Method and apparatus for configuring an electronic device

• US 9,584,873 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2013
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: Western Digital Technologies Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Jeffrey Y., Rader, Scott A.
• Primary Examiner(s): TAYLOR, JOSHUA D
• Application Number:
  US14/100,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20150106846A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,177 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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 21/42202 environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes
• 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 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34

Abstract

An electronic device including a peripheral device connection unit configured to connect to a peripheral device and to receive identification data for the peripheral device, and a controller. The controller is configured to determine configuration information, wherein the configuration information is based at least on one of the identification data for the peripheral device or geographic location data for the electronic device, obtain a user interface selected from a plurality of user interfaces based at least partly on the configuration information, and automatically configure the electronic device based on the obtained user interface.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a peripheral device connection unit configured to connect to a peripheral device that is separate from and coupled to the electronic device and to receive identification data from the peripheral device, the identification data being configured to identify the peripheral device;

a network connection unit configured to connect to a server configured to store a plurality of user interfaces, the server being separate from the electronic device and from the peripheral device;

memory, configured to store a plurality of user interfaces for the electronic device; and

a controller configured to;

determine configuration information, wherein the configuration information is based at least partly on the identification data received from the peripheral device;

configure the electronic device using a selected one of the plurality of user interfaces stored in the memory;

obtain an updated user interface of a plurality of user interfaces stored on a server by;

periodically transmitting the configuration information to the server;

determining when the updated user interface for the electronic device is available; and

when the updated user interface for the electronic device is available, receiving a selected updated user interface for the electronic device from among the plurality of user interfaces stored on the server, the updated user interface being selected based at least partly on the transmitted configuration information; and

automatically configure the electronic device based on the selected updated user interface received from the server.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the selected user interface comprises at least application information for the electronic device.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 wherein the application information comprises at least an order of applications to be displayed on the selected user interface.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the received identification data comprises manufacturer information and model information for the peripheral device.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the configuration information based on geographic location data for the electronic device and on the received identification data, wherein the geographic location data is determined based at least partly on an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 wherein the IP address comprises a public IP address associated with the electronic device.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to obtain the selected user interface by:

accessing the memory and selecting a user interface from the plurality of user interfaces stored in the memory, based at least partly on the configuration information.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to:

revise the determined configuration information based on user input from a remote control.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the peripheral device comprises a television.

10. A method for configuring an electronic device comprising:

determining configuration information using a controller in the electronic device, wherein the configuration information is based at least partly on identification data received from a peripheral device that is separate from and connected to the electronic device, the identification data being configured to identify the peripheral device;

configuring the electronic device using a selected one of a plurality of user interfaces stored in a memory of the electronic device;

obtaining, using the controller in the electronic device, an updated user interface of a plurality of user interfaces stored on a server that is separate from the electronic device and from the peripheral device by;

periodically transmitting the configuration information to the server;

determining when the updated user interface for the electronic device is available; and

when the updated user interface for the electronic device is available, receiving a selected updated user interface for the electronic device from among the plurality of user interfaces stored on the server, the updated user interface being selected based at least partly on the configuration information transmitted to the server; and

automatically configuring the electronic device based on the selected updated user interface received from the server, using the controller in the electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the selected user interface comprises at least application information for the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the application information comprises at least an order of applications to be displayed on the selected user interface.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the received identification data comprises manufacturer information and model information for the peripheral device.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining the configuration information based on geographic location data for the electronic device and on the received identification data, wherein the geographic location data is determined based at least partly on an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the IP address comprises a public IP address associated with the electronic device.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein configuring the electronic device using a selected one of a plurality of user interfaces stored in a memory of the electronic device comprises:

accessing the memory in the electronic device and selecting the user interface from the plurality of user interfaces stored in the memory based at least partly on the configuration information.

17. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

revising the determined configuration information based on user input from a remote control.

18. An electronic device comprising:

a peripheral device connection unit configured to connect to a peripheral device that is separate from and coupled to the electronic device and to receive identification data from the peripheral device, the identification data being configured to identify the peripheral device;

a network connection unit configured to connect to a server configured to store a plurality of user interfaces, the server being separate from the peripheral device and from the electronic device, and configured to connect to the electronic device and to receive identification data sent to the electronic device by the peripheral device;

memory, configured to store a plurality of user interfaces for the electronic device; and

a controller configured to;

determine configuration information, wherein the configuration information is based at least partly on the identification data received from the peripheral device;

configure the electronic device using a selected one of the plurality of user interfaces stored in the memory;

obtain an updated user interface of a plurality of user interfaces stored on a server by;

periodically transmitting the configuration information to the server;

determining when the updated user interface for the electronic device is available; and

when the updated user interface for the electronic device is available, receiving a selected updated user interface for the electronic device from among the plurality of user interfaces stored on the server, the updated user interface being selected based at least partly on the transmitted configuration information; and

automatically configure the electronic device based on the selected updated user interface received from the server.

19. The electronic device of claim 18 wherein the selected user interface comprises at least application information for the electronic device.

20. The electronic device of claim 19 wherein the application information comprises at least an order of applications to be displayed on the selected user interface.