WO2005062465A1

WO2005062465A1 - Activity page display for remote controller

Info

Publication number: WO2005062465A1
Application number: PCT/IB2004/052649
Authority: WO
Inventors: Johan A. E. Wouters
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2003-12-19
Filing date: 2004-12-03
Publication date: 2005-07-07

Abstract

A configurable remote controller for household devices has multiple configurable user inputs, and a display for displaying pages showing current functions controlled by the user inputs, at least some of the pages being activity pages having functions of a single activity. This can increase the user-friendliness of remotes and address the problem of device centric remotes being hard to use by users who normally have activity centric thinking or expectations. It has a record mode for recording which functions are used, and creates an activity page having the recorded functions assigned to the user inputs. Activity pages can be found and retrieved from a central server over a network, to match activities of a user.

Description

Activity page display for remote controller

This invention relates to remote controllers for controlling electrical household goods or appliances, to software for the same, to methods of updating such remotes by downloading activity pages, or by finding suitable activity pages, and methods of offering an activity page service to provide activity pages on a central server for downloading to remotes, amongst others.

As is explained in US patent 6211870, some consumer electronics devices and systems have become very complex and loaded with functionality, and hence remote control units have correspondingly become highly complex. A number of manufacturers sell remote control units which include as many as one hundred small buttons or keys. Several problems have arisen. Firstly, there is the problem of how to allow the user to control a large number of features from a remote control unit. Secondly, there is the problem of how to avoid overwhelming the user with controls on a remote control unit which the user will probably never use. Thirdly, there is the problem of users having to deal with multiple remote control units with overlapping operability. Fourthly, there is the problem of the considerable amount of space which an aggregation of remote control units occupies. One solution which has found some acceptance in the market is the universal remote control unit. A universal remote control unit consolidates multiple remote control units. Typical universal remote control units can learn the commands of other Remote control units, either through pre-programmed lists of consumer electronics devices or by teaching the universal remote control unit each command which the user might wish to have available on the universal Remote control unit. One of the problems with universal remote control units has been that their generic keypads are often cumbersome and not particularly intuitive in layout or labeling. Furthermore, the designers of these devices must compromise between having separate buttons for each possible command and small button sizes. Such universal remote control units are exemplified by the Home Producer 8 from Universal Electronics, Inc. (Tustin, Calif. USA), the RC 2000 from Marantz (Roselle, 111. USA), the RR990 from Rotel (North Reading, Mass. USA), and the RC-R0905 from Kenwood. One of the common problems with universal remote control units, and a problem which is especially severe with the most flexible and programmable remote control units, is complexity in programming. A universal remote control unit simply cannot be factory-programmed with every possible configuration. The user is left with poor choices—do without some functions, spend many hours programming and reprogramming their programmable remote control unit, suffer through a remote control unit which is not programmed in a memorable manner, or paying a professional to program the remote control unit. A solution proposed in US patent 6211870 involves a remote control unit which is programmable from a PC (personal computer) using an advanced, object-oriented user interface. The remote control unit's programming is easily modified from the PC. In an example, a PC screen object is entitled "Dad" is created for the father of a household. It has one soft key object programmed with a series of commands for turning on the TV and cable box, then tuning the TV to receive from the cable box, then tuning the cable box to Dad's favorite cable channel, ESPN. Another soft key object has been programmed with a series of commands for turning on the stereo receiver, then tuning the stereo receiver to Dad's favorite radio station, KTWV. After the user is satisfied with the screen objects, he then downloads them from the PC to the programmable remote control unit. Once loaded with screen objects, the programmable remote control unit is ready for use. The user may scroll through loaded screen objects displayed on the remote. It generates displays of soft keys and other features of the screen object on the display, and generates the commands of the soft key objects and programmable key objects when the corresponding soft keys or programmable keys are pressed. It is known from US patent application 2001/0017615 that universal remotes can suffer from having too many keys, and from being hard to program. The solution proposed involves providing a touch type screen with menus, including menus dedicated to a particular electrical appliance. An automatic learning procedure is shown, for imitating the infra red signaling from other remotes. This involves entering a "program" mode using the menus, pressing a soft key to be programmed, then pointing the other remote at the universal remote and pressing the desired button on the other remote. The universal remote learns the signaling sequence and repeats it when the soft key is pressed. Another remote is known from EP 1168124, which is concerned with easy changing of functions. It includes a link via a home server to a remote server holding new functional data for home appliances. The home appliances can be updated under control of the universal remote, and when updated, the remote can update its own soft keys for controlling that appliance. It is also known to provide configurable remotes which allow the user to define macro keys. A macro contains a sequence of actions. For example: Switch on the TV, change to channel 0 then start VCR playback. Nevo technology of the company UEI was one of the first advanced remotes to start using macro-based buttons. Advanced configurable remotes, group buttons around devices (For example TV, VCR, DVD, and so on). An example is the PRONTO (TM), a universal programmable remote control that was introduced into the market in September 1998 and having most of its function selector buttons graphically displayed as menu options on a touch screen. The menu options can be distributed among several pages that are retrievable or displayable one at a time. The user can fully program the PRONTO (TM) with regard to the IR and/or RF codes assigned to hard keys and soft buttons, and with regard to what keys are accommodated on what page. More information about the PRONTO (TM) can be found at the website < http://www. pronto.philips.com > . A drawback of a fixed graphical user interface that includes a number of pages is that the consumer may spend a great deal of time scanning through the pages trying to find a desired menu option. The PRONTO (TM) is an improvement in that the user can organize the menu options and configure the pages at will. But with the ever-growing complexity of the home theatre set-ups, a user may have to combine commands out of several devices to initiate an action (For example "Watch DVD", "play audio via surround sound system", and so on). Current remotes oblige the user to define their macros offline (in a setup menu). The user has to add buttons to a screen and assign the needed sequence of commands to them. This means the user has to think about all the different actions/macros he or she does when doing an activity before he can define them in the setup menu. It is known from WO 00/08548 to improve user- friendliness of universal remotes by providing a GUI (graphical user interface) for editing macros on the remote. This GUI shows a list of the sequence of steps and enables a user to select any of the steps and move it up or down the list. It is known from WO 01/96994 to improve user-friendliness of universal remotes such as the PRONTO ™ device of Philips Electronics, which have a touchscreen for viewing pages of menus and soft button functions which can be user configured. The patent shows dynamically arranging a hierarchy of pages so that commonly or recently used pages can be viewed with a reduced amount of user navigation. It is known from WO 00/17738 to improve universal remotes such as the PRONTO ™ device, by being able to download GUIs from internet servers. New GUIs can be accessed which correspond to a users list of their controllable devices. US patent application 2002/0089427 shows a remote for controlling an "I link" ™ home network. The remote can be loaded with control functions for new devices on the network by downloading from a remote server, via a modem in a TV. The TV is used to display a page corresponding to the keys on the remote. Different pages may be displayed for different devices on the network. This can reduce the number of key presses compared to using a universal remote with a cursor key. In the rest of this document, the following definitions will be used: Action: one specific action done by the end-user, for example: Power TV, select channel, and so on. Macro: a sequence of actions linked to one end-user stimulus, for example: Pressing a key, and so on. Activity: an activity is defined as an end-user entertainment experience (consumption of multi media content). It is a sequence of actions/macros or a combination of sequences related to the entertainment experience, for example: Watch DVD, Play audio on surround sound system, and so on. An activity consists of one or more end-user actions. In other words it is not limited to one key press. Different activities can have different durations. Even one activity (for example: Watch DVD) can vary in duration depending on when it is done (For example: Different DVD's have different lengths, so the duration of the activity "watch DVD" varies.)

According to a first aspect, the invention provides a configurable remote controller for use in controlling multiple household devices, the controller having multiple configurable user inputs, a display for displaying pages showing current functions controlled by the user inputs, at least one of the pages being an activity page having functions of a single activity of a plurality of activities. Advantageous additional features which may be mentioned are autocreation of the activities, server with activity database. This can increase the user-friendliness of remotes and address the problem of device centric remotes being hard to use by users who normally have activity centric thinking or expectations. None of the known remotes groups a combination of actions/macros into a specific activity page. Any grouping done by currently known remotes involves grouping related to a particular devices or devices in a particular room, or grouping a number of macros relating to different activities used by a particular user. Users are only interested in activities, not in devices. In the ideal case they would not even want to know from what device his content is coming. For example if a user asks to record a program, the system just records it. It does not matter whether this is recorded on a tape, hard disk or DVD disk. This does not mean the user cannot define which is used, it is just to explain aspects of the embodiments of the present invention. Additional features which can form dependent claims include others of the pages having a group of device oriented functions, and the functions including actions and macros. Another such feature is the activity page including functions normally used in sequence, as well as optional alternative functions not normally used in sequence. Another such feature is means for automatically selecting a group of functions relating to the single activity. The activity page can be user configurable, so the user can add functions to the group. The user can create more activity pages. The remote can propose or initiate creating an activity page. The remote can look for activity pages on a central server that match a users activity or pattern of activities. The activity page can be generated automatically by recording which functions are used by a user. Additional alternative or supplementary functions can be proposed automatically for that activity page. The proposals can be incorporated by default, or only on approval by the user. Such additional functions can be selected according to records of usage of such functions, or by predetermined assessment of usefulness by criteria such as similarity of function, relevance to the activity or functions of the same device, and so on. Activity pages can be downloaded to the remote from a central server coupled by a network. Activity pages can be configured or edited by another device such as a home PC then downloaded to the remote. The activity pages can be changed after creation, for example to update them as devices are updated, or to remove functions which prove to be little used over time, or to remove activity pages which prove over time to be little used. Another aspect of the invention provides a configurable remote controller for use in controlling multiple household devices, the controller having multiple user inputs, a display for displaying pages showing current functions of the user inputs, and having a record mode in which while a user uses the controller to carry out an activity, the controller records which functions are used, and creates an activity page having the recorded functions assigned to the user inputs. This can help overcome the difficulty and complexity of programming configurable remotes. Another aspect of the invention provides a configurable remote controller for use in controlling multiple household devices, the controller having multiple configurable user inputs, a display for displaying pages showing current functions of the user inputs, at least some of the pages being activity pages having functions related to a single activity, and means for automatically finding and retrieving an activity page from a central server over a network, to match an activity of a user. This can also help overcome the difficulty and complexity of programming configurable remotes. Other aspects of the invention provide software for implementing such remotes, support software for a PC for supporting such remotes, methods of updating such remotes by downloading activity pages, or by finding suitable activity pages, and methods of offering an activity page service to provide activity pages on a central server for downloading to remotes. Other advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art, particularly in view of other prior art not known to the inventors. Any of the additional features above may be combined together, or combined with any of the aspects of the invention. How the present invention may be put into effect will now be described with reference to the appended schematic drawings. Obviously, numerous variations and modifications can be made without departing from the claims of the present invention. Therefore, it should be clearly understood that the form of the present invention is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

The features of the invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention. In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a known remote. Fig. 2 shows a view of an exterior of a known remote. Figs. 3 to 7 show views of a display of a remote according to embodiments of the present invention, and Fig. 8 shows a sequence chart of steps in creating activity pages for a remote, according to embodiments of the present invention. The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn on scale for illustrative purposes. Where the term "comprising" is used in the present description and claims, it does not exclude other elements or steps. Where an indefinite or definite article is used when referring to a singular noun e.g. "a" or "an", "the", this includes a plural of that noun unless something else is specifically stated. Figs. 1.2. example of known remote to which the embodiments can be applied Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of some of the principal parts an example of a remote (labeled SYSTEM) such as the PRONTO ™ on which embodiments of the invention can be applied. The remote includes a display 1 for displaying the GUI. The display comprises a liquid crystal display (LCD), on Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display or any other suitable display device. The remote includes a data processor or microcontroller 2, and a memory 3, which may be volatile or non-volatile, and which contains data and/or control software. There may be plural memory devices as well. For instance, a volatile memory may contain data entered by a user and a non-volatile memory may contain control software. User entry 4 may occur via buttons (hardkeys or softkeys), voice, pointer devices, or any other appropriate mode. Alternatively, or in addition, user entry may be achieved via a touch sensitive functionality of the display 1. The device has an output, such as a control output 5. The output 5 may be an infrared (IR) or radio frequency (RF) output for remote control of CE equipment, e. g., a television set, video recorder, DVD player, and/or other apparatus. Such connections may be described as "wireless connections". Output 5 may include a wired or wireless functionality for uploading or downloading data to or from some other data processor or from a server. The output 5 may include plural components, such as an IR transmitter and a socket for insertion of a cable for download. Fig. 2 is a view of the exterior of the remote 101, and shows a touch sensitive LCD screen 102, and several actuatable mechanical buttons 103 and 104. Division of functions between the displayed buttons on the screen and the mechanical buttons will be determined in accordance with the needs of the intended use of the remote, and can follow established practice. In any case, at least one of the buttons, whether displayed or mechanical, can be used to indicate switching between pages of the GUI. The screen displays a GUI. The GUI includes menu options divided into pages. The menu options may be displayed in the form of buttons or icons, or any other suitable display format. In general, in this application, when any one of these menu option types are referred to, all are implied as possible alternatives. The term menu options, as used herein, shall also be understood to include any type of selectable interactive items. The IR and any other outputs in this example are on side faces not visible in the view of Fig. 2. The same applies to IR receivers if they are provided. A remote control, such as the PRONTO (TM) by Philips Electronics, may have approximately the appearance of Fig. 2. Memory 3 and processor 2 for the remote of Fig. 2 are normally contained inside and therefore are generally not visible from the outside. Figs. 3-7. screen views of embodiments A first embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 3. This shows a view of a display of a remote such as the remote of Figs. 1 or 2, or any other type of remote. The Figure shows one of the user selectable options is an activity page having a grouping of functions for ease of use. The display information such as the groupings can be stored in memory and the display driven by a processor using conventional hardware, running software written in any suitable conventional language. A top level screen display which may be displayed following switch on of the remote might show a number of user selectable pages without expanding any of them. Figs. 3 to 7 show how the display may alter once the user has selected one of the pages to expand it and show the contents of the page. The user selectable items shown in Figs 3. to 7 may be in the form of menus, icons, lists or other formats. Different styles or colors may be used to distinguish different items or types of items. In the example shown, there is an activity home page, a device home page, a macro home page and a mode home page. Other home pages can be included having other groups of functions. In Fig. 3, the macro page has been selected and expanded. It shows two user selectable items, "play DVD" and " play CD". These macros might be sequences of operations set up by the user. In Fig. 4 the device home page has been selected and expanded. It shows items such as "INTERNET", "AMP", "CD", "DVD", "TV", and "RADIO". Each of these items can be selected to lead to screens relating to these devices with buttons to control functions of each device. The other high level pages are still visible in this example, though not their contents. Optionally the other pages are not visible, or contents of more than one page can be visible. In Fig. 5, the mode page has been selected for expansion. It shows buttons for modes such as "USE", "LEARN", "DEL" and "LABEL" which are conventional modes, and a new mode which is "REC ACTIVITY". This new mode enables the remote to record a series of actions carried out by the user over a period of time, to enable creation of an activity page or pages grouping buttons appropriate to those actions. This can be more convenient than creating a macro, since it enables the user to retain control of timing and of options. By grouping the buttons onto a page, the user need spend less time moving from page to page looking for appropriate buttons for a series of actions relating to different devices. Fig. 6 shows a display where the activity home page has been selected for expansion. In this case, the user selectable activities include "LISTEN", "VIEW",

"RECORD", "EMAIL", "PROGRAM" and "SHOP". Any of these can be selected for expansion to show the functions related to each activity grouped together on a single page. If there are too many to fit on a single page, multiple pages can be used with a page select option following established practice. Fig. 7 shows the display where the "LISTEN" activity page has been selected for expansion. In this case, the functions grouped together include some macros and some actions. They include "PLAY CD MACRO", "PLAY RADIO 1 MACRO", "DISPLAY AUD. CNTRL", "DISPLAY TUNER", and "SWITCH SPEAKERS". The user can select any of these to initiate the actions or macros, or edit them to achieve a better group of functions for this. page. Fig. 8. creating activity pages automatically Fig. 8 shows a sequence chart of steps in creating activity pages automatically. The 4 columns each represent actions of an entity at different times, and time flows down the drawing. The entities are a user, the remote, a home PC, and a central server. As shown, the remote can be coupled to the home PC by an IR link, and the home PC can be coupled to the central server over the internet. To start, the user selects the REC ACTIVITY mode then starts using the remote to undertake an activity by selecting functions. The remote records the selections and functions. When the user stops the REC ACTIVITY mode, the remote or the PC can use the recorded information to create an activity page having the group of functions, perhaps including similar functions or optional functions to those recorded. Optionally or instead, the remote or the PC can initiate a search of the central server, or elsewhere on the internet for a suitable activity page which matches the recorded use. Either way, the PC downloads the found or created activity pages to the remote. The remote (or the PC) can display them for the user to approve or edit. Other examples and concluding remarks Many other examples of groupings by activity can be envisaged, and automatic additions such as automatically including volume and speaker selection buttons and cd/tape/radio select button on the LISTEN activity page. The display of the remote need not be on the remote, it can use the IR link to put its display on the TV or PC for example. Clearly the remote can be incorporated into other devices such as other mobile device such as a PDA personal digital assistant or mobile phone for example. Activity based control screens as described can address the problem of device centric remotes, but activity centric end-user expectations. They add to the control device the concept of activities (see definition above) in the form of activity pages. In essence an activity page contains actions and macros that are related to a specific activity. On a control device, activity pages and device pages can exist next to each other. An example based on the Pronto ™ would have a homepage for devices and a homepage for activities. The user can select what he wants to do. An alternative on the Pronto ™ could be one top level homepage that links the user to or a device page, or an activity page. By means of different layouts or different icons, the user can differentiate device pages from activity pages. Defining the activity based pages can be automated in part to address the problem of the offline setup of macros/activities discussed above. Instead of asking the user to think of the actions/macros that are needed for an activity, the remote could online, while using it for the activity, collect the actions the user needs. The user should initiate the collecting of actions. This can be done by adding a new activity page (on the remote or in an editor on the PC). The user should also stop the collecting. Additionally via the use of smart algorithms, the remote can propose actions groups and macros as set out in Philips patent application with filing number NL 021376. The remote could even propose to add additional actions/macros that are related to the actions he used, so if the user pressed during the activity recording the keys 0, 1, 2 and 7, the remote could suggest adding also neighboring keys 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9. More and more of our remotes are getting connected via the Internet. A database of activity pages could be made in which the remote can go and look for additional information on activities. The remote can automatically start a collection of actions/macros related to an activity. In this case it need not be the user who starts an activity collection, but it would be the remote that proposes an activity page to the user. As an example: The user just uses his remote to control his devices. The remote records the user actions and periodically compares them to a database of activities on the web (for example an activity service running on the Philips website, corresponding to the existing service offering EPG Electronic programme guide and others). If the remote finds a close match to one of the available activities on the web-service, it proposes to the user a specific activity page. This could be extended to allow the user to modify inside this activity page as well, by add actions/macros or deleting items for example. As has been described, a configurable remote controller for household devices has multiple configurable user inputs, and a display for displaying pages showing current functions controlled by the user inputs, at least some of the pages being activity pages having functions of a single activity. This can increase the user-friendliness of remotes and address the problem of device centric remotes being hard to use by users who normally have activity centric thinking or expectations. It has a record mode for recording which functions are used, and creates an activity page having the recorded functions assigned to the user inputs. Activity pages can be found and retrieved from a central server over a network, to match activities of a user. Other variations can be envisaged which are intended to be within the scope of the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A configurable remote controller for use in controlling multiple household devices, the controller having multiple configurable user inputs, and a display for displaying pages showing current functions controlled by the user inputs, at least one of the pages being an activity page having functions of a single activity of a plurality activities.

2. The remote controller of claim 1, arranged to create automatically an activity page having a group of functions.

3. The remote controller of claim 2, arranged to create automatically the activity page in a normal use of the remote controller and not in a setup mode.

4. The remote controller of claim 1, having means for recording which functions are used by a user.

5. The remote controller according to claim 4, adapted to record under user control or under direct control of the remote in a background logging mode.

6. The remote controller of claim 1, arranged such that others of the pages have a group of functions related to a single device.

7. The remote controller of claim 1, the functions comprising actions and macros.

8. The remote controller of claim 1 , the activity page including functions for use in sequence, as well as optional alternative functions not normally used in sequence.

9. The remote controller of claim 1 , having means for automatically selecting a group of functions relating to the single activity.

10. The remote controller of claim 1, the activity page being user configurable.

11. The remote controller of claim 10, having means for selecting a group of functions for an activity page based on the recorded functions.

12. The remote controller according to claim 1 , adapted so that the remote controller always records and the remote controller has means for proposing activities to the user.

13. The remote controller of claim 1, arranged to retrieve activity pages from a central server to match a users activity or pattern of activities.

14. The remote controller of a claim 1, having means for proposing automatically additional alternative or supplementary functions for the activity page.

15. The remote controller of claim 1 , having means for selecting functions automatically for the activity page according to records of usage of such functions, or by predetermined assessment of usefulness, by similarity of function, or relevance to the activity or functions of the same device.

16. A configurable remote controller for use in controlling multiple household devices, the controller having multiple user inputs, a display for displaying pages showing current functions of the user inputs, and having a record mode for recording which functions are used, and means for creating an activity page having a group of the recorded functions assigned to the user inputs.

17. A configurable remote controller for use in controlling multiple household devices, the controller having multiple configurable user inputs, a display for displaying pages showing current functions of the user inputs, at least some of the pages being activity pages having functions related to a single activity, and means for automatically finding and retrieving an activity page from a central server over a network, to match an activity of a user.

18. Software for implementing the remote controller of claim 1 , 16 or 17.

19. Support software for communicating with the remote controller of claim 1, 16 or 17, and arranged to create activity pages for downloading to the controller.

20. The support software of claim 19, arranged to retrieve activity pages from a central server coupled by a network, for downloading to the controller.

21. The support software of claim 20, arranged to receive activity information from the controller.

22. A method of updating the remote controller of claim 1 , 16 or 17 having the step of downloading an activity page.

23. A method of offering an activity page service to provide activity pages on a central server for downloading to the remote controller of claim 1, 16 or 17.