Abstract:
A method, apparatus, and system for allowing a user to program a universal remote control transmitter device by presenting interactive display menus or voice prompts within a first synchronized remote controllable appliance such as a television, whereby a user can easily program the remote control device to control desired types, brands, and models of additional, different appliances.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to the field of universal remote control devices and associated remote controllable appliances. 
     Universal remote control devices (URC) are widely used to control more than one remote controllable appliance from a single unit, rather than having a separate remote controller for each appliance. Frequently the manufacturer of a device, apparatus or appliance such as a television, video cassette recorder, or digital video disk player, for example, will include a URC with the appliance, and provide instructions as to how to program the URC to control additional appliances, especially when the additional appliances are of a different brand. To program the URC to control additional appliances the user generally must use a paper look-up table in the instruction book, or follow the written instructions which sometimes instruct the user to use a liquid crystal display (LCD) or other display on the URC during the programming process. Frequently the user will lose the instruction booklet, and at other times will have difficulty following the written instructions which, of necessity, are often complicated due to the complexity of programming many possible brands and models of several types of appliances. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, a method and apparatus are provided which allow a user to program the URC by following menus displayed on or voice synthesized by a remote controllable appliance, such as a TV, VCR, or other remote controllable appliance which can generate display or voice. Some benefits of this technique are that it allows the user to get visual feed-back from the display or audio feedback from the voice generator to make the URC programming process easier. The invention allows easy programming even if the instruction book is misplaced, can save the need for printing instructions by the manufacturer, and avoids the necessity of manufacturing an LCD display on the URC. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the logic of the URC. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     While this embodiment will be illustrated for a television which has a display on which menus are displayed, the menus can be communicated to the user by sound such as by synthesized voice. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, in the Set-up menu of the a remote controllable appliance, exemplified herein by a television, a menu item  10  provided, for example, displayed, to a user. Pressing the appropriate button on the URC leads to a menu, which says, for example, “Press and hold the device key for the device you want to control.” For URC&#39;s which are designed with a single toggle key or a mechanical switch to choose the appliance type, appropriate instructions would be displayed on the TV as to how to cause the URC to enter the program mode for a desired type of appliance, e.g., for VCR&#39;s. After the user selects an appliance the URC enters the “program” mode and also transmits a signal, e.g., IR code, to the television to close the loop and activate the next menu. The TV displays an acknowledgement  11  that the URC programming routine has been entered successfully and the TV enters its URC routine  12  for the selected device, for example, VCRs (see routine  13 ). The next menu (routine  14 ) may prompt the user to select the brand of the VCR by navigating through a list of possible VCR brands. For example, the routine may include the following: 
     What letter does your brand name start with? 
     1—A-C 
     2—D-F 
     3—G-I 
     4—J-L 
     5—M-O 
     6—P-R 
     7—S-U 
     8—V-X 
     9—Y,Z 
     0—Exit 
     Press ‘Clear’ to start over. 
     Key presses other than numeric or ‘clear’ are ignored by the TV. If a numeric is pressed, the appropriate code is sent to the television. If the ‘clear’ key is pressed, the ‘clear’ code is sent, and the URC returns to the ‘normal’ mode. There must be a time-out for each screen. 
     Upon receipt of code indicating a number, the television calls up  14  from memory a list of available VCR brands that start with the selected letters, for example “A through C”, and the following television screen would say, for example: 
     
       
         
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 Select your brand name: 
               
               
                   
                 1 - Axxxxx 
               
               
                   
                 2 - Ayyyyy 
               
               
                   
                 3 - Azzzzz 
               
               
                   
                 4 - A . . . 
               
               
                   
                 9 - More 
               
               
                   
                 0 - Exit 
               
               
                   
                 Press ‘Clear’ to start over 
               
               
                   
                 Press ‘Go Back’ to back up 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     This process continues until an unambiguous brand name is selected  15 . 
     Once the brand has been selected, the URC sends a confirmation of the sequence of codes back to the receiver, which acknowledges with an ON SCREEN DISPLAY message. For example, ‘you have selected a Sony brand VCR. 
     It may also be necessary to select a sub-code type, as various suppliers can use different codes due to historical and cross-branding considerations. This can be selected by a menu-guided method, as above. If there is ambiguity with the brand name, the acknowledgement screen would say, 
     You have selected a RCA brand VCR 
     You will need to try a few formats of code.  17   
     (Or the television display may retrieve  16  available formats for the selected type and brand of appliance.) 
     Please press the key indicated and check if the device responds (eg. ‘play’ for a VCR, or channel up for a cable box). 
     To indicate the correct code, press and hold that key for 3 seconds 
     Once an unambiguous code is found, an “acknowledge” code is sent to the television by the URC. The television may prompt the user to save the selected format  20 . The URC may then signal success to the television, causing the television to exit the programming mode  18 , which may be acknowledged by the television, and which may cause the television to exit the interactive routine  19 . 
     It is obviously necessary that the programming algorithm for the URC must be ‘synchronized’ with the menu content in the receiver, The code look-up table is based on “seeing” the sequence of key presses described by the display. 
     The following example is an embodiment wherein the first appliance is a VCR and the URC is being programmed to control a TV as the different appliance. Once URC program mode is entered and TV is selected as the appliance to be programmed into the URC, the menu or voice may say: 
     
       
         
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 “Select the brand of the TV to be controlled: 
               
               
                   
                 00 RCA 
               
               
                   
                 01 Sony 
               
               
                   
                   . 
               
               
                   
                   . 
               
               
                   
                   .   &gt;&gt;  Entry for all brands that can be controlled. 
               
               
                   
                 xx Zenith 
               
               
                   
                 Press and hold the TV key 
               
               
                   
                 Enter the 2 digit code that corresponds to the brand selected.” 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     The URC could then send a message to the VCR to advance to the next screen or voice menu, which might say “To verify that the URC will operate your TV, press VOLUME UP or DOWN (the most popular code for the brand selected would be programmed). If the TV responded, press OK on the URC.” 
     In response to the signal received from the URC, the VCR would clear the on-screen display (OSD) and present the message, for example, 
     “If the TV did not respond, press CH UP to advance to the next code.” 
     The URC would advance to the next most-popular table for the brand selected and repeat the verification process. 
     Once the URC has advanced through all of the tables for the brand selected, a code could be sent to the VCR to display a message that all codes for the brand selected have been tried. 
     While this invention has been described in detail and exemplified with respect to the best mode of carrying it out, various other embodiments, alternatives, and improvements should become readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.