Apparatus for implementing universal remote controller and method thereof

• US 20050119770A1
• Filed: 11/04/2004
• Published: 06/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Joo Won, Park, Sun Bock
• Granted Patent: US 7,345,593 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/65
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/92 Universal remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus for implementing a universal remote controller and method thereof, by which a multitude of electronic products can be controlled by one remote controller. In a system including an electronic product module storing each remote controller control information of at least one or more products to output the stored remote controller control information according to an external request signal and a remote controller module receiving remote controller control information from the electronic product module and controlling a specific product selected by a user using the received remote controller control information, the present invention receives the remote controller control information from the electronic product module to display a key arrangement plan of the product to be controlled by a user'"'"'s selection based on the received control information and then outputs key information by selecting a key of the displayed key arrangement plan. Therefore, the present invention facilitates to control a plurality of the electronic products using one remote controller.

Claims

1. An apparatus for implementing a universal remote controller in a system including a remote controller module and an electronic product module including at least one or more products, wherein the electronic product module stores each remote controller control information of the at least one or more products to output the stored remote controller control information according to an external request signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the electronic product module comprising:

a receiving unit receiving at least one remote controller control information request signal and at least one key code from the remote controller module;

a transmitting unit transmitting at least one remote controller control information of product code information, key code data, and key arrangement state information;

a memory unit storing the remote controller control information of each of the products; and

a system control unit connected to the receiving, transmitting, and memory units to output the stored remote controller control information according to the request signal and controlling the system to perform an operation corresponding to the received key code.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the remote controller control information stored in the electronic product module is simultaneously outputted based on an external request.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one or more products included in the electronic product module are linked to an external network to update the remote controller control information thereof.

5. In a system controlling an electronic product module including at least one or more products, an apparatus for implementing a universal remote controller, including a remote controller module receiving remote controller control information from the electronic product module and controlling a specific product selected by a user using the received remote controller control information.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, the remote controller module comprising:

a transmitting unit performing at least one transmission of a remote controller control information request signal and a key code according to a user'"'"'s input to the electronic product module;

a receiving unit receiving the remote controller control information transmitted from the electronic product module;

a memory unit storing the remote control information for at least one or more electronic products;

a display unit performing at least one display of the electronic product the user intends to use and a key arrangement plan corresponding to the remote controller control information of the electronic product; and

a control unit receiving the remote controller control information from the receiving unit to store in the memory unit, changing a current key code and key arrangement plan based on the remote controller control information of the product selected by the user, and then outputting the key code corresponding to a user'"'"'s key input to the electronic product module.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the remote controller control information is received in case of a user'"'"'s request by a predefined specific key input or in case of booting the system at least.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the display unit of the remote controller comprises a touch-screen type display means.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the display means includes at least one of LED, EL, and LCD.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the display unit comprises a plurality of keys set up according to operations or control characteristics of a plurality of usable products, respectively.

11. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one or more products are grouped to be selected in receiving the remote controller control information or controlling the at least one or more products.

12. In a remote controller implementing method of a system including an electronic product module including a plurality of products and a remote controller module controlling the electronic product module, a method of controlling a universal remote controller, comprising the steps of:

receiving remote controller control information from the remote controller module;

displaying a key arrangement plan of the product to be controlled by a user'"'"'s selection based on the received control information; and

outputting key information by selecting a key of the displayed key arrangement plan.

13. In a remote controller implementing method of a system including an electronic product module including a plurality of products and a remote controller module controlling the electronic product module, a method of controlling a universal remote controller, comprising the steps of:

requesting remote controller control information to the electronic product module;

receiving the remote controller control information stored in the electronic product module entirely;

storing the received remote controller control information;

displaying the products to be controlled by the remote controller module by a predefined specific key;

displaying a key arrangement plan based on the remote controller control information for the product selected by a used from the displayed products; and

outputting a key code corresponding to an input of a key displayed on the key arrangement plan.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of controlling the electronic product remotely by the outputted remote controller control information.

15. The method of claim 13, the steps of requesting the remote controller control information to the electronic product module and receiving the requested information from the electronic product module, comprising the steps of:

by operating a predefined specific key by a user'"'"'s selection, outputting a remote controller control information request signal to the electronic product module;

if the request signal is received from the remote controller module, transmitting the remote controller control information corresponding to at least one of product code information, key code data, and key arrangement state information by frame unit to the remote controller module from the electronic product module; and

receiving the remote controller control information transmitted from the electronic product module in the remote controller module.

16. The method of claim 13, the key arrangement plan displaying step comprising the steps of:

selecting an electronic product to be controlled by the user;

reading the remote controller control information of the selected electronic product;

changing a key code according to the read remote controller control information; and

changing to display the key arrangement plan according to the read remote controller control information to enable a user'"'"'s key input for the corresponding electronic product.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the remote controller control information is received by pressing an update key as the predefined specific key configured in the remote controller module.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein in the key arrangement plan displaying step, a specific product is selected in a manner of grouping to display the products to be selected and the key arrangement plan for the selected product is displayed.

20. The method of claim 18, after the completion of updating the remote controller control information, further comprising the steps of:

deciding whether to control electronic products via the remote controller;

if a specific one of the electronic products is decided to be controller as a result of the deciding step, displaying a plurality of the electronic products on a display unit by the operation of the predefined specific key by a user;

selecting the specific electronic product from a plurality of the displayed electronic products;

outputting a display image by the remote controller control information of the selected electronic product; and

controlling the corresponding electronic product by pressing a key to be controlled on a key arrangement plan of the outputted display image.

19. A method of implementing a universal remote controller, comprising the steps of:

outputting a request signal for updating remote controller control information by an operation of a predefined specific key of a remote controller module;

receiving the remote controller control information including product information from an electronic product module;

deciding whether the received remote controller control information exists in a memory unit of the remove controller module;

if the received remote controller control information fails to exist in the memory unit, updating the remote controller control information outputted from the electronic product module; and

informing the electronic product module of completion of updating the remote controller control information.

21. The method of claim 19, if the remote controller control information received from the electronic product module exists in the memory unit, further comprising the steps of:

deciding whether to update the remote controller control information currently stored; and

if the remote controller control information is decided to be updated as a result of the deciding step, displaying and updating the corresponding electronic product at least once.

22. In storing and outputting remote controller control information in an electronic product module including a plurality of products, a method of implementing a universal remote controller, comprising the steps of:

storing the remote controller control information for each of a plurality of the products;

deciding whether an output of the remote controller control information is requested; and

outputting the stored remote controller control information entirely based on the requested output.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the steps of:

updating the stored remote controller control information; and

outputting the updated remote controller control information.