Activity-based control of a set of electronic devices
First Claim
1. A control system for controlling a set of electronic devices, the control system having a processor-based subsystem that is programmable to respond to a command for selectively altering respective operational states of the electronic devices, wherein a given electronic device has associated therewith an activity code sequence that defines how to transition its state from a value associated with a given activity to a value associated with a different activity and vice versa, the control system comprising:
- code executable by the processor-based subsystem in response to entry of a command to identify at least one activity code sequence that is used to transition a set of electronic devices from a set of states associated with a first activity to a set of states associated with a second activity.
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Abstract
A “reduced button count” remote control device controls a set of external electronic devices that, collectively, comprise an entertainment system such as a home theater. The remote control device is operable in conjunction with a processor-based subsystem that is programmable to respond to a spoken command phrase for selectively altering an operational state of one or more of the external electronic devices to cause the entertainment system to enter a given activity. The remote control device includes a set of buttons supported within a housing, the set of buttons consisting essentially of a push-to-talk button, a first subset of buttons dedicated to providing up and down volume and channel control, a second subset of buttons dedicated to providing motion control, and a third subset buttons dedicated to providing menu selection control. Preferably, each of the buttons has a fixed, given function irrespective of the particular command phrases or the given system activities. After the push-to-talk button is selected to engage the processor-based subsystem to recognize a spoken command phrase to cause the entertainment system to enter the activity, the first subset of buttons is used to provide any required up and down volume and channel control, the second subset of buttons is used to provide any required motion control, and the third subset of buttons is used to provide any required menu selection control. In an alternative embodiment, a control algorithm is used to place given electronic devices in required operational states without having to track the device state.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A control system for controlling a set of electronic devices, the control system having a processor-based subsystem that is programmable to respond to a command for selectively altering respective operational states of the electronic devices, wherein a given electronic device has associated therewith an activity code sequence that defines how to transition its state from a value associated with a given activity to a value associated with a different activity and vice versa, the control system comprising:
code executable by the processor-based subsystem in response to entry of a command to identify at least one activity code sequence that is used to transition a set of electronic devices from a set of states associated with a first activity to a set of states associated with a second activity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for controlling a set of electronic devices, wherein a given electronic device has associated therewith an activity code sequence that defines how to transition its state from a value associated with a given activity to a value associated with a different activity, the system comprising:
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a remote control device; and
a processor-based subsystem including code executable in response to a command to identify at least one activity code sequence that is used to transition a set of electronic devices from a set of states associated with a first activity to a set of states associated with a second activity. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. In a system for controlling a set of electronic devices, the system comprising a processor-based subsystem, the improvement comprising:
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a set of activity code sequences, wherein, for a given electronic device, an activity code sequence defines how to transition its state from a value associated with a given activity to a value associated with a different activity; and
code executable by the processor-based subsystem in response to a command (a) to identify at least one activity code sequence from the set of activity code sequences; and
(b) to use the identified activity code sequence to transition a set of electronic devices to a set of operational states associated with a given activity without tracking a then-current operational state of a given electronic device in the set of electronic devices. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification