Abstract:
A system and method for setting up a user interface of a remote control. The remote control displays a logical group of function keys the activation of which will cause the remote control to transmit a command to a target device and a plurality of indicators representative of devices. A user input functions to select one of the plurality of indicators and the device represented by the selected indicator is assigned as the target device for the logical group of function keys.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/410,103, filed Apr. 9, 2003 which, in turn, claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/437,888, filed on Jan. 3, 2003, entitled “Remote Control With Local Screen-Guided Setup.” 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, relates to a remote control having a local, screen-guided setup process.  
         [0003]     Remote controls including universal remote controls for controlling the operation of home appliances are well known. In this regard, a universal remote control functions by consolidating three, four, five, and more remote controls into one device. However, as more remotely controllable appliances enter the homes of consumers and the number of remotely controllable operations increase, the user interface of the universal remote control becomes increasingly more complex. This complexity arises from the need to provide more and more keys which are used to initiate the transmission of the control codes that control the increasing number of operations of the increasing number of home appliances. Disadvantageously, as the user interface of the universal remote control becomes more cluttered, the usability of the universal remote control diminishes. Accordingly, a need exists for a universal remote control having an improved user interface that simplifies the operation of the universal remote control and, as such, the remote operation of consumer appliances. A need also exists for an improved method for setting-up such a user interface.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     In accordance with these and other needs, a remote control having a local, screen-guided setup procedure is provided. In particular, the local, screen-guided setup procedure may be used to setup a remote control to present an interface for controlling the operation of multiple home appliances, for example, in a home theater system. Instructions or programming for implementing the local, screen-guided setup may be embodied on a readable medium, such as a memory chip, CD or DVD rom, smart card, or the like. Advantages, features, properties and relationships of local, screen-guided setup procedures will be obtained from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings which set forth illustrative embodiments which are indicative of the various ways in which the principles described hereinafter may be employed. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]     For a better understanding of the remote control with local, screen-guided setup, reference may be had to preferred embodiments shown in the following drawings in which:  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary remote control having an electroluminescent (“EL”) panel display;  
         [0007]      FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of the remote control of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0008]      FIG. 3  illustrates a cross-sectional view of the remote control of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0009]      FIG. 4-7  illustrates exemplary display segments of the remote control of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0010]      FIGS. 8 and 9  illustrate a flow chart diagram of exemplary steps for use in setting up the user interface of the remote control of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0011]      FIG. 10  illustrates exemplary, local, screen-guided setup displays for use in setting up the user interface of the remote control of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0012]      FIG. 11  illustrates an exemplary user interface resulting from the steps performed in accordance with  FIGS. 8-10 ; and  
         [0013]      FIGS. 12-17  illustrate further, exemplary, local, screen-guided setup displays for use in setting up the user interface of a remote control device. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]     Increasingly, universal remote controls include a “home theater” mode activated, for example, by a special device selection key. When the home theater mode is activated, rather than placing the remote control into a mode for controlling the operation of a specific device (e.g., TV, DVD, etc.), which normally occurs when other device selection keys are activated, a special home theater page is invoked in which function keys of the graphical user interface of the remote control perform as a composite to facilitate control of several devices. It will be appreciated that activation of a function key typically results in the remote control transmitting a command to an intended target device. By way of example, within the home theater page the volume keys may be used to command volume operations of an audio amplifier, the transport keys may be used to command transport operations of a DVD player, and the channel selection keys may be used to command channel operations of a satellite receiver, etc. While the home theater mode of operation enhances the home theater viewing experience, it usually requires a lengthy initial setup process, since the user must specify which device is to be assigned (as the intended target) to each group of function keys.  
         [0015]     To simply the initial setup of a home theater page of a remote control, selective key illumination capabilities may be utilized. By way of example,  FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary universal remote control  100  having such selective key illumination capabilities. In general, the face of the remote control  100  includes an area  102  for selection of the device to be controlled, a second area  104  depicting device functions that may be controlled, and a key  106  to initiate setup of the unit—e.g., to select a brand and model of the devices to be controlled as well as other customizations.  
         [0016]     Unlike conventional remote controls which are usually constructed using silicon rubber keypads protruding through cut-outs in a hard plastic upper housing, the remote control  100  uses a flexible, segmented electroluminescent (“EL”) panel  212  that is overlaid over a dome switch style key matrix  210 . This is illustrated electrically in  FIG. 2  and mechanically in  FIG. 3 . Referring to  FIG. 3 , it will thus be appreciated that pressure applied to, for example, any of the graphical user interface icons  320  . . .  324 , etc., will result in the corresponding dome switch  330  . . .  334 , etc. making contact with the underlying printed circuit board  370  to complete a circuit, whereby individual remote control functions are selected by the user. Furthermore, in this exemplary remote control  100 , the EL panel  212  may be constructed as described in pending PCT patent application WO 00/72638, which is assigned to Cambridge Consultants Ltd. and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, to allow various parts of the display to be independently illuminated under control of the microprocessor  202  and EL display interface  214 , illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The advantage of such a construction is that different elements may be illuminated at different times, depending on the activity currently being performed by the user.  
         [0017]     By way of a more detailed example, the numeric keypad portion  340  of the EL panel may be arranged as three separately controllable segments  402 ,  403 , and  404 , as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . To achieve the numeric pad appearance  340 ′, shown for example in  FIG. 6 , segments  402  and  403  are illuminated by the microprocessor. Similarly, to achieve the appearance  340 ″, shown for example in  FIG. 7 , segments  402  and  404  are illuminated. A function key area, e.g., the transport key/picture-in-picture control area  350 , may also be arranged into segments  412 ,  413 ,  414 ,  415 , and  416 . In order to achieve the appearance  350 ′, shown for example in  FIG. 5   c,  segments  412 ,  414 , and  416  are illuminated. To achieve the appearance  350 ″, shown for example in  FIG. 6 , only segments  412  and  413  are illuminated.  
         [0018]     The ability to independently illuminate various parts of the display may also be used to selectively illuminate groups of function keys which correspond to functions applicable to a particular device to be controlled by the remote control  100 . By way of example,  FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b  illustrate how the keypad display may appear for use in controlling the operation of a television device which supports menu functionality  510  ( FIG. 5   b )) versus the keypad display for use in controlling the operation of a television which does not support menu functionality ( FIG. 5   a ). For additional explanation regarding the display of function keys considering functionality of a device, reference may be had to co-pending application Ser. No. 09/905,396 that is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The ability to independently illuminate various parts of the display may be further used to display various key functionalities according the current state of the intended target device (i.e., the device to which commands are to be transmitted). An example of this is shown in  FIGS. 5   b  and  5   c  where activation of the “PIP” key  512  by the user not only transmits the remote control command to toggle the television device in and out of a picture-in-picture mode, but also controls availability (i.e., the display of function keys for activation) of the key set  350 ′ used to control the picture-in-picture display as a function of the PIP state the television device is commanded to enter.  
         [0019]     Yet another manner in which the ability to independently illuminate various parts of the display may be used is to simplify setup of remote control features. For example, if the exemplary remote control  100  includes a “home theater” mode as described earlier, for example, activated by a special device selection key  108  as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the setup of this home theater mode of operation may be made through use of selective illumination. Such an exemplary setup process is illustrated in the flowchart of  FIG. 8 . In the illustrated example, to initiate a setup mode the user may press and hold a setup key  106 , illustrated by way of example in  FIG. 7 , for a predetermine time period, e.g., three seconds. Activation of the setup key in this manner may then cause the display of a setup menu  340 ″, illustrated by way of example  FIG. 7 . From the choices presented in the setup menu, the user may select the home theater setup button  716  to enter a mode for setting up the home theater graphical user interface page.  
         [0020]     In response to selection of the home theater setup button  716 , the remote control  10  may generally perform steps diagrammed in the flowchart of  FIG. 9  and illustrated in  FIGS. 10   a  through  10   d . By way of example only, the steps for setting up the home theater page may comprise illuminating each group of functions to be controlled (e.g., the transport function keys, the volume function keys, the channel control function keys, etc.), one at a time, and allowing the user to select the device to which the illuminated group of function keys are to be assigned when in home theater mode. Referring to  FIG. 10   a  and flowchart steps  900  through  903 , first the keys associated with volume control  1002  may be illuminated together with the device keys  102 . (The device keys  102  illuminated may be limited to only those devices for which the remote control has been setup to control the operation of—using well known setup procedures—or may allow for the display of all devices capable of being controlled and, if one is selected for which the remote control has not been setup to control, a setup procedure would be started to cure this oversight). One or both sets of buttons (function and device buttons) may be flashed several times to further indicate to the user that this attribute is ready for assignment to a specific device. Further, the current device assigned to a function group (if any) may be indicated in the device display area by flashing or animating an icon  102  representative of the device. Once the user has selected the new device to be used as, in this example, the master volume control for the home theater mode, by touching  1012  the icon representing the desired target device for the volume commands (the audio amplifier in the example shown), the process may be repeated to setup (i.e., assign a target device to) the channel changing keys  1004  ( FIG. 10   b  and flowchart steps  904  through  907 ), the guide navigation keys  1006  ( FIG. 10   c  and flowchart steps  908  through  911 ) and finally the transport keys  1008  ( FIG. 10   d  and flowchart steps  912  through  915 ). Upon completion of these steps, the home theater mode of the illustrated, exemplary remote control, illustrated in  FIG. 11 , would be configured as follows:  
                                                   FUNCTION KEY GROUP   TARGET APPLIANCE                           Volume control buttons 1002:   Audio amplifier           Channel changing 1004:   Satellite receiver           Menu navigation 1006:   Satellite receiver           Transport control 1008:   DVD player.                      
 
 It will be appreciated that similar approaches may be used to simplify other aspects of configuring the remote control  100 . For example, configuration of the “volume lock” feature (button  718  in  FIG. 7 ), which allows assignment of a master volume control device across all modes, may be accomplished in a manner similar to that described above in conjunction with  FIG. 10   a.  
 
         [0021]      FIGS. 12 through 17  illustrate alternative steps for setting up the user interface of a remote control application. In this example, the remote control application is implemented on a PDA, tablet PC, or Smart Display platform as contemplated in co-pending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 10/288,727 and 10/176,315 which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. With these platforms, a portion of the screen may be set aside for a composite set of function control keys  1700  that would be associated with a home theater mode of operation and/or a particular activity such as watching a DVD movie, shown for example in  FIG. 17 . Exemplary steps involved in configuring this set of function keys is shown in  FIGS. 12 through 16 .  
         [0022]     In the illustrated example, the user may first select the home theater mode and/or activity for which the user wishes to create a set of function keys, watching DVD  1210  is the selected function in the example illustrated. In response, the application may display ( FIG. 13 ) function key groups  1310 ,  1320  together with drop-down menus  1330 ,  1340  from which a target device to be assigned to each function key group may be selected. In addition, the setup process may also indicate locations  1310 ′ and  1320 ′ in which these key groups may be placed in the resulting composite function key user interface page or field, together with a label of the like showing the current settings for each group  1350 ,  1360  (if any). Once the user has assigned a target device to a function key group and is satisfied with the device assignments for these keys, tapping the “next” icon  1370 , for example, may step the user to a further setup screen, shown by way of example in  FIG. 14 . The example page illustrated in  FIG. 14  presents the user with different function key groups  1410 ,  1420  and requests the user to indicate which one is used most frequently during the activity specified. In the illustrated example, the user has selected  1425 , indicative of the directional menu navigation keys  1430 , to be included in the composite key set. Preferably, the function key groups  1410  and  1420  include functions that are supported by the intended target appliance.  FIG. 15  illustrates how individual keys  1510 ,  1520  may also be placed in the home theater or activity page and configured to perform specific functions through the use of device and function key command pull-down menus  1512 ,  1514 ,  1516  and  1518 . In the example illustrated in  FIG. 16 , the user selects an icon  1610  and name  1620  for the activity panel just created. Selection of this icon from, for example a home page, would cause the display of the created activity panel.  FIG. 17  shows the completed composite set of command keys. Tapping “finish”  1710  in this example would be used to indicate a completion to this screen-guided setup process.  
         [0023]     While specific embodiments have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.