Device control system, method, and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method for controlling a consumer electronic device, comprising:
- accessing metadata related to unique control behaviors of the consumer electronic device;
associating a universal command for controlling consumer electronic devices with one or more command codes selected from a predefined set of command codes for the consumer electronic device, wherein said one or more command codes are selected based on said metadata;
executing said universal command, wherein executing said universal command comprises transmitting said one or more command codes to the consumer electronic device.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system, method and apparatus for controlling consumer electronic (CE) devices. A control unit obtains CE device command codes and “metadata” from an interactive, wirelessly accessible database. The control unit uses the metadata, which is data relating to the unique control behaviors of a CE device, to translate between a universal control command and one or more of the command codes associated with the CE device. A wireless access method is used to download the CE device metadata and command codes to a central server or to the control unit itself. The control unit provides an interface by which end users can provide feedback concerning downloaded metadata and command codes, such that erroneous data may be corrected or so that other users may determine whether the data is worth accessing.
-
Citations
51 Claims
-
1. A method for controlling a consumer electronic device, comprising:
-
accessing metadata related to unique control behaviors of the consumer electronic device;
associating a universal command for controlling consumer electronic devices with one or more command codes selected from a predefined set of command codes for the consumer electronic device, wherein said one or more command codes are selected based on said metadata;
executing said universal command, wherein executing said universal command comprises transmitting said one or more command codes to the consumer electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An apparatus for controlling a consumer electronic device, comprising:
-
a network interface;
a transmitter;
a user interface; and
control logic coupled to said network interface, said IR transmitter, and said user interface;
wherein said control logic is adapted to access metadata related to unique control behaviors of the consumer electronic device via said network interface, to associate a universal command for controlling consumer electronic devices with one or more command codes selected from a predefined set of command codes for the consumer electronic device, wherein said one or more command codes are selected based on said metadata, and to execute said universal command in response to user input received via said user interface, wherein executing said universal command comprises transmitting said one or more command codes to the consumer electronic device via said transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
-
-
28. A system, comprising:
-
a consumer electronic device;
a server, said server including a database that stores a predefined set of command codes for said consumer electronic device and metadata related to unique control behaviors of said consumer electronic device; and
a remote control unit communicatively connected to said consumer electronic device and to said server via a network;
wherein said remote control unit is adapted to receive said predefined set of command codes and said metadata from said server, to associate a universal command for controlling consumer electronic devices with one or more command codes selected from said predefined set of command codes for said consumer electronic device, wherein said one or more command codes are selected based on said metadata, and to execute said universal command in response to user input, wherein executing said universal command comprises transmitting said one or more command codes to said consumer electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
-
41. A system, comprising:
-
a consumer electronic device; and
a remote control unit communicatively coupled to said consumer electronic device, said remote control unit including a database that stores a predefined set of command codes for said consumer electronic device and metadata related to unique control behaviors of said consumer electronic device;
wherein said remote control unit is adapted to receive said predefined set of command codes and said metadata from said database, to associate a universal command for controlling consumer electronic devices with one or more command codes selected from said predefined set of command codes for said consumer electronic device, wherein said one or more command codes are selected based on said metadata, and to execute said universal command in response to user input, wherein executing said universal command comprises transmitting said one or more command codes to said consumer electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45)
-
-
46. A database for facilitating control of a consumer electronic device, the database comprising:
-
a predefined set of command codes for the consumer electronic device; and
metadata related to unique control behaviors of the consumer electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
-
Specification