Patent ID: 7046185

Claim:
A method of programming a universal remote control unit comprising the steps of: initiating, by a user, a programming mode; entering, by a user, characters corresponding to at least a portion of the name of a manufacturer of a device to be controlled by the remote control unit; identifying, from the characters, a signal formatting data entry, which includes signal formatting data, stored in a memory device in the remote control unit, which signal formatting data includes data determinative of a device type; and associating a device type in the remote control unit with the signal formatting data entry based upon the device type data, such that when one or more of a device type key associated with a device type is subsequently depressed, subsequent commands sent by the remote control unit have the format specified by the signal formatting data, and when a command key uniquely associated with the device type is depressed, commands sent by the remote control unit have the format specified by the signal formatting data.