Interfacing system between digital TV and plurality of remote controllers, method thereof, remote controller thereof, and remote controller signal transmitting method thereof

• US 7,647,610 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2004
• Issued: 01/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Ik Ju
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley; Christopher
• Assistant Examiner(s): Newlin; Timothy R
• Application Number:
  US10/920,191
• Publication Number:
  US 20050097611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,973 Days
• Field of Search: 348/734, 725/34, 725/36, 725/64
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2805 Home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for interfacing between a digital TV and a plurality of remote controllers, remote controller thereof, and remote controller signal transmitting method thereof, by which Java API enabling to support a plurality of remote controllers is defined to enable interfacing between the digital TV and a plurality of the remote controllers. In interfacing between a digital TV and a plurality of remote controllers, the present invention includes the steps of defining an event class including remote controller identifiers enabling to identify a plurality of the remote controllers, respectively and identifying a plurality of the remote controllers using the event class including the remote controller identifiers, respectively and controlling the digital TV according to a signal received from the identified remote controller.

Claims

1. A method of operating with multiple remote controllers in a digital broadcasting receiver able to receive and process a data broadcast, the method comprising:

storing a Java-based event class and a Java-based function class, each including multiple APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) mapped with each of the multiple remote controllers, the multiple APIs defining remote controller identifiers identifying the multiple remote controllers;

receiving a request signal for entering a simultaneous operation mode of the multiple remote controllers in which commands of the multiple remote controllers are able to be processed in the digital broadcasting receiver at the same time;

accessing a first of the multiple APIs, based on a first remote controller identifier defined in the first API, when a first request signal for processing a first command of a first remote controller is received;

accessing a second of the multiple APIs, based on a second remote controller identifier defined in the second API, when a second request signal for processing a second command of a second remote controller is received; and

controlling the digital broadcasting receiver to execute both the first and second commands in accordance with each of the first and second APIs and the simultaneous operation mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple APIs further define signal information for keys supported by a corresponding one of the multiple controllers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the function class API and the event class API further define a function for identifying a remote controller as a default remote controller.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request signal includes the first remote controller identifier and/or the second request signal includes the second remote controller identifier.

5. The method of claim 4, the method further comprising:

identifying one of the first and second remote controller as a default remote controller if a corresponding one of the first and second request signals does not include a corresponding remote controller identifier.

6. A digital broadcasting receiver configured to operate with multiple remote controllers in a data broadcasting mode, the receiver comprising:

a storing unit configured to store a Java-based event class and a Java-based function class, each including multiple APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) mapped with each of the multiple remote controllers, the multiple APIs defining remote controller identifiers identifying the multiple remote controllers;

a receiving unit configured to receive a request signal for entering a simultaneous operation mode in which commands of the multiple remote controllers are able to be processed at the same time;

an accessing unit configured to access

a first of the multiple APIs, based on a first remote controller identifier defined in the first API, when a first request signal for processing a first command of a first remote controller is received, and

a second of the multiple APIs, based on a second remote controller identifier defined in the second API, when a second request signal for processing a second command of a second remote controller is received; and

a control unit configured to control to execute both the first and second commands in accordance with each of the first and second APIs and the simultaneous operation mode.

7. The receiver of claim 6, wherein the control unit includes an event manager configured to manage an event signal generation according to one of the first and second request signals.

8. The receiver of claim 6, wherein one of the first and second request signals is one of an infrared (IR) signal, a RF signal, and a Blue-Tooth signal.

9. The receiver of claim 6,

wherein the first request signal includes the first remote controller identifier and/or the second request signal includes the second remote controller identifier, and

wherein the control unit is configured to identify one of the first and second remote controller as a default remote controller if a corresponding one of the first and second request signals does not include a corresponding remote controller identifier.