Person occupancy detection in hotels using UWB technology and integration with matter protocol in STB

A system comprising:

• a set top box (STB) associated with a given room;
• a local area network (LAN) coupled to the STB;
• a hotel management server (HMS) coupled to the STB via the LAN;
• a user device (UD), configured for use by a given user;
• an ultra-wideband tag (UWT);
• wherein the UWT further comprises a virtual ultra-wideband tag integrated into the UD;
• and
• an electronic device coupled to the STB and located within the given room;
• wherein the STB comprises:
• an STB processor (STBP);
• and
• a non-transient STB data store (STBDS), coupled to the STBP, non-transiently storing:
• first computer instructions (1CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB user location engine (SULE);
• second computer instructions (2CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB user preference engine (SUPE);
• and
• third computer instructions (3CIs) which, when executed by the STBP, instantiate an STB Room Configure Engine (SRCE);
• wherein the SULE configures the STB to perform STB User Location Operations (SULOs) comprising:
• scanning at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency for a ranging signal transmitted by the UWT;
• and
• when the ranging signal is detected,
• determining whether the UWT is within an STB determined distance;
• when the UWT is within the STB determined distance:
• receiving an association of at least one user preference with the UWT;
• and
• configuring the electronic device in view of the at least one user preference.

A method comprising:

• scanning, by a set top box (STB), at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency for a ranging signal transmitted by an ultra-wideband tag (UWT);
• wherein the UWT is a virtual ultra-wideband tag provided by a user device;
• when the ranging signal is detected,
• determining whether the UWT is within a determined distance of the STB;
• when the UWT is within the determined distance:
• receiving at least one user preference for a given user associated with the UWT;
• and
• configuring an electronic device, in a given room provided by a hotel operator, coupled to the STB in view of the at least one user preference by sending a MATTER command from the STB to the electronic device.

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing first computer instructions (ICIs), second computer instructions (2CIs), and third computer instructions (3CIs), wherein, when executed by a processor in a set top box (STB) in a hotel room provided by a hotel operator, the 1CIs instantiate an STB user location engine (SULE) that configures to perform STB user location operations (SULOs), the 2CIs instantiate an STB user preference engine (SUPE) that configures the STB to perform STB user preference operations (SUPOs), and the 3CIs instantiate an STB room configure engine (SRCE) that configures the STB to perform STB room configure operations (SRCOs), and wherein the SULOs comprise:

• scanning at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency for a ranging signal transmitted by an ultra-wideband tag (UWT);
• wherein the UWT is a virtual ultra-wideband tag provided by a user device associated with the given user;
• and when the ranging signal is detected, determining whether the UWT is within an STB determined distance;
• and when the UWT is within the STB determined distance, instantiating the SUPE;
• wherein the SUPOs comprise:
• associating the UWT with a given user account maintained by a hotel management server (HMS) for the hotel operator;
• receiving from the HMS an account identifier associated with the UWT;
• retrieving, from a data store accessible to the STB, at least one user preference associated with the account identifier;
• and determining whether to configure an electronic device in the given room based on the at least one user preference;
• and when affirmative, instantiating the SRCE;
• and wherein the SRCOs comprise:
• generating, by the STB, at least one command that configures the electronic device in view of the at least one user preference;
• wherein the at least one command is a MATTER protocol compliant command.