Configuring remote control devices utilizing matrix codes

• US 8,786,410 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2011
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Beals, William Michael, Martch, Henry Gregg
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAMERT, JOHN J
• Application Number:
  US13/010,557
• Publication Number:
  US 20120188112A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 340/12.21, 340/12.28
• US Class Current: 340/12.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/20 Binding and programming of remote control devices
• 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 21/42225 characterized by types of remote control, e.g. universal remote control

Abstract

An electronic device determines information for configuring control of the device by a remote, generates a matrix codes including the information, and transmits the matrix code to a display device. The remote then captures the displayed matrix code, decodes the information, and configures itself to control the electronic device. Configuration of the remote may include pairing, configuring selection elements of the remote, and so on. In some implementations, the electronic device may interact with another device and the information may be for configuring the remote to control the electronic device in the context of the other device. Additionally, in various implementations, the remote may transmit identifying information to the electronic device which may configure itself to further communicate with the remote utilizing such information. Moreover, in various implementations, the remote may capture matrix codes generated by other devices in order to configure the remote to control those devices as well.

Claims

1. A method for configuring remote control devices using matrix codes, the method comprising:

determining, by an electronic device, configuration information that comprises a plurality of parameters for at least one remote control device to directly configure itself to control the electronic device, the configuration information associated with a particular proficiency profile preselected by a user of the at least one remote control device from among a basic proficiency level profile and an advanced proficiency level profile;

generating, by the electronic device, at least one matrix code that includes the configuration information; and

transmitting the at least one matrix code from the electronic device to at least one display device wherein the at least one matrix code can be captured by the at least one remote control device when displayed by the at least one display device and decoded to configure the at least one remote control device to control the electronic device based on the configuration information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving remote identifying information from the at least one remote control device at the electronic device wherein the at least one remote control device transmits the remote identifying information in response to decoding the at least one matrix code.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to interact with an additional electronic device and the configuration information comprises information for configuring the at least one remote control device to control the electronic device in context of the interaction with the additional electronic device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of a communication identifier for the electronic device, a network address for the electronic device, a serial number for the electronic device, a model number for the electronic device, an instruction to add at least one remote control device function, or an instruction to alter at least one remote control device function.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said operation of generating at least one matrix code that includes the configuration information further comprises receiving an instruction from at least one additional electronic device to generate the at least one matrix code.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the basic proficiency level profile defines a subset of available remote control features for enablement by the remote control device and the advanced proficiency level profile defines a full set of available remote control features for enablement by the remote control device.

7. A method for configuring a remote control device using matrix codes, the method comprising:

detecting, by the remote control device, at least one matrix code displayed by at least one display device wherein the at least one matrix code includes configuration information for the remote control device to control the at least one electronic device, the configuration information associated with a particular proficiency profile selected by a user of the remote control device prior to the detecting from among a basic proficiency level profile and an advanced proficiency level profile;

deriving, by the remote control device, from the at least one matrix code configuration information for the remote control device to directly configure itself to control the at least one electronic device; and

configuring the remote control device to control the at least one electronic device based on the configuration information.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting remote identifying information from the remote control device to the at least one electronic device in response to detecting the at least one matrix code.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

deriving additional configuration information for configuring the remote control device to control at least one additional electronic device, from at least one of the at least one matrix code or at least one additional matrix code generated by the at least one additional electronic device and detected by the remote control device; and

configuring the remote control device to control the at least one additional electronic device based on the additional configuration information.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one electronic device is configured to interact with an additional electronic device and the configuration information comprises information for configuring the remote control device to control the at least one electronic device in context of the interaction with the additional electronic device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of a communication identifier for the at least one electronic device, a network address for the at least one electronic device, a serial number for the at least one electronic device, an instruction to add at least one remote control device function, an instruction to remove at least one remote control device function, or an instruction to alter at least one remote control device function.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of the serial number for at least one electronic device or the model number for the at least one electronic device, further comprising obtaining at least one of the instruction to add at least one remote control device function, or the instruction to alter at least one remote control device function by querying a database based on the at least one of the serial number for the at least one electronic device or the model number for the at least one electronic device.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the database is stored in at least one of a non-transitory storage media incorporated into the remote control device or a database server that is separate from the remote control device.

14. A system for configuring remote control devices using matrix codes, comprising:

at least one non-transitory storage media that stores a set of instructions;

at least one processing unit that executes the set of instructions to select a configuration profile from amongst multiple profiles based on user-preference for at least one remote control device to configure itself to enable one of a subset and a full set of available remote control features to control the at least one electronic device, and generate at least one matrix code including configuration information associated with a particular user-preferred configuration profile; and

at least one communication component to transmit the at least one matrix code to at least one display device;

wherein the at least one matrix code can be detected by the at least one remote control device when displayed by the at least one display device and decoded to configure the at least one remote control device to control the at least one electronic device from the configuration information.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising the remote control device wherein the remote control device further comprises:

at least one optical detector that detects the at least one matrix code displayed on the at least one display device; and

at least one remote control processing unit that derives the configuration information from the detected at least one matrix code and configures the remote control device to control the at least one electronic device based on the configuration information.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one electronic device is configured to interact with an additional electronic device and the configuration information comprises information for configuring the at least one remote control device to control the at least one electronic device in context of the interaction with the additional electronic device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the remote control device further comprises at least one transmitter component and the at least one remote control processing unit transmits remote identifying information to the at least one communication component via the at least one transmitter component.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of a communication identifier for the at least one electronic device, a network address for the at least one electronic device, a serial number for the at least one electronic device, a model number for the at least one electronic device, an instruction to add at least one remote control device function, an instruction to remove at least one remote control device function, or an instruction to alter at least one remote control device function.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one remote control processing unit derives additional configuration information for configuring the at least one remote control device to control at least one additional electronic device from at least one of the at least one matrix code or an additional at least one matrix code generated by the at least one additional electronic device and detected by the at least one optical detector and the at least one remote control processing unit configures the remote control to control the at least one additional electronic device based on the additional configuration information.