Apparatus and method to facilitate universal remote control
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a universal remote control, which includes a display screen and a user input mechanism. The universal remote control also includes a processing unit that is configured to display information on the display screen and to accept selection data from the user input mechanism. The universal remote control additionally includes a wireless communication mechanism that is configured to provide communications between the processing unit and an appliance or computer program running on a computer system. The appliance provides information to be displayed on the display screen, and information entered through the user input mechanism is communicated to the appliance. Since the appliance provides the information to be displayed on the display screen and also interprets the entries on the input mechanism, the universal remote control needs no special knowledge about the appliance.
63 Citations
50 Claims
-
1-29. -29. (canceled)
-
30. An appliance which includes a mechanism for configuring a remote control device to control the appliance, comprising:
-
a wireless communication mechanism configured to communicate with the remote control device; and
a configuration mechanism configured to send a specification for an appliance-specific user interface to the remote control device via the wireless communication mechanism, which allows the remote control device to use the specification to facilitate transmission of commands to the appliance. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
-
41. A method for sending a specification for an appliance-specific user interface to a remote control device, comprising:
-
receiving on an appliance a request for the specification from the remote control device;
in response to the request, sending the specification to the remote control device; and
wherein the specification facilitates user selection and transmission of commands to the appliance. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
-
-
50. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for sending a specification for an appliance-specific user interface to a remote control device, the method comprising:
-
receiving on an appliance a request for the specification from the remote control device;
in response to the request, sending the specification to the remote control device; and
wherein the specification facilitates user selection and transmission of commands to the appliance.
-
Specification