Radio Controller System And Method For Remote Devices

• US 20100267372A1
• Filed: 04/26/2010
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Rejoice Holdings, GP
• Inventors: Reber, William, Frost, Harlie D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,275,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 30/04 using wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A system and method for remote device control are disclosed. A system incorporating teachings of the present disclosure may include a radio controlled toy and a controller for controlling the toy. In some embodiments, the controller may have an input mechanism and a housing component that defines a cavity, within which may be located a wireless wide area transceiver and a wireless local area transceiver. Some controllers may also have an operating system for the controller and an application resident on the controller and operable to convert inputs received via the input mechanism into commands for the toy. The controller may have a microprocessor operable to execute the application and to cause the commands to be communicated to the toy using the wireless local area transceiver.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an over the air download of an application in a wireless telephone, the application including first instructions to control a remote controlled electronic device, the remote controlled electronic device including an image capturing device;

transmitting from the wireless telephone an instruction to control the image capturing device, wherein the remote controlled electronic device is remote from the wireless telephone;

receiving at the wireless telephone first image data from the image capturing device; and

displaying a first image at the wireless telephone based on the first image data and storing saved image data representing the first image at the wireless telephone.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating identification information for the remote controlled electronic device to a network location to facilitate a search for the application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling a movement of the image capturing device via a communication from the wireless telephone.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting from the wireless telephone another instruction to control a second remote controlled electronic device remote from the wireless telephone;

receiving at the wireless telephone second image data from the second remote controlled electronic device; and

displaying a second image at the wireless telephone based on the second image data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein displaying the second image comprises displaying the second image simultaneously with displaying the first image.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying the first image at a first display pane of the wireless telephone and displaying the second image at a second display pane of the wireless telephone, and indicating in a graphical user interface (GUI) which remote controlled electronic device is represented in at least one of the display panes.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with the remote controlled electronic device prior to receiving the application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction comprises a request to change a positioning of the image capturing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction comprises a request to change a zoom attribute of the image capturing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first remote controlled electronic device is a part of a surveillance system.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating from the wireless telephone the saved image data as an attachment to an electronic mail message.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating communication of the saved image data via a wide area cellular network.

13. A surveillance system comprising:

an image capturing device;

a computer readable medium storing instructions configured to be executed by a processing system of a wireless telephone device located remote from the image capturing device such that the wireless telephone device is operable;

(1) to display a representation of an image captured by the image capturing device; and

(2) to convert an input received via an input mechanism of the wireless telephone device into a command for the image capturing device; and

a transceiver communicatively coupled to the image capturing device and configured to receive instructions from the wireless telephone device to control a characteristic of the image capturing device and to send image data from the image capturing device to the wireless telephone device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein at least a portion of a communication between the surveillance system and the wireless telephone device is via a radio frequency (RF) link.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions are associated with identification information for the image capturing device and stored such that a user can search for the instructions based at least partially on the identification information.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the image capturing device includes a digital zoom capability.

17. A system, comprising:

a network based repository configured to allow a first device, which is remotely located and wirelessly enabled, to search for an application;

a surveillance system application accessible via the repository, the surveillance system application comprising a first set of instructions that are saved in a storage medium that is communicatively coupled to the repository and configured to enable the first device to;

receive a user input for control of a surveillance system, initiate communication from the first device to the surveillance system, recognize first data received in the first device from the surveillance system as image data, and display an image obtained from the image data on a display of the first device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein instructions of the surveillance system application further enable the first device to transmit first instructions to control an image capturing device of the surveillance system when the image capturing device is remote from the first device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein instructions of the surveillance system application further enable the first device to transmit second instructions to control a second image capturing device located remotely from the first device and to display on the display a second image obtained from second image data received from the second image capturing device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first device comprises a first display pane configured to display the image and a second display pane configured to display the second image simultaneously with the image and to indicate in a graphical user interface (GUI) which image capturing device is represented in at least one of the display panes.