Context sensitive remote control groups

• US 6,396,480 B1
• Filed: 07/17/1995
• Issued: 05/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Moore, Robert, Schindler, Jeffrey, Bennett, Brian A., Farwell, Randall, Chan, Rix S.
• Primary Examiner(s): LAO, LUNYI
• Application Number:
  US08/502,882
• Time in Patent Office: 2,507 Days
• Field of Search: 345/115,116,119,120,156,157,161,163-169,145,340-345,781,788,794 395/80 273/148 B 463/37-39
• US Class Current: 345/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3259 Power saving in cursor control device, e.g. mouse, joystick, trackball
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3271 Power saving in keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/021 Arrangements integrating additional peripherals in a keyboard, e.g. card or barcode reader, optical scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0213 Arrangements providing an integrated pointing device in a keyboard, e.g. trackball, mini-joystick for pointing devices integrated in a laptop computer G06F1/169; joysticks G05G9/047; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0219 Special purpose keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0231 Cordless keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0238 Programmable keyboards key guide holders G06F3/0224
• 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 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An entertainment system has a personal computer as the heart of the system with a large screen VGA quality monitor as the display of choice. The system has digital satellite broadcast reception, decompression and display capability with multiple radio frequency remote control devices which transmit self identifying signals and have power adjustment capabilities. These capabilities are used to provide context sensitive groups of keys which may be defined to affect only selected applications running in a windowing environment. In addition, the remote control devices combine television and VCR controls with standard personal computer keyboard controls. A keyboard remote also integrates a touchpad which is food contamination resistant and may also be used for user verification. Included in the system is the ability to recognize verbal communications in video signals and maintain a database of such text which is searchable to help identify desired programming in real time.

Claims

1. A processor controlled entertainment system, comprising:

a plurality of remote control devices having multiple user input devices, and adapted to provide signals representative of each user input device in response to user selection of user input devices;

a transmission device integrated into each remote control device for transmitting the signals, at least one of said remote control devices having a transmission device that further transmits an indication unique to said remote control device;

a personal computer having circuitry for receiving the signals from the plurality of remote control devices and decoding the signals to provide an indication of the user input device selected, and the remote that transmitted the received signals, wherein said personal computer is capable of running multiple applications that are responsive to selected groups of the user input devices, such that different applications are responsive to different selected groups of the user input devices.

2. A personal computer based entertainment system for executing computer program applications and viewing video information, comprising:

a plurality of remote control devices having multiple user input devices, and adapted to provide signals representative of each user input device in response to user selection of user input devices;

a transmission device integrated into each remote control device for transmitting the signals, at least one of said remote control devices having a transmission device that further transmits an indication unique to said remote control device;

a personal computer further comprising;

a processor;

a main memory;

a bus connecting the processor to the main memory;

a display adapter coupled to the bus;

a display driven by the display adapter; and

a circuit coupled to the bus for receiving the signals from the plurality of remote control devices and decoding the signals to provide an indication of the user input device selected, and the remote that transmitted the received signals, wherein said processor is capable of executing multiple applications and displaying multiple video programming, each of which are responsive to selected groups of the user input devices such that different applications and different video programming are responsive to different selected groups of the user input devices.

3. The entertainment system of claim 2, and further comprising a table of applications and programming for identifying the remote control device, and its user input devices that control each application and programming.

4. The entertainment system of claim 3, wherein multiple remote control devices on a remote control are associated with an application.

5. The entertainment system of claim 3, wherein said multiple user input devices on a remote control are associated with an application.

6. The entertainment system of claim 5 wherein one user input device comprises a trackball.

7. The entertainment system of claim 5 wherein one user input device comprises a touchpad.

8. The entertainment system of claim 5 wherein a plurality of user input devices comprise a keyboard for a personal computer.

9. The entertainment system of claim 3, wherein the received signals operate to control both the amount of the application and programming displayed in a window, and to provide commands to control the applications and programming channel selection.

10. The entertainment system of claim 9, wherein the transmission device is an RF transmitter transmitting the signals in the RF range.

11. The entertainment system of claim 10, wherein the receiving circuitry is an RF receiver coupled to the bus through standard keyboard and mouse ports on the personal computer.

12. The entertainment system of claim 11, and further comprising a system controller program executing on the processor for receiving the remote commands and identifying the application and window which should be affected by the commands.

13. The entertainment system of claim 12 wherein the system controller program routes an application command to the application for execution by the processor.

14. The entertainment system of claim 13 wherein the system controller program routes a presentation command to a window manager program for execution.