UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL UNIT

Abstract: A programmable remote control unit (104) is capable of initiating retrieval of a control configuration from a storage device (108) external to the unit. The unit (104) comprises a memory (116) to store the retrieved control configuration; a display (120) for display of icons representing the configuration; and a touch screen (120) for entering a selection based on the icons displayed. The storage device (108) is a component of a Consumer Electronic apparatus (102). By storing or backing-up the control configuration for a specific apparatus in the apparatus itself, the remote control unit (104) is made truly universally programmable.

Description: UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL UNIT FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to programmable handheld control or communication devices, and in particular to a programmable remote control device. BACKGROUND ART Universal remote control units (URCUs) are available today in a variety of forms. There are URCUs that can be programmed to emulate a remote control unit for a specific device, and there are URCUs that can be programmed to emulate several different devices. Typically these URCUs are programmed by the user using a chart that specifies device type and manufacturer. From this chart a number is chosen and entered into the URCU. The URCU should then behave like a remote control unit for the specific device. These URCUs usually have a fixed number of buttons and a set functionality for each button. Most of such URCUs do not include all of the buttons of the emulated remote control unit. Consequently, the most commonly used functions are represented. For instance, a URCU for a TV remote control unit may not include a button for a picture-in-picture (PIP), so the user might have to use the TV's front panel or its own remote control unit to actuate the function. To obviate this problem high-end URCUs have a fixed-plus- variable button architecture. There are a fixed set of buttons, and an embedded LCD screen which may be used to emulate buttons. An example of such an URCU is the Marantz RC2000. Recently, URCUs have been produced where all or most buttons are variable. An example of such an URCU is the Pronto of Royal Philips Electronics. The Pronto has an LCD for display of the buttons and a touch screen for activating a button. For such high-end URCUs, button real estate requires the emulated buttons may be paged. An entire LCD screen may comprise such a page. The programmability of hand-held devices such as universal programmable remote controls and mobile phones allows users to customize certain functionalities, e.g., their GUI's or the organizing of the control panels in pages. The Pronto has editing functionalities that let the user program its control properties, e.g., the arrangement of buttons in pages and of pages in a page hierarchy, macros, the IR control codes assigned to a button, etc. The following patent documents relate to the Pronto and are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Serial No. 09/062,364 (Attorney docket PHA 23,387) filed 4/17/98 for Jan van Ee and Sung Choi for GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE TOUCH SCREEN WITH AUTO ZOOM FEATURE. This patent document relates to a GUI with a touch screen having an entire collection of icons displayed at a scale in which the individual function of each icon is recognizable, but too small to easily access features of the function, and wherein upon touching the screen area accommodating an area of the icon, the screen provides a zoomed-in version of that area so that the user can select a desired feature. U.S. Serial No. 09/128,839 (Attorney docket PHA 23,469) filed 8/4/98 for Jan van Ee for REMOTE CONTROL HAS ANIMATED GUI. This patent document relates to a remote control device for remote control of home theater equipment. The remote has a display with a touch screen representing a GUI. User-activation of the GUI causes its appearance to change. The change is effected through animation. Animation is the simulation of movement created by displaying a series of bitmaps. The animation lets the user perceive the change as a smooth transition. Thus the impression is avoided of an abrupt confrontation with a new layout. U.S. Serial No.09/129,300 (Attorney docket PHA 23,470) filed 8/5/98 for Jan van Ee for GUI OF REMOTE CONTROL FACILITATES USER-FRIENDLY EDITING OF MACROS. This patent document relates to a remote control device for a home theater. The device has a touch screen GUI. The device has a macro creation/editing mode with authoring tools accessible through the remote's GUI. One of the editing tools lets the user move a selected macro step visibly up or down the list of steps on the GUI for changing the sequence of steps. U.S. serial no. 09/271,200 (Attorney PHA 23,607) filed 3/17/99 for Jan van Ee for FULLY FUNCTIONAL REMOTE CONTROL EDITOR AND EMULATOR. This document relates to a universal programmable remote control device that has programmability functions that enable the end-user to customize the device through editing or programming the device's control functionalities. The programming can be achieved via a PC. The control configuration created via an editor on the PC can be downloaded into the device. The PC has emulator software to test the configuration before downloading. The emulator software and the remote's control software are made identical as a consequence of a software layer that abstracts from the remote's hardware. The emulator for the end-user is thus obtained as an almost free byproduct of the software development phase at the manufacturer. U.S. serial no. 09/311,128 (attorney docket PHA 23,501) filed 5/13/99 for Joost Kemink for INTERNET-BASED SERVICE FOR UPDATING A PROGRAMMABLE CONTROL DEVICE. This document relates to an Internet based service for updating a programmable control device. An Internet site contains links to appliance-dependent control and feature option information which can be downloaded to the programmable control as a graphic user interface (GUI). A user interface is provided at the site for the user to easily specify a target appliance, and thereafter selectively download the interface and control information that is available for the target appliance. The Internet site also contains links to other providers of configurations and macros, such as system integrators who provide interfaces based on an inventory of the user's controllable equipment, hobbyist who share configurations and macros that they've found useful, and so on. U.S. serial no. 09/210,416 (attorney docket PHA 23,522) filed 12/11/98 for Joost Kemink and Eugene Shteyn for REMOTE CONTROL DEVICE WITH LOCATION DEPENDENT INTERFACE. This document relates to providing user control interface that is location dependent within the home environment. Context control parameters are associated with location, and the user control interface is customized to the context within which the device is being operated. The control interface includes the presentation of context sensitive information and the communication of corresponding context sensitive user commands via the interface. The location determination is effected using any number of commonly available techniques, such as direct entry, infrared sensors and active badges for relative positioning, as well as the conventional absolute positioning devices such as LORAN and GPS. In a preferred embodiment, the device communicates with a remote information source that provides the context sensitive control information. The remote information source may be a home network server, an Internet server, a public service network, or other communication network. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The Pronto is programmable by using either its onboard programmability options or an application, having an editor and an emulator, running on the PC. Programming the Pronto using its onboard capabilities is convenient as it does not require the system set-up of a PC converted into an editor and emulator. However, frequent re-programming of the Pronto by the user, or by different users in the same household, may lead to uncontrolled evolution of undesirable configurations of the remote, to the extent that the user would rather return to a default or reference configuration of the control options. Further, the onboard storage capacity of a remote is rather limited. Accordingly, the inventors propose to provide a remote control device that initiates retrieval of a pre-defined control configuration from a repository. For example, a reference or default control mode is backed up so that the user can always return to a reference configuration without too much effort. This default or reference mode is either stored in the remote by the manufacturer or retailer, or it comprises a user-programmed configuration that is downloaded from the device to an external repository, e.g., the user's PC, for retrieval later on when desirable in a communication procedure initiated by the remote. Alternatively, or subsidiarily, the apparatus to be controlled serves as a repository for the control configuration of the apparatus itself. The remote retrieves the configuration from the apparatus if and when needed. In this manner the remote is made highly user-friendly and truly universal, serving as a mobile interface to nearby equipment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is explained by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figs.l and 2 are block diagrams of systems in the invention. Throughout the figures, same reference numerals indicate similar or corresponding features. PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS ProntoEdit (see U.S. serial no. 09/271,200 (Attorney PHA 23,607) above) is a software program that runs on a PC. It can emulate a Pronto, configure a Pronto, and upload/download information from/to a Pronto. In order to upload information from the Pronto to the ProntoEdit program, a serial cable must be connected between the Pronto and the PC running ProntoEdit. By clicking on certain icons on the ProntoEdit toolbar, the upload process begins transferring information from the Pronto to ProntoEdit. During all of this the Pronto acts as a slave to the ProntoEdit program. In the invention a universal, programmable remote allows information such as display state to be backed up on, e.g., a PC. Here the remote is the master that controls the transfer of information between the remote and the PC. Rather than being a part of a configuration tool, the transfer of information is an integral feature of the remote. It may be activated on command or automatically during operational use. The remote may be shared by several family members of a household, each having his/her own preferences which are a part of the remote's internal program. However, the internal memory of the remote may not be big enough to include the configurations of all family members. Thus, the user may select his/her own configuration, and if present, the configuration will be used. Otherwise, the remote will contact the PC and have the user's configuration transferred to the remote. This may involve making room for this configuration by storing a current configuration on the remote to the PC. This will only happen if the configuration in the remote is more current than the configuration in the PC. If for a given user, the configuration on the PC is the same as on the remote, the space on the remote is reused without backup to the PC. The interconnection medium can be wired or wireless. Thus, the PC storage is part of the storage hierarchy of a system with the remote's memory/storage at the top. The storage hierarchy can extend to the Internet/Web. Thus, information may flow through the storage hierarchy as the remote operates, as an automatic and self-governing characteristic; much like paging in a virtual memory computer system. Fig.l is a block diagram of a system 100 in the invention. System 100 comprises a station 102 and a programmable remote control unit 104. Station 102 comprises a processor 106 for control, an internal memory 108 to buffer data, a non- volatile storage device 110, e.g. hard disk drive, or a flash memory for storing remote control commands and user preferences, and a transmitter/receiver 112 for sending/receiving data to/from remote 104. Remote 104 comprises a processor 114 for control, a memory 116 (e.g., RAM, or a flash) to hold remote control commands, macros and user preferences, a display control unit 118 for controlling a display screen and touch screen combination 120 of remote 104, and a transmitter/receiver 122 for sending/receiving data to/from station 102. In system 100 remote 104 interacts with station 102 to obtain and store control information associated with controllable appliances. Remote 104 may control several appliances and may be personalized to a particular user. Station 102 may contain the remote control codes for several appliances as well as the preferences of several users. Station 102 may be, e.g., a PC, one of the appliances, or each appliance may have a functionally similar station function. While remote 104 is capable of controlling multiple appliances, its local memory 116 is finite and may not be able to accommodate all control codes, macros, preferences, etc. So, local memory 116 is paged to station 102. If a user selects an appliance to control and the needed control codes are not in local memory 116 of remote 104, processor 114 of remote 104 signals station 102 by transmitting a message to station 102 via transmitter/receiver 122 in order to retrieve these control codes. It may be that in order to make room for the new control codes that recently updated contents of memory 116, e.g., user preferences, may need to be transferred to station 102 as a back up, thus to make room for the new control codes. In this case, the updated memory contents accompany the message. Receiver 112 of station 102 gets this message and stores it to local memory 108 of station 102. Processor 106 of station 102 decodes the message and determines that the specified control codes must be sent back to remote 104. If there are memory contents accompanying the message, these are stored on non-volatile storage device 110 of station 102. The control codes prescribed by the message are then retrieved from the station's nonvolatile storage device 110 and temporarily stored in local memory 108, where processor 106 instructs transmitter 112 to transmit the control codes to remote 104. Receiver 122 of remote 104 receives the codes and stores them in the appropriate position in local memory 116. The user can then use remote 104 to control the new appliance. As mentioned station 102 could be a personal computer, an appliance such as a TV receiver or a set-top box, a recording device that enables to time-shift (pause, rewind, and slow-motion) play-out of live TV broadcasts (also referred to as a time- warp recorder), or another intelligent storage device local to the user's equipment. Each time the control context of remote 104 is being switched to a next apparatus remote 104 retrieves the control information from the apparatus. This renders remote 104 automatically compatible with whatever apparatus is capable of communicating with the remote. The communication between remote 104 and station 102 for retrieval of the information for control configuration is preferably initiated by remote 104 sending a request to station 102, e.g., via the same channel as is used later on during operational use of remote 104. For example, remote 104 transmits a request in IR code to station 102. Upon receipt of the request, station 102 starts uploading the control information needed to configure remote 104 for operational use of the latter. Fig. 2 is a block diagram 200 with multiple apparatus 202, 204, 206 and 208 and remote 104. Each of apparatus 202-208 has user-selectable functionalities. For example, apparatus 202 comprises a TV set; apparatus 204 comprises a DVD player; apparatus 206 comprises a time-warp recorder; and apparatus 208 comprises a home security system. Each of apparatus 202-208 further comprises the functionality of station 102 as explained with reference to Fig.l. Specifically, each of apparatus 202-208 has a memory for storing control information comprising respective commands associated with a respective one of the user- selectable functionalities of the relevant apparatus. Each of apparatus 202-208 has a receiver for receiving an input to initiate transmitting the control information and a transmitter for transmitting the control information to remote 104 . The receiver is also capable of receiving a selected one of the respective commands from remote 104. The control information preferably comprises graphical information for creating a GUI on the display/touch screen 120 of remote 104. Retrieval of the control information is initiated, for example, as specified above. Preferably, the control configuration is uploaded in segments, also referred to as "pages". Control information is typically organized in a hierarchy. For example, a first level comprises a selection menu for selecting a particular apparatus; a second level comprises a selection menu for basic controls of the apparatus selected; a third level comprises more detailed controls for a selection made at the previous level, etc. See, e.g., U.S. patent 5,956,025 issued to Goulden, et al., herein incorporated by reference. This patent relates to a remote for a home entertainment system. The remote has a GUI with touch screen functionality. The visible part of the GUI is hierarchically organized in several control levels. All levels have consistent lay-outs with a first area for selectable items in a first location, a second area with controls for the selected one of the items in a second location and a third area for content data relating to the selected item in a third location. The spatial relationship between locations and areas is maintained throughout the levels. Such a GUI contributes significantly to the user-friendliness of the home entertainment system. Within.the context of the current invention, the user selects an option at a specific level and the page for the next level is being uploaded to the remote while the apparatus is performing the selected operation at the current level. The retrieval of the control configuration one page at a time during operational use reduces the bandwidth requirements.

Claims: CLAIMS: 1. A programmable remote control unit (104), the unit being capable of initiating retrieval of a control configuration from a storage device (110) external to the unit. 2. The unit of claim 1, comprising: - a memory (116) to store the retrieved control configuration; - a display (120) for display of menu options representing the configuration; and - a touch screen (120) for entering a selection based on the menu options displayed. 3. An information processing system (100) comprising: - a programmable remote control unit ( 104), - an apparatus (102) capable of being controlled through the unit wherein: - the unit is capable of initiating retrieval of a control configuration from a storage device (110) external to the unit and associated with the apparatus. 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the storage device comprises a component within the apparatus (102). 5. An apparatus (102) comprising user-selectable functionalities, the apparatus further comprising: - a memory (116) for storing control information comprising respective commands associated with a respective one of the user-selectable functionalities; - a transmitter (112) for transmitting the control information; and - a receiver (112) for receiving an input in order to initiate transmitting the control information and for receiving a selected one of the respective commands. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the control information comprises graphical information for creating a GUI.

Inventors: CHO BONGHAN, FREEMAN MARTIN, CHO, BONGHAN, FREEMAN, MARTIN
Applicants: KONINKL PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NV, KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V.
Application year: 2000
Main classification: H04B1
IPC codes: H04B1, H04N5, H04Q9