Remote control of electronic devices

• US 8,565,745 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2012
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Louch, John O., Seymour, Eric Taylor, Shebanek, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, NHAN T
• Application Number:
  US13/488,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20120302225A1
• Time in Patent Office: 505 Days
• Field of Search: 455418-420, 455/550.1, 455/556.1, 455/556.2, 455/557, 345/169
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/007 with remote control systems remote control in general G08C

Abstract

A controlling device (e.g., a telephony device) can remotely control various tasks associated with a controlled device (e.g., a personal computer), including the navigation of user interfaces associated with applications or an operating system associated with the controlled device. A task can be controlled at the controlled device by mapping user input received at the controlling device to control commands suitable for execution at the controlled device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a first spatial position in relation to a plurality of objects on a user interface;

receiving through a network an input from a telephony device;

determining a second spatial position on the user interface in response to the input; and

outputting an audio segment related to the second spatial position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the input is input from a keypad of the telephony device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the input is a voice signal.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising stepping from the first spatial position to the second spatial position in the user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second spatial position comprises the spatial position of one of the objects of the plurality of objects.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving through the network a second input from the telephony device; and

activating the one of the objects of the plurality of objects in response to the receiving the second input.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the audio segment comprises a speech description of the one of the objects of the plurality of objects.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user authentication data from the telephony device.

9. The method of claim 8, where the user authentication data identifies a custom user profile for use in manipulating the user interface.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the telephony device a Short Message Service (SMS) message comprising text; and

entering the text into an application displayed on the user interface.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions are executable by one or more processors to:

determine a first spatial position in relation to a plurality of objects on a user interface;

receive through a network an input from a telephony device;

determine a second spatial position on the user interface in response to the input; and

output an audio segment related to the second spatial position.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the input is input from a keypad of the telephony device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the input is a voice signal.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable to step from the first spatial position to the second spatial position in the user interface.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the second spatial position comprises the spatial position of one of the objects of the plurality of objects.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to:

receive through the network a second input from the telephony device; and

activate the one of the objects of the plurality of objects in response to the receiving the second input.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the audio segment comprises a speech description of the one of the objects of the plurality of objects.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to:

receive user authentication data from the telephony device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the user authentication data identifies a custom user profile for use in manipulating the user interface.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to:

receive from the telephony device a Short Message Service (SMS) message comprising text; and

enter the text into an application displayed on the user interface.