System and method for universal remote control configuration

• US 7,375,673 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2005
• Issued: 05/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NETGEAR, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NETGEAR, Inc.
• Inventors: Spilo, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Goins; Davetta W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yacob; Sisay
• Application Number:
  US11/035,484
• Publication Number:
  US 20060152401A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,223 Days
• Field of Search: 341/176, 341/174, 341/175, 341/177, 341/178, 340/825.69, 340/825.72, 340/825.22, 348/569, 348/734, 345/173, 345/169, 715/744, 725/38
• US Class Current: 341/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/28 using pulse code
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/20 Binding and programming of remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/21 Programming remote control devices via third means
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/40 Remote control systems using repeaters, converters, gateways
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/41 Remote control of gateways
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/92 Universal remote control

Abstract

A controller is connected to one or more media devices. Each media device includes an associated native remote control. The controller includes a data store comprising one or more descriptions of remote control protocols. The user presses a button on the native remote control. The controller receives a resulting signal and compares the signal against the stored remote control protocols. After at least one and preferably less than three key presses, the controller identifies a single remote control protocol associated with the received signals, and thus identifies the media device whose remote control is being used. The user may subsequently use a controller remote control to issue commands to the media device through the controller. The controller may identify a plurality of media devices, and allow the user to issue complex commands. The controller may receive updates to its data store from a server through a network connection.

Claims

1. A system for identifying and controlling one or more media devices comprising:

a controller, the controller including;

one or more control receptors configured to receive signals from one or more native remote controls;

a processor connected to the control receptors;

a memory connected to the processor, the memory including one or more device entries, each device entry including information describing a remote control protocol associated with at least one of the native remote controls;

the memory further including a code for at least one predefined identification key associated with the one or more native remote controls and also including computer executable instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the controller to receive one or more signals from one of the native remote controls through the control receptors, and identify the media device associated with the native remote control based on the received signal, and the one or more device entries;

wherein each predefined identification key is a specific key of the native remote control that is only designated as the identification key for purposes of the process of uniquely identifying the media device associated with the native remote control, the one or more identification keys of the native remote control being less than the entire set of keys and being the only keys that can uniquely identify the media device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the controller to:

extract a code from one of the received signals; and

find the code in the information describing a remote control protocol in the one or more device entries.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions further cause the controller to request that a user press one of the one or more identification keys on the native remote control.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more media devices comprise a television set connected to the controller, and wherein the request is displayed on the television set.

5. The system of claim 1, further including

a controller remote control;

and

one or more control transmitters, each connected to the controller and one of the one or more media devices.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein each remote control protocol is also associated with one of the one or more media devices and the instructions further cause the controller to:

receive a second signal from the controller remote control;

translate the second signal into a native remote protocol associated with one of the one or more media devices, based on the a description of the native remote protocol stored in the memory; and

send the translated second signal to the media device through the control transmitter connected to the media device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions further cause the controller to issue a plurality of commands to at least one of the one or more media devices through at least one of the one or more control transmitters as a result of a single command issued by a user through the controller remote control.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of commands include commands sent to at least two media devices.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising one or more data interfaces, each connected to at least one of the one or more media devices.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to selectively route data between the media devices through the one or more data interfaces.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the controller to issue a plurality of commands to at least two of the media devices through at least two of the control transmitters and route data between the at least two media devices as a result of a single command issued by a user through the controller remote control.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising a data stream distributor for routing the data communicated through the data interfaces without sending that data directly to the processor.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a network interface.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the controller to communicate with a server through the network interface and download an update.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the update comprises an additional device entry, the additional device entry defining an additional remote control protocol.

16. The system of claim 2, wherein each device entry further comprises data describing one or more device features and capabilities of the corresponding device, and wherein the instructions further cause the controller to interact with one or more identified devices based on the data describing the features and capabilities of the identified devices.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the controller to send a command to an identified device based on the data describing the features and capabilities of the identified device.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the controller to send a data stream to an identified device in a format based on the data describing the features and capabilities of the identified device.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein each native remote control is associated with one of the one or more media devices.

20. A method for identifying a first media device having an associated first remote control protocol by using a native remote control, the method comprising:

predefining one or more remote control identification key codes at a controller;

associating one or more identification keys with the identification key code, wherein each designated identification key is a specific key of the native remote control that is only designated as the identification key for purposes of a process of uniquely identifying the media device associated with the native remote control, the identification key of the native remote control being less than the entire set of keys for the native remote control;

receiving, at the controller, a signal from the native remote control as a result of a press of a designated key;

requesting the user to press an identification key as the designated key;

comparing the signal with the one or more predefined remote control identification key codes; and

identifying at least one remote control protocol that is compatible with the signal.

21. The method of claim 20, further including the step of repeating the receiving, comparing, and identifying steps until the first remote control protocol is identified as compatible with all the received signals.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the requesting step is performed by displaying a request at a television or video monitor in communication with the controller.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a command at the controller from a controller remote, according to a command protocol associated with the controller;

translating the command to a corresponding command according to the first remote control protocol; and

sending the command to the first media device.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

identifying a second media device;

associating a second remote control protocol with the second media device;

receiving a command at the controller from a controller remote, according to a command protocol associated with the controller;

converting the command into a first and second commands by the controller, the first and second commands being expressed in the first and second remote control protocols respectively;

sending the first and second commands to the first and second devices, respectively by the controller.

25. The method of claim 24, further including forwarding a data stream between the first and second media devices as a result of the command.

26. The method of claim 20, further comprising the following steps performed by the controller:

connecting to a remote server; and

receiving additional remote control protocols from the remote server.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

predefining data describing the features and capabilities of one or more devices;

identifying at least one device that is associated with an identified remote control protocol, wherein the data describing features and capabilities includes data describing features and capabilities of the identified device;

interacting with the at least one identified device based on the data describing the features and capabilities of the identified device.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the interacting step further includes sending a command to the identified device based on the data describing the features and capabilities of the identified device.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the interacting step further includes sending a data stream to the identified device in a format based on the data describing the features and capabilities of the identified device.

30. The method of claim 20, wherein the native remote control is associated with the first media device.

31. A method for identifying a media device having an associated remote control protocol and an associated native remote control, the method comprising:

predefining one or more remote control identification key codes at a controller;

selecting a device type of the media device from a menu;

receiving a signal from the native remote control as a result of a press of a designated key; and

comparing the signal with the one or more predefined remote control identification key codes to determine how many remote control protocols are compatible with the received signal, wherein the signal is only compared with the identification key codes that belong to the selected device type of the media device.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

upon determination that one remote control protocol is compatible with the received signal, identifying the media device as a device compatible with the one remote control protocol.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

upon determination that a plurality of remote control protocols are compatible with the received signal, repeating the receiving and comparing actions until only one remote control protocol is determined to be compatible with all the received signals; and

identifying the media device as a device compatible with the one remote control protocol.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the menu includes a listing of one or more general device types which are compatible with the controller and the user selects the device type with a controller, the controller searching remote control protocols that only belong to the selected device type and not among all media device remote control protocols.