with the particular media device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Inventors: Brendan G. Cassidy, Gary R. Court, Lindsey M. Carriere, Brian W. King, Darren T. Ziebart, Michael D. McCarthy