Systems, methods and apparatus for detecting replacement of a battery in a remote control

• US 7,907,060 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2008
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2008
• 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): Bugg; George A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yacob; Sisay
• Application Number:
  US12/117,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20090278701A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,041 Days
• Field of Search: 340/636.15, 340/636.1, 340/635, 340/691.1, 324 7611-157, 324/426, 324/437, 320/116, 320/134, 320/136, 348/734, 348/E5.095, 455/352, 702/63, 341/176, 341/178
• US Class Current: 340/636.15
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/371 with remote indication, e.g. on external chargers
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3835 involving only voltage measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/00 Arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless electrical link
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems, methods and apparatus are provided for indicating to a user a low battery condition of a remote control for a controlled device. More particularly, a remote control detects a low battery condition as well as the replacement of batteries in the remote control. The remote control transmits a low battery message to a controlled device responsive to detecting a low battery condition. Similarly, the remote control transmits a battery status message to the controlled device responsive to detecting the replacement of batteries in the remote control. The controlled device utilizes the low battery message and the battery status message to determine whether to present a low battery indicator to a user regarding a low battery condition of the remote control.

Claims

1. A remote control comprising:

a battery connector including terminals that connect to at least one battery powering the remote control;

a battery measurement module coupled to the battery connector that measures a first battery terminal voltage at the terminals and that determines whether the first battery terminal voltage is below a first reference voltage to determine whether the remote control is in a low battery condition, and that measures a second battery terminal voltage at the terminals and determines whether the second battery terminal voltage is greater than a second reference voltage to determine whether the at least one battery has been replaced;

a stored indicator that is settable to a low battery state indicating that a low battery status has been communicated to the controlled device; and

a transmitter coupled to the battery measurement module that transmits a low battery status message to a controlled device responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the remote control is in the low battery condition and the stored indicator not being set to the low battery state, and that transmits a battery replaced status message to the controlled device responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the at least one battery has been replaced, wherein the controlled device, responsive to receiving the low battery status message, processes the low battery status message to present a low battery condition indicator to a user regarding the low battery condition of the remote control and, responsive to receiving the battery replaced status message, withholds presentation of the low battery condition indicator; and

the remote control setting the stored indicator to the low battery state responsive to detecting transmission of the low battery status message to the controlled device and resetting the stored indicator to a non-low battery state responsive to detecting transmission of the battery replaced status message to the controlled device.

2. The remote control of claim 1, wherein the second reference voltage comprises a fixed value.

3. The remote control of claim 1, wherein the second reference voltage is obtained by adding a previously measured battery terminal voltage and an increase threshold value, the increase threshold value indicating that the at least one battery has been replaced.

4. The remote control of claim 1, further comprising:

an input module that receives user input and that generates a command message for the controlled device responsive to the user input;

the battery measurement module measuring the first battery terminal voltage during processing of the user input by the input module.

5. The remote control of claim 1, further comprising:

a transceiver that receives data from the controlled device;

the battery measurement module measuring the first battery terminal voltage during reception of the data by the transceiver.

18. The remote control of claim 1, wherein the stored indicator comprising a boolean flag or register, wherein resetting the stored indicator to a non-low battery state comprises setting the flag or register to zero.

19. The remote control of claim 1, further comprising a receiver that receives a first acknowledgment from the controlled device indicating receipt of the low battery status message, the remote control configured to wait to set the stored indicator to the low battery state until the receiver receives the first acknowledgment.

20. The remote control of claim 19, wherein the receiver receives a second acknowledgment from the controlled device acknowledging receipt of the battery replaced status message, the remote control configured to wait to reset the stored indicator to a non-low battery state until the receiver receives the second acknowledgment.

6. A remote control comprising:

a battery connector including terminals that connect to at least one battery powering the remote control;

a battery measurement module coupled to the battery connector that measures a first battery terminal voltage at the terminals, and that determines whether the remote control is in a low battery condition by determining whether the terminal voltage is less than a first threshold voltage, and that determines whether the at least one battery has been replaced by determining whether the battery terminal voltage is greater than a second threshold voltage, the second threshold voltage indicating that the at least one battery has been replaced; and

a transmitter coupled to the battery measurement module that transmits a fixed number of a plurality of low battery status messages to the controlled device responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the battery terminal voltage is less than the first threshold value, and that after the fixed number of low battery status messages have been transmitted to the controlled device, refrains from further transmission of low battery status messages to controlled device until the low battery measurement module determines that the at least one battery has been replaced, and that transmits a battery replaced status message to the controlled device responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the at least one battery has been replaced, wherein the controlled device processes the low battery status messages to present a low battery indicator to a user regarding the low battery condition of the remote control and processes the battery replaced status message to stop presenting the low battery indicator.

7. The remote control of claim 6, further comprising:

an input module that receives user input and that generates a command message for the controlled device responsive to the user input;

the battery measurement module measuring the battery terminal voltage during processing of the user input by the input module.

8. The remote control of claim 6, further comprising:

a transceiver that receives data from the controlled device;

the battery measurement module measuring the battery terminal voltage during reception of the data by the transceiver.

9. A remote control comprising:

a battery connector including terminals that connect to at least one battery powering the remote control;

a battery measurement module coupled to the battery connector that determines whether the remote control is in a low battery condition by measuring a first battery terminal voltage at the terminals and determining whether the first battery terminal voltage is below a first reference voltage, the first reference voltage indicating the low battery condition of the remote control, that measures a second battery terminal voltage at the terminals and a third battery terminal voltage at the terminals, that calculates a difference between the second battery terminal voltage and the third battery terminal voltage, and that determines that the at least one battery has been replaced when the difference is greater than a threshold value; and

a transmitter coupled to the battery measurement module that transmits a low battery status message to a controlled device responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the remote control is in the low battery condition, wherein the controlled device processes the low battery status message to present a low battery condition indicator to a user;

a receiver, coupled to the transmitter and to the battery measurement module, that receives an acknowledgment from the controlled device indicating a receipt of the low battery status message, responsive to which the remote control sets a stored indicator to a low battery state indicating that the low battery status message has been communicated to the controlled device, the transmitter refraining from transmitting any subsequent low battery status message to the controlled device when the stored indicator is set to the low battery state;

the transmitter, responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the at least one battery has been replaced, transmitting a battery replaced status message to the controlled device, wherein the controlled device processes the battery replaced status message to end presentation of the low battery indicator to the user; and

the remote control, responsive to the transmitter transmitting the battery replaced status message to the controlled device, resetting the stored indicator to a state that indicates that a low battery status message has not been communicated to the controlled device.

10. The remote control of claim 9, wherein the difference is an absolute voltage change between the first battery terminal voltage and the second battery terminal voltage.

11. The remote control of claim 9, wherein the difference is a percentage change between the first battery terminal voltage and the second battery terminal voltage.

12. The remote control of claim 9, further comprising:

an input module that receives user input and that generates a command message for the controlled device responsive to the user input;

the battery measurement module measuring the first battery terminal voltage during processing of the user input by the input module.

13. The remote control of claim 9, further comprising:

a transceiver that receives data from the controlled device;

the battery measurement module measuring the first battery terminal voltage during reception of the data by the transceiver.

14. A system comprising:

an entertainment device including;

an output interface that outputs a presentation stream for presentation on a presentation device; and

a wireless receiver;

a remote control including;

a battery connector with terminals that connect to at least one battery powering the remote control;

an input module that receives user input indicating a change to the output of the presentation stream by the entertainment device and that generates a control command based on the user input; and

a battery measurement module coupled to the battery connector that measures a first battery terminal voltage at the terminals during processing of the user input by the input module, and that determines whether the first battery terminal voltage is below a first reference voltage to determine whether the remote control is in a low battery condition, and that measures a second battery terminal voltage at the terminals, and that determines whether the second battery terminal voltage is greater than a second reference voltage to determine whether the at least one battery has been replaced;

stored indicator that is settable to a low battery state indicating that a low battery status has been communicated to the controlled device; and

a transmitter coupled to the input module that transmits the control command to the receiver of the entertainment device, the transmitter configured to transmit a low battery status message to the receiver responsive to determining that the stored indicator is not set to the low battery state and to the low battery detection module determining that there is a low battery condition in the remote control, and to transmit a battery replaced status message to the receiver responsive to the battery measurement module determining that the at least one battery has been replaced, the remote control setting the stored indicator to the low battery state responsive to detecting transmission of the low battery status message to the controlled device and resetting the stored indicator to a non-low battery state responsive to detecting transmission of the battery replaced status message to the controlled device;

the output interface outputting a low battery indicator in the presentation stream responsive to receiving the first battery status message and prior to receiving the second battery status message.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the second reference voltage is obtained by adding the first battery terminal voltage and an increase threshold value, the increase threshold value indicating that the battery has been replaced.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the remote control further comprises a transceiver that receives data from the entertainment device;

the battery measurement module measures the first battery terminal voltage during reception of the data by the transceiver.

17. A method of indicating a low battery condition for a remote control, the method comprising:

measuring a first battery terminal voltage of the remote control;

determining whether the first battery terminal voltage is less than a first threshold value;

determining whether a stored indicator within the remote control is set to a low battery state, the low battery state indicating that a low battery status has been communicated to the controlled device;

transmitting a first low battery status message to an entertainment device responsive to determining that the first battery terminal voltage is less than the first threshold value and that the stored indicator is not set to the low battery state;

setting the stored indicator to the low battery state responsive to transmitting the first low battery status message to the entertainment device;

measuring a second battery terminal voltage of the remote control;

determining whether the second battery terminal voltage is greater than a second threshold value;

transmitting a battery replaced status message, indicating that the battery has been replaced, to the entertainment device responsive to determining that the second battery terminal voltage is greater than the second threshold value; and

resetting, responsive to transmitting the battery replaced status message, the stored indicator to a non-low battery state indicating that a low battery status has not been communicated to the controlled device;

wherein the entertainment device processes the first battery status message and the second battery status message to determine whether to present an indicator to a user regarding a low battery condition of the remote control.