Coded data generation or conversion – Code generator or transmitter – Transmitter for remote control signal
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-09
2004-06-15
Horabik, Michael (Department: 2635)
Coded data generation or conversion
Code generator or transmitter
Transmitter for remote control signal
C345S169000, C340S870030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06750802
ABSTRACT:
PREFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
None
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to remote control devices for electronic devices, and more particularly to a remote control device which has programmable favorite keys to allow quick access to preselected favorite channels or programs.
Remote control devices for electronic devices have come into wide use recently. Using such remote control devices, the user can operate the main function of the electronic device from far away. A wide range of electronic devices can be remotely controlled. The examples include home electronic equipment such as television sets, videotape recorders, stereo receivers, compact disk players, and other electronic devices used in business environment.
A remote control device controls an electronic device by transmitting command data as command signals having predetermined modulated carrier frequencies using infrared signals or electromagnetic signals. Because different manufacturers and often different electronic devices made by the same manufacturer use different command signal structures, the original remote control that comes with the electronic device generally cannot be used to control a different electronic device. To solve that problem, various types of so-called universal remote controllers have been made to control several electronic devices using only one remote controller. These universal remote controllers are either a learning type or a preset type, or a combination of these two types. A learning remote controller can learn and remember the proper individual command signals from an original remote control unit. A preset universal remote controller has a memory to store a manufacturer selected collection of different signal structures. Each signal structure corresponds to a specific electronic device and is associated with a special code. The user can select a desirable signal structure by entering the corresponding special code. The combination type universal remote controllers have both the learning and the preset feature. For example, the remote controller may have a collection of preset signal structures stored in its memory, but the remote controller automatically recognizes a special code associated with a specific signal structure when the remote controller learns a command signal from another remote controller. The advantage oft his type of remote controller is that they do not require manual selection or entrance of the device code by the user.
A universal remote control therefore helps to solve a problem caused by the variety electronic devices and lack of compatibility among them. The users of remote controllers, however, face another problem caused by the variety and complexity of the content and programming available through electronic devices. For example, a television may be capable of receiving hundreds of programming channels through cable or satellite. Multiple channel programming offers rich content to the end users but also makes selecting desired programs more and more difficult, especially so when the selection is made using a remote controller.
As an illustration, consider a television set owned by a family of several members. The television set is capable of receiving more than a hundred different channels, each channel having a unique channel identifier, such as a unique channel number consisting of one or several digits. The channels can be selected either on the television set or on a remote controller, but more typically on the latter. The remote controller has a set of command keys including a group of numeric keys such as 0-9. To select a specific channel, the user presses the corresponding channel number on the numeric keys on the remote controller. The remote controller usually also has channel shifting keys such as a CHANNEL UP key and a CHANNEL DOWN key that can be used to switch channels without entering the specific numeric code. In this setting, the difficulty of selecting channels comes at different conflict levels.
First, some of the channels may be empty, i.e., do not carry any program signal at the place where the family lives or in the service to which the family has subscribed. To avoid facing empty displays or the “snowing screens”, the television set must be scanned and indexed to skip these empty channels. Most television sets have a scanning and indexing function built in. When indexed, operations of the CHANNEL UP key and the CHANNEL DOWN key shift the working channel from the present channel to the next indexed channel but skip the non-indexed channels. These unindexed channels can be accessed only by entering their corresponding numeric code on the remote controller.
Second if a large number of channels are indexed, another problem occurs. A certain member of the family may watch only a few channels among the indexed channels. For this family member, it is inefficient to find his or her favorite channels by going through the entire set of the indexed channels using the CHANNEL UP key and the CHANNEL DOWN key. To quickly access the favorite channels, the person may have to memorize the specific numeric codes for each of the favorite channels, a task which is not always easy given the large number of channels available.
Third, even if the person manages to memorize the numeric codes of the favorite channels, it is still cumbersome to enter the numeric codes on the remote control because very often each code involves multiple digits. In this case, not only does pressing multiple keys one at a time itself takes longer time than pressing a single key, but also it is not always intuitive to locate the next numeric key on the keyboard of the remote controller.
Finally, with more and more electronic devices being used and more and more programs and channels being made available, the remote controllers are becoming progressively complicated and difficult to learn and use. This may be a blessing for people who are gadget oriented but an inconvenience or an obstacle for the less tech-minded. In addition, certain groups of people may find an ordinary remote controller available today simply too overwhelmingly difficult to use, either because of their age or disabilities. From another point of view, some people who are capable of learning how to use a more complicated remote controller may prefer a simplified remote controller anyway simply because of their lifestyles.
To solve the above problems, some remote controllers use favorite channel keys. The Weemote™ made by Fobis Technologies Inc., for example, has several favorite keys. Each favorite key can be programmed as the unique access key for a favorite channel so that when the favored key is pressed the remote controller transmits the unique channel identifier code to the television and switches the channel to the associated favorite channel. To program the favorite key on a Weemote™, the user must know the unique channel number of the favorite channel and enter that number correctly during programming. This still has several problems. First, it is not always easy to remember channel numbers which often have two or even three digits. Second, a viewer usually chooses a favorite channel based on program content that he sees on the screen and often does so with no knowledge of or pays no attention to the actual channel number he is choosing. Third, even if the person knows the favorite channel numbers, entering such numbers on the remote control keyboard may still be found an undesirable task to perform (even if it is required only during programming). Fourth, such remote controllers must have a set of numeric keys to facilitate the entries of channel numbers as channel identifiers, making the remote controller bulky and complicated, a problem further discussed below.
Conventional remote controllers usually have a complete numeric keyboard including numeric keys 0-9 or more. These numeric keys tend to make layout crowded and complicated. They also mandate a larger size of the remote controller to implement the keys. In an attempt to solve this problem, the Weemote™ provides a special way
Dang Hung
Dicke Billig & Czaja, PLLC
Horabik Michael
LandOfFree
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