Patent Application
20190082829
This invention relates to cabinets or storage facilities for use in hotel rooms for delivery or storage of items that may be requested by a guest or other occupant of a room or suite in a hotel or similar facility. The invention is more particularly concerned with a convenient and efficient mechanism for receiving requested items, such as food service deliveries to the room or suite, or requests for linen items such as towels, sheets, soap, shampoo, to the room, and for holding items to be returned to or picked up by hotel staff.
At present it is typical for a hotel or similar guest accommodation, even for an expensive upscale hotel or resort, that the hallway is littered with trays containing dirty dishes. That is, the guest or customer has no place to store or return the dishes, trays, and flatware from a room-service delivery, except to place them in the hallway outside the guest room door. This creates an eyesore and diminishes the appearance of the hotel, as well as creating a potential tripping hazard and a liability risk.
If a guest wants to order breakfast from room service, the guest phones down to the desk an places an order. The timing is such that the meal arrives in a 15 - 30 minute window, which can create awkward situations for the guests: The guest may be in the shower when the meal arrives; or the guest or spouse may not be fully dressed, and would not want a stranger entering the room, when the guest is not ready.
Also, if the room occupant determines that he or she needs an extra towel or extra blanket, the guest can call housekeeping, and someone from housekeeping staff will bring the item to the room sometime thereafter, and the same situation may appear that the person is not dressed, is in the bath or shower, or is absent from the room when the staffmember comes and knocks on the door.
These issues can be resolved by employing a cabinet for each room that allows the hotel staff to place guest-ordered items into the cabinet from the hallway and allows the guests to obtain them from inside the room and then place the used dishes and linen items back into the cabinet for pickup. However, to date no such facility is available nor has any been proposed that would be suitable for a hotel or other similar place of public accommodation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pass-through cabinet, that would permit pick-up and delivery to the room without need to enter the room or disturb the occupant and which would avoids drawbacks of the prior art.
It is another object to provide a system of pass-through cabinets for hotels or other places of public accommodation that facilitate delivery or pick up of items for the room occupants and which avoid clutter and tripping hazards in the hallways.
It is a further object to provide a mechanism that facilitates ordering meal items from the facility's room food service, and notifying the food service that dishes, trays and similar items are to be returned and are ready for pick-up.
A related object is to provide a mechanism for on-screen ordering of additional linen or toiletry items, and to provide a way for the hotel staff to deliver same without need to enter the guest room.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a wall-mounted pass-through cabinet, suitably configured, may provide a solution to these issues, and also provide additional useful data for analysis. The pass-through cabinet is favorably mounted in the room on the wall that is common to the room and the hallway, and has one or more controlled access doors or closures both on the hallway side and on the room side.
A touch-screen panel on the hallway side may be used by the hotel staff to open the hallway-side door so the items can be placed into the appropriate compartments in the cabinet, or items to be returned can be removed from the compartments. Alternatively, a hand-held wireless device, or a device mounted on the hotel food-service cart or housekeeping cart can be used to access the hallway-side door.
In keeping with the principles of the invention, a pass-through convenience cabinet is configured for use in a public accommodation, such as a hotel, resort, or similar guest facility, where there is at least one hallway and a plurality of rooms along the hallway, each having a common wall shared by the room and the hallway such that the common wall has a hallway side and a room side. Each of the rooms has a pass-through cabinet, wherein the cabinet comprises as follows:
a cabinet body configured to be disposed on the room side of the wall at a penetration to the hallway side of the common wall at which the cabinet body is mounted;
a hall-side door mounted on the cabinet body on the hallway side of the common wall at the penetration, where each such hall-side door can be controllably opened and closed by hotel staff;
one or more compartments on the room side of the cabinet body, each compartment (except a room-safe compartment) being accessible from the hallway side when the hall-side door is opened;
either a single room-side door or a plurality of room-side doors provided respectively for the cabinet compartment(s), and each such room-side door being openable and closeable from inside the respective room—there may be a single compartment with a single room-side door, with access to a plurality of shelves, or in some cases a single shelf,
an electronic control mechanism incorporated into the cabinet on the room side thereof and configured to permit the guest within the room to unlock and open each of the respective room-side doors; and
an interlock mechanism for hallway-side door and the room-side door(s), permitting the hallway-side door to be opened only when all of the room-side doors are closed; and permitting the room-side doors to be opened only one door at a time and only when the hallway-side door is closed.
In a favorable configuration, there are first and second compartments arranged vertically one above the other, e.g., one for food items and one for linen or toiletry items. Favorably, the compartment that is adapted for receiving and holding a ready-to-eat food product can include a mechanism for maintaining a tray of warm food products at a heated temperature or a tray of cold food items at chilled temperature.
The electronic control mechanism can include a touch-screen mechanism with a means for indicating that an item has been placed, via the hallway-side door, into one of the compartments. This can include a flashing light, an audible sounder, a mechanism to send an email or text message to the guest, or a visual indicator on the display (TV, tablet, touchscreen monitor, or external light). The electronic control mechanism may permit the guest to enter an access code in some cases, although typically the guest would not require any special code to open the respective room-side door for that compartment or compartments, but can open the door simply by pressing an unlock key or button. Also simply pressing a button on the screen can send a signal to the housekeeping or kitchen staff that a dirty towel or a no-longer-needed food service tray is ready to be picked up. The electronic control mechanism can includes a functionality for communicating with a guest-services computer of the hotel or public accommodation, configured to permit the guest in that room to request food service or linen service directly from the touch-screen mechanism.
A hotel service cart for carrying a food item and/or a linen or toiletry item to one or more rooms of the plurality of rooms can include a portable wireless device operative to permit a staff member to enter a code to open the hallway-side door of the guest rooms. This device may be hand-held and used with the cart, or may be affixed onto the cart.
A key-actuated lock may be used to open the hallway side door in case the hotel computer system fails, or simply to over-ride the electronic system when required.
In some configurations, the outside or hallway-side door may have a control touchscreen panel for accessing the cabinet from the hall side, while in other implementations the control touchscreen panel may be omitted, and a tablet/smart-phone/laptop could be used to open the cabinet door. In addition, the door can be made of steel, wood, or composite to match the hall decor. Favorably, the hallway-side cabinet door is flush with the hallway side of the wall, while the body of the cabinet projects a short distance into the room (or into the closet of the room).
The cabinet doors are set up to only allow the hallway side door or the room-side door(s) to be opened at a time. This affords privacy, as one or the other of the hallway-side and room-side is closed, precluding any view into the room (when one of the two doors is opened, the other remains locked). Favorably, the lock manual override is only available in an emergency or if the electronics fall
The pass-through cabinet can be connected to the hotel ethernet (wired or wirelessly). The hotel guests' user name or ID's and passwords can be downloaded to the cabinet from a central PC, e.g., during check-in, and an audit trail is maintained—who opened the cabinet, what time, what compartments were opened.
The in-room portion of the cabinet frame preferably rests within the hotel room closet (e.g., see
Pressing a button on the touch-screen panel (or tablet) from within the room opens the respective door to return the tray or dirty towels. In doing so a message is automatically sent to hotel personnel that the used tray is to be returned or that items such as a dirty towels are ready to be exchanged (without the room needing to be entered). Alternatively, this notification can be automatic without the need for the guest to push a button. That is, when the cabinet door is entered for a second time (returning the trays), the notification can be sent by text/email to the designated staff member.
In another favorable embodiment, a locked safe compartment can be included in the cabinet body, with a locked door that can be accessed from within the room by entry of a guest-selected code on the touch screen panel. In this case, there would not be access from the hallway-side to the safe compartment.
In addition to keeping the facility hallways uncluttered and not having to open the door to a stranger or hotel employee when the guest may not be fully dressed, the system creates an audit trail that can be used to track delivery times for different employees, and let the hotel easily know when dirty trays can be picked up. This also corrects an issue the staff or guests may have with “odor” from the uncollected food trays.
If a compartment of the cabinet is broken into, and not opened using the standard electronic methods, unauthorized access is identified, and a signal is immediately sent to security by IM, cellular text message, or email, for security staff to investigate.
In summary, the pass-through hotel cabinets of this invention do provide a number of significant advantages, namely,
The touch screen panels used on the room-side and in some cases on the hallway-side doors, may be 7-inch touch-screens. The screen on the outside or hallway-side can have a touchscreen display that be a decorative picture, or may match wall covering, although this device may be absent &connection is by a tablet/smart-phone/laptop device. The room-side touchscreen may show buttons (soft keys) to request towels or notify housekeeping that towels or a dirty tray is present, or can appear as a numeric pad to enter the safe. The room-side touch screen device may also be used to notify the front desk of other information, such as a desire for the guest to check out of the room. Access to the room-side door or doors may be from a tablet PC in place of the touch-screen, or may be accessed via the room television screen. Interaction with the hotel/housekeeping/room-service central computer system is also an important feature that has not been addressed earlier.
The pass-through cabinet can be opened only from one side at a time, which maintains privacy in the guest room. The cabinet may incorporate door sensors (e.g., magnetic, proximity, or electro-mechanical) to indicate whether a door is open or cosed. This can also be used to signal unauthorized entry.
The door interlock feature may be software-based, so that when a room-side door sensor reveals a door is unlatched, the wall-side door motor or solenoid is disabled, through software, from opening the hallway-side door.
The above and many other objects, features, and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the ensuing description of selected preferred embodiments of this invention, with reference to the accompanying Drawing.
With reference to the Drawing, and initially to
As shown in
In a favorable embodiment the cabinet 10 has a number of cabinet compartments 26a, 26b, 26c and 26d, stacked one above the other, and there are associated locking doors 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d for these compartments, respectively. In practice, there would typically be a maximum of three doors on the room side. In this embodiment the room-side doors are hinged to open from the side, i.e., opening at a right angle to the plane of the wall 12. Where the cabinet 10 is mounted within the hotel room closet (e.g., see
The food service compartment or compartments, e.g., 26a and/or 26b, may be configured with heating or refrigeration device, e.g., a low power heater or a Peltier-effect solid state cooler, to keep a warm meal warm or to keep a cold food item chilled. Each of the doors 28a to 28d may incorporate a small flasher or other indicator to announce that the hotel staffhave completed a delivery to the respective compartment. Alternatively, the touch-screen device's display may show a message that the delivery has been made and the respective compartment may be accessed to retrieve the meal or linen article. Alternatively, the delivery to the pass through cabinet may automatically trigger a phone call to the room with a recorded announcement.
In the screen shown in
In
In each of these configurations, the guest can access the room-safe compartment of the cabinet by entering the previously-set passcode. Software for the cabinet and displays may tie to cabinet indicator lights, which are automatically activated when items are placed into the compartment(s) of the cabinets. The soft key buttons allow the guest to open specific cabinet doors and also notify housekeeping or food service that certain items are ready for pickup. Also, if there is an unauthorized attempt at entry, i.e., if a door is forcefully opened, an alarm is transmitted to the security staff
As stated earlier, the housekeeping staff and food service staff may use a hand-held wireless device to access the outside or hall-side door 14 or 14A for a given room when making a delivery or pick-up. Alternatively, as shown in
Rather than employing the touch screen for sign-in, the staffmember may log in using a bar code or magnetic stripe, an RFID or other proximity card, finger print or retinal scan, or a login on an external tablet device.
The compartments may also have a lock over-ride, opened using a key and cylinder.
In favorable embodiments of this invention, the hallway-side door 14 is substantially flush with the corridor side of the wall 12, and the cabinet 10 does not project into the hallway or corridor, where space is often limited. In other implementations, the door can be recessed somewhat, so that the door 14 itself does not project into the hallway.
In the preferred embodiments, there is an internal interlock feature whereby only one of the room-side doors 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d can be opened at any one time, and the outer or hallway-side door 14 can only be opened when all of the room side doors 28a to 28d are closed. The accessed compartment door has to be closed before another compartment door can be opened. In addition, the interlock allows the outer or hallway-side door 14 to be opened only when all of the room-side doors 28a to 28d are shut, and also allows the room-side doors 28a to 28d to be opened only when the hallway-side door 14 is shut. This feature precludes having inside doors and outside door or doors opened at the same time. This feature protects the guests' privacy, as it makes it impossible to see into the room through the cabinet.
In other possible embodiments, where room configuration permits, the compartments 26a to 26d may be arranged side-by-side rather than vertically. In that case, the compartment doors may be in the form of lids that swing open upwards.
Another potential configuration can have a single door on the hallway side, as before, and a single room-side door on the cabinet, with the cabinet having two shelves. The shelves can be designated for linen exchange, e.g., to replace a towel, and for room service meals, respectively. On the room side, pressing the towel return or linen exchange button or key will open he single room side door, but notify housekeeping services, whereas pushing the room service button or key will notify the room service or kitchen. This single-door option may provide a lower-cost alternative for purchase and installation, and would simplify operation for many hotel guests. This option may also incorporate a room-safe compartment, as discussed earlier, with access only from within the guest room.
In a further possible embodiment, with reference to
The unit may be powered with direct current power supplied e.g. via ethernet, that is through an ethernet cable 231, which permits communication but eliminates the need for additional wiring (Power-over-Ethernet, or PoE).
In any of these embodiments, any unauthorized entry or attempt to access or open the room safe or other access door would send an alarm message to the building security.
The audit trail mentioned earlier may contain a number of relevant data fields, including room number, staff member identity code, staffmember name, delivery time, promised delivery time, time ready in kitchen, time tray left kitchen for food service deliveries, and may containing room number, time guest placed tray in cabinet, staff ID number, staff name, actual pick-up time.
While the invention has been described in terms of selected preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited only to those embodiments, but rather the scope of this invention is to be measured by the appended claims.
