PUSHING A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE TO A REMOTE DEVICE WITH DISPLAY RULES PROVIDED BY THE REMOTE DEVICE

• US 20110145863A1
• Filed: 02/22/2011
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Toprani, Shyam S., Dorogusker, Jesse Lee, Huang, Szu Wen, Alsina, Thomas M., Fadell, Anthony M., Bull, William, Schubert, Emily Clark
• Granted Patent: US 8,970,647 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

A graphical user interface (“GUI”) can be presented on a remote control accessory device that has user input and display devices. The GUI can be defined and managed by a portable media device that is controlled using the GUI. The portable media device can provide the accessory with a GUI image to be displayed. The accessory can send information to the portable media device indicative of a user operation of an input device in response to the displayed image. The portable media device can process this input to identify the action requested by the user and take the appropriate action, which can include updating the GUI image provided to the accessory.

Claims

1. A method for operating a portable media device, the method comprising, by the portable media device:

establishing a connection to an accessory having a display device and a user input control;

receiving configuration information from the accessory, the configuration including a display descriptor and a display rule;

determining, based at least in part on the display descriptor and the display rule, information content for a remote graphical user interface image;

generating the remote graphical user interface image including the information content;

sending a video signal to the accessory, the video signal representing the remote graphical user interface image;

while sending the video signal, receiving a command from the accessory, the command reporting an operation of the user input control of the accessory; and

modifying the remote graphical user interface image based on the reported operation of the user input control, wherein the modified remote graphical user interface image is subsequently represented in the video signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the display rule includes a specification of a minimum character size.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the display rule includes a region code, the method further comprising:

determining a minimum character size based on the region code.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the minimum character size is specified as an angular size and wherein the display descriptor includes a screen distance parameter, the method further comprising:

determining a minimum character size in pixels based on the angular size and the screen distance parameter.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

determining a maximum number of lines of text for an image based at least in part on the minimum character size.

7. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

determining a maximum number of characters per line of text for an image based at least in part on the minimum character size.

8. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium encoded with program instructions that, when executed by a processor in a portable media device, cause the portable media device to execute a method, the method comprising:

establishing a connection to an accessory having a display device and a user input control;

receiving configuration information from the accessory, the configuration including a display descriptor and a display rule;

determining, based at least in part on the display descriptor and the display rule, an amount of information to be included in a remote graphical user interface image;

selecting information content for the remote graphical user interface in compliance with the amount of information to be concluded;

generating the remote graphical user interface image including the information content; and

sending a video signal to the accessory, the video signal representing the remote graphical user interface image.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the method further comprises:

while sending the video signal, receiving a command from the accessory, the command reporting an operation of the user input control of the accessory; and

modifying the remote graphical user interface image based on the reported operation of the user input control, wherein the modified remote graphical user interface image is subsequently represented in the video signal.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving from the accessory information descriptive of the user input control,

wherein the information content for the remote graphical user interface image is determined based in part on the information descriptive of the user input control.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the display descriptor includes a display size specified in a length unit and a display resolution specified in pixels, wherein the display rule includes a minimum character size, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining a maximum number of lines of text for the remote graphical user interface image;

selecting a plurality of items about which information is to be displayed in the remote graphical interface image; and

selecting specific information to be displayed for each of the plurality of items based at least in part on the maximum number of lines of text.

12. The computer program of claim 11 wherein the information items include a portion of a scrollable list of items and wherein the method further comprises:

determining a scrolling speed for the scrollable list based at least in part on the maximum number of lines of text.

13. A portable media device comprising:

an accessory interface configured to communicate with an accessory; and

a processor coupled to the accessory interface and configured to provide a plurality of functionalities invokable by a user, the processor being further configured to;

receive configuration information via the accessory interface, the configuration information including display dimensions and a display rule;

receive input commands via the accessory interface, the input commands indicating operation of a user input control of the accessory;

generate remote graphical user interface images based at least in part on the received input commands, the display dimensions, and the display rule; and

send a video signal via the accessory interface, at least a portion of the video signal corresponding to a most recently generated remote graphical user interface image.

14. The portable media device of claim 13 further comprising a display device and wherein the processor is further configured to generate native graphical user interface images for the display device.

15. The portable media device of claim 14 wherein the processor is configured to switch between generating the native graphical user interface images and generating the remote graphical user interface images in response to a mode selection command received via the accessory interface.

16. The portable media device of claim 13 wherein the display dimensions include a display size specified in a length unit and a display resolution specified in pixels, wherein the display rule includes a minimum character size, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a maximum number of lines of text for the remote graphical user interface image;

select a plurality of items about which information is to be displayed in the remote graphical interface image; and

select specific information to be displayed for each of the plurality of items based at least in part on the maximum number of lines of text.

17. A method for controlling a portable media device using an accessory, the method comprising, by the accessory:

providing configuration information to a portable media device, the configuration information including display dimensions and a display rule specifying a minimum size of an image element;

receiving from the portable media device a first image signal, wherein at least a portion of the first image signal communicates a first graphical user interface image, the first graphical user interface image being based at least in part on the display dimensions and the display rule;

displaying an image including the first graphical user interface image on a display device of the accessory based on the first image signal;

detecting user operation of an input control of the accessory;

sending to the portable media device an input signal indicating that the input control was operated;

receiving from the portable media device a second image signal, wherein at least a portion of the second image signal specifies a second graphical user interface image, the second graphical user interface image reflecting the operation of the input control; and

displaying an image including the second graphical user interface image on the display device of the accessory.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the display dimensions include a display size specified in a length unit and a display resolution specified in pixels.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the display rule includes at least one of minimum character height or a minimum character width.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the display rule includes a minimum angular size of an image element.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the display rule includes a minimum size of an icon.

22. An accessory comprising:

a display device;

a user input control;

an interface configured to communicate with a portable media device; and

a controller coupled to the display device, the user input control, and the interface, the controller being configured to;

send configuration information to the portable media device via the interface, the configuration information including display dimensions and a display rule that specifies a minimum size parameter for a character;

receive a video signal from the portable media device via the interface, the video signal encoding a graphical user interface image, wherein the graphical user interface image is in compliance with the display rule;

control the display device to display an image based on the received video signal, the displayed image including the graphical user interface image;

detect operation of the user input control; and

send a signal to the portable media device via the interface to indicate the operation of the user input control.

23. The accessory of claim 22 wherein the display rule includes a minimum character height expressed in units of length.

24. The accessory of claim 22 wherein the display rule includes a minimum angular size.

25. The accessory of claim 22 wherein the display rule includes a region code and wherein a minimum character height parameter is associated with the region code.