Abstract:
A system capable of remotely controlling a multimedia device through the Internet includes a remote control device including a first network module electrically connected to the Internet, a local device including a second network module electrically connected to the Internet, a database for storing settings data of the local device, and a software installed in the remote control device including a transformation code for interpreting commands outputted from the first network module to the second network module into a plurality of command contents to update the database.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention provides a communication system, and more particularly, a communication system capable of remotely controlling a multimedia device.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     As multimedia and digital storing technologies have become more highly developed, multimedia devices provide more and more functions. For recording video, a digital multimedia device transforms a video program into digital signals to store the digital signals in a hard drive or other non-volatile storage devices, such as a CD, a DVD, etc, so that the video program can be saved. In addition, a user can schedule to record a TV program, such as a ball game live broadcast, a soap opera, etc., so that the user can enjoy the program at his leisure.  
         [0005]     By scheduling the recording of a TV program, the user need not stay in front of a TV set to control start and end of the TV program. However, if the user is not home but wants to set or amend a schedule of the TV program occasionally, the user cannot change settings of a prior art multimedia device.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a communication system capable of remotely controlling a multimedia device.  
         [0007]     An exemplary embodiment of a communication system capable of remotely controlling a multimedia device comprises a remote control device and a local device. The remote control device comprises a first transceiver for outputting or receiving signals, a first decoding unit coupled to the first transceiver for interpreting signals received by the first transceiver as output commands, an output unit coupled to the first decoding unit for outputting signals corresponding to the output commands, a control signal reception unit for receiving control signals, and a first coding unit coupled to the first transceiver and the control signal reception unit for transforming the control signals received by the control signal reception unit into a plurality of packets sent to the first transceiver according to a specified format. The local device comprises a second transceiver for exchanging signals with the first transceiver, a second decoding unit coupled to the second transceiver for interpreting signals received by the second transceiver as control commands according to the specified format, a memory unit coupled to the second decoding unit for storing the control commands generated by the second decoding unit, a second coding unit coupled to the second transceiver and the memory unit for generating a plurality of packets sent to the second transceiver according to a storing status of the memory unit, and a control unit coupled to the memory unit for controlling the multimedia device according to the control commands stored in the memory unit.  
         [0008]     An exemplary embodiment of a system capable of remotely controlling a multimedia device through the Internet comprises a remote control device comprising a first network module electrically connected to the Internet, a local device comprising a second network module electrically connected to the Internet, a database for storing settings data of the local device, and a software installed in the remote control device comprising a transformation code for interpreting commands outputted from the first network module to the second network module into a plurality of command contents to update the database.  
         [0009]     An exemplary embodiment of a communication system capable of remotely controlling a multimedia device comprises a remote control device and a local device. The remote control device comprises a first transceiver for outputting or receiving signals, a control signal reception unit for receiving control signals, an output unit for outputting signals corresponding to the output commands, and a chipset comprising a first decoding unit coupled to the first transceiver for interpreting signal received by the first transceiver as output commands and a first coding unit couple to the first transceiver unit and the control signal reception unit for transforming the control signals reception unit into a plurality of packets sent to the first transceiver according to the specified format. The local device comprises a second transceiver for exchanging signals with the first transceiver, a memory unit for storing the control commands generated by the second decoding unit, a control unit coupled to the memory unit for controlling the multimedia device according to the control commands stored in the memory unit, and a second chipset comprising a second decoding unit couple to the second transceiver for interpreting signals received by the second transceiver as control commands according to the specified format and a second coding unite coupled to the second transceiver and the memory unit for generating a plurality of packets sent to the second transceiver according to a storing status of the memory unit.  
         [0010]     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system capable of remotely controlling a multimedia device in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system capable of setting video recording functions by e-mails. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system  10  capable of remotely controlling a multimedia device in accordance with the present invention. The communication system  10  includes a remote control device  100  and a local device  200 . The remote control device  100  controls operations of the local device  200  with a specified communication protocol, and includes a first transceiver  102 , a first decoding unit  104 , an output unit  106 , a first coding unit  108 , and a control signal reception unit  110 . The first transceiver  102  outputs and receives signals through a wired or wireless network. The first decoding unit  104  interprets signals received by the first transceiver  102  as output commands, and transmits the output commands to the output unit  106  for outputting corresponding signals. The control signal reception unit  110  receives and transmits control signals to the first coding unit  108 . The first coding unit  108  transforms the control signals received by the control signal reception unit  110  into a plurality of packets according to a specified format to the first transceiver  102  for transmitting to the local device  200 . The local device  200  controls the multimedia device according to the packets outputted from the remote control device  100 , and reports an operation status to the remote control device  100 . The local device  200  includes a second transceiver  202 , a second decoding unit  204 , a memory unit  206 , a second coding unit  208 , and a control unit  210 . The second transceiver  202  exchanges signals with the first transceiver  102 . The second decoding unit  204  interprets signals received by the second transceiver  202  into control commands, and stores the control commands in the memory unit  206 . According to a storing status of the memory unit  206 , the second coding unit  208  generates a plurality of packets sent to the remote control device  100  through the second transceiver  202 . The control unit  210  outputs a control signal Vct for controlling the multimedia device according to the control commands stored in the memory unit  206 .  
         [0014]     In the communication system  10 , when a user wants to control operations of the local device  200 , the control signal reception unit  110  receives the control signals from the user, the first coding unit  108  interprets the control signals received by the control signal reception unit  110  into a plurality of packets conformed to the specified format, and the first transceiver  102  transmits the packets sent to the second transceiver  202 . After the second transceiver  202  receives signals from the first transceiver  102 , the second decoding unit  204  outputs and stores the control commands in the memory unit  206 . The control unit  210  controls the multimedia device according to the control commands stored in the memory unit  206 . Meanwhile, the second coding unit  208  transmits the storing status of the memory unit  206  to the remote control device  100  through the second transceiver  202 . The remote control device  100  decodes signals reported by the local device  200  for outputting corresponding signals by the output unit  106 . In other words, the local device  200  controls the multimedia device according the commands sent by the remote control device  100 . A channel for exchanging signals between the first transceiver  102  and the second transceiver  202  can be a mobile communication network, the Internet, etc. Packet coding and decoding methods between the first coding unit  108  and the second decoding unit  204 , and between the first decoding unit  104  and the second coding unit  208  can be implemented according to an electrical mail protocol, a short messaging protocol, or an instant messaging protocol. Therefore, the first coding unit  108  is capable of transforming the controls signals received by the control signal reception unit  110  into an e-mail, and transmitting to the local device  200  through the first transceiver  102 . In this case, after the local device  200  receives the e-mail, the second decoding unit  204  can decode the control signals and stores corresponding commands in the memory unit  206 .  
         [0015]     As those skilled in the art recognize, when sending an e-mail, the e-mail is stored in a mail server temporarily. When receiving the e-mail, a receiving end connects to the mail server to download the e-mail. Therefore, the receiving end need not connect to a network all of the time, but only connect to the network to receive the e-mail as necessary. In addition, it is possible for cost-effective reason that the first decoding unit  104  and the second decoding unit  204  are integrated into a chip or chipset that deliver the same capability as the two independent units.  
         [0016]     Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system  20  capable of setting video recording functions by e-mails. The communication system  20  includes a mobile communication device  30 , and a digital multimedia device  40 . The mobile communication device  30  can be a computer, a PDA, a mobile phone, a smart phone, etc., and includes units of the remote control device  100  shown in  FIG. 1  for controlling the digital multimedia device  40 . The digital multimedia device  40  can record video programs, and includes software  42  and a database  44 . The software  42  implements the second transceiver  202 , the second decoding unit  204 , the second coding unit  208 , and the control unit  210  shown in  FIG. 1 . The database  44  implements the memory unit  206 . The software  42  can timely check e-mails, interpret the e-mails, command the database  44 , and report a status of the database  44  to the mobile communication device  30  with e-mails. When adding a recording schedule, a user can use the mobile communication device  30  to send an e-mail describing features of a program to be recorded, such as start and end time, quality of the program, to the digital multimedia device  40 . After the digital multimedia device  40  receives the e-mail, the software  42  interprets the e-mail. If the software  42  cannot interpret the e-mail successfully, then the digital multimedia device  40  reports an error message to the mobile communication device  30 . After interpreting the e-mail successfully, the software  42  increases a schedule in the database  44 , and receives a report from the database  44 . The database  44  reports a status, such as successful, error, etc. to the software  42 . Then, the software  42  sends an e-mail to the user to inform the user of the result of adding the recording schedule.  
         [0017]     Of course, other than adding a schedule, the user can query, amend, or delete exist schedules. When the user queries the schedules, the digital multimedia device  40  can sort data stored in the database  44  first, and the user designates data to be queried with the mobile communication device  30 . Or, the user designates data to be queried with the mobile communication device  30 , and the digital multimedia device  40  reports corresponding data. Therefore, the user can use the mobile communication device  30  to send an e-mail describing a schedule to be queried to the digital multimedia device  40 . After the digital multimedia device  40  receives the e-mail, the software  42  interprets the e-mail. If the software  42  cannot interpret the e-mail successfully, then the digital multimedia device  40  reports an error message to the mobile communication device  30 . After interpreting the e-mail successfully, the software  42  queries the schedule from the database  44 , and sends an e-mail to the user for informing user of the result of querying the schedule.  
         [0018]     When amending a schedule in the database  44 , the user can query the schedule first, and designate data of the schedule to be amended. Then, the user uses the mobile communication device  30  to send an e-mail describing the schedule to be amended to the digital multimedia device  40 . After the digital multimedia device  40  receives the e-mail, the software  42  interprets the e-mail. If the software  42  cannot interpret the e-mail successfully, then the digital multimedia device  40  reports an error message to the mobile communication device  30 . After interpreting the e-mail successfully, the software  42  amends the schedule in the database  44 , receives a report from the database  44 , and sends an e-mail to the user to inform the user of the result of amending the schedule.  
         [0019]     When deleting a schedule in the database  44 , the user can query the schedule first, and designate the schedule to be deleted. Then, the user uses the mobile communication device  30  to send an e-mail describing the schedule to be deleted to the digital multimedia device  40 . After the digital multimedia device  40  receives the e-mail, the software  42  interprets the e-mail. If the software  42  cannot interpret the e-mail successfully, then the digital multimedia device  40  reports an error message to the mobile communication device  30 . After interpreting the e-mail successfully, the software  42  deletes the schedule in the database  44 , receives a report from the database  44 , and sends an e-mail to the user to inform the user of the result of deleting the schedule.  
         [0020]     In summary, the present invention drafts an e-mail describing the control commands of the user and sends the email to the local device. The local device interprets and stores the control commands into the database. Therefore, using the present invention, if the user is not home but wants to set or amend a schedule of a TV program occasionally, the user can change settings of the multimedia device remotely.  
         [0021]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.