Television programming of a remote control

• US 8,502,925 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2009
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VIZIO, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VIZIO, Inc.
• Inventors: McRae, Matthew Blake, Schwartz, Peter Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehmood, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALAM, MIRZA F
• Application Number:
  US12/648,322
• Publication Number:
  US 20110157478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,316 Days
• Field of Search: 340/12.28, 340/12.22, 340/12.23, 340/12.52, 340/854.9, 340/856.3, 340/825.49, 340/825.72, 340/539.1, 340/3.2, 340/500, 340/548, 345/169, 345/156, 345/179, 345/173, 345/157, 341/23, 341/173, 341/176, 348/734, 348/705, 348/569, 348/558, 700/65, 700/9, 700/13, 700/17, 700/19, 700/20
• US Class Current: 348/734
• 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 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42226 Reprogrammable remote control devices

Abstract

A television includes a television with a remote control. A user interface running on the television ascertains a brand and model number of a device that is to be operated by the remote control and after responsive to such; the television transmits commands to the remote control to program the remote control, thereby enabling the remote control to control the device.

Claims

1. A television system comprising:

a display panel;

a processing element interfaced to the display panel;

a remote control interface, the remote control interface being a wireless interfaced to the television over a bi-direction interface;

a table containing a plurality of entries, each entry representing a device type, a manufacturer and a remote control code set;

said remote control interface receiving a command that controls selecting an entry in the table by providing options of different peripherals to be controlled from the table, by providing manufacturer names and model names for different peripherals to be controlled based on data stored in the table, where one of the model names for a first manufacturer includes an option for other model names other than the model names that are stored, and where selecting the other model names automatically causes update of data in the table to include new model information for the first manufacturer, and where the new model information is thereafter used as options for model names for the first manufacturer; and

said remote control interface also transmitting the remote control code set from the one of the entries from the television to the remote control over the bi-direction interface.

2. The television of claim 1, wherein the processing element updates the table from an Internet.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the bi-direction interface between the television and the remote control uses infrared.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the entries of the table further represents a device model.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the code set is an industry standard remote control code set.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the code set is a sequence of individual remote control key command values.

7. A television system comprising:

a display panel;

a processing element interfaced to the display panel;

a remote control interface, the remote control interface wirelessly receiving and transmitting over a bi-directional interface;

a table containing a plurality of entries, each entry representing a device type, a manufacturer, a model number and a remote control code set;

said processing element operating to presents contents of the table, the processing element also operates to select one of the entries in the table by providing options of different peripherals to be controlled from the table, by providing manufacturer names and model names for different peripherals to be controlled based on data stored in the table, where one of the model names for a first manufacturer includes an option for other model names other than the model names that are stored, and where selecting the other model names automatically causes update of data in the table to include new model information for the first manufacturer, and where the new model information is thereafter used as options for model names for the first manufacturer; and

the processing element also transmitting a remote control code set corresponding to the one of the entries from the television to the remote control over the bi-directional interface to program the remote control to control of a device associated with the one of the entries of the table.

8. The television system of claim 7, wherein the processing element updates the table from a database external to the television.

9. The television system of claim 7, wherein the processing element updates the table from an Internet.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the code set is an industry standard remote control code set.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the table further comprises a model number.