Methods of configuring an electronic device to be operable with an electronic apparatus based on automatic identification thereof and related devices

• US 7,558,950 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2005
• Issued: 07/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nilsson, Jan, Martensson, Viktor Karl Lennart, Ljung, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Chun
• Application Number:
  US11/260,851
• Publication Number:
  US 20070096283A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,349 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1, 713/100, 341/176
• US Class Current: 713/100
• 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: H03J 1/0025 in a remote control unit remote control tuning in general H03J9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• 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 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4432 Powering on the client, e.g. bootstrap loading using setup parameters being stored locally or received from the server resetting in general G06F1/14; program loading or initiating in general G06F9/445; bootstrapping in general G06F9/4401; secure boots of computer platforms G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method of configuring an electronic device to be operable with an electronic apparatus. The method comprises obtaining at least one image associated with the electronic apparatus, submitting a request for identifying the electronic apparatus to at least one data repository, said request including the at least one image, receiving from the at least one data repository configuration data associated with the electronic apparatus and configuring the electronic device using the configuration data. An electronic device that may be configured according to the disclosed method is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of configuring an electronic device to be operable with an electronic apparatus comprising:

obtaining at least one image associated with the electronic apparatus;

submitting a request for identifying the electronic apparatus to at least one internal data repository located in the electronic device, said request including the at least one image;

comparing the at least one image included in the request with a plurality of images stored in the internal data repository using image recognition techniques to identify the electronic apparatus;

conditionally submitting the request including the at least one image to at least one external data repository located outside of the electronic device in response to unsuccessful identification of the electronic apparatus based on the plurality of images in the internal data repository;

receiving from at least one of the internal data repository and the external data repository configuration data associated with the electronic apparatus in response to the request; and

configuring the electronic device using the configuration data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining at least one image associated with the electronic apparatus includes

generating at least one image of an object associated with the electronic apparatus using an image-generation unit in the electronic device.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of generating at least one image includes:

generating at least one image of at least one of the electronic apparatus and a remote control configured to control the electronic apparatus.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining at least one image associated with the electronic apparatus includes:

selecting the at least one image from a plurality of images stored in the electronic device.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one external data repository comprises one of a plurality of external data repositories located outside of the electronic device, and wherein conditionally submitting the request comprises conditionally submitting the request to the plurality of external data repositories in parallel.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein conditionally submitting the request comprises wirelessly transmitting the request to the external data repository.

7. A configurable electronic device comprising:

an image unit configured to obtain at least one image associated with an electronic apparatus;

at least one internal data repository configured to store a plurality of images of electronic apparatuses and configuration data associated with the electronic apparatuses;

a search-request unit configured to submit a search request including the at least one image to the internal data repository and compare the at least one image with a plurality of images stored in the internal data repository using image recognition techniques to identify the electronic apparatus, wherein the search-request unit is further configured to conditionally submit the search request including the at least one image to at least one external data repository located outside of the electronic device in response to unsuccessful identification of the electronic apparatus based on the plurality of images in the internal data repository;

a receive unit configured to receive configuration data associated with the identified electronic apparatus from at least one of the internal data repository and the external data repository in response to the search request; and

a configuration unit configured to configure the configurable electronic device using the received configuration data.

8. The electronic device according to claim 7, further including:

an image generation unit configured to generate the at least one image.

9. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the electronic device is a portable or handheld mobile radio communication equipment, a mobile radio terminal, a pager, a communicator, an electronic organizer, a smartphone or a computer.

10. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the electronic device is a mobile telephone.

11. The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein the at least one image comprises one of an image of the electronic apparatus and an image of a remote control configured to control the electronic apparatus.

12. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the image unit is configured to select the at least one image from a plurality of images stored in the electronic device.

13. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the at least one external data repository comprises one of a plurality of external data repositories located outside of the electronic device, and wherein the search-request unit is configured to conditionally submit the request to the plurality of external data repositories in parallel.

14. The electronic device according to claim 7, further comprising:

a communication interface unit configured to wirelessly transmit the request to the external data repository and wirelessly receive the configuration data from the external data repository.