PROGRAMMING A UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL VIA DIRECT INTERACTION

• US 20110037637A1
• Filed: 08/13/2009
• Published: 02/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pratt, James, Edwards, Gregory, Van Vleck, Paul, Belz, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,410,970 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 341/176
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/20 Binding and programming of remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/92 Universal remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/202 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A method and system for programming a universal remote control (URC) to operate with a remote-controlled device is disclosed. Programming codes for the remote-controlled device may be transferred from an original remote control using a programming interface. The transfer may be performed directly with the URC. The transfer may also be performed using consumer-premises equipment of a multimedia content distribution network. The URC may be configured to use at least one of the programming codes to remotely control the remote-controlled device.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a universal remote control (URC), comprising:

transitioning the URC to a learning mode; and

transferring, from an original remote control (ORC), at least one ORC code to the URC via a programming interface of the ORC.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an identity of a device associated with the ORC using the programming interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the device is controllable by the ORC.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the programming interface is removably coupled to the ORC.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the programming interface is physically coupled to the URC during said transferring.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the programming interface is wirelessly coupled to the URC during said transferring.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said transferring is performed by a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device coupled to the ORC and an RFID receiver included with the URC.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reprogramming a previously configured URC control element by configuring the URC control element to perform an ORC operation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a confirmation indicating that the URC has been successfully configured to control a device controllable by the ORC; and

transitioning the URC to a controlling mode.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

controlling, using the URC, a device controllable by the ORC.

11. A method for configuring a universal remote control (URC) using consumer-premises equipment (CPE) of a multimedia content distribution network, comprising:

receiving, via an original remote control (ORC) interface, at least one ORC code describing output generated by the ORC for controlling a remote-controlled device; and

configuring the URC to control the remote-controlled device by sending the at least one ORC code to the URC.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

establishing a galvanic coupling between the CPE and the ORC for receiving the at least one ORC code.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

establishing a near-field wireless connection between the CPE and the ORC for receiving the at least one ORC code.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said establishing the near-field wireless connection is accomplished using a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device coupled to the ORC and an RFID receiver coupled to the CPE.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the near-field wireless interface is a personal area network interface.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

displaying the at least one ORC code; and

receiving user input for assigning ORC codes to URC control elements, wherein said configuring the URC is based on the user input.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein said configuring the URC is performed using a wireless interface.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said receiving is performed using a different interface than the wireless interface.

19. A consumer-premises equipment (CPE) for use within a client configuration of a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN), comprising:

a processor; and

memory media accessible to the processor, including instructions executable by the processor to;

receive first information from an original remote control (ORC) identifying a remote-controlled device controllable by the ORC;

send a request to an MCDN server for programming codes for the identified remote-controlled device;

after sending the request, receive second information, including the programming codes; and

program a universal remote control (URC) to use at least one of the programming codes.

20. The CPE of claim 19, further comprising processor executable instructions to:

display the programming codes to the user in response to first user input; and

receive second user input specifying which of the programming codes to use for programming the URC.

21. The CPE of claim 19, wherein the remote-controlled device is communicatively coupled to the CPE, and further comprising processor executable instructions to:

receive, from the URC, a command to control the remote-controlled device, wherein the command is associated with at least one of the programming codes; and

instruct the remote-controlled device to execute the command.

22. The CPE of claim 19, further comprising processor executable instructions to:

display an indication that the URC has been successfully programmed.

23. The CPE of claim 19, wherein a number of received programming codes exceeds a number of control elements available on the URC, and further comprising processor executable instructions to:

display a message indicating that certain programming codes are not available on the URC.

24. Computer-readable memory media, including executable instructions for configuring a universal remote control (URC), said instructions executable to:

receive at least one original remote control (ORC) code from an ORC via a programming interface; and

use the at least one ORC code to control a remote-controlled device.

25. The memory media of claim 24, further comprising instructions executable to:

initiate a learning mode on the URC in response to user input.

26. The memory media of claim 24, further comprising instructions executable to:

output an indication that the URC has been configured successfully to use the at least one ORC code.

27. The memory media of claim 26, further comprising instructions executable to:

associate a URC control element with an ORC code.

28. The memory media of claim 27, further comprising instructions executable to:

in response to detecting user input activating the URC control element, output the associated ORC code to the remote-controlled device.

29. The memory media of claim 27, further comprising instructions executable to:

reconfigure a previously configured URC control element by configuring the URC control element to correspond to an ORC code.