State-based control systems and methods

• US 8,797,149 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2012
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Logitech Europe S A (Logitech International SA)
• Original Assignee: Logitech Europe S A (Logitech International SA)
• Inventors: Harris, Glen M., Henry, Justin M.
• Primary Examiner(s): HOLLOWAY III, EDWIN C
• Application Number:
  US13/453,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20120326852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 834 Days
• Field of Search: 340/12.22, 340/3.2, 340/3.7, 340/3.71, 340/13.24, 341/176, 348/734, 398/106, 398/111, 398/112
• US Class Current: 340/12.22
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/50 Receiving or transmitting feedback, e.g. replies, status updates, acknowledgements, from the controlled devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared
• 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 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• 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 21/4532 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

Abstract

A state-based remote control system for providing efficient and simple operation of a plurality of electronic devices as a coordinated system based upon an overall task. The state-based remote control system includes a housing, a keypad in communication with an electronic system contained within the housing, and a communication device in communication with the electronic system for communicating with external electronic devices. The electronic system monitors the buttons selected by a user to determine the state of all external electronic devices that are to be controlled. When the user selects a task (e.g. watch television), the electronic system automatically determines the actions required to achieve the desired task based upon the current state of the external electronic devices. After the task has been fulfilled, the electronic system updates the data to reflect the modified state of the external electronic devices.

Claims

1. A state-machine system, comprising:

a processor configured to operate a state machine, wherein the state machine is a model of states and state transitions of at least one external electronic device, and wherein the processor is configured to navigate the state machine to calculate, update, and store simulated states from simulated state transitions of the state machine for the at least one external electronic device;

a user input device coupled to the processor and configured to receive input from a user for changing a current state of the at least one external electronic device to another state associated with the input; and

a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to transmit a set of control signals to the at least one external electronic device for changing the current state of the at least one external electronic device to the another state,

wherein the processor is configured to receive the input from the user input device to navigate the state machine to calculate, update, and store a simulated state corresponding to the another state based on the simulated state transitions, the current state, and the input, and wherein the processor is configured to control transmission by the transmitter.

2. The state-machine system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to navigate the state machine to store, calculate, and updated the simulated state prior to controlling the transmitter to transmit a subsequent set of control signals for a subsequent input received from a user.

3. The state-machine system of claim 1, wherein the set of control signals are a dynamic set of control signals.

4. The state-machine system of claim 3, wherein the set of control signals are for a macro.

5. The state-machine system of claim 1, wherein the input device includes a keypad.

6. The state-machine system of claim 1, further comprising a display coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to control the display to display the simulated state.

7. The state-machine system of claim 1, wherein:

the processor is configured to operate a plurality of state machines, which includes the first mentioned state machine,

the plurality of state machines respectively correspond to a plurality of external electronic devices, which includes the first mentioned external electronic device,

each state machine is configured to model states and state transitions of a corresponding one of the external electronic device, and

the processor is configured to navigate each of the state machines to store, calculate, and updated simulated states and simulated state transitions of the plurality of external electronic devices.

8. The state-machine system of claim 7, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit sets of control signals to the plurality of external electronic device for changing the states of the external electronic devices.

9. The state-machine system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to modify and execute the dynamic set of control signals based on a desired state of the at least one external electronic device and a comparison of the simulated state.

10. The state-machine system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether to modify a current state of the at least one external electronic device based on whether the simulated state matches a state associated with the input.

11. The state-machine system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the states includes a state of more than one external electronic device.

12. A device including a state-machine, the device comprising:

a processor configured to operate a state machine, wherein the state machine is a model of states and state transitions of at least one external electronic device, and wherein the processor is configured to identity a current state and to navigate the state machine to store, calculate, and update a simulated state and a simulated state transition; and

a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to transmit a set of control signals for changing the current state of the at least one external electronic device to a simulated state, wherein the processor is configured to update the current state in the state machine to the simulated state based on the transmitted set of control signals.

13. The device of claim 12, further comprising a user input device coupled to the processor and configured to receive input from a user for changing a state of the at least one external electronic device.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to navigate the state machine to store, calculate, and update the simulated state prior to controlling the transmitter to transmit a subsequent set of control signals for a subsequent input received via the user input.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the input device includes a keypad.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to modify a state of the at least one external electronic device if the simulated state does not match a state associated with the input, and to not modify a state of the at least one external electronic device if the simulated state does match the state associated with the input.

17. The device of claim 12, wherein the set of control signals are a dynamic set of control signals.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the set of control signals are for a macro.

19. The device of claim 12, further comprising a display coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to control the display to display an aspect of the simulated state.

20. The device of claim 12, wherein:

the processor is configured to operate a plurality of state machines, which includes the first mentioned state machine,

the plurality of state machines respectively correspond to a plurality of external electronic devices, which includes the first mentioned external electronic device,

each state machine is configured to model states and state transitions of a corresponding one of the external electronic device, and

the processor is configured to navigate each of the state machines to store, calculate, and updated simulated states and simulated state transitions of the plurality of external electronic devices.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit sets of control signals to the plurality of external electronic device for changing the states of the external electronic devices.

22. The device of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to modify and execute the set of control signals based on a desired state of the at least one external electronic device and a comparison of the simulated state.

23. The device of claim 12, wherein the device is a remote control.

24. A method of operating a state-machine based device configured to control a set of external electronic devices, comprising:

receiving input at a state-machine based device for controlling a set of external electronic devices; and

determining on the state-machine based device via navigation of a state machine, which is a model of states and state transitions of the set of external electronic devices, a set of simulated states and a set of simulated state transitions for the set of external electronic devices based on the input and a set of current states of the set of external electronic devices.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising transmitting from the state-machine based device a set of command codes to the set of external electronic devices for controlling the set of external electronic devices to change state from the set of current states to the set of simulated states.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising storing by the state- machine based device the set of simulated states in a local memory of the state-machine based device, wherein the set of simulated states are the set of current states for a second input, which is subsequent input to the first mentioned input.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the state machine includes a plurality of state variable, which represent the possible states of the set of external electronic devices.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the state-machine based device is a remote control device.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the receiving step includes receiving via a user input the input.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the set of external electronic devices includes a set of media players.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein the set of media players includes a television set and a video player.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the set of current states is a set of simulated current states simulated by the state-machine based device via navigation of the state machine.