Classifications

• • 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
  • 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
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08C—TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS FOR MEASURED VALUES, CONTROL OR SIMILAR SIGNALS
  • G08C2201/00—Transmission systems of control signals via wireless link
  • G08C2201/20—Binding and programming of remote control devices
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08C—TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS FOR MEASURED VALUES, CONTROL OR SIMILAR SIGNALS
  • G08C2201/00—Transmission systems of control signals via wireless link
  • G08C2201/30—User interface
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08C—TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS FOR MEASURED VALUES, CONTROL OR SIMILAR SIGNALS
  • G08C2201/00—Transmission systems of control signals via wireless link
  • G08C2201/40—Remote control systems using repeaters, converters, gateways
• • 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

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the field of remotely controlling electronic devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a field extensible, controllee sourced universal remote control method and apparatus for remotely controlling electronic devices, such as television (TV), set-top box, video cassette recorder (VCR), digital versatile disk (DVD) player, and so forth.
• TV television
• VCR video cassette recorder
• DVD digital versatile disk
• a universal remote control is often used.
• a universal remote is a remote control device equipped with the control codes of multiple electronic devices known at the time of design and manufacturing of the universal remote.
• universal remote controls suffer from a number of disadvantages.
• the number of electronic devices supported by a universal remote is limited to the electronic devices known to the manufacturer of the universal remote (or elected to support by the manufacturer) at the time the universal remote is made.
• New models of devices or new devices employing new control commands not known or programmed into the universal remote at the time the universal remote is manufactured are not supported by the universal remote.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates an overview of the invention, in accordance with one embodiment
• FIGURE 2 illustrates methods of the invention in further details, in accordance with one embodiment
• FIGURES 3a-3c illustrate a perspective view of an exemplary field extensible universal remote of the present invention, and exemplary display states of controllee sourced control end user interface displayed thereon, in accordance with one embodiment
• FIGURE 4 illustrates an end user interface implementation technique suitable for use to practice the present invention, in accordance with one embodiment
• FIGURES 5-7 illustrate one each, an internal component view of a remote control, a primary controllee electronic device, and an auxiliary controllee electronic device, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
• FIGURE 8 illustrates an XML like specification apprgach suitable for use to practice the end user interface specification aspect of the present invention, in accordance with one embodiment.
• the present invention includes a field extensible, controllee sourced universal remote control method and apparatus for remotely controlling electronic devices, such as TV, VCR, DVD players, and other electronic devices of the like.
• the present invention advantageously enables a basic generic remote control to be progressively enhanced, and field extended to function as a universal remote for a number of electronic devices incorporated with the teachings of the present invention, even if the electronic devices are new models or new devices introduced after the design and manufacturing of the basic generic remote control, thereby improving a user's remote control experience.
• controllee electronic device refers the object electronic devices controlled by the universal remote. Parts of the description will be presented in terms of operations performed by a computing device, using terms such as clicking, determining, rendering, and so forth. As well understood by those skilled in the art, these quantities and operations take the form of electrical, magnetic, or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, and otherwise manipulated through mechanical, electrical and/or optical components of a computer system.
• computer system includes general purpose as well as special purpose computing machines, systems, and the like, that are standalone, adjunct or embedded.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates an overview of the invention, in accordance with one embodiment.
• Shown in FIG. 1 is an exemplary entertainment system 100 including a primary controllee electronic device, TV 102, various auxiliary controllee electronic devices 104-108 (hereinafter, simply auxiliary devices) coupled to TV 102, and a new type of universal remote control 110 of the present invention, that is field extensible.
• TV 102 and auxiliary devices 104- 108 are incorporated with the teachings of the present invention, i.e.
• field extensible universal remote 110 with the control end user interface displays to control TV 102 and auxiliary devices 104-108, to enable field extensible universal remote 110 to function as a universal remote, and be used by a user to remotely control TV 102 as well as its auxiliary devices 104-108.
• control end user interface displays for controlling auxiliary devices 104-108 are advantageously provided to field extensible universal remote 110 through TV 102. That is, the control end user interface displays for controlling auxiliary devices 104-108, more specifically, for the embodiment, the specifications of their substantive contents, are first provided to TV 102, which in turn generates the control end user interface displays, and provides them to field extensible universal remote 110.
• auxiliary devices 104-108 may include VCR 104, DVD player 104, as well as other auxiliary device 108 of like kind.
• Auxiliary device 108 of like kind may include cable set-top box, home theatre audio control unit, video camera and so forth.
• entertainment system 100 is shown to include only TV 102 and three other electronic devices 104-108, as will be readily apparent from the description to follow, the present invention may be practiced with entertainment system 100 having any number of electronic devices, of any type, properly incorporated with the teachings of the present invention, including but not limited to, electronic devices such as lighting controls, heating ventilation air-conditioning (HVAC) controls, and so forth.
• HVAC heating ventilation air-conditioning
• auxiliary devices 104-108 are correspondingly coupled to TV 102 through cablings 124-128 as well as through "medium” 122.
• Cablings 124-128 represent convention cabling between auxiliary devices 104- 108 and TV 102.
• Medium 122 represents a number of wireless as well as wire based medium known in the art.
• medium 122 represents an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) standard based optical connection.
• medium 122 represents a Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11 based electro-magnetic wireless connection.
• medium 122 represents a serial, a parallel, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or an IEEE 1394 high performance serial bus based electrical connection.
• IrDA Infrared Data Association
• USB Universal Serial Bus
• Field extensible universal remote 110 and TV 102 are shown to be coupled to each other in a preferred arrangement, through an IEEE 802.11 based wireless communication connection 112 (for provisioning the control end user interfaces), and an IrDA standard based wireless optical connection 114 (for transmitting control commands to the controllee electronic devices 102- 108).
• field extensible universal remote 110 and TV 102 may be coupled to each other via other wireless or wired, optical, electro-magnetic or electrical connections.
• a corresponding appropriate communication protocol i.e. a wireless or wire based, optical, electro-magnetic or electrical communication protocol is employed to facilitate communication between auxiliary devices 104-108 and TV 102, in particular, the provision of the earlier described specifications of the substantive contents of control end user interface displays for controlling auxiliary devices 104-108 to TV 102.
• the corresponding communication protocol is also employed to facilitate relaying of the corresponding control commands from TV 102 to auxiliary devices 104-108.
• the auxiliary device when the auxiliary device is an electronic device that provides video signals to TV 102, such as VCR 104 or DVD 106, the auxiliary device may be coupled to TV 102 only through conventional cabling 124 or 126, without employing the additional "data" coupling of "medium” 122.
• the specifications for the control end user interface displays may be provided employing a message based communication protocol embedded in a video protocol.
• the specifications for the substantive contents of the control end user interface displays may be transmitted in accordance with a predetermined message protocol embedded in the vertical blank intervals of the video signals transmitted in accordance with the NTSC, PAL or SECAM standard.
• FIGURE 2 illustrates the field extensible controllee sourced universal remote control methods of the present invention in further details, in accordance with one embodiment.
• field extensible universal remote 110 broadcast discovery messages 202 to locate a proximately located primary controllee electronic device (for the embodiment, that is TV 102).
• the broadcast may be triggered through explicit user control (e.g. in response to the user's selection of a particular control key or a pre-determined selection pattern of one or more control keys of universal remote 110).
• the broadcast may be made in accordance with any one of a number of discovery protocols known in the art, e.g. targeting a predetermined port a primary controllee electronic device would be listening.
• a primary controllee device such as TV 102 responds by acknowledging the broadcast, 204, and for the embodiment, assigns a network address to universal remote 110.
• a device identifier may be assigned and used instead.
• field extensible universal remote 110 issues a request 206 to update its collection of control end user interfaces.
• the request includes an enumeration of the control end user interfaces that are already in possession by field extensible universal remote 110, and their corresponding versions, thus allowing TV 102 to merely responds with only the missing or replacement versions of the applicable control end user interfaces.
• the enumeration would be "empty”.
• the request may be triggered through explicit user control (e.g. in response to the user's selection of a particular control key or a pre-determined selection pattern of one or more control keys of universal remote 110).
• the request is transmitted in pre-determined message format known to TV 102.
• TV 102 Upon receipt of the request, as alluded to earlier, TV 102 determines the amount of upgrades needed, based on the enumerated control end user interfaces that are already in possession by the field extensible universal control 110, and responds with the missing or newer versions of the control end user interfaces 208 for controlling itself and the coupled auxiliary devices 104- 108.
• control commands 210 are directly provided to each of the controlled devices, TV 102 and auxiliary devices 104- 108, through e.g. the earlier described IrDA standard based optical connection.
• control commands 210 are accepted by TV 102, and either responded to by TV 102 if they are directed to TV 102, or routed to the appropriate coupled auxiliary devices 104-108 (commands 222).
• auxiliary devices 104-108 it would not be necessary for the auxiliary devices 104-108 to be equipped to accept commands in the medium over which field extensible universal remote 110 transmits the control commands, as the control commands may be relayed back to the auxiliary device through the same medium the auxiliary device provides its control end user interface specification to TV 102. Therefore, only TV 102, i.e. the primary controllee electronic device, needs to be so equipped.
• the auxiliary device Over on the "other" side, between TV 102 and an auxiliary device, e.g. one of devices 104-108, in like manner, when the auxiliary device is first introduced in the operating environment, at an appropriate point in time during initialization, the auxiliary device would broadcast a discovery message 212 to locate a proximately located primary controllee electronic device.
• an auxiliary device e.g. one of devices 104-108
• TV 102 upon "hearing” the discovery broadcast, acknowledges the broadcast 214, and assigns a network address 214 to the "new" auxiliary device.
• a device identifier may be assigned and used in lieu of network addresses.
• the "new" auxiliary device Upon having been assigned a network address, for the embodiment, the "new" auxiliary device requests TV 102, 216, to "relay" its control end user interface to field extensible universal remote 110.
• a control end user interface is constituted in a form having a number of display states, display cells and display state transition rules.
• a "new" auxiliary device is merely required to provide TV 102 with specifications specifying the substantive contents of the control end user interface.
• TV 102 would generate the executable code for the control end user interface.
• the specifications are advantageously expressed, employing an XML like specification language (as shown in Fig. 8). XML is known in the art. Thus, this XML like approach to specifying the substantive contents of a control end user interface is well within the ability of one skilled in the art, accordingly will not be further described.
• TV 102 acknowledges the request 218, instructing the "new" auxiliary device to specify its control end user interface.
• the "new" auxiliary device Upon receiving the approval to provide the specification, the "new" auxiliary device provides TV 102 with specifications 220, specifying the substantive contents of the control end user interface for controlling the "new" auxiliary device.
• the exchanges between TV 102 and the "new" auxiliary device also include specifying whether TV 102 is to listen to and relay control commands targeted for the "new" auxiliary device, to the "new” auxiliary device. If so, in addition to updating field extensible universal remote 110 with the control end user interface to control the "new" auxiliary device, the next time remote 110 requests for an update to its control end user interface collections, TV 102 further adds the "new" auxiliary device to the list of auxiliary devices on whose behalf it is to listen and relay control commands targeted for the respective auxiliary devices.
• FIGURES 3a-3c illustrate a perspective view of a field extensible universal remote and various control end user interfaces rendered thereon, in accordance with one embodiment.
• FIG. 3a Shown in FIG. 3a, is field extensible universal remote 110 having control buttons 301-304, wireless receiver/transmitter 313, and touch screen LCD 312.
• Control buttons 301-304 are employed to facilitate functions that are common to remote controls, including but not limited to power on/off, and the earlier described discovery broadcasts and update requests.
• Wireless receiver/transmitter 313 is employed to transmit and receive signals, including the earlier described broadcast and acknowledgement messages, as well as control commands.
• LCD 320 is employed to facilitate rendering of the provided control end user interface to enable a user to interact with the provided control end user interfaces to control TV 102 and auxiliary devices 104-108.
• Illustrated in FIG. 3a is an exemplary initial display state of a control end user interface for controlling TV 102 rendered on touch screen LCD 312.
• the initial display state is a graphical representation of TV 102.
• the graphical representation of a TV 102 coveys to a user (not shown) that it may interact with a series of control end user interfaces associated with the graphical representation to control TV 102.
• the subsequent displays are rendered based on the user interactions.
• FIGURE 3b illustrates another exemplary display state of the collections of user interface displays for controlling a number of electronic devices.
• the exemplary display state reflects that VCR 104, DVD 106 and home theatre audio control unit 108 have all provided their control end user interface specifications to TV 102, which in turn has generated the corresponding control end user interfaces, and provided the generated corresponding control end user interfaces to field extensible universal remote 110, in response to update requests from remote 110.
• the update requests may have been requested by a user of remote 110, when the user adds each of the corresponding electronic device to the entertainment environment.
• the exemplary display state of the composite control end user interface includes graphic representations of each of the devices, TV 102, VCR 104, DVD 106 and home theatre audio control unit 108.
• FIGURE 3c illustrates yet another exemplary display state of the control end user interface in response to the user interacting with the initial display state.
• the next display state is displayed for the user on the touch screen LCD 112.
• the next display state includes graphical representations of various control buttons 332-334 for controlling the various operational characteristics of TV 102. These control buttons may include e.g. "buttons" for volume control, channel selection, menu display and forth.
• one of the menu buttons may be a menu button for selecting a type of sound for TV 102 (i.e., stereo, mono, surround, theater, etc.). If the user presses the menu button for selecting type of sound to control, another control display for controlling sound type is rendered as the user interface. Control of other operating characteristics of TV 102 may also be facilitated in like manners. The operating characteristics may include but are not limited to picture brightness, picture contrast, picture colors, and so forth.
• auxiliary devices 104-108 may also be likewise facilitated.
• the operating characteristics may include but are not limited to play, stop, pause, fast forward, rewind, and so forth.
• FIGURE 4 wherein a block diagram illustrating a manner in which the control end user interfaces for controlling TV 102 or one of the auxiliary devices 104-108 may be organized, and sent to field extensible universal remote 110, in accordance with one embodiment, is shown.
• an end user interface 402 for controlling TV 102 or one of the auxiliary devices 104-108 is provisioned from TV 102 to field extensible universal remote 110 in the form of a number of display state definitions 406, correspondingly defining instantiations of the control end user interface for various display states.
• Each instantiation of the control end user interface for a display state is constituted with a number of display cells 404.
• the display cells 404 include elements of the control end user interface, such as titles, icons for user selections (e.g. the up and down arrows for volume control) and the associated control commands to be issued (e.g. volume up or volume down).
• a display cell including display elements, such as a title, or other persistently displayed elements, such as power on/off, and volume control, may be associated, and therefore displayed in multiple display states.
• the display state definitions include display state transition rules 410, specifying conditions governing transitions between the defined display states (i.e. instantiations of the user interface) as a user interacts with the end user interface to control TV 102 and auxiliary devices 104-108.
• the control end user interface is to be transitioned from the display state illustrated by Fig. 3b to the display state illustrated by Fig. 3c, when the graphic representation of TV 102 of the display state of Fig. 3b is selected by a user.
• the current display state, and accordingly the current instantiation of the end user interface is locally determined by field extensible universal remote 110. Accordingly, after the transfer of display state definitions 206 (including display cells 208 and display state transition rules 210), except for instances where control commands are to be issued from field extensible universal remote 110 to TV 102 or one of auxiliary devices 104-108, minimal interactions or data transmissions are necessary between field extensible universal remote 110 and TV 102 or the other auxiliary devices 104-108.
• FIGURE 5 illustrates an internal component view of the relevant elements of field extensible universal remote 110, in accordance with one embodiment.
• field extensible universal remote 110 includes processor 502 and non-volatile memory 504.
• the processing power of processor 502 and the size of non-volatile memory 504 may vary depending on the performance design point, i.e. the total complexity of the control end user interfaces of the controllee electronic devices supported. Obviously, high performance processor and large size memory are to be employed for higher performance design points, while lower performance processor and smaller size memory may be employed for lower performance design point.
• field extensible universal remote 110 includes GPIO 506, video adapters 508 and communication interfaces 510.
• communication interfaces 510 include an IEEE 802.11 based wireless communication interfaces for communicating with the primary controllee electronic device, TV 102, for the provisions of the control end user interfaces of the various controllee electronic devices TV 102 and auxiliary devices 104-108, and an IrDA standard based optical communication interface for directly transmitting the control commands to the controllee electronic devices.
• the elements are coupled to each other via system bus 514, which represents one or more buses. In the case of multiple buses, they are bridged by one or more bus bridges (not shown).
• non-volatile memory 504 is employed to store a copy of the programming instructions implementing the earlier described broadcast, request and command issuance functions of field extensible universal remote 110.
• the programming instructions are C instructions, compiled for execution in a Palm OS execution environment having core execution services, such as memory allocations, interrupt and/or exceptions handling and so forth.
• Primary Controllee Electronic Device e. TV 1021
• FIGURE 6 illustrates an internal component view of the relevant elements of a primary controllee electronic device, such as TV 102, in accordance with one embodiment.
• the relevant elements of TV 102 include processor 602 and system memory 604.
• the processing power of processor 602 and the size of system memory 604 may be vary depending on the performance design point, i.e. the number of auxiliary devices on whose behalf it can "relay" their control end user interfaces, and if applicable, control commands.
• high performance processor and large size memory are to be employed for higher performance design points, while lower performance processor and smaller size memory may be employed for lower performance design points.
• TV 102 includes mass storage devices 606 (such as hard drive, CDROM and so forth), GPIO 607, video adapter 608 and communication interfaces 610 (such as serial, parallel, USB or IEEE 1394 based wired interfaces, Bluetooth/IEEE 802.11 based wireless interfaces, and/or IrDA standard based optical interfaces).
• the elements are coupled to each other via system bus 614, which represents one or more buses. In the case of multiple buses, they are bridged by one or more bus bridges (not shown).
• system memory 604 and mass storage 606 are employed to store a working copy and a permanent copy of the programming instructions implementing the earlier described functions of TV 102, i.e. acceptance of control end user interface specifications from auxiliary devices 104-108, generation of their control end user interfaces, and provisions of the generated control end user interfaces, as well as acceptance of control commands targeted for itself and relay of control commands targeted for applicable ones of auxiliary devices 104-108.
• the programming instructions are C instructions, compiled for execution in a Linux execution environment having core execution services, such as memory allocations, interrupt and/or exceptions handling and so forth.
• FIGURE 7 illustrates an internal component view of the relevant elements of an auxiliary controllee electronic device (such as VCR 104 or DVD 106), in accordance with one embodiment.
• auxiliary controllee electronic device 104/106/108 includes processor 702 and non-volatile memory 704.
• the processing power of processor 702 and the size of non-volatile memory 704 may be vary depending on the performance design point, i.e. the complexity of the control end user interface. Obviously, high performance processor and large size memory are to be employed for higher performance design points, while lower performance processor and smaller size memory may be employed for lower performance design points.
• auxiliary controllee electronic device 104/106/108 includes includes GPIO 710, and communication interfaces 712 (such as serial, parallel, USB or IEEE 1394 based wired interfaces, Bluetooth/IEEE 802.11 based wireless interfaces, and/or IrDA standard based optical interfaces).
• the elements are coupled to each other via system bus 714, which represents one or more buses. In the case of multiple buses, they are bridged by one or more bus bridges (not shown).
• non-volatile memory 704 is employed to store a copy of the programming instructions implementing the earlier described control end user interface related functions of an auxiliary electronic device incorporated with the teachings of the present invention.
• the programming instructions are C instructions, compiled for execution in a Linux execution environment having core execution services, such as memory allocations, interrupt and/or exceptions handling and so forth.
• a universal remote equipped with the described relevant elements may be progressive enhanced, and field extended, as a universal remote to control a plethora of controllee electronic devices, endowed with the teachings of the present invention, regardless of whether the controls for controlling the controllee electronic device are known at the time the universal remote is designed and manufactured.
• a user of the field extensible universal remote of the present invention is substantially alleviated with the burden of identifying the controllee electronic device to the field extensible universal control.
• the complexity and burden of enabling the field extensible universal control to control with the various controllee electronic devices, including new versions or new devices are shifted to the designed and manufacturers of these devices.
• a user may enjoy a much more user friendly experience in using the field extensible universal control of the present invention, to control electronic devices endowed with the teachings of the present invention.

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

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• 2001
  • 2001-11-21 US US10/006,451 patent/US7095456B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2002
  • 2002-11-20 EP EP02793980A patent/EP1446945B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-11-20 JP JP2003548528A patent/JP2005510971A/ja active Pending
  • 2002-11-20 AU AU2002359440A patent/AU2002359440A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-11-20 WO PCT/US2002/037394 patent/WO2003047243A1/en not_active Ceased

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