Tethered Digital Butler Consumer Electronic Device and Method
First Claim
1. A multi-media and communications system, including:
- a palm-held remote; and
a bread-box or smaller sized console in wireless communication with the remote;
wherein the palm-held remote integrates at least a fingerprint reader, a speaker, microphone and volume control adapted for use as a telephone, a display at least capable of showing a telephone number, a cursor control and trigger adapted to select and control resources of the console, a compact keypad including numeric keys usable for telephone dialing, the compact keypad further including alphabetic keys usable for web browsing, wherein the bread-box or smaller sized console integrates at least a DVD/CD player, a network port and logic and resources adapted to authenticate users of the palm-held remote and personalize their telephone network connection and their Internet browsing based on fingerprints received from the palm-held remote, connect the palm-held remote to the telephone network, connect the palm-held remote to the Internet and display web pages on a monitor or television, control channels accessed by a video receiver, drive speakers and provide volume control, provide playback control for the DVD/CD player, and access and playback digitally stored music;
whereby the palm-held remote allows a user of to select among and use the bread-box or smaller sized console'"'"'s user authentication and personalization, telephone network connection, Internet browsing, channel control, volume control, DVD/CD playback control, and digitally stored music access and playback.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a tethered digital butler consumer electronics product and method. The tethered digital butler, of a price and form factor suitable for consumer electronics markets of developed and developing countries, includes a communications and multi-media console and a wireless remote. The remote may resemble a handheld personal computer (HPC), a palm-held personal computer (PPC or PDA) or a smart phone, but has a low cost and feature set supported by the console that is novel in the consumer electronics market. In particular, this disclosure relates to combining telephone service, device control and, optionally, a fingerprint reader for easy user identification/authorization and personalization. As another option, a camera can be incorporated into the remote, thereby enabling video conferencing and other visual features. Alternatively, the remote may be packaged separately from a console and sold to interact with capabilities of a communications and console, set-top box, multi-media PC or other consumer electronics device from a different source, such as one running on a Windows, OS X or Linux platform, with or without telephone capabilities. The remote may include a media reader and remote USB port.
-
Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A multi-media and communications system, including:
-
a palm-held remote; and
a bread-box or smaller sized console in wireless communication with the remote;
wherein the palm-held remote integrates at least a fingerprint reader, a speaker, microphone and volume control adapted for use as a telephone, a display at least capable of showing a telephone number, a cursor control and trigger adapted to select and control resources of the console, a compact keypad including numeric keys usable for telephone dialing, the compact keypad further including alphabetic keys usable for web browsing, wherein the bread-box or smaller sized console integrates at least a DVD/CD player, a network port and logic and resources adapted to authenticate users of the palm-held remote and personalize their telephone network connection and their Internet browsing based on fingerprints received from the palm-held remote, connect the palm-held remote to the telephone network, connect the palm-held remote to the Internet and display web pages on a monitor or television, control channels accessed by a video receiver, drive speakers and provide volume control, provide playback control for the DVD/CD player, and access and playback digitally stored music;
whereby the palm-held remote allows a user of to select among and use the bread-box or smaller sized console'"'"'s user authentication and personalization, telephone network connection, Internet browsing, channel control, volume control, DVD/CD playback control, and digitally stored music access and playback. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A remote control for a media center, the media center including logic and resources to process wireless input, the remote control including:
-
a palm-held remote adapted to invoke glue logic running on the media center by wirelessly directing input to the media center;
wherein the palm-held remote integrates at least a speaker, microphone and volume control adapted for use as a telephone, a display at least capable of showing a telephone number, a cursor control and trigger adapted to select and control resources of the console, a compact keypad including numeric keys usable for telephone dialing, the compact keypad further including alphabetic keys usable for web browsing, wherein the glue logic invoked wirelessly by the remote control is adapted to connect the speaker and microphone to a telecom module and connect the keyboard, cursor control and trigger to an Internet browsing module and one or more media center controls of media selection, playback and volume control. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A multi-media and communications system, including:
-
a palm-held remote; and
a bread-box or smaller sized console in wireless communication with the remote;
wherein the palm-held remote integrates at least a fingerprint reader, a speaker, microphone and volume control adapted for use as a telephone, a display at least capable of showing a telephone number, a cursor control and trigger adapted to select and control resources of the console, a compact keypad including numeric keys usable for telephone dialing, the compact keypad further including alphabetic keys usable for messaging, wherein the bread-box or smaller sized console integrates at least a DVD/CD player, a network port and logic and resources adapted to authenticate users of the palm-held remote and personalize their telephone network connection and their messaging based on fingerprints received from the palm-held remote, connect the palm-held remote to the telephone network, send and receive messages across a communications network, displaying the messages on a monitor or television, control channels accessed by a video receiver, drive speakers and provide volume control, and provide playback control for the DVD/CD player;
whereby the palm-held remote allows a user of to select among and use the bread-box or smaller sized console'"'"'s user authentication and personalization, telephone network connection, messaging, channel control, volume control, and DVD/CD playback control. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A multi-media and communications system, including:
-
a palm-held remote; and
a bread-box or smaller sized console in wireless communication with the remote;
wherein the palm-held remote integrates at least a fingerprint reader, a speaker, microphone and volume control adapted for use as a telephone, a display at least capable of showing a telephone number, a cursor control and trigger adapted to select and control resources of the console, a compact keypad including numeric keys usable for telephone dialing, the compact keypad further including alphabetic keys usable for web browsing, wherein the bread-box or smaller sized console integrates at least a media card reader, a network port and logic and resources adapted to authenticate users of the palm-held remote and personalize their telephone network connection based on fingerprints received from the palm-held remote, connect the palm-held remote to the telephone network, control with the palm-held remote retrieval, transfer and playback of digital content from the media card reader, control channels accessed by a video receiver, drive speakers and provide volume control, and provide playback control for the DVD/CD player;
whereby the palm-held remote allows a user of to select among and use the bread-box or smaller sized console'"'"'s user authentication and personalization, telephone network connection, media card reader functions, channel control, volume control, and DVD/CD playback control. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A remote control for a gateway device that is coupled to multimedia and communication resources, the gateway device including logic and resources to process wireless input and provide access to the multimedia and communication resources, the remote control including:
-
a palm-held remote adapted to invoke glue logic running on the gateway device by wirelessly directing input to the gateway device;
wherein the palm-held remote integrates at least a speaker and volume control adapted for use as a remote speaker, a fingerprint reader, a cursor control and trigger adapted to select and control resources of the console, wherein the glue logic invoked wirelessly by the remote control is adapted to connect the speaker to a sound reproduction module and connect the fingerprint reader to an authentication and personalization module that selects a user profile based on activation of the fingerprint reader and authentication of the user, the personalization module adapted to present the user'"'"'s personalized favorite media access, present the user'"'"'s personalized history lists, automatically authenticate the user for digital rights management, automatically authenticate the user for communication access, and automatically authenticate the user for electronic wallet reproduction of purchasing credentials. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
-
Specification