Assisting use of control devices with different electronic devices

• US 8,786,413 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2011
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Reams, William R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alizada, Omeed
• Application Number:
  US13/287,988
• Publication Number:
  US 20130106587A1
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• Field of Search: 340/12.52, 340/12.22, 340/12.23, 340/5.71, 340/5.72, 340/10.5, 348/734, 341/176
• US Class Current: 340/12.52
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/21 Programming remote control devices via third means
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/50 Receiving or transmitting feedback, e.g. replies, status updates, acknowledgements, from the controlled devices
• 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 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42221 Transmission circuitry, e.g. infrared [IR] or radio frequency [RF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42226 Reprogrammable remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children

Abstract

A remote determines an acknowledgement is not received for a command transmitted to a first device, broadcasts a discovery message, receives a response from a second device that received the discovery message and a proximity signal from the remote, and configures itself to control the second device. The remote may also transmit an acknowledgement to the second device. The second device may notify the first device. In various implementations, configuration information in the response may include pairing information and the remote may unpair itself from the first device and pair with the second device. In some implementations, the remote may include a table for controlling devices and the remote may utilize an entry in the table for the second device instead of the first device. In various implementations, the remote may receive responses to the discovery message from multiple devices and may select one to configure itself to control.

Claims

1. A method for assisting use of control devices with different electronic devices, the method comprising:

determining, utilizing a control device, that an acknowledgement is not received in response to at least one command transmitted by the control device to a first electronic device which the control device is configured to control;

broadcasting at least one discovery message, utilizing the control device, to all electronic devices that are within range of at least one signal utilized to transmit the at least one discovery message and are operable to be controlled by the control device;

receiving, utilizing the control device, at least one response to the at least one discovery message from a second electronic device that received the at least one discovery message and at least one proximity signal transmitted by the control device;

configuring the control device to control the second electronic device utilizing information included in the at least one response;

wherein at least one signal utilized to transmit the at least one discovery message comprises at least one radio frequency signal and the at least one proximity signal comprises at least one infrared signal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a configuration acknowledgement from the control device to the second electronic device indicating that the control device is configured to control the second electronic device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one proximity signal is included in at least one of the at least one command or the at least one discovery message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said operation of configuring the control device to control the second electronic device utilizing information included in the at least one response further comprises:

unpairing the control device from the first electronic device; and

pairing the control device with the second electronic device utilizing pairing information included in the at least one response.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second electronic device is configured to communicate with the first electronic device, further comprising notifying the first electronic device utilizing the second electronic device that the control device is configured to control the second electronic device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the control device receives at least one additional response to the at least one discovery message from at least one additional electronic device further comprising selecting the second electronic device to configure the control device to control.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the control device performs said operation of selecting the second electronic device to configure the control device to control because at least one of:

the control device receives the at least one response prior to the at least one additional response,

the at least one response is carried by at least one first signal that has a higher signal strength than at least one second signal that carries the at least one additional response,

the at least one response includes at least one valid authorization identifier and the at least one additional response does not include a valid authorization identifier,

the control device has been previously configured to control the second electronic device but not the additional electronic device, or

the control device receives at least one user input specifying to select the second electronic device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the control device includes at least one table of control entries for controlling a plurality of electronic devices that includes the first electronic device and the second electronic device wherein each of the control entries correspond to one of the plurality of electronic devices and wherein said operation of configuring the control device to control the second electronic device utilizing information included in the at least one response comprises configuring the control device to utilize the control entry corresponding to the second electronic device instead of the control entry corresponding to the first electronic device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the control device receives the at least one table of control entries from at least one electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices.

10. A system for assisting use of control devices with different electronic devices, comprising:

a control device, comprising;

at least one first communication component configured to communicate utilizing a first type of signal and at least one second communication component configured to communicate utilizing a second type of signal; and

at least one processing unit that determines that an acknowledgement is not received in response to at least one command transmitted by the at least one first communication component to a first electronic device that the control device is configured to control;

wherein, in response to determining that the acknowledgement is not received, the at least one processing unit;

broadcasts at least one discovery message utilizing the at least one first communication component to all electronic devices that are within range of at least one signal of the first type of signal transmitted by the at least one first communication component and are operable to be controlled by the control device;

receives at least one response utilizing the at least one first communication component to the at least one discovery message from a second electronic device that received the at least one discovery message and at least one proximity signal of the second type of signal transmitted by the at least one second communication component;

configures the control device to control the second electronic device utilizing information included in the at least one response;

wherein the first type of signal comprises at least one radio frequency signal and the second type of signal comprises at least one infrared signal.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processing unit configures the control device to control the second electronic device by unpairing the control device from the first electronic device and pairing the control device with the second electronic device utilizing pairing information included in the at least one response.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the control device includes at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores at least one table of control entries for controlling a plurality of electronic devices that includes the first electronic device and the second electronic device wherein each of the control entries correspond to one of the plurality of electronic devices and wherein the at least one processing unit configures the control device to control the second electronic device utilizing information included in the at least one response by configuring the control device to utilize the control entry corresponding to the second electronic device instead of the control entry corresponding to the first electronic device.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the control device receives the at least one table of control entries from at least one electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processing unit receives at least one additional response to the at least one discovery message from at least one additional electronic device and the at least one processing unit selects the second electronic device to configure the control device to control.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein least one processing unit selects the second electronic device to configure the control device to control because at least one of:

the at least one processing unit receives the at least one response prior to the at least one additional response,

the at least one response is carried by at least one first signal that has a higher signal strength than at least one second signal that carries the at least one additional response,

the at least one response includes at least one valid authorization identifier and the at least one additional response does not include a valid authorization identifier,

the control device has been previously configured to control the second electronic device but not the additional electronic device, or

the at least one processing unit receives at least one user input specifying to select the second electronic device.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the second electronic device is configured to communicate with the first electronic device and the second electronic device notifies the first electronic device that the control device is configured to control the second electronic device.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one proximity signal is transmitted when the at least one first communication component transmits at least one of the at least one command or the at least one discovery message.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processing unit transmits a configuration acknowledgement to the second electronic device utilizing the at least one first communication component indicating that the control device is configured to control the second electronic device.