Abstract:
An apparatus for playing visual content and audio content to a user. A display screen is provided that is physically integrated into the apparatus. A video-image processing circuit is provided to play visual content on the display screen and an audio processing circuit is provided to play audio content on one or more speakers that are physically integrated into or externally connected to the apparatus. In the respects stated so far, the apparatus may resemble a monitor (including but not necessarily a computer monitor) or a television. In particular, a communications circuit is further provided to wirelessly connect the apparatus to a local area network to receive instances of the visual content and audio content via the local area network for playback to the user by the apparatus.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/119,695, filed Dec. 3, 2008. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    Not applicable. 
       THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
       [0003]    Not applicable. 
       INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC 
       [0004]    Not applicable. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    1. Technical Field 
         [0006]    The present invention relates generally to video display units such as televisions and monitors (including but not limited to computer monitors), and more particularly to communicating video-image content and optionally also audio content to such video display units for playback. 
         [0007]    2. Background Art 
         [0008]    The variety of electronic systems in the modern household continues to grow.  FIG. 1  (background art) is a schematic block diagram that stylistically depicts this and how a common problem with this now is a divide  10  between such electronic systems  12 . Generally, on one side of this divide  10  are traditional television related systems (called TTV systems  14  herein) and on the other side are personal and house-wide computerized systems (called P/H systems  16  herein). As now discussed, a problem in this is that there is essentially no communications across the divide  10  between TTV systems  14  and P/H systems  16 . 
         [0009]    Turning first to the TTV systems  14 , the predominant end-user device here is a television  18 , with  FIG. 1  showing three in a representative household. For the sake of this example a first television  18   a  is located in a recreation room, a second television  18   b  is located in a master bedroom, and a third television  18   c  is located in a garage. 
         [0010]    The first television  18   a  is a big screen, high definition plasma unit (say, a 52″ screen, 1080 native resolution, 120 Hz unit presently costing US$2,500). To facilitate operation of the first television  18   a , the user employs a remote controller  20  (here a first remote controller  20   a ). Of particular importance herein, the first television  18   a  in our hypothetical household is connected to a service box  22  (here a first service box  22   a ) that is connected to a service portal  25  (described in more detail presently). Of further importance, this first service box  22   a  has an integrated digital video recorder (DVR unit  24 ) and a set of network ports  26 . And in typical manner, the first remote controller  20   a  here additionally is used to control the first service box  22   a  and the DVR unit  24 . 
         [0011]    The second television  18   b  is a medium size LCD unit (say, a 40″ screen, 720 native resolution unit presently costing US$1,000). Also of importance for what follows, the second television  18   b  is connected to a second service box  22   b  that is also connected to the service portal  25  and a separate digital video disk player (DVD player  28 , here generically representing any of video tape players, laserdisc players, conventional DVD players, HD-DVD players, Blu-ray (TM) disc players, etc.) is connected between the second television  18   b  and the second service box  22   b . The user here employs a second remote controller  20   b  to control all of the second television  18   b , the second service box  22   b , and the DVD player  28 . 
         [0012]    The third television  18   c  is a near antique. It is a 10-year old picture tube based unit with a “rabbit ears” antenna and might fetch US$50 at a yard sale, but its owner keeps it in the garage to occasionally watch baseball games or soap operas when waxing the car. The third television  18   c  is manually controlled (no remote controller) and it is not connected to the service portal  25 . 
         [0013]    The equipment in the TTV systems  14  thus performs entertainment functions, playing video content on the televisions  18 , with the other equipment here providing communications to support this. 
         [0014]    Turning next to the P/H systems  16 , there is no predominant end-user device here but this equipment can collectively be viewed as having many “brain” like functions, including logic-based processing, data storage, and communications handling capability. As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , our hypothetical household has a personal computer (PC  30 ), a laptop computer  32 , a personal digital assistant (PDA  34 , say, an iPhone (TM)), a network accessible storage unit (NAS  36 ), and a home kiosk  38  that centrally controls various home utility systems (e.g., alarm, timed lawn sprinklers, exterior lighting, etc.). To facilitate the use of these the household has a local area network (LAN  40 ) that here further includes a router  42  (one having both wired port and WiFi capabilities here). The router  42  is connected to a high speed modem  44  that in turn connects in some manner to the Internet  46 . The PC  30 , NAS  36 , and home kiosk  38  are wire-connected to the router  42  (e.g., using a 10/100/100 Ethernet protocol) and the laptop computer  32  and PDA  34  are radio frequency WiFi-connected to the router  42  (e.g., using the IEEE 802.11g protocol; WiFi is short for “Wireless Fidelity”). The high speed modem  44  might be a DSL or other high speed communications modem but, for the sake of this particular example it is a cable modem that is physically connected to the same service portal  25  as all of the service boxes  22 . 
         [0015]    In the P/H systems  16  the brain-like functionalities are very powerful, being flexibly configurable, distributable, extendable, etc. For example, the logic-based processing functionality of the PC  30 , laptop computer  32 , or even the PDA  34  can be applied to virtually any task where data for that task can be communicated to and from these devices. The home kiosk  38  also has logic-based processing and, although typically dedicated to home utility control tasks, there is no inherent reason for this limitation and the utility control tasks performed by the home kiosk  38  might instead, for instance, be performed by the PC  30  when it is turned on. Similarly, the data storage functionality among the P/H systems  16  is noteworthy, being especially distributable and extendable. For example, a spreadsheet prepared on the PC  30  can be moved to the laptop computer  32  or a grocery list accumulated at the home kiosk  38  can be copied to the PDA  34 . Our household members here also may have extensive multimedia collections (e.g., photographs, home videos, purchased music recordings, etc.) stored as files in the PC  30 , laptop computer  32 , or especially in the NAS  36 . These are also easily moved or copied across the LAN  40  and, if these collections grow, more storage capacity can easily be added, say, in the NAS  36  or the PC  30 . In particular however, it should be observed that all of the P/H systems  16  here can communicate across the LAN  40  and via it onto and across the Internet  46 . 
         [0016]    The problem in all of this, unfortunately, is that the P/H systems  16  generally cannot communicate with the TTV systems  14  because the TTV systems  14  will not “listen.” Even though the service boxes  22  and the modem  44  here in this example are physically connected to the very same service portal  25  via cable, the service boxes  22  typically are configured by their providers to “listen” only to what those service providers send as instructions or entertainment content. Thus, if a member of our hypothetical household has an AVI format video file stored on the NAS  36  they typically cannot play this on the big screen of the first television  18   a . Or if another member of our hypothetical household has a MP3 audio file stored in the PDA  34  they cannot play this on the speakers of the second television  18   b  in the master bedroom. While especially the first television  18   a  and even the second television  18   b  represent substantial financial investments, each quite possibly costing more than any single unit among the P/H systems  16 , access to the televisions  18  is effectively held hostage by the cable/satellite service providers of the service boxes  22  or else is not technically practical. 
         [0017]    To say that cable/satellite service providers hold their customers “hostage” may seem overly blunt, but it is all to often true today. Most cable and satellite services are monopolies, either outright or effectively, and television owners that want cable or satellite service rarely have more than two or three suspiciously similar choices. In the case of cable service, a municipality or some other regional government entity usually enforces a geographically defined monopoly, selling the “cable rights” in that region to a single service provider. Similarly, satellite service today is effectively a monopoly because of the very high capital investment required to provide satellite based service and in the United States, for instance, there are effectively only two satellite service choices currently available. 
         [0018]    As a result of this situation, the service boxes  22  shown in  FIG. 1  are usually proprietary, at least in their programming and often in their very circuitry, to work with content only from a particular service provider. Television owners thus usually have to lease a service box  22  for every television they have, even if these are so-called “cable ready” televisions. Related to this proprietary nastiness, the network ports  26  shown on the first service box  22   a  represent a typical case that many technically savvy owners of P/H systems  16  today find very frustrating. Almost all modern service boxes  22  have at least one conventional network port of some kind, and many have a variety of such. For instance, the most widely provided service boxes  22  today all have at least one IEEE 1394 “Firewire” port, multiple USB ports, and an Ethernet port—all of which are either turned off or otherwise rendered un-usable for an end-user to connect to essentially anything. Granted, a stand alone computer-type disk drive can be connected to the USB ports of some service boxes  22 , but this then becomes essentially a dedicated upgrade of the service box because the drive must be re-formatted using a proprietary scheme by the service box before use. 
         [0019]    Thus, as some additional examples, a member of our hypothetical household in  FIG. 1  may have a photograph in the PDA  34  but there is no practical way they can view that photograph on the US$2,500 first television  18   a . Or a member of our hypothetical household may be watching the second television  18   b  in the bedroom and observe that it is raining heavily outside, but there is no way that they can use the second television  18   b  as a display and the second remote controller  20   b  as an input unit in place of the home kiosk  38  in the kitchen to turn off the lawn sprinklers. In sum, the divide  10  is a substantial barrier to using the variety of electronic systems  12  in the modern household. 
         [0020]    Before concluding here with  FIG. 1  it should further be appreciated that this problem goes beyond just that of communicating across the divide  10  between the TTV systems  14  and the P/H systems  16 . With very limited exceptions now being introduced by cable/satellite service providers in service boxes  22  offered in a few major markets, even among TTV systems  14  there typically is no “cross-branch” communications. For example, a sub-divide  48  separates the first service box  22   a , DVR unit  24 , and first television  18   a  as a group from the second service box  22   b , DVD player  28 , and second television  18   b  as a group. A user today therefore generally cannot play a program recorded on the DVR unit  24  on the second television  18   b  or play a Blu-ray (TM) disc in the DVD player  28  on the first television  18   a . Similarly, another sub-divide  50  separates the third television  18   c  from all of the rest of the TTV systems  14 . 
         [0021]    Accordingly, what is need is a system to bridge at least the divide  10  between the TTV systems  14  and the P/H systems  16 , and additionally to bridge the sub-divides  48 ,  50  among groupings of TTV systems  14 . 
         [0022]    Turning away now from the problem towards the inventor&#39;s solution for it, it should be noted that many aspects of the underlying display technologies involved here are conventional. In the interest of summarizing some major aspects of this and establishing some of the terminology that is used herein, the following additional background information is provided. 
         [0023]      FIGS. 2   a - b  (background art) are of a video display unit (VDU  60 ), wherein  FIG. 2   a  is a front view and  FIG. 2   b  is a left side cut-away view showing major representative functional elements of the VDU  60  in a highly stylized manner. 
         [0024]    Starting with  FIG. 2   a , this generally depicts how a user or viewer perceives the VDU  60 . 
         [0025]    Other than a housing or cabinet  62 , the salient visual feature of the VDU  60  here is the front of a display screen  64  that displays images. The images may be single or “still” images (hereinafter “image content”), but more typically these are related sets of images that are perceived as video or moving pictures (hereinafter “video content”; and hereinafter “visual content” when either content can be applicable). The salient audible feature of the VDU  60  here is one or more speakers  66  that play sounds (two in a simple stereo arrangement are shown). The sounds usually are sequences of many sounds (hereinafter “audio content”) that typically (but not necessarily) are in some way related to visual content being presented on the display screen  64  of the VDU  60 . A less prominent feature of the VDU  60  is a set of controls  68  that a user can use to change the various functions of the VDU  60  (e.g., powering it on or off, selecting what visual and/or audio content is played, and setting playback characteristics for such content, like color balance, volume, etc.). Historically the various controls  68  of early VDUs  60  operated manually, and most VDUs  60  still have at least limited capability for this, but the overwhelming case today is to employ a remote controller  70  to remotely and wirelessly operate the controls  68 . 
         [0026]    Turning now also to  FIG. 2   b , this generally depicts the major functional sections of the 
         [0027]    VDU  60 . The cabinet  62 , display screen  64 , speakers  66 , controls  68 , and remote controller  70  are all again shown. Additionally shown here are a power section  72 , a signal receiver section  74 , a video-image processing section  76 , an audio processing section  78 , and a controlling section  80 . The power section  72  is physically connected to an external power source (not shown) to receive and distribute power as needed throughout the VDU  60 . The signal receiver section  74  is physically connected to an external signal source (not shown) to receive visual and audio content, and to distribute it to the video-image processing section  76  and the audio processing section  78 . Although many modern VDUs  60  can receive visual content and audio content as separate signals, most commonly these are received as an integrated signal (often also with an ability to select among individual or multiple such integrated signals provided from multiple external signal sources), and the signal receiver section  74  here is therefore depicted as a single unit. The video-image processing section  76  processes the received visual content as needed to present it on the display screen  64 . Depending on the nature of how the visual content is received as a signal and on how a user of the VDU  60  wants to view this content, this can entail considerable work and sophisticated circuitry but this is not particularly relevant here. Similarly, the audio processing section  78  process the received audio content as needed to present it on the speakers  66 . And also similarly, depending on the nature of how the audio content is received as a signal and how a user of the VDU  60  wants to perceive it, this also can entail considerable work and sophisticated circuitry but this also is not particularly relevant here. The controlling section  80  controls all of this functionality, subject to established default settings or changes made by a user with the controls  68 . The controlling section  80  will vary in capability and the circuitry used for this, depending on the designed purpose of the VDU  60 . 
         [0028]    The reader by now has probably observed that the generic VDU  60  just described resembles a monitor or a television. [As an aside, the term “computer monitor” is herein avoided because this unduly implies use only with a computer.] Both monitors and televisions are, of course, major classes of VDUs  60 . 
         [0029]    Historically, monitors have not included speakers or an audio processing section. But this is no longer always the case. Some monitors today do include speakers or a capability to attach them as an option, and some monitors today include an audio processing section to provide audio content to such speakers. Furthermore, some VDU manufacturers now market monitors (often “computer monitors”) as being television-capable. With reference briefly back to  FIG. 1 , many examples of monitors as VDUs  60  are shown there. For instance, all of the PC  30 , laptop computer  32 , PDA  34 , and home kiosk  38  have monitor-type VDUs  60 . 
         [0030]    Televisions are VDUs  60  that are particularly characterized by having a tuning capability in their signal receiver section  74 , to permit reception of and selection (via the controlling section  80 ) among multiple channels of visual and audio content. Early televisions received “television channels” (signals with integrated video and audio content) that were broadcast by radio waves). An antenna was the external signal source used to receive this and provide it to the signal receiver section, where tuning to a particular channel ensued. A major evolutionary enhancement of this was the advent of cable distribution of television channels, which continues today also with satellite distribution now being common. In the cases of both cable and satellite television channel distribution, however, the underlying television remains essentially the same. With reference again briefly back to  FIG. 1 , it can now be observed that the televisions  18   a - c  there are all examples of television-type VDUs  60 . 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0031]    Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a network accessible display. 
         [0032]    Briefly, one preferred embodiment of the present invention is a network accessible display. A video display unit including a display screen, a video-image processing circuit, an audio processing circuit, and a controlling circuit is provided. The video-image processing circuit plays visual content on the display screen and the audio processing circuit plays audio content on one or more speakers that are physically integrated into or externally connected to the video display unit. The controlling circuit directs functions of the video display unit. And a communications circuit is further provided to wirelessly connect the video display unit to a local area network to receive the visual and audio content for playback with the video display unit. 
         [0033]    Briefly, another preferred embodiment of the present invention is an improved television of the type in which a video-image processing circuit plays visual content on an integrated display screen and an audio processing circuit plays audio content on one or more integrated or externally connected speakers and a controlling circuit directs functions of the television. The improvement comprises a communications circuit integrated into the television to wirelessly connect to a local area network to receive the visual content and the audio content via said local area network for playback by the television. 
         [0034]    And briefly, another preferred embodiment of the present invention is a communications circuit to connect a video display unit to a local area network to receive visual content and audio content for playback. A wireless fidelity (WiFi) type receiver is provided to wirelessly receive the visual and audio content from the local area network. Interface circuitry is provided to communicate the visual and audio content from the communications circuit to the video display unit. And a processor and a logic running therewith are provided that controllably receive the visual and audio content and play it back with the video display unit. 
         [0035]    These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become clear to those skilled in the art in view of the description of the best presently known mode of carrying out the invention and the industrial applicability of the preferred embodiment as described herein and as illustrated in the figures of the drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
         [0036]    The purposes and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the appended figures of drawings in which: 
           [0037]      FIG. 1  (background art) is a schematic block diagram that stylistically depicts how a divide, and potentially also sub-divides, exist between electronic household systems. 
           [0038]      FIGS. 2   a - b  (background art) are of a video display unit (VDU), wherein  FIG. 2   a  is a front view and  FIG. 2   b  is a left side cut-away view showing major representative functional elements of the VDU in a highly stylized manner. 
           [0039]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram depicting a first embodiment of a network accessible display (NAD) in use, wherein the NAD is in accord with the present invention. 
           [0040]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram depicting second and third embodiments of NADs in use, wherein both NADs here are also in accord with the present invention. 
           [0041]      FIG. 5  stylistically shows how the communications circuit used in the NAD in  FIG. 3  may be added to the VDUs in  FIGS. 2   a - b  or to the first television in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0042]      FIG. 6  is a schematic block diagram that stylistically shows a communications circuit and how it is integrated into a VDU in a NAD. 
           [0043]      FIG. 7  is a schematic block diagram that stylistically shows an alternate communications circuit and the manner in which it can be externally connected to a VDU in a NAD. 
           [0044]      FIG. 8  is a schematic block diagram that stylistically shows yet an alternate communications circuit and the manner in which it can be externally connected to a VDU in a NAD. 
       
    
    
       [0045]    In the various figures of the drawings, like references are used to denote like or similar elements or steps. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0046]    A preferred embodiment of the present invention is a network accessible display (NAD). This is illustrated in the various drawings herein, and particularly in the views of  FIGS. 3-4 , wherein embodiments of the invention are depicted by the general reference character  100 . 
         [0047]    Briefly and very basically, the inventive NAD  100  is essentially a conventional video display unit to which a communications circuit  102  has been added. 
         [0048]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram depicting a NAD  100  in use (NAD  100   a  for this specific embodiment). Here the NAD  100   a  is intentionally depicted as being the first television  18   a  of  FIG. 1 , with the communications circuit  102  added internally (communications circuit  102   a  for this specific embodiment). The communications circuit  102   a  wirelessly connects the NAD  100   a  to a router  42  ( FIG. 1 ) in a local area network (LAN  40 ) to receive visual and audio content for playback to a user of the NAD  100   a . Since the communications circuit  102   a  here is integrated into the NAD  100   a , a conventional remote controller (such as the first remote controller  20   a ) is also usable to control all of the functionality of the NAD  100   a.    
         [0049]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram depicting two other NADs  100  in use (NAD  100   b  and NAD  100   c  for these embodiments). Here the NADs  100   b - c  are shown as being the second television  18   b  and the third television  18   c  of  FIG. 1 , with the communications circuits  102  added externally here (communications circuit  102   b  and communications circuit  102   c  for these embodiments). The communications circuits  102   b - c  wirelessly connect the NADs  100   b - c  (i.e., televisions  18   b - c ) to the router  42  in the LAN  40  to receive visual and audio content for playback to a user of the NADs  100   b - c  (televisions  18   b - c ). [Note, the communications circuits  102   b - c  here are stylistically depicted as sizable units with antennas. In actual embodiments, however, the communications circuits  102   b - c  can be substantially smaller and have antennas that are totally integrated into the physical unit to the point that they are not noticeable.] 
         [0050]    Since the communications circuit  102   b  here is external to the NAD  100   b , a conventional remote controller like the second remote controller  20   b  ( FIG. 1 ) may or may not be usable to directly control the functionality of the NAD  100   b . The second remote controller would, of course, still controls the basic functionality of the second television  18   b  (and devices related to it like the second service box  22   b  and the DVD player  28 ), but whether it can also control the communications circuit  102   b  here is another matter. 
         [0051]    First, because the externally added communications circuit  102   b  here typically will not be able to control the second television  18   b  (e.g., change speaker volume, etc.), the communications circuit  102   b  of the NAD  100   b  here will likely have to appear to a conventional remote controller as an additional device being controlled. In the scenario depicted in  FIG. 4  that would bring the “count” of devices being controlled up to four, making for a more complex than typical remote controller and one that would be somewhat more complicated for a user to learn and operate. It is therefore expected that this approach will be adopted for existing VDUs (e.g., televisions already in homes), but eventually become less important in the market as NADs  100  with internal communications circuits like the communications circuit  102   a  in  FIG. 3  become common. 
         [0052]    There is also a second reason that using a conventional remote controller with an externally added communications circuit, like the communications circuit  102   b  here in  FIG. 4 , may be awkward or impractical. It should be recalled that conventional remote controllers use infrared light beam technology and can generally only control systems in their “line of sight.” This will accordingly require that the communications circuit  102   b  be optically controllable (in addition to its inherent radio frequency capability) and further that at least part of the communications circuit  102   b  will have to be placed at the front of the NAD  100   b  or in some other “line of sight” position relative to a viewer of the second television  18   b . If a television to be turned into a NAD  100   b  already has front ports to accept video input, the communications circuit  102   b  may be added there but this has potential disadvantages, such as being un-aesthetic, making the communications circuit  102   b  more easily subject to physical damage, and obscuring or interfering with other controls of the television  18   b.    
         [0053]    Digressing briefly, it should also be recalled that the old third television  18   c  in the garage in the scenario in  FIG. 1  has no remote control capability whatsoever. But if that third television  18   c  is to be converted into the NAD  100   c , it obviously is highly desirable to have this NAD  100   c  be remotely controllable and able to communicate with devices on or accessible via the LAN  40  (i.e., to communicate bi-directionally). For instance, if a user wanted to watch a video file it would be awkward to have to go into the house to the PC  30 , set it up to stream the file from the NAS  36  to the NAD  100   c , and then return to the garage to actually watch the video file. 
         [0054]      FIG. 4  additionally depicts a solution to the problems just described. Rather than use a conventional optical-only remote controller, an enhanced remote controller  104  can be employed that has its own communications circuit  102   d  that uses radio frequency communications. In the same manner that the communications circuits  102  add a NAD  100  to the LAN  40  as another network accessible device (e.g., using an IEEE 802.11x protocol, having its own local IP address, etc.), the communications circuit  102   d  here turns the enhanced remote controller  104  into a network accessible device (albeit a “network accessible controller” or “NAC” here). In addition to permitting control of the communications circuits  102   b - c  (and communications circuit  102   a  as well for that matter), this can also permit controlling any of the P/H systems  16  from anywhere within the WiFi range of the router  42 . 
         [0055]    Turning next to  FIG. 5 , this stylistically shows how the communications circuit  102   a  may be added to the VDU  60  in  FIGS. 2   a - b  or to the first television  18   a  of  FIG. 1 . [Again,  FIGS. 2   a - b  and now also  FIG. 5  represent functionality and not the necessary literal shape of the overall devices involved. For example, the VDU  60  in  FIG. 2   b  physically more resembles a projection-type television in overall shape than a flat screen device, such as the first television  18   a  in FIG.  1 .] In  FIG. 5  the communications circuit  102   a  is shown as an additional circuit interposed between conventional sections of the VDU  60  (particularly including the video-image processing section  76 , the audio processing section  78 , and controlling section  80  of the NAD  100   a  here). This arrangement represents how the communications circuit  102   a  functionally can be separate from the signal receiver section  74  yet serve to provide visual content and audio content to the video-image processing section  76  and the audio processing section  78 , as well as inter-communicate with the controlling section  80 . A conventional remote controller, such as the first remote controller  20   a  of  FIG. 1  again shown here, can be used to additionally control the communications circuit  102   a  itself, and via the communications circuit  102   a  and the router  42  and the LAN  40  ( FIG. 3 ) to controllably access the brain-like functionalities (e.g., logic-based processing, data storage, and communications both across the LAN  40  and via it onto and across the Internet  46 ) of all of the available P/H systems  16  (e.g.,  FIG. 1 ). 
         [0056]    Of course, the circuitry in VDUs  60  is typically much more integrated than what is shown in  FIGS. 2   a - b  and  5 , and various alternate arrangements of the circuitry are possible. But these should be essentially straightforward to one of ordinary skill in the art once the points discussed herein are grasped. 
         [0057]      FIG. 6  is a schematic block diagram that stylistically shows the communications circuit  102   a  and how it is integrated into the VDU  60  in the NAD  100   a  here. The communications circuit  102   a  connects with all of the power section  72 , video-image processing section  76 , audio processing section  78 , and controlling section  80 . The communications circuit  102   a  receives power from the power section  72 , provides video-image content to the video-image processing section  76 , provides audio content to the audio processing section  78 , and bi-directionally communicates with the controlling section  80 . Since it is easy to connect the communications circuit  102   a  and the controlling section  80  in the integrated embodiment of the VDU  60  here, remote control type access to the communications circuit  102   a  is simply accomplished via the controls  68  and the controlling section  80  of the hosting VDU  60 . 
         [0058]    Once the overall inventive principles covered above are appreciated, the elements of the communications circuit  102   a  are largely straightforward. The major elements include a WiFi receiver  110  (here having an optional WiFi transmitting capability as well; Wi-Fi (TM) is short for “Wireless Fidelity” and is a radio communications protocol based on technology is based on IEEE 802.11 standards), a processor  112 , logic  114  that controls the processor (here shown as firmware), and general interface circuitry  116 . 
         [0059]      FIG. 7  is a schematic block diagram that stylistically shows the communications circuit  102   b  and the manner in which it can be externally connected to the VDU  60  in the NAD  100   b  here. Here the NAD  100   b  has connections for external audio and visual content input (connections to the video-image processing section  76  and the audio processing section  78 ), so the communications circuit  102   b  has an audio port  120  and a video port  122  to communicate with these. Otherwise the communications circuit  102   b  here has generally the same elements as the communications circuit  102   a  in  FIG. 6 , with two particular exceptions. First, since the communications circuit  102   b  here is not easily able to be powered by the power section  72  of the VDU  60 , the communications circuit  102   b  here has its own power source  124 . Second, since the communications circuit  102   b  here does not have access to the controlling section  80  of the VDU  60 , the communications circuit  102   b  here has its own remote control port  126  to receive instructions from a remote controller  70  (conveniently, the same remote controller  70  that also operates the controls  68  of the VDU  60 , although this is not a requirement). 
         [0060]      FIG. 8  is a schematic block diagram that stylistically shows the communications circuit  102   c  and the manner in which it can be externally connected to the VDU  60  in the NAD  100   c  here. Here the NAD  100   c  has no connections for external audio and visual content input, so the communications circuit  102   c  has an signal port  130  that provides video-image and audio content to the signal receiver section  74  of the NAD  100   c . Similar to the case depicted in  FIG. 7 , the communications circuit  102   c  here has its own remote control port  126  to receive instructions from a remote controller (here the enhanced remote controller  104  shown in and discussed with  FIG. 4 , although this arrangement is also not a requirement). Finally, as a useful option, the communications circuit  102   c  here has a power section  132  that connects to a power source and that controls the power into the power section  72  of the NAD  100   c . In this manner the enhanced remote controller  104  and the communications circuit  102   c  here can be used to power the NAD  100   c  on and off (recall that the NAD  100   c  here has no original remote control capability). 
         [0061]    While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and that the breadth and scope of the invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments, but should instead be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.