Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08C—TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS FOR MEASURED VALUES, CONTROL OR SIMILAR SIGNALS
  • G08C19/00—Electric signal transmission systems
  • G08C19/16—Electric signal transmission systems in which transmission is by pulses
  • G08C19/28—Electric signal transmission systems in which transmission is by pulses using pulse code
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04Q—SELECTING
  • H04Q9/00—Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/422—Input-only peripherals, i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
  • H04N21/42204—User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/422—Input-only peripherals, i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
  • H04N21/42204—User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor
  • H04N21/42206—User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor characterized by hardware details
  • H04N21/42225—User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor characterized by hardware details characterized by types of remote control, e.g. universal remote control
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08C—TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS FOR MEASURED VALUES, CONTROL OR SIMILAR SIGNALS
  • G08C2201/00—Transmission systems of control signals via wireless link
  • G08C2201/90—Additional features
  • G08C2201/92—Universal remote control
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B1/00—Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
  • H04B1/06—Receivers
  • H04B1/16—Circuits
  • H04B1/20—Circuits for coupling gramophone pick-up, recorder output, or microphone to receiver
  • H04B1/202—Circuits for coupling gramophone pick-up, recorder output, or microphone to receiver by remote control
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/426—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof

Definitions

• URC Universal remote control
• the URC may have one soft key for toggling the URC to control tne TV, and another soft key to toggle the URC to control a first VCR, and yet another to toggle the URC to control a second VCR, and so on Whether a single soft key is used to cause the URC to toggle between controlling different appliances or one soft key is provided for each type of differen: appliance, the person using the URC frequently does not remember which app ance is "active" in the URC microprocessor, i.e., the person does not remember which appliance the URC was last toggled to, and becomes confused, frustrated, and annoyed.
• the person believes he is controlling the TV after having inadvertently pressed the VCR device soft key and is unable to change the TV channel with a control key, or use any of the "mapped" keys (i.e., the keys which control other functions) until he uses the soft key to toggle back to the TV
• the "mapped" keys i.e., the keys which control other functions
• an appliance which is not selected via the URC soft key(s) "ignores" signals used to control the other appliances. In some cases this problem has resulted in unjustified warranty claims.
• the present invention which comprises in one aspect a system comprising a first remote controllable appliance and a universal remote control transmitter having a selection key for selecting for control either the first remote controllable appliance or a different remote controllable appliance and having control keys for causing a control signal to be transmitted for controlling the selected appliance, wherein the first appliance responds to control signals for a different appliance by indicating that the selected appliance is not the first appliance.
• the first appliance can either indicate that a different appliance has been selected, or it can indicate which different appliance has been selected by interpreting control signals received from the URC.
• the URC which includes a microprocessor, is generally programmed to transmit a selected appliance identification code along with control code when a control key is pressed. Previously a soft key would have been pressed to toggle the appliance selection routine in the microprocessor, and so the selected appliance identification code can be called up and transmitted along with code transmitted in response to control key presses.
• the first appliance must have a display, a synthetic voice generation system, or another indication system and a microprocessor which interprets received code from URC transmissions.
• the first appliance is programmed to respond to a control code for that first appliance in the normal way, but the first appliance according to this invention is programmed to also respond to an appliance identification code which is transmitted along with control codes for other appliances which may be selected or toggled within the transmitter, and to indicate which other appliance has been selected, or merely the fact that another appliance has been selected.
• a TV may display text such as "VCR” in the channel indicator location when the user tries to press a TV oriented control button when VCR has been selected.
• VCR the first appliance and the user has used a soft key to toggle to the transmitter to control the TV and then tries to control the VCR by pressing PLAY
• the VCR may display the word "TV” to indicate the toggle state, or it may generate a synthetic voice indication saying "TV selected.” In this way, the user can know which remote mode is being used.
• the supplier of the URC transmitter and the first appliance e.g., a TV
• the supplier of the URC transmitter and the first appliance would program the URC to transmit the selected device code at the beginning of the transmission of a control signal for each possible other device, or at the end of such a control signal.
• the control transmission would include the code format for controlling the different appliance, which the TV would not normally have recognized, and also code identifying the selected appliance which the TV would recognize. In this way, the receiver coding is simplified, and a very small code change is needed for the URC.
• wireless IR,RF, Sonic, etc.
• FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a hand held remote control transmitter.
• FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a remote control microprocessor logic.
• FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the microprocessor logic for a controllable appliance.
• DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1 , a hand held universal remote control transmitter 12 is provided with control keys 13, 14, etc., and one or more appliance selection keys 1 1 , 10, etc., which cause the microprocessor to toggle between control of the various appliances.
• the microprocessor can be toggled to control either a television, VCR, DVD, audio system, satellite receiver, cable box, an oven, or any of a wide variety of appliances.
• Pressing the control keys 13, 14, etc. causes the microprocessor to instruct the transmitter to send a control code, but different control codes are sent by pressing a single control key, depending on which appliance is selected or toggled in the transmitter microprocessor memory. For example, if the universal remote control transmitter has been toggled to control a VCR, pressing the ON control key will cause the microprocessor to cause the transmitter to send the ON control code which is received by the VCR and processed to control the ON function of the VCR, but that code has no effect on the other appliances which may receive it, for example the television, audio system, etc.
• the microprocessor upon receiving a signal indicating an appliance selection key has been pressed, toggles 16 the control logic to control the selected appliance. For example, with a remote control device which has a single select key, one press may toggle the control to VCR. With a remote control device which has one select key dedicated to each controllable appliance, pressing the corresponding select key such as VCR will toggle the microprocessor control logic to the VCR control routine.
• the microprocessor When a control key on the remote control device is pressed, for example the ON key, the microprocessor responds 17 to the key press by transmitting a code which comprises both the VCR-ON code and the VCR SELECTED code.
• the first appliance in this example the television, receives 18 the control and appliance selected code, or VCR-ON and VCR SELECTED in this example, and the microprocessor within the television checks or tests as to whether the code is for the television and if so, it executes the control instruction.
• the television does not execute control instructions on receipt of any remote controller code unless the code corresponds to code programmed in its microprocessor.
• the first appliance e.g., television, microprocessor is programmed to interpret appliance selected code, in this case VCR SELECTED, and display 21 an indication as to the type of appliance selected on the VCR, in this case the words "VCR SELECTED" superimposed on the television display.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Selective Calling Equipment (AREA)
• Details Of Television Systems (AREA)

Priority Applications (6)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=23870142

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (15)

Family Cites Families (20)

• 1999
  • 1999-12-22 US US09/471,073 patent/US6549143B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2000
  • 2000-12-13 JP JP2001547370A patent/JP4798918B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-12-13 MX MXPA02005976A patent/MXPA02005976A/es active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-12-13 DE DE60015797T patent/DE60015797T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-12-13 AU AU19599/01A patent/AU1959901A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-12-13 KR KR1020027008029A patent/KR100756253B1/ko not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-12-13 CN CNB008199078A patent/CN1333377C/zh not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-12-13 EP EP00982586A patent/EP1240635B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-12-13 WO PCT/US2000/033729 patent/WO2001046929A2/en not_active Ceased
• 2011
  • 2011-03-02 JP JP2011045334A patent/JP5199414B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime

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