KR20120000212A - Method, system and computer-readable recording medium for remotely controlling electronic device using mobile terminal capable of wireless communication, and mobile terminal for implementation of said method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method, system and computer-readable recording medium for remotely controlling an electronic device using a mobile terminal which is available for wireless communication, and mobile terminal for implementing the method are provided to remotely control the electronic device by using the mobile terminal which is wirelessly communicable as a universal remote controller. CONSTITUTION: An electronic device recognition unit(410) recognizes an electronic device. An interface moving element(420) corresponds to the electronic device. The interface moving element receives a user interface for remote control from a hosting system. A remote control(430) corresponds to the electronic device. The remote control receives calling regulation data in a control signal for the remote control from the hosting system.

Description

TECHNICAL, SYSTEM AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR REMOTELY CONTROLLING ELECTRONIC DEVICE A method for remotely controlling an electronic device using a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication, a system and a computer readable recording medium, and a mobile terminal for realizing the method. USING MOBILE TERMINAL CAPABLE OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION, AND MOBILE TERMINAL FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF SAID METHOD}

The present invention relates to a method, a system and a computer readable recording medium for remotely controlling an electronic device using a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication, and a mobile terminal for realizing the method.

In recent years, the number of users who use a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication, for example, a mobile phone, a PDA, a web pad, and the like, is increasing steadily and drastically. Moreover, thanks to the worldwide hit of the iPhone, Apple's smartphone product in the United States, mobile terminals that can be used for various purposes by combining with various application programs while enabling wireless telephony communication, such as smartphones, have been developed and distributed in various ways. have.

On the other hand, due to advances in electronics, devices for remote control of electronic devices, commonly referred to as remote controls, are widely used at home, at work, and in various other places. However, such a remote controller is, in most cases, dedicated to a particular electronic device, and thus, if lost or discharged, the remote control cannot be used properly. In view of the recent situation where there are more than 10 remote controllers in each house, the dedicated remote controller is sometimes an object that does not enhance the user's convenience, but an object that damages the user's convenience.

The present inventors propose the present invention in consideration of the proliferation of a multipurpose mobile terminal such as a smart phone and the inconvenience of managing a large number of remote controllers.

The present invention aims to solve all of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique for remotely controlling an electronic device by using a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication as a general-purpose remote controller instead of a specific electronic device.

Representative configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object is as follows.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for remotely controlling an electronic device, implemented on a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication, comprising: recognizing an electronic device, corresponding to the electronic device, a user interface and a remote control for a remote control A method is provided that includes receiving data from a hosting system regarding a rule of originating a control signal for control, and providing the user interface to a user of the mobile terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication, comprising: an electronic device recognition unit for recognizing an electronic device, an interface moving unit for receiving a user interface for remote control from a hosting system corresponding to the electronic device; And a remote control unit corresponding to the electronic device, the remote control unit for receiving data regarding a rule for transmitting a control signal for remote control from a hosting system, wherein the user interface is displayed to the user.

In addition, there is further provided a computer readable recording medium for recording another method for implementing the present invention, another system, and a computer program for executing the method.

According to the present invention, it is possible to remotely control an electronic device by using a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication as a general-purpose remote controller instead of a specific electronic device.

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of an entire system for remotely controlling an electronic device using a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a mobile terminal 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. It should be understood that the various embodiments of the present invention are different but need not be mutually exclusive. For example, certain shapes, structures, and characteristics described herein may be implemented with changes from one embodiment to another without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, it is to be understood that the location or arrangement of individual components within each embodiment may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention should be taken as encompassing the scope of the claims of the claims and all equivalents thereto. Like reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same or similar elements throughout the several aspects.

Hereinafter, various preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present invention.

[Preferred Embodiments of the Invention]

Configuration of the entire system

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of an entire system for remotely controlling an electronic device using a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that the entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured to include a communication network 100, a hosting system 200, and a mobile terminal 400.

First, the communication network 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a wireless communication network that enables the mobile terminal 400 to perform wireless communication with the hosting system 200. The wireless Internet network, a wireless data communication network, or a mobile telephone network May be included in all or part thereof.

Next, the hosting system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits an application program for remote control of an electronic device (not shown) to the mobile terminal 400, and / or relates to remote control of the electronic device. Information, for example, a function of transmitting a user interface for remote control of a specific electronic device, data regarding a rule for transmitting an infrared signal or other control signal for remote control of a specific electronic device, and the like to the mobile terminal 400. can do. That is, the hosting system 200 may perform a function of hosting the mobile terminal 400 or an application program executed in the mobile terminal 400 with respect to the remote control of the electronic device. The hosting system 200 may perform wireless communication with the mobile terminal 400 through the communication network 100 as described above.

Finally, the mobile terminal 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention executes an application program so that a user can operate an interface for remote control of the electronic device, and an infrared signal or other necessary for remote control of the electronic device. It may be a device to perform the transmission of the control signal. As long as it is a digital device that can be carried by a user, such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a web pad, a notebook computer, etc., and has a memory means and is equipped with a microprocessor, the mobile terminal 400 according to the present invention can be used. Can be adopted as.

Mobile terminal configuration

Hereinafter, the internal structure of the mobile terminal 400 performing important functions for the implementation of the present invention and the function of each component will be described.

2 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a mobile terminal 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile terminal 400 includes an electronic device recognition unit 410, an interface moving unit 420, a remote control unit 430, an information collection unit 440, a communication unit 450, and a control unit 460. And a database 470. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic device recognition unit 410, the interface moving unit 420, the remote control unit 430, the information collecting unit 440, the communication unit 450, the control unit 460, and the database 470. May be a program module in which at least some of them communicate with the hosting system 200 and / or an electronic device that is subject to remote control. Such program modules may be included in the mobile terminal 400 as an operating system, application program module or other program module, which may be activated by an application program, and may be physically stored in various known storage devices. In addition, the program module may be stored in a storage device that can communicate with the mobile terminal 400. On the other hand, such program modules include, but are not limited to, routines, subroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or execute particular abstract data types, described below, in accordance with the present invention.

First, when the user selects an electronic device to be remotely controlled by the mobile terminal 400, the electronic device recognition unit 410 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may perform a function of recognizing the electronic device. The electronic device recognition unit 410 may be configured in various ways, for example, as follows:

1. Configuration that takes advantage of user input

The electronic device recognizing unit 410 may recognize an electronic device to be the object of remote control by recognizing a typing input or a selection input for a predetermined list on the user's mobile terminal 400. The input information may relate to at least one of a model name, a serial number, a manufacturer, a trademark, and the like of the electronic device.

2. Organize to leverage search results

The user may perform a search for the electronic device by using the mobile terminal 400. The search clue used for the search may be information regarding at least one of a model name, a serial number, a manufacturer, a trademark, and the like, input by the user. Here, the search may preferably be a wireless Internet search, but may be a terminal search for data in the mobile terminal 400 or a search for data in another external device such as the hosting system 200.

When the user selects and confirms information on a specific electronic device from the searched results, the electronic device recognition unit 410 may recognize the electronic device to be the remote control object based on the information.

3. Configuration that utilizes captured images

When the mobile terminal 400 includes an imaging device such as a camera, the user may capture an electronic device with the mobile terminal 400 to obtain a predetermined image. The electronic device recognition unit 410 may be configured to recognize (eg, character recognition) a model name, a serial number, a trademark, and the like displayed on the electronic device to be remotely controlled based on the image. . Of course, recognition may be performed on the image of the electronic device itself, rather than the information displayed on the electronic device. In such a case, a known object recognition technique, as described in the specification of Korean Patent Application No. 2006-14040, may be used.

4. Configuration with Pointing

When the mobile terminal 400 points to the electronic device, a configuration for allowing the pointed electronic device to be recognized by the electronic device recognition unit 410 of the mobile terminal 400 will be described below.

(1) When the electronic device is provided with a communication module relating to the pointing of the mobile terminal 400

The mobile terminal 400 may include an infrared signal transmitter (not shown) for transmitting infrared signals to the electronic device, or may be inserted into or attached to a specific terminal thereof with the mobile terminal 400. Assume a case where a known accessory type infrared signal transmitter (not shown) is used.

In this case, the mobile terminal 400 may transmit a pilot infrared signal to the electronic device. The pilot infrared signal may allow the electronic device recognition unit 410 to obtain identification information (for example, model name, serial number, manufacturer, trademark, etc.) of the electronic device to be remotely controlled. In order to do this, the mobile terminal 400 may include identification information (for example, information about a mobile phone number, a serial number, a unique number, etc.) of the mobile terminal 400. When the electronic device receives the pilot infrared signal as described above, the electronic device may transmit its own identification information and identification information of the mobile terminal 400 to the hosting system 200. Next, the hosting system 200 may transmit the identification information of the electronic device to the mobile terminal 400 based on the identification information of the mobile terminal 400. As a result, the electronic device recognition unit 410 may recognize the electronic device to be the object of remote control.

Although the pilot signal is illustrated as being an infrared signal above, the pilot signal may be transmitted according to other wireless communication schemes such as Bluetooth communication, RF communication, wireless LAN communication, etc. according to the choice of those skilled in the art. In addition, in the present embodiment, although the identification information of the electronic device is described as being transmitted to the mobile terminal 400 via the hosting system 200, according to the selection of a person skilled in the art, the identification information of the electronic device may be transferred from the electronic device to the mobile terminal ( 400 may be directly transmitted (also in this case, it is obvious that various wireless communication schemes as described above may be used).

(2) When the electronic device is not equipped with a communication module for pointing the mobile terminal 400

If the indoor location of the mobile terminal 400, the direction in which it points, and the indoor location of the at least one electronic device to be remotely controlled can be determined within a relative coordinate system or an absolute coordinate system, the mobile device may be configured with a mobile terminal ( Even if the communication module for pointing at 400 is not included, the mobile terminal 400 can grasp the electronic device pointing thereto and perform remote control on it.

In particular, it is assumed that the mobile terminal 400 is a smartphone including a known compass function and a known tilt sensor. In this case, the mobile terminal 400 can know with high accuracy the direction in which it points in the three-dimensional coordinate system.

The location of the mobile terminal 400 may be determined by known micro location recognition technology. For reference, the micro-location recognition technology includes an infrared signal transmitter (not shown) or an ultrasonic emitter (not shown) in the mobile terminal 400, and infrared light at a specific location (eg, a ceiling) in the room. It may include a technique for positioning the signal receiver or the ultrasonic sensor to determine the position of the mobile terminal. Of course, the micro-location recognition technology that can be used in the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned, indoor location recognition technology using active RFID, CRICKET, location recognition technology based on the strength of the RF signal, RADAR technology, background image recognition Techniques, other ad-hoc location recognition techniques, and the like, may be freely used to implement the present invention.

On the other hand, electronic devices that are subject to remote control are usually fixed. In particular, in the case of a home appliance, the location may be registered in the mobile terminal 400 or the hosting system 200 together with the identification information by only pointing and registering the mobile terminal 400 once. In order to smoothly register a location of an electronic device of a user, a drawing (eg, a floor plan) of a corresponding place may be used together. That is, after the user grips his mobile terminal 400 at a predetermined location of a place requiring remote control of the electronic device, the user points the predetermined electronic device to the mobile terminal 400 and, if necessary, the location. The electronic device can be registered as a target electronic device by mapping onto a drawing of the electronic device (at least partially employing the electronic device recognition method of 1. to 3. as described above). On the other hand, with respect to the registration of the location of the electronic device, the method mainly by the pointing of the mobile terminal 400 has been described above, the location of the mobile terminal 400 can be determined by a known micro-location recognition technology In light of this, other methods may be adopted, such as placing the mobile terminal 400 on or near the surface of the electronic device, and then registering the location of the mobile terminal 400 in the state as the location of the electronic device. This should be understood. According to the present embodiment, since the remote control may be performed only based on whether the electronic device is located on the pointing line determined by the position and the pointing direction of the mobile terminal 100, the wall or the obstacle in the room. Permeable remote control may be performed regardless.

Thereafter, the user may point the mobile terminal 400 to the registered electronic device so that the electronic device recognition unit 410 recognizes the electronic device.

Next, look at with respect to the interface movable unit 420 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As described above, when the electronic device recognizing unit 410 recognizes the electronic device to be the target of the remote control, the interface movable unit 420 may provide information about the recognized electronic device (for example, a model name, a series of electronic devices). Number, manufacturer, trademark, etc.) may be requested to the hosting system 200 for an interface for remote control of the corresponding electronic device. In many cases, this interface may be a touch panel interface that enhances user convenience.

The hosting system 200 may transmit a suitable interface to the interface mover 420 according to the request. As such, the interface transmitted from the hosting system 200 to the interface moving unit 420 may be stored in the mobile terminal 400 for later use. The user may perform remote control of the electronic device by manipulating an interface transmitted from the hosting system 200 or an interface stored in the mobile terminal 400 after being transmitted from the hosting system 200.

Next, a look at the remote control unit 430 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The remote controller 430 controls an infrared signal transmitter included in the mobile terminal 400 or an accessory type infrared signal transmitter interoperating with the mobile terminal 400 according to a user's interface manipulation to transmit the infrared signal to the electronic device. I can send it. In this case, the remote controller 430 may receive data about an infrared signal transmission rule corresponding to the interface from the hosting system 200 and use it. As a result, the electronic device can be remotely controlled in accordance with a suitable infrared signal.

Meanwhile, the remote controller 430 may remotely control the electronic device without the intervention of the infrared signal transmitter or the accessory type infrared signal transmitter. For example, the remote controller 430 may transmit a signal for remote control to the electronic device by adopting another wireless communication method such as Bluetooth communication, RF communication, or wireless LAN communication. For example, the remote controller 430 may transmit the control signal to the electronic device through the hosting system 200 without necessarily transmitting the control signal directly to the electronic device. The control signal in this case may be preferably composed of a wireless internet packet or a wireless data packet.

Next, it looks at with respect to the information collector 440 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As described above, according to the present invention, data relating to an interface for remote control of a specific electronic device or an origination rule of an infrared signal or other control signal for remote control of a specific electronic device may be transmitted from the mobile system (the mobile terminal). 400 to be used for remote control of the electronic device. By the way, it is preferable that the information transmitted to the mobile terminal 400 is reused in the mobile terminal 400 due to the nature of the present invention, except when the target electronic device is changed. The information collecting unit 440 may collect the above information and store it in the database 470 as described later.

Next, the communication unit 450 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the electronic device recognition unit 410, the interface operation unit 420, the remote control unit 430, the information collection unit 440, and the database 470. It is possible to perform a function to enable the transmission and reception of data to the network.

Next, the control unit 460 according to an embodiment of the present invention is the electronic device recognition unit 410, interface operation unit 420, remote control unit 430, information collection unit 440, communication unit 450 and database ( 470 may perform a function of controlling the flow of data between them. That is, the controller 460 according to the present invention controls the flow of data from / to the outside or between the respective components of the mobile terminal 400, whereby the electronic device recognition unit 410, the interface movable unit 420, The remote controller 430, the information collector 440, the communicator 450, and the database 470 may be controlled to perform unique functions.

Finally, the database 470 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes data related to an interface for remote control of a specific electronic device or an infrared signal or other control signal transmission rule for remote control of a specific electronic device as described above. May be stored. Meanwhile, although the database 470 is illustrated as being included in the mobile terminal 400 in FIG. 2, the database 470 is separately from the mobile terminal 400 according to the needs of those skilled in the art for implementing the present invention. It may be configured. On the other hand, the database 470 in the present invention is a concept including a computer-readable recording medium, may be a negotiated database, but may be a database in a broad sense, such as data recording based on a file system, even a simple set of logs If the data can be retrieved by searching for this, it may correspond to the database 470 of the present invention. In addition, the database 470 may be replaced with a memory of the mobile terminal 400 as necessary.

On the other hand, instead of the infrared signal transmitter or the accessory-type infrared signal transmitter mentioned in the above embodiments, the independent infrared signal transmission capable of transmitting infrared signals to the electronic device on behalf of them by performing wireless communication with the mobile terminal 400. The device may be used. Such an infrared signal transmitting device may be disposed at a specific location in the room (for example, a position advantageous for transmitting an infrared signal to a plurality of electronic devices) to transmit an infrared signal.

Embodiments according to the present invention described above can be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer components and recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. Program instructions recorded on the computer-readable recording medium may be specially designed and configured for the present invention, or may be known and available to those skilled in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape, optical recording media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magneto-optical media such as floptical disks. medium) and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device may be modified with one or more software modules to perform the processing according to the present invention, and vice versa.

Although the present invention has been described by specific matters such as specific components and limited embodiments and drawings, it is provided only to help a more general understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes from this description.

Therefore, the spirit of the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments, and the scope of the spirit of the present invention is defined not only in the claims below, but also in the ranges equivalent to or equivalent to the claims. Will belong to.

100: Network
200: hosting system
400: mobile terminal

Claims (16)

A method for remotely controlling an electronic device, realized on a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication,
Recognizing the electronic device,
Receiving data from a hosting system corresponding to the electronic device, the user interface for remote control and the rule of originating a control signal for remote control; and
Providing the user interface to a user of the mobile terminal
How to include. The method of claim 1,
The electronic device recognition step,
Utilizing at least one of inputting the user's input, utilizing search results for the electronic device, and utilizing a captured image of the electronic device. The method of claim 1,
The electronic device recognition step includes utilizing the pointing of the mobile terminal. The method of claim 3,
The pointing utilization step,
Sending a pilot signal to the electronic device, and
Receiving identification information of the electronic device
How to include. The method of claim 3,
The pointing utilization step,
Determining a location and pointing direction of the mobile terminal, and
Referring to a pre-registered location of the electronic device
How to include. The method of claim 1,
And the user interface is a touch panel interface. Hosting system for transmitting an application program for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 to the mobile terminal. A computer-readable recording medium for recording a computer program for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6. A mobile terminal capable of wireless communication,
An electronic device recognition unit for recognizing an electronic device,
An interface moving unit for receiving a user interface for remote control from a hosting system corresponding to the electronic device, and
A remote control unit for receiving data regarding a rule for transmitting a control signal for remote control corresponding to the electronic device from a hosting system;
Including,
The user interface is displayed to the user
Mobile terminal. 10. The method of claim 9,
The electronic device recognition unit utilizes the user's input. 10. The method of claim 9,
And the electronic device recognition unit utilizes a search result for the electronic device. 10. The method of claim 9,
The electronic device recognition unit utilizes the captured image of the electronic device. 10. The method of claim 9,
The electronic device recognition unit uses the pointing. The method of claim 13,
And the electronic device recognition unit transmits a pilot signal to the electronic device and receives identification information of the electronic device. The method of claim 13,
And the electronic device recognition unit determines a location and a pointing direction of the electronic device and refers to a pre-registered location of the electronic device. 10. The method of claim 9,
And the user interface is a touch panel interface.

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