System and method for optimized appliance control

• US 9,800,818 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2016
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Universal Electronics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Universal Electronics, Inc.
• Inventors: Arling, Paul D., Barnett, Brian, McKay, Dan N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Aziz, Adnan
• Application Number:
  US15/060,738
• Publication Number:
  US 20160191838A1
• Time in Patent Office: 599 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/40 Remote control systems using repeaters, converters, gateways
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/92 Universal remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/205 with control bus for exchanging commands between units
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• 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 21/4222 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 21/42221 Transmission circuitry, e.g. infrared [IR] or radio frequency [RF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42226 Reprogrammable remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/60 for the sound signals

Abstract

A device receives a request from a controlling device, such as a remote control, smart phone, or the like, where the request is intended to have one or more target devices perform one or more functional operations. The device responds to the request by applying the optimum methodology to propagate one or more commands to each intended target appliance to cause each intended target appliance to perform the intended one or more functional operations.

Claims

1. A method for delegating a transmission of commands directly to a target device to control volume operational functions of the target device in an entertainment system comprising a remote control device and an entertainment device communicatively coupled with the remote control device, the method comprising:

receiving by the entertainment device from the target device, via use of a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (“

HDMI”

) communication coupling between the entertainment device and the target device, data indicative of an identity of the target device; and

causing the entertainment device to delegate to itself the transmission of commands directly to the target device to control the volume operational functions of the target device when the received data indicative of the identity of the target device indicates that the target device supports receiving commands for controlling the volume operational functions of the target device via use of the HDMI communication coupling between the target device and the entertainment device and to delegate to the remote control device the transmission of commands directly to the target device to control the volume operational functions of the target device when the received data indicative of the identity of the target device indicates that the target device fails to support receiving commands for controlling the volume operational functions of the target device via use of the HDMI communication coupling between the target device and the entertainment device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, comprising issuing by the entertainment device to the target device a request for the data indicative of the identity of the target device.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, comprising configuring the remote control device to use an infrared communication protocol recognizable by the target device to transmit commands to control the volume operational functions of the target device when the transmission of commands directly to the target device to control the volume operational functions of the target device is delegated to the remote control device and configuring the remote control device to issue communications to the entertainment device to cause the entertainment device to transmit commands to control the volume operational functions of the target device when the transmission of commands directly to the target device to control the volume operational functions of the target device is delegated to the entertainment device.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entertainment device uses a look-up table stored in a memory of the entertainment device to delegate the transmission of commands directly to the target device to control the volume operational functions of the target device to a one of the entertainment device and the remote control device.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entertainment device and the remote control device are communicatively coupled via use of a radio frequency communications channel.