Universal remote control that is automatically programmable according to location

• US 9,456,164 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: U-Me Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: U-Me Holdings LLC
• Inventors: Martin, Derek P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Syed, Nabil
• Application Number:
  US14/132,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20150062441A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,014 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 21/42209 for displaying non-command information, e.g. electronic program guide [EPG], e-mail, messages or a second television channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4222 Remote control device emulator integrated into a non-television apparatus, e.g. a PDA, media center or smart toy remote control device for a television receiver integrated into a mobile phone H04M1/72415
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42224 Touch pad or touch panel provided on the remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42225 characterized by types of remote control, e.g. universal remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42226 Reprogrammable remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4518 involving characteristics of one or more peripherals, e.g. peripheral type, software version, amount of memory available or display capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing 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 21/8186 specially adapted to be executed by a peripheral of the client device, e.g. by a reprogrammable remote control

Abstract

A universal remote control allows dynamically programming the remote control according to location. The remote control includes a communication interface that allows the remote control to communicate with a remote database. A location is specified, and the remote control uses the location information to access corresponding programming information for the remote control. The remote control is then dynamically reprogrammed according to the location information to make the remote control suitable to the location.

Claims

1. A method for programming a remote control comprising:

configuring a location database by;

specifying a plurality of locations;

for each of the plurality of specified locations, specifying;

a television provider at the specified location and a corresponding channel map that provides television channels available from the television provider along with corresponding channel numbers; and

a plurality of devices at the specified location and corresponding programming codes for each of the plurality of devices;

authenticating to a remote computer system that includes user settings corresponding to a user and the location database;

specifying to the remote computer system one of the plurality of locations in the location database;

the remote computer system comparing the user settings with location settings for the specified location stored in the location database;

when conversion is not needed, the remote computer system downloads the user settings as suitable location settings for the specified location to the remote control;

when conversion is needed, the remote computer system converts the user settings to the suitable location settings for the specified location and downloads the suitable location settings to the remote control;

wherein the suitable location settings include the channel map for the television provider corresponding to the specified location and the programming codes for each of the plurality of devices at the specified location;

dynamically programming the remote control with the suitable location settings downloaded from the remote computer system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user settings comprise at least one favorite channels list.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the user settings comprise shows set to record.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the user settings comprise blocked channels.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user settings comprise parental controls.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the user settings comprise channel numbers for stations at a preferred location for the user.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the user settings comprise an unlock password.