Hospitality media system that avoids network congestion and server load while providing media experience within guest room, and computer server and method thereof

A computer server comprising:

• a communication module coupled to a computer network for establishing a connection over the computer network with a set-top box in a guest room of a hospitality establishment;
• and
• a processor coupled to the communication module and configured to:
• receive a request for information from the set-top via the connection, the requested information to be utilized by the set-top box to provide a media experience in the guest room;
• determine an operating state of the computer server;
• when the computer server is in at least a particular operating state, determine a number of attempts of the request that have been made by the set-top box;
• when the number of attempts is greater than a threshold, hold the connection in an open state while servicing the request and provide the set-top box with the requested information via the connection;
• and
• when the number of attempts is not greater than the threshold, send a service unavailable response to the set-top box via the connection and then close the connection.

A method of providing a media experience within a guest room of a hospitality establishment, the method comprising:

• configuring a set-top box in the guest room to establish a connection with a media system server via a computer network and to send a request for information to the media system server via the connection, the requested information to be utilized by the set-top box when providing the media experience;
• and
• configuring the media system server when operating in at least one state to determine a number of attempts of the request that have been made by the set-top box;
• and, when the number of attempts is greater than a threshold, to hold the connection in an open state while servicing the request and provide the set-top box with the requested information via the connection;
• and, when the number of attempts is not greater than the threshold, to send a service unavailable response to the set-top box via the connection and then close the connection.