SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USER LOGIN TO A MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM USING A REMOTE CONTROL

• US 20100212001A1
• Filed: 02/13/2009
• Published: 08/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Ozawa, Toshiro, Kashyap, Praveen, Tran, Dang Van
• Granted Patent: US 8,595,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306

Abstract

Embodiments include systems and methods for user login to a multimedia system. In one embodiment, a method of logging in one or more user profiles on a multimedia system includes associating one or more actuation sequences of one or more buttons on a remote control device each with a user profile, each user profile having one or more characteristics for outputting multimedia content, the characteristics affecting multimedia content provided by a multimedia system to personalize the user'"'"'s multimedia experience, communicating a first signal corresponding to one of the one or more actuation sequences from the remote control device to a multimedia system to identify a first user profile for login, logging in the first user profile as an active user profile on the multimedia system based on the first signal, and controlling multimedia content provided to an output system of the multimedia system based on the active user profile.

Claims

1. A method of logging in one or more user profiles on a multimedia system, the method comprising:

associating one or more actuation sequences of one or more buttons on a remote control device each with a user profile;

communicating a first signal corresponding to one of the one or more actuation sequences from the remote control device to a multimedia system to identify a first user profile for login;

logging in the first user profile as an active user profile on the multimedia system based on the first signal; and

controlling multimedia content provided to an output system of the multimedia system based on the active user profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each user profile comprises one or more characteristics that affect multimedia content provided by a multimedia system to personalize the user'"'"'s multimedia experience.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more actuation sequences comprises an ordered sequence of actuating the one or more buttons.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more actuation sequences comprises actuating a combination of the one or more buttons.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the combination of the one or more buttons are actuated simultaneously.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating the first signal a second time from the remote control device to the multimedia system while the first user profile is logged in; and

logging out the first user profile from the multimedia system based on receiving the first signal a second time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein associating one or more actuation sequences each with a user profiles comprises associating a first button on the remote control with a first user profile and associating a second button on the remote control with a second user profile.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first button comprises a first color and the second button comprises a second color such that the first button and the second button are distinguishable based on color.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein associating one or more actuation sequences of one or more buttons on a remote control device each with a user profile comprises:

associating a first button actuation on the remote control device with a first user profile;

associating a second button actuation on the remote control device with a second user profile;

associating a third button actuation on the remote control device with a third user profile; and

associating a fourth button actuation on the remote control device with a fourth user profile.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first, second, third and fourth buttons are colored differently.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first, second, third and fourth buttons are each configured in a different shape.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth buttons each comprise red, green, yellow, or blue coloring.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein associating one or more actuation sequences of one or more buttons on a remote control device with one or more user profiles comprises associating one button or two button actuation sequences of the one or more buttons on the remote control with up to four different user profiles.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein associating one or more actuation sequences of one or more buttons on a remote control device with one or more user profiles comprises associating one button or two button actuation sequences of the one or more buttons on the remote control with up to sixteen different user profiles.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the output system comprises a visual output component.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the visual output component comprises a display.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the output system further comprises an audio component comprising one or more speakers.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia system comprises a television.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating a second signal from the remote control device to the multimedia system to identify a second selected user profile for login while the first desired user profile is logged in, the signal corresponding to one of the one or more actuation sequences; and

logging in the second desired user profile on the multimedia system based on the second signal.

19. The method of clam 1, wherein the characteristics associated with a user profile comprise one or more of a favorite channel, a favorite genre, a personal bookmark, instant messaging, a rating limit, picture configuration, sound configuration, and screen design.

21. A multimedia system, comprising:

an output system;

a remote control device comprising one or more buttons, the remote control device configured to provide a signal corresponding to a selection of one or more actuation sequences of the one or more buttons;

a memory component configured to store one or more user profiles, to store associations of the one or more actuation sequences of the one or more buttons of the remote control with the one or more user profiles, and to store one or more characteristics for outputting multimedia content associated with each of the one or more user profiles;

a multimedia processor configured to login one or more user profiles based on the signal received from the remote control, configured to form a joint user profile from two or more logged in user profiles, configured to use a logged in user profile or if it exists the joint user profile as the active user profile, and the processor further configured to control at least some of the multimedia content provided to the output system based on the active user profile.

22. The multimedia system of claim 21, wherein the output system comprises an image display device for outputting multimedia visual content, and wherein least some of the multimedia visual content output from the image display device is controlled by the active user profile.

23. The multimedia system of claim 21, wherein the output system comprises an audio component for outputting multimedia audio content, and wherein least some of the multimedia audio content output from the audio component is controlled by the active user profile.

24. The multimedia system of claim 21, wherein the one or more characteristics associated with a user profile comprise one or more of favorite channels, favorite genre, personal bookmarks, instant messaging client identify, rating limits, picture configurations, sound configurations, and screen design.

25. The multimedia system of claim 21, wherein the remote control device comprises four buttons configured to select an active user profile.

26. The multimedia system of claim 25, wherein the four buttons are colored differently.

27. The multimedia system of claim 25, wherein one of each of the four buttons comprise red, green, yellow, and blue coloring.

28. The multimedia system of claim 25, wherein the first, second, third and fourth buttons are each configured in a different shape.

29. The multimedia system of claim 21, wherein the output system comprises a television.

30. A method of login to a user profile having one or more characteristics for outputting multimedia content, the characteristics affecting multimedia content provided by a multimedia system to personalize a user'"'"'s multimedia experience, the method comprising:

selecting a first user profile for login as an active user profile by performing a button actuation sequence on a remote control device, the button actuation sequence comprising actuating one or more buttons on the remote control device in a sequence associated with the first user profile;

providing a signal corresponding to the first user profile for login to the multimedia system;

logging in the first user profile as the active user profile; and

providing multimedia content to an output system of the multimedia system, wherein at least some of the multimedia content provided to the output system is controlled by the active user profile.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the one or more characteristics associated with a user profile comprise one or more of favorite channels, favorite genre, personal bookmarks, instant messaging client identify, rating limits, picture configurations, sound configurations, and screen design.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

selecting a second user profile by performing a button actuation sequence on the remote control device, the button actuation sequence comprising actuating one or more buttons in a sequence on a remote control device in communication with the multimedia system, the actuation sequence being associated with the second user profile;

providing a signal indicating the second user profile for login to the multimedia system;

processing the signal indicating the second user login to login the second user profile; and

providing multimedia content to the output system wherein at least some of the multimedia content provided to the output system is controlled by user profiles of the logged in users.

33. The method of 30, wherein the remote control device comprises four differently colored buttons for selecting an active user profile.

34. A computer-program product for selecting a user profile on a multimedia system, the product comprising:

a computer-readable medium having stored thereon codes executable by at least one processor to;

associate one or more buttons on a remote control device with one or more user profiles, each user profile having one or more characteristics for outputting multimedia content, the characteristics affecting multimedia content provided by a multimedia system to personalize a user'"'"'s multimedia experience;

apply one or more of the user profiles as an active user profile based on a signal from an input device; and

provide multimedia content to an output system of the multimedia system, at least some of the multimedia content provided to the output system being controlled by the active user profile.

35. A system for controlling selection and application of a user profile, comprising:

means for associating one or more actuation sequences of one or more buttons on a remote control device each with a user profile, each user profile having one or more characteristics for outputting multimedia content, the characteristics affecting multimedia content provided by a multimedia system to personalize the user'"'"'s multimedia experience;

means for communicating a signal corresponding to one of the one or more actuation sequences from the remote control device to a multimedia system to identify a first user profile for login;

means for logging in the first user profile as an active user profile on the multimedia system based on the signal; and

means for controlling multimedia content provided to an output system of the multimedia system based on the active user profile.