Patent ID: 9241114
Filing Date: 2016-01-19
CPC Classification: H04N

Claim Text:
1. A method, comprising: sending, from a transceiver in a set top box, a radio frequency identification request to a remote control; receiving, by a radio frequency detector operating in the set top box, a radio frequency tag sent from the remote control in response to the radio frequency identification request; identifying, by the set top box, a type of the remote control based on the radio frequency tag; storing, in a memory of the set top box, different configuration settings associated with different radio frequency tags identifying different remote controls; comparing, by the set top box, the radio frequency tag sent from the remote control to the different radio frequency tags; determining, by the set top box, the radio frequency tag sent from the remote control is unrecognized as associated with any of the different configuration settings stored by the set top box; entering, by the set top box, a basic mode of operation in response to the radio frequency tag being unrecognized, the basic mode of operation only responding to basic commands for power on and off operation and channel changes; submitting, by the set top box, a query via a communications network for a configuration setting associated with the radio frequency tag sent from the remote control; receiving, by the set top box, the configuration setting via the communications network that is associated with the radio frequency tag sent from the remote control; self-configuring, by the set top box, with the configuration setting received via the communications network that is associated with the radio frequency tag sent from the remote control; retrieving, by the set top box, a priority associated with the remote control based on the radio frequency tag; simultaneously receiving, by the transceiver in the set top box, two different infrared control signals, one of the two different infrared control signals sent from the remote control and another one of the two different infrared control signals sent from a different remote control; determining, by the set top box, a prioritization between the two different infrared control signals based on the priority; first processing, by the set top box, the one of the two different infrared control signals sent from the remote control based on the priority; ignoring, by the set top box, the another one of the two different infrared control signals sent from the different remote control according to the prioritization; and receiving a personal identification number that identifies a user of the remote control.