Method and system for a universal remote control

• US 9,210,467 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2012
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Turner Broadcasting System Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Turner Broadcasting System Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sinha, Nishith Kumar, Loheide, Donald Jude, Giles, Matthew Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matt
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lu, Hua
• Application Number:
  US13/730,627
• Publication Number:
  US 20130205212A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24558 Binary matching operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/432 Content retrieval operation from a local storage medium, e.g. hard-disk details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4784 receiving rewards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

A method and system for a universal remote control used with display devices that support automatic content recognition (ACR) are described. The remote control may be paired to the display device and may receive a trigger signal from the display device that corresponds to an interactive event overlay displayed on the display device as a result of the ACR operations. The pairing may occur through the use of near field communication (NFC) signals and/or WiFi signals. A graphical user interface (GUI) may be generated for display on a screen of the remote control device that corresponds to the interactive event overlay. The screen may be a touch-screen that enables the user to interact with the remote control through the GUI. The remote control may communicate one or more signals to the display device in response to user input received by the remote control device from information provided through the GUI.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in a remote control device that is paired with a display device, wherein;

the display device communicates with an automatic content recognition (ACR) system to perform ACR on video content; and

the ACR system timing assignment of same interactive event identifiers to different sets of video fingerprints that are generated from same video content by different fingerprint technologies from multiple vendors based on a common reference clock, wherein the interactive event identifiers are utilized by the display device to trigger one or more interactive events;

receiving a trigger signal from the display device, the trigger signal corresponding to an interactive event overlay being displayed on the display device;

generating for display on a screen of the remote control device, a graphical user interface (GUI) that corresponds to the interactive event overlay; and

communicating one or more signals to the display device in response to user input received by the remote control device from information provided through the GUI.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising generating one or more near field communication (NFC) protocol signals to pair the remote control device with the display device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the screen of the remote control device comprises a touch-screen that receives the user input.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

capturing in the remote control device, an image of at least a portion of the display device;

receiving graphical and functional information corresponding to a default GUI from a database based on the captured image; and

generating the default GUI for display on the screen of the remote control device.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising replacing the default GUI with the GUI that corresponds to the interactive event overlay after reception of the trigger signal.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

capturing in the remote control device, an image of at least a portion of the display device;

receiving based on the captured image, a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the display device in a local wireless network comprising the display device; and

pairing the remote control device with the display device utilizing a wireless connection based on the MAC address received.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the wireless connection comprises a WiFi connection.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

capturing in the remote control device, an image of at least a portion of a set-top box communicatively coupled to the display device;

receiving graphical and functional information corresponding to a default GUI from a database based on the captured image; and

generating the default GUI for display on the screen of the remote control device.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising replacing the default GUI with the GUI that corresponds to the interactive event overlay after reception of the trigger signal.

10. A system, comprising:

a remote control hardware device that is paired with a display device, wherein;

the display device communicates with an automatic content recognition (ACR) system to perform ACR on video content; and

the ACR system timing assignment of same interactive event identifiers to different sets of video fingerprints that are generated from same video content by different fingerprint technologies from multiple vendors based on a common reference clock, wherein the interactive event identifiers are utilized by the display device to trigger one or more interactive events, and the remote control hardware device;

receives a trigger signal from the display device, the trigger signal corresponding to an interactive event overlay being displayed on the display device;

generates for display on the screen, a graphical user interface (GUI) corresponding to the interactive event overlay; and

communicates one or more signals to the display device in response to user input received from information provided through the GUI.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the remote control hardware device generates one or more near field communication (NFC) protocol signals to pair the remote control hardware device with the display device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the screen of the remote control hardware device comprises a touch-screen that receives the user input.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the remote control hardware device comprises an image capture device; and

the remote control hardware device ;

captures at least a portion of an image of the display device utilizing the image capture device;

receives graphical and functional information corresponding to a default GUI from a database based on the captured image; and

generates the default GUI for display on the screen.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the remote control hardware device replaces the default GUI with the GUI that corresponds to the interactive event overlay after reception of the trigger signal.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the remote control hardware device comprises an image capture device; and

the remote control hardware device;

captures at least a portion of an image of the display device utilizing the image capture device;

receives based on the captured image, a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the display device in a local wireless network comprising the display device; and

pairs the remote control hardware device with the display device utilizing a wireless connection based on the MAC address received.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the wireless connection comprises a WiFi connection.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the remote control hardware device comprises an image capture device; and

the remote control hardware device;

captures at least a portion of an image of a set-top box communicatively coupled to the display device utilizing the image capture device;

receives graphical and functional information corresponding to a default GUI from a database based on the captured image; and

generates the default GUI for display on the screen.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the remote control hardware device replaces the default GUI with the GUI that corresponds to the interactive event overlay after reception of the trigger signal.

19. A system, comprising:

a hardware device comprising a touch-screen, wherein the hardware device;

pairs with a display device that communicates with an automatic content recognition (ACR) system to perform ACR on video content, wherein the ACR system timing assignment of same interactive event identifiers to different sets of video fingerprints that are generated from same video content by different fingerprint technologies from multiple vendors based on a common reference clock, wherein the interactive event identifiers are utilized by the display device to trigger one or more interactive events; and

interacts with the paired display device in response to one or more interactive event overlays being displayed on the display device, wherein the interaction for each of the one or more interactive event overlays is via a corresponding graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on the touch-screen.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the hardware device pairs with the display device by one or both of:

an exchange of near field communication protocol signals between the hardware device and the display device; and

an exchange of WiFi protocol signals between the hardware device and the display device after reception by the device of a MAC address corresponding to the display device.