Abstract:
A remote control apparatus includes a hand-held housing, an antenna, a user interface, a wireless data interface, a display device, and a processing unit. The antenna is coupled to the hand-held housing. The user interface includes input selection elements accessible to a user. The user may access these elements from a surface of the hand-held housing. The wireless data interface is located within the hand-held housing and coupled to the antenna. The wireless data interface communicated using a wireless data protocol to a residential gateway system. The display device is capable of being updated by program logic. The processing unit may control the display device, manage the wireless data interface, and process speech input for transmission over the wireless data interface.

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE  
         [0001]    The present application relates generally to a method and a system for controlling various appliances using a wireless data remote control.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    Remote controls have become prevalent and are commonly supplied with consumer electronics devices sold today, including televisions and DVD players. They have become so numerous that it is often a challenge for the average consumer to easily control all of the devices. Hence “smart remotes” that either store remote control codes for various makes and models of devices, or are capable of learning device specific codes, are available. As broadband Internet service (e.g. cable modem, DSL) becomes more ubiquitous, more homes will have a high-speed data server. Gateways and home servers are initially being installed to share the broadband connection among multiple computers or electronic devices in the home. Over time however, gateways will likely evolve to support more powerful functions, including the ability to remotely provision new services, and serving as a media appliance that stores and manages digital content a consumer may have purchased, from movies to music.  
           [0003]    Accordingly, there will be a need in the home itself to facilitate utilizing this newfound power and capability of the gateway/home server and for an improved method of communicating with the gateway/home server while in the home.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0004]    The present disclosure relates generally to a method and system for controlling consumer electronics devices, computers, lighting, and appliances with a wireless data enabled remote control. In a particular embodiment, the system includes a home server product that includes a cable or DSL modem, built-in storage, a wireless data access point, an infrared transmitter, and an X10 transmitter. The home server is capable of controlling legacy devices such as a television supplied with its own unique remote control, or lighting plugged into a standard power outlet by way of an X10 module, by transmitting an infrared signal, or by sending a command over the power-line or in-house phone line, respectively. The home server provides a website for controlling such devices in the home, but is also responsive to commands from a wireless data enabled remote control. In one example, a consumer is capable of controlling a TV not by using the supplied remote directly, but by using a wireless data enabled remote control that sends commands to the home server. The home server, in turn, controls the electronics device by transmitting the infrared signals for the desired device.  
           [0005]    In another particular embodiment, the system is interfaced via a control interface to a structured wiring installation permitting data transfer to consumer electronic devices. Examples include the Consumer Electronics Bus (CEBus) standard, IEEE 1394 “fire wire” cabling, or even wireless technologies including 802.11, ultra-wideband, and Bluetooth. The home server is capable of receiving commands from a wireless data enabled remote control, and in turn directly controlling other devices by sending control commands over such a data channel.  
           [0006]    In a further particular embodiment, the wireless data enabled remote control includes a monochrome or color display sufficiently resolute to obtain configuration and/or device information.  
           [0007]    In a particular embodiment, the remote control has an antenna coupled to a hand-held housing, a user interface, a display device, a processing unit, and a wireless data interface. The user interface may use a variety of input selection units located on one side of the hand-held housing. The processing unit may control the display and process speech input for transmission over the wireless data interface. The wireless data interface may communicate using various wireless standards including 802.11 (Wi-Fi), ultra-wideband (UWB), and Bluetooth™, among others. The wireless data interface may communicate with a residential gateway system. The residential gateway may have one or more interfaces to control appliances. These appliances may include kitchen appliances, lighting fixtures, and consumer electronics, among others. The remote control may also include a speech module such as a microphone. Using the speech module, speech commands may be communicated to the residential gateway system.  
           [0008]    In a particular embodiment, the residential gateway appliance control system includes a remote control device interface, a broadband interface, a processing module, a first appliance communication interface, and a second appliance communication interface. The remote control device interface may also receive digitized speech commands. The processor module may process commands and transmit control commands through the appliance communications interfaces. The appliance communications interfaces may take various forms including communicating through a structured wiring interface within a residential unit, home audio and video type interfaces, infra-red interfaces, and home automation interfaces.  
           [0009]    In another particular embodiment, a method for processing a remote command request to control an appliance is disclosed. The method includes the steps of receiving the remote command request at a residential gateway system, processing the received remote command request at the residential gateway system, and communicating to at least one appliance using an appliance communication interface. The appliance communication interface may take various forms including a structured wiring interface, a home audio and video type interface, and a home automation protocol interface.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIGS. 1 and 2 depict exemplary embodiments of a remote control and a residential gateway system; and  
         [0011]    [0011]FIGS. 3 and 4 depict exemplary methods of operation of the systems of FIGS. 1 and 2.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0012]    As broadband gateways become more common in households, they represent a useful means for controlling and managing consumer electronics and home automation functions. With a single remote control or a web-based interface, a broadband gateway may be used to control a plurality of devices, home automation modules, and computer systems.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a system including a remote control  102  and a residential gateway system  110 . The remote control  102  communicates with the residential gateway system  110  to control various appliances  120 ,  122  and  127 . The residential gateway system  110  may be connected to a network  114 , such as the Internet. With this system, more than one appliance can be controlled from the remote control  102  or from a web-based interface.  
         [0014]    The remote control  102  includes a user interface  106  and an antenna  104 . With the user interface  106 , antenna  104 , and other supportive circuitry, a user may interact with the residential gateway system  110  via a wireless data link  108 . This wireless data link  108  may conform to standards and protocols such as (900 mHz, 2.4 GHz, etc.), 802.11 (Wi-Fi™), Bluetooth™, and ultra-wideband (UWB), among others. The remote control  102  may also have a microphone  164 , processor  162 , and display  160 . The processor  162  may control the display  160 , manage a wireless interface  166  to wireless data link  108 , process speech input for transmission through the wireless interface  166 , or perform any combination of these functions, among others. The display  160  provides visual interaction with a user. The display  160  may be used in conjunction with a graphical user interface. The display  160  may also be used to present HTML pages and network interaction. For example, the display  160  may be used to interact with the residential gateway system  110  through a web interface. The web interface may include a set of pages and scripts for configuring and controlling various devices including the residential gateway system  110  and various appliances. The web interface may be accessible through the remote control  102  or through the network  114 .  
         [0015]    The microphone  164  collects voice input. This voice input is processed by the processor  162 . The processor  162  may interpret the voice input to determine a command. Alternately, the processor  162  may digitize the voice input and transmit it to the residential gateway system  110  where it is processed to determine a command.  
         [0016]    The residential gateway system  110  receives input and commands from the remote control  102  and implements the commands through various interfaces to control various appliances. In general, the residential gateway system  110  may be implemented as a broadband gateway, modem, switch, router, or similar system. The residential gateway system  110  has a broadband interface  134  coupled to an external network  114 , such as the Internet through communications line  116 . The network  114  may be a global network, wide area network, or local area network, among others. The communications line  116  may take the form of a cable line, digital subscriber line, ISDN line, satellite network, or analog line, among others. The broadband interface  139  is also coupled to a processor  132  through internal bus  146 .  
         [0017]    In addition, the residential gateway system  110  has a remote interface  142  coupled to an antenna  112  and coupled to the processor  132  through line  144 . While the embodiment shown has one processor  132  coupled to both the broadband interface  134  and the remote interface  142 , two or more processors may be used. The remote interface  142  communicates with the remote control  102  through a wireless data link  108 . This wireless data link  108  may conform to various protocols and standards including (900 mHz, etc.?), 802.11, Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™, and ultra-wideband (UWB), among others. Through this wireless data link  108 , the remote control  102  may send commands associated with various appliances.  
         [0018]    The residential gateway system  110  receives these commands through the remote interface  142  and processes them using the processor  132 . These commands may be text commands to be interpreted, signals to be translated or forwarded, or voice commands to be interpreted. The commands may take various alternate forms.  
         [0019]    The processor  132  is also coupled to various communications interfaces such as a structural home wiring interface  136  through line  148 , infrared interface  138  through line  150 , or X10 interface  140  through line  152 . The residential gateway system  110  may transmit commands to associated appliances through these interfaces, among others. For example, commands may be transmitted through phone lines, local area networks, power cables, and using various wireless frequencies, such as infrared and radio frequencies (RF) including 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.0 GHZ among others. Furthermore the interfaces may conform to various home automation standards including X10, Home Audio/Video Interoperability (HAVi), Home API (HAPI), Vesa Home Network, Jini, Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi), and Universal Plugnplay (UPnP), among others.  
         [0020]    For example, the residential gateway system  110  may transmit commands to electronic appliances such as audio and video equipment  122  through the infrared interface  138  and infrared signal  128 . Alternately, the residential gateway system  110  may control light fixtures and other appliances  127  through an X10 interface  140  and line  130 . In a further example, various home appliances  120  are controlled through a structural home wiring interface  136  and wiring  126 . Various interfaces may be used to control various appliances including climate control devices, air conditioners, televisions, audio equipment, video equipment, light fixtures, kitchen appliances, and consumer electronics, among other equipment.  
         [0021]    In this manner, the remote control  102  may universally control various appliances and home automation functionality through the residential gateway system  110 . The residential gateway system  110  may also interact with the network  114  to provide an interface to appliances, the residential gateway system  110 , and the remote control  102 . For example, the residential gateway system  110  may acquire drivers and translators for appliances from resources on the network  114 . In addition, the residential gateway system  110  may provide a web-based interface accessible by a browser on the network  114 . The web-based interface may permit remote access for updating, control, and management of various appliances. In one example, a homeowner may access the residential gateway system  110  through the network to manipulate appliance settings.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a structure utilizing the gateway system  110 . In one room  220  of the structure, the wireless remote control  102  may transmit wireless data or commands  108  to the residential gateway system  110 . The residential gateway system  110  then communicates control commands to a repeater  202  located in another room  222  via signal  128 . Room  222  may be on the same floor as room  220 . The repeater  202  communicates the control commands to a first appliance  204  using signal  206  or to another repeater  210  using signal  208 . In this example, the repeater  210  transmits the control command to a second appliance  212  via signal  214 . The second appliance  212  is located in a room  224  on a separate floor from rooms  220  and  222 .  
         [0023]    The example seen in FIG. 2 depicts the remote control  102  in the same room  220  as the residential gateway system  110 . However, various communications standards and protocols permit wireless communication between rooms and the remote control  102  may be located in a different room. In addition, this example depicts control communications  128 ,  208  and  214  as infrared communications. Various other communications standards and protocols may be used to communicate between rooms and locations within a structure.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary method of using remote control  102  and residential gateway system  110 . As shown in step  302 , the hand-held remote control device receives a user command. The user command may include command entry through a button interface. Alternately, the user command may be a digitized voice command. As shown in step  304 , a data signal associated with and responsive to the command is transmitted to the residential gateway system using a wireless link. The wireless link may utilize various protocols and standards such as (900 MHz, etc.), 802.11 (Wi-Fi™), Bluetooth™, and ultra-wideband (UWB), among others. The residential gateway system then sends a control signal based on the command to an appliance, as shown at step  306 . The control signal may be sent through various interfaces including infrared, X10, structural wiring, and wireless interfaces, among others. The control signal may control various appliances such as climate control devices, air conditioners, televisions, audio equipment, video equipment, light fixtures, kitchen appliances, and consumer electronics, among other equipment.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 4 depicts another exemplary method of using a residential gateway system. At step  402 , the residential gateway system receives a command request from a remote control apparatus. The residential gateway system processes the command request as shown at step  404 . The command request may be data or a digitized voice command. The residential gateway system translates the command request and transmits a first appliance command request as shown at step  406 . The residential gateway system may also transmit a second command request as shown at step  408 . For example, the residential gateway system may receive commands for turning on a television and dimming lights. The residential gateway system may, through an infrared interface, first send a command to control the television. The residential gateway system may also, through an X10 interface, send a command to control a light fixture. The residential gateway system may control multiple devices through a single interface or one device through more than one interface. Access repeaters and remote converters may also be used  
         [0026]    The above-disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.