Programmable on screen display and remote control
Contents
1. AAAAA AAA AAA AAA A Tnoonrv Lite DEE H EE ies v v08 WeJeweg Q Medans O VZELE eowes AL A02 N BILAG O BOES opny IO c IS a i5 BCBS BLED BOING 0 JU0D Epeug fi ecas a a A eowag feu 261g a A eowes copia ifo Fl Dose opey Ni A eoinag oquog u BR saag pezjeay ae yew eco a imp 100 t snima deer reU NIE y 4 ots up OTB MOUS derwen el VoL 3 3 B EEN tegen eusodcoo 0301A AnO ITO A A anano pouBssy dh ocpA e np et Jiro eepA ueoduop rm dupa 10 WOH tisi gwaalno erbg Lan eseu D BT ewoneue ewary wy rage evuawy atv Q Tome wy every ws EE SO AL 0029 DADS A aper Ap o Team AL ang Piha Losse A ooieg singing d oa 7 D ren emdn ai creo z on 3 fed ona zen EZ suayeads z de LU JOH Z GET A quels ge Cc z uoe eO ZO CALOY puitg apeus e Leg DYAH L1 Cd Seege punoung gei L onon o ko ae is feid GAC 987 Apps g E seen L sux acson wen TT jaueg tono jueAes D L Wu Ge Q Lupi qe Co uiy Ode ORY onec 1000 Evin w FO O 00000 U S Patent Jun 12 2012 Sheet 12 of 12 US 8 199 113 B2 CFannel ralogDown CrannclAralogSclect ooo Cook CrannelDigitalDown i CtannelDigilalSelecl CrannelDigitalUp Device Name Lab Sta CrannelNameSelect Lab Station 1 O DecremeniCon rast DecremeniDetailEnhancementLevel DecremeniDetailEnhancementThreshold DecremeniL2. Cem pound 4 vos ae dry enen cue 191 aeb 2 away vog 9 bag cow TP erw pusy nue eio pj anum s Couey PES L ament s dn sone ag pun 0 40 O anon ffe DER so vor umm Dogs aen dn estne eium LD Gig ge n DL wog o 20 aN eium TP spy opus amp maus numm z owcy EEN Y mea dn eo be z mno wem fwon 7 1n0 290A 97 A kass gees WEEN toni 10 se wm A n poubssy A anis d lo gmdum 8 S N oops Ir Nies ion gincu wer us ee L EK ndu edo e denas wy e L woe QET 3 LeN Sue 1 Uoyels et Bunpacsui puo gue Me E vog eue aeq ssirdnooong EEN EN scr nooony serdnooony EE 919 er 61 3331 B dci ZEZSH E lieren Ar ebp y 3 4 Sege o 80 C981 Raa GIA EE oss Cla AY e1sed u07 ee AY one Av A 109 2 o4ucr Bunt b Wat wasis Dou sau E OU O v ies v OL cones Aeds q usas uo a eowjes opny i6 q a BEIS AL Ses t 60 48S 0LOJ PEUS uODMS JOS A SE Sew 146g 994 95 EA OI a EES E TEE sseiquoyng Sam IN RPEN ARIU eovuag GC Supr 80 A88 VAH 4 MIS1I ADd BOWIEG AL SIDED KEIER OASE BLEQ snes Q d a KIK coves opes na BR seoweg peziees esn ET LUNES EET as ee Veinen eau V0 030 locpa e oos meu aau eut euv A Mv so wou0d s02 de watue uj Euuel v 4 dope Su open sue e exeo A y av un Q D Sat d zeg sent PII aire wg eet B aces z ge E skeid
3. j ejqe2Ae d 001 US 8 199 113 B2 Sheet 8 of 12 Jun 12 2012 U S Patent 00S SSCS puiibpeg t3 4 o ueejosuonejo LJ O Dn ayebiaen ajowey ale ye1ereBineN sjowey CJ o umog ajebiaen oway LJ fO pejgeu3 voyng C _ gt ese diueLueiou pueuiuio EH 806 pioHdnonzpueuuo2sj660 1 seA ejuesw SeA 9jqee ojuoN C ej660 zed C uoneuuoju LA dn ejeBiAeN ug LJ uopnguoN Ysiq Apued sowy Lj Pot OW Po OWS LJ po BOWS UI nuan ajowey LJ spo sjowey LJ poses sjowey LJ 4 A 4 4 ajaja MGE INGE One S E WzuEez 200 9 GOY 9Se1 lU eu DU DUEUIUOCHoL00 LG psd oipesu Jed U S Patent Jun 12 2012 Sheet 9 of 12 US 8 199 113 B2 Lab Slalion 1 OH v4 Dos User m 61 0 Y Control Pors E Default Profile 61 2 IR Serial PWM Port 1 IR Serial PWM Port 2 IR Serial PWM Port 3 IR Serial PWM Port 4 Serial Por 1 HW Serial Por 2 HW Serial Por 3 HW Serial Por 4 Trigger 1 Trigger 2 Trigger 3 Trigger 4 Trigger 5 Trigger 6 Trigger 7 Relay 1 Relay 2 Relay 3 Relay 4 Y Assigned Inputs Y Audio Irput 1 Digiallnputt coaxial Audio Irput 2 oOooooog Y Video Audio Input 1 E Videolnpu 1 hemi Y Video Audio Input 2 E Videotnpu 2 ihcmi Y Video Audio Input 3 000 Videolnpu 3 compo Y Video Audio Inpul 4 Vidcolnpu 4 s vidco Y Video Audio Input 5 Videolnpu 5 compo Assigned Outputs Video Audio O
4. by simply altering the information contained in a file 300 an author using widely available and familiar software may easily and rapidly configure modify or cus tomize any aspect of the appearance or functionality of an on screen button or physical button In response to commands and information received from patches via output ports control API access 304 and UI server 306 issue appropriate commands and information to service controller 308 Service controller 308 in turn issues appro priate commands to external components 310 e g devices which are interconnected with a programmable multimedia controller to effect whatever action a user has indicated Details regarding the structure and operation of service con troller 308 are found in the above referenced related applica tions FIG 4 is a screen shot 400 that depicts how the system of FIG 3 may be used to assign functionality to physical buttons of a programmable remote control for use with a particular service specifically a cable TV service In the central portion of screen shot 400 an image 402 of a programmable remote control like that shown in FIG 2 is displayed as a visual reference In a panel 404 the layers of a Photoshop file are displayed That file defines the functionality of each physical button of the programmable remote control in con nection with a particular service which in this example is simply playing watching cable TV As shown in panel 4
5. 12 United States Patent Madonna et al US008199113B2 US 8 199 113 B2 Jun 12 2012 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent 54 75 73 21 22 65 63 51 52 58 56 PROGRAMMABLE ON SCREEN DISPLAY AND REMOTE CONTROL Inventors Robert P Madonna Osterville MA US Kevin C Kicklighter Centerville MA US Gerald W Shields Wilton NH US Michael C Silva East Sandwich MA US Michael E Noonan Sandwich MA US Assignee Savant Systems LLC Hyannis MA US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 919 days Appl No 11 687 458 Filed Mar 16 2007 Prior Publication Data US 2008 0158148 A1 Jul 3 2008 Related U S Application Data Continuation in part of application No 11 520 215 filed on Sep 13 2006 now Pat No 7 930 644 Int Cl G06F 3 02 H04N 5 50 2006 01 HO03K 17 94 2006 01 U S Cl 345 172 345 169 348 734 341 22 Field of Classification Search 345 156 345 168 169 172 173 184 348 734 341 21 23 See application file for complete search history 2006 01 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 450 079 A 9 1995 Dunaway sesse 341 23 6 266 098 Bl 7 2001 Cove et al 6 313 880 B1 11 2001 Smyersetal 348 552 PHOTOSHOP FILE PER BUTTON IMPLEMENTATION OF BUTTON PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS Q
6. By speci fying that preference in the user profile and dynamically adjusting the functionality assigned to on screen and physical buttons the present invention effectively customizes and optimizes the user s experience In another example if the user is a child by specifying that information in the user profile the present invention enables the exercise of parent control to prevent certain on screen display menus from appearing blocking access to certain media and the like FIG 7 is a screen shot of a graphical programming envi ronment 700 in which user actions also referred to as service requests in the above referenced related applications for controlling a home lighting system not shown are presented for assignment to desired on screen display buttons or physi cal buttons on a programmable remote control US 8 199 113 B2 7 In a dialog box 702 a lefthand portion is a list of services 704 that may be provided by a programmable multimedia controller which is interconnected with appropriate external components The first service listed is Lighting Control Ser vice which is shaded to indicate that service requests 706 listed in a righthand portion of dialog box 702 correspond to the Lighting Control Service As shown the available ser vice requests 706 are named ButtonPress ButtonPressAn dRelease ButtonRelease DimmerSet SwitchOff and SwitchOn Stated another way the available service requests 706 represen
7. ana z ae E e owocds z qo i uo z 027 CH Cup ae 3 HIEN ek Ouer puig epeus e 00 18194409 OWAH L1 16C 1910002 Bu ufi amp sa Ll S4IYCICS puncung Q87 n suayeeds qe LU mon e ane ey Pied JAG APT AL Pag o ios el suy U sono sueo T pd UONC WEARS D L Loge ae Iu voes ae E v 8 H LB ooooo gs Lenneng wesecuoc eres EL a soi eanes mpu oao uea an sasona ronron SE dneun Zeu reen oron vetgmgs Baybcteten ouey Kadsg mist Laura TEE Swmdbroeg leg 9p 4 uonsoduon US 8 199 113 B2 ip onum cuc uvog eines apen TP enon cowry DEIER tuwu CHEN Dag 14 21085 doc oves vocc ver We dn oinen pn ZA m mcc O wc 9 zem O pueweg ie usm Q nam O wg own FJ ow gt mewogse O 9 eu Ki VaeEegen a sso B14 seo wegaew te mb ooa Bd Lige AR ARN MAAG Sheet 11 of 12 Jun 12 2012 1 uos ge Bugpedsu 008 U S Patent p emn gue 110 cema Dex Zobu n ying ess Mir pod ess Mir z Lod ess mo Ku De spa fiumi 1n0 ww A sinaing porfissv A Bo rtu zo S 5 N opcs o eege ett zg puce d snm suog pv amp ETH Zeta v asraniqonry esnanngoory D S bau apa LN uoppnpayssionjuawaxeg apoyyGuiuays Puwang piousaiu jus waqueyuy eyaqqusw3 92q ege rejeqnueuuaioe Iseguopjuauaiseq KEPSIUENIBULELI Verb aue 3 dnSoeuyjeuuers psagSoreuyjuuerg umogSoeuyjeuuers 3209 aiertsg zuel
8. s remote control functionality based on preferences access controls location and the like 16 Claims 12 Drawing Sheets US 8 199 113 B2 Sheet 1 of 12 Jun 12 2012 U S Patent Vi Sls VIGAW AV 1d U S Patent Jun 12 2012 Sheet 2 of 12 US 8 199 113 B2 CABLE TV FIG 1B U S Patent Jun 12 2012 Sheet 3 of 12 US 8 199 113 B2 a Z lt Lu a zZ O FIG 1C U S Patent Jun 12 2012 Sheet 4 of 12 US 8 199 113 B2 _i8 FIG 1D U S Patent Jun 12 2012 Sheet 5 of 12 US 8 199 113 B2 204 FIG 2 U S Patent Jun 12 2012 Sheet 6 of 12 PHOTOSHOP FILE PER BUTTON IMPLEMENTATION OF BUTTON PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS QUARTZ COMPOSER COMPOSITION EXTRACT STORE AND COMPRESS 304 CONTROL API ACCESS UI SERVER SERVICE CONTROLLER EXTERNAL COMPONENTS FIG 3 US 8 199 113 B2 300 302 306 308 310 US 8 199 113 B2 Sheet 7 of 12 Jun 12 2012 U S Patent SSCS EHEC 13 o ueasuanejoy LJ ale uoWNguON usi Apueg sjowey LJ O Ve ayebiaen suen LJ O UD ayeblaen eyoues Cla umoq eyeBiaeN ejoues D paiqeu3 uong C e EH 80t pioHdnonzpueuuo2ejB6o C De AR LJ olt seA eiqee oWuoN C 9 660 ed CLV nnm EURO A dn ejeBiAeN sjowey LJ a aw ajo CE CSC BIOTIC o 89998 T o CS Spes LT o TSS PO Sues t3 O rT pex BNSC e Dik FEI WEZLNe6 2 200 8 g9 dnBojeuyjeuueu pueuuo o500 Opsd
9. using the button In accordance with one aspect of the invention a button s assigned function is dynamically changed to provide appro priate functionality for the type of service that a user has selected Similarly a button s assigned functionality may dynamically change in response to a menu level or state to which a user has navigated within a service Thus for example as a user progressively accesses different services the same button s functionality may dynamically change from up channel while controlling a cable TV converter box to initiate call while controlling video chat to dim mer while controlling a lighting system to any of a number of other desired functionality The present invention provides numerous advantages including eliminating the need for separate remote controls for various components that are interconnected with the mul timedia controller The present invention effectively enables a simple remote control having a small number of large but tons into a robust powerful remote control which is intu itively and easily operated in a heads up fashion Another advantage of the present invention is that it may effectively replace an expensive bulky and nonportable touchscreen Further the programmable remote control pro vided by the present invention is sufficiently inexpensive that every member of a household may have one each of which may be customized in terms of functionality permitted
10. 04 the physical navigate up button 406 is assigned the function ChannelAnalogUp 408 which within the environment of a programmable multimedia controller operates to increment the channel on a cable TV converter box Other attributes of button 406 may also specified by the Photoshop file For example button 406 is identified as a button on a remote control 410 and is designated as a toggle type 412 To enable a user to navigate through multiple menu levels or states a desired button on the programmable remote con trol may be programmed with the function next menu Sunilarly a desired button may be programmed with the function back or previous menu FIG 5 is a screenshot similar to FIG 4 which illustrates how the functionality of the navigate up button may be dynamically changed when the programmable remote is used in connection with a different service or menu state In FIG 5 the physical navigate up button 506 is the same physical button as the navigate up button 406 of FIG 4 However in FIG 5 a different Photoshop file is displayed in panel 504 This file defines functionality of each physical button of the programmable remote control in connection with playing FM radio Here the physical navigate up button 506 is assigned the function IncrementPreset 508 which again within the 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 environment of a programmable mu
11. UARTZ COMPOSER COMPOSITION EXTRACT STORE AND COMPRESS 6 469 633 B1 10 2002 Wachter 340 825 69 7 330 189 B2 2 2008 Nichogi etal 345 589 2003 0035010 Al 2 2003 Kodosky et al 2003 0088852 Al 5 2003 Lacas et al 2003 0103088 Al 6 2003 Dresti etal oo 345 835 2003 0151538 Al 8 2003 Escobosa etal 341 176 2004 0143349 Al 7 2004 Roberts et al FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS WO WO 00 17737 3 2000 WO WO 03 019560 A2 3 2003 WO WO 03 044625 A2 5 2003 OTHER PUBLICATIONS International Search Report for PCT US2008 003434 mailed Sep 19 2008 12 pages International Search Report for PCT US2007 019912 mailed May 13 2008 18 pages National Instruments Corporation Labview User Manual passage Labview User Manual Jul 2000 pp 1 7 cited by examiner Primary Examiner Lun Yi Lao Assistant Examiner Jarurat Suteerawongsa 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Cesari and McKenna LLP 57 ABSTRACT Both an on screen display and a physical programmable remote control have buttons whose functionality may be dynamically reassigned in accordance with a user s naviga tion through menu levels states or across different services The physical programmable remote control in conjunction with a TV or other video display provides an intuitive heads up experience for the user and eliminates the need for mul tiple physical remote controls User profiles and zones may be used to customize a user
12. access to services preferences and the like BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention may be better understood by referring to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate identical or functionally similar elements FIGS 1A 1D show a series of on screen displays in which a rotating selection of programmable buttons in the form of icons representing different available services are presented to a user who may use the buttons to command a program mable multimedia controller according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention FIG 2 is a top plan view of a programmable remote control according to an illustrative embodiment of the present inven tion FIG 3 is a block diagram showing a high level architecture ofasystem for dynamically assigning functionality to buttons in the on screen display of FIGS 1A 1D or physical buttons of programmable remote control of FIG 2 according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention FIG 4 is a screen shot showing how the system of FIG 3 may be used to assign functionality to physical buttons of a programmable remote control for use with a cable TV ser vice FIG 5 is a screen shot showing how the functionality assigned a physical button of a programmable remote control may be dynamically changed in response to a user s action FIG 6 is a screen shot showing a graphical programming environmen
13. by reference BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to a programmable on screen display and programmable remote control through which a user may command the operations of a program mable multimedia controller or other device 2 Background Information A now decades long expansion in the number and types of consumer electronic devices has generated pervasive use of radiofrequency RF and infrared IR remote controls Origi nally developed for television remote controls now accom pany essentially every CD player DVD player audio receiver TV home theatre camcorder and portable radio To simply play a DVD and watch a movie on a TV it may be necessary to operate three different remote controls in order to turn on and properly set the TV DVD player and home theatre system for the performance One conventional approach to eliminating or reducing the number of physical remote controls is the so called universal remote control In general a universal remote control works by learning the RF or IR signals to which various devices respond Once the signals are learned and retained in memory the universal remote control may control multiple devices Universal remote controls however present certain disad vantages beginning with a dizzying array of physical buttons perhaps dozens which are often marked with arcane difficult to read labels Due to the number of buttons the
14. devices for which necessary informa tion can be collected With panel 902 displayed any of the listed commands may be assigned to any on screen display button or physical button in panel 606 by a drag and drop operation The foregoing description has been directed to particular embodiments of this invention It will be apparent however that other variations and modifications may be made to the described embodiments with the attainment of some or all of their advantages Additionally the procedures or processes may be implemented in hardware software embodied as a computer readable medium having program instructions firmware or a combination thereof Therefore it is the object of the appended claims to cover all such variations and modi fications as come within the true spirit and scope of the invention What is claimed is 1 A method comprising the steps of defining functions that a user may initiate by pressing buttons on a physical remote control storing information representing said functions using a graphical programming environment to assign a function to at least one of said buttons based on a user profile which corresponds to said user and that includes information regarding said user s preferences said function to be indicated in a first graphics file with layers of graphics that indicate said function is assigned to said at least one of said buttons said function to be performed when said at least one of said bu
15. e additional buttons two of which are partially visible at reference number 20 may also be included in a rotating selection FIG 1D shows an on screen display 18 which might appear for example in response to a user pressing a button to initiate a satellite TV service Button 28 when pressed ini tiates the cable service provider s play button Button 30 when pressed initiates the cable service provider s A but ton Button 32 when pressed initiates access to the cable service provider s info button Pressing button 34 initiates the cable service provider s exit functionality which typi cally is used when in guide mode FIG 2 shows a preferred embodiment of a programmable remote control 200 which may be used to rotate or press the on screen display buttons of FIGS 1A 1B as well as other wise command the operations ofa programmable multimedia controller or other device In top plan view remote control 200 includes a rest 202 five outer buttons 204 206 208 210 and 212 and four inner buttons 214 216 218 and 220 Remote control 200 also includes a central select button 222 For simplicity buttons 204 222 may be referred to individu ally or collectively herein as physical buttons In operation a user using remote control 200 may in con junction with a TV or other video display command the operations of a multimedia controller or other device in a heads up fashion with the user looking general
16. ent rotate on screen display 2 in response to a user action such as pressing a button or applying pressure to a scroll ring on a remote control like that shown in FIG 2 or taking some other action When a user wishes to press one of the on screen buttons 4 14 he or she simply rotates the on screen buttons until the desired one appears in the front and center position e g button 4 in FIG 1A or button 10 in FIG 1B inon screen display 2 At that point the user may press the on screen button by pressing an appropriate button on a remote control by touching the corresponding area ifa touch screen is being used or by any of a number of other actions FIG 1C shows an on screen display 16 which might appear for example in response to a user pressing on screen button 10 FIG 1B to initiate a cable TV service That is on 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 screen display 16 may be considered in a hierarchical sense as a submenu or sublayer with respect to button 10 of on screen display 2 Three on screen buttons 22 24 and 26 are displayed each assigned functionality that is appropriate for user control of cable TV Pressing button 22 for example initiates access to on demand movies or other content avail able from a cable TV provider Pressing button 24 initiates a cable service provider s C button and pressing button 26 initiates a cable TV converter box s DVR stop command As befor
17. ial graphical representation of a second zone named Lab Station 2 is depicted in a panel 604 A panel 606 is a graphical represen tation of on screen display menus which have been pro grammed to appear in the Lab Station 1 zone As indicated generally by connector lines 608 the on screen display menus in panel 606 are associated with appropriate control ports inputs or outputs that are present in the Lab Station 1 zone Similarly the transitions between on screen display menus may be graphically programmed as desired As shown in panel 606 a user named Default User 610 is identified and is hierarchically associated with a user profile named Default Profile 612 At the next level of the hierar chy the Lab Station 1 zone is associated with user profile 612 and at the next level on screen display menus 614 are asso ciated with the Lab Station 1 zone At the next lower level although not visible in this figure are the individual buttons associated with on screen menu 614 Additional user profiles may be associated with a given zone by using a mouse to select the user row and then clicking on the button located at the lower left of panel 606 The ability to associate user profiles with on screen display menus is highly advantageous in many ways For example a user who is lefthanded may prefer for the functionality assigned to buttons on a programmable remote control to be reversed as compared to a user who is righthanded
18. isteningMode DecremeniNoiseReduciion WW Con rol Por s DirecTV IR Serial PWM Purl 1 DawrMeru IR Serial PWM Part 2 EndCall IR Serial PWM Port 3 Exit Serial PAM Part 4 FastForward Serial Port 1 HW FavorileChanrel Serial Port 2 HW Flash Sorial Port 3 HW Gute Serial Port 4 Help Trigger 1 High Trigger 2 IncremertCan rast Trigger 3 Incremer DetzilEnhencementLevel Trigger 4 Incremer tDetailEnhencement Threshold Trigger 5 Incremer tListeningMode Trigger 6 Incremer tNaiseReduction Trigger 7 Info Reley 1 Lab 1 Cable_PowerToggle Relay 2 LastChennel Relay 3 LiveTV Relzy 4 Menu WI Assignec Inputs Messages J More Y Acdio Input 1 Mule OT Digilallrputt coaxial H Mule Gn 9 Ado Input 2 Wenn Digilallrput2 optical_di MuleOn Video Audio Input 1 MuteTuneror Videolnputt Fdmi i MuteTunerOn Y Video Audio Input 2 yDVR E Vidcoinput2 dmi HAGN Y Vidco Audio Input 3 Number 00 Videolnput3 compo NumberEight Y Video Audio Input 4 J NumborFive Videolnput4 s video NumberFour Video Audio Inpul 5 1 NumberNine 0 Vidcolnputb s video 1 NumberOne WV Assignee Outputs NumberSeven NumberSix f Video Audio Ou put 1 VideoOulpult NumberThree VideoOutputt homi P NumberTwo VideoOuipult co NumberZero VideoOuiputt coaxi e or i On AudioOulpul2 H AudioOutput3 OnDemand AudioOulput4 OSDCursarDowr AudioOulputs l Eaeekce Dese E M ee OsDDayUp is OSDPageDown OSDPageUp OSDSelec Pause Leb Station 2 Picture
19. lnChannelDown i PicturelnChannelUp PictureView PiciureO T PictureOn P Control Poris i PiciureSwap IR Serisl PWM Port 1 Plasme IR Serial PWM Port 2 y Play IR Serial PWM Port 3 Powerof IR Serial PWM Port 4 d PowerOr Serial Port 1 HW ProfileDown Serial Port 2 HW ProfileUp Serial Port 3 HW qcDown Serial Port 4 qcDownlosd Trigger 1 OCH Trigger 2 Trigger 3 Trigger 4 Trigger 5 Trigger 6 Trigger 7 Reley 1 Reley 2 Reley 3 qeLeftHold Relay 4 qeMenu Y Assigred Inpu s geMenuHold WW Audio Input 1 Rech e Digiallnpult cual gcRichtHold W Audio Input 2 qeoon FIG 9 eese 0000000 ooo0000 US 8 199 113 B2 1 PROGRAMMABLE ON SCREEN DISPLAY AND REMOTE CONTROL RELATED CASES The present application is a continuation in part of com monly assigned U S patent application Ser No 11 520 215 which was filed on Sep 13 2006 now U S Pat No 7 930 644 assigned to a common assignee for PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT AND METADATA MANAGEMENT FOR PROGRAMMABLE MULTIMEDIA CONTROLLER and is hereby incorporated by reference This application is related to the following copending U S patent applications SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A PRO GRAMMABLE MULTIMEDIA CONTROLLER filed Dec 20 2005 and assigned Ser No 11 314 664 PROGRAM MABLE MULTIMEDIA CONTROLLER WITH PRO GRAMMABLE SERVICES filed Dec 20 2005 and assigned Ser No 11 314 112 both of which are assigned to a common assignee and all of which are expressly incorporated herein
20. ltimedia controller oper ates to increment to the next preset channel on an FM tuner audio receiver or similar device The foregoing description of how Photoshop files may be used to assign and dynamically change the functionality of physical buttons on a programmable remote control is equally applicable to on screen buttons like those shown in FIGS 1A 1D In the related application PROGRAMMABLE MULTI MEDIA CONTROLLER WITH PROGRAMMABLE SER VICES there is a detailed description regarding user pro files and zones In general user profiles are files or other data which include information on an individual user s pref erences access rights or restrictions or other information In general zones are particular rooms or physical areas in which particular devices are present that are interconnected with and under the control of a programmable multimedia controller In conjunction with the graphical programming environment described in the related application entitled PROGRAM MING ENVIRONMENT AND METADATA MANAGE MENT FOR PROGRAMMABLE MULTIMEDIA CON TROLLER the present invention may be advantageously used to provide on screen or physical button functionality which may be dynamically changed in accordance with a user profile or zone in which a user is located or both FIG 6 is a screen shot of a graphical programming envi ronment 600 A graphical representation of a zone named Lab Station 1 is depicted in a panel 602 A part
21. ly at the display and not at remote control 200 For example by pressing button 208 a user may cause on screen buttons of FIG 1A to rotate in one direction By pressing in a circular motion around outer buttons 204 212 the user may cause on screen buttons to rotate in the opposite direction By pressing button 222 a user may effectively press whichever one of on screen buttons 4 14 is displayed in the front and center posi tion on the screen thereby initiating whatever service or action is assigned to that on screen button FIG 3 is a block diagram showing a high level architecture of a system for programming both appearance and function ality of the on screen display buttons of FIGS 1A 1D as well as the physical buttons of programmable remote control 200 of FIG 2 In a preferred embodiment in which a Mac com puter from Apple Inc is incorporated within a programmable multimedia controller as described in the above referenced related applications Adobe Photoshop software which is included in Mac OS X is used to create files 300 That is a Photoshop file 300 is preferably created for each menu state of each on screen button as well as each physical button Ina preferred embodiment each Photoshop file 300 con tains information preferably organized in groups and lay ers which define the appearance functionality and other attributes of each on screen or physical button for a given menu state The informati
22. ng with the on screen buttons using for example the system and methods described in copending application entitled System and Method for Mixing Graphics with Video Images filed concurrently here with and assigned to a common assignee When pressed button 4 which appears as an icon of an old fashioned diner music selector will cause the program mable multimedia controller to initiate a Play Media ser vice Such a service may for example allow a user to play CDs DVDs MP3 files or other media Button 6 which appears as an icon of a thermostat will when pressed cause the multimedia controller to initiate an HVAC service through which room temperature may be controlled Button 8 which appears as an icon of a game controller will cause the mul timedia controller to initiate a video game service Other buttons representing other available services are shown in FIG 1B For example a button 10 which appears as an icon of a TV will when pressed cause the multimedia controller to initiate a cable TV service Button 12 which appears as an icon of a widget will when pressed initiate displaying Mac based widgets on the screen Button 14 which appears as an icon of a compact disk CD will when pressed initiate a CD playing service Also it may be seen in FIG 1B that button 8 has rotated three positions to the right from where it appears in FIG 1A In a preferred embodiment buttons 4 14 as well as others that may be pres
23. ntrol and to assign a different function to said at least one physical button based on said user profile said different function to be indicated in a second graphics file with layers of graphics that indicate said different function is assigned to said at least one physical button and is performed in response to said user navigating through said on screen displays shown on said display device and said user pressing said at least one physical button and software configured to parse said first graphics file or said second graphics file to extract the layers of graphics that indicate said function or said different function is assigned to said at least one physical button and pass commands to said programmable multimedia controller to cause said function or said different function to be performed
24. ofile includes information regarding whether said user has a handi cap 4 The method as in claim 1 wherein said user profile includes information regarding parental controls applicable to said user 5 The method as in claim 1 wherein said function is depen dent upon said user s physical location 6 The method as in claim 1 wherein said different function is dependent upon said user s physical location 7 The method as in claim 1 wherein said function is depen dent upon said user s selection of a predetermined service provided by a programmable multimedia controller 8 A method comprising the steps of defining functions that a user may initiate by interacting with one or more on screen displays shown on a display device storing information representing said functions using a graphical programming environment to assign a function to at least one user operable control that appears in said one or more on screen displays based on a user profile which corresponds to said user and that includes information regarding said user s preferences said function to be indicated in a first graphics file with layers of graphics that indicate said function is assigned to said at least one user operable control that appears in said one or more on screen displays shown on said display device using the graphical programming environment to assign a different function to said at least one user operable con trol that appears in said one or more on
25. on in a given Photoshop file 300 may include notes labels text to speech commands system control commands graphics corresponding to different states of a button or other user control e g enabled pressed mou seover display text font size color sound effect and button control type among others Files 300 which are typically stored on non volatile media such as a hard drive are read 302 by Quartz Composer US 8 199 113 B2 5 another piece of software which is also included within Mac OS X and a run time environment that loads Quartz Com poser compositions Quartz Composer functions to parse Photoshop files 300 thereby extracting all of the embedded groups and layers for the whole file and the graphics as well as for each on screen or physical button Quartz Composer patches access the extracted informa tion and using a Quartz Composer function called output ports passes appropriate commands and information from a patch to a control application programming interface API access 304 and user interface UI server 306 Details regard ing the structure and operation of control API access 304 and UI server 306 are set forth in the above referenced related applications This arrangement provides a powerful programming capa bility because it permits an author of a Quartz Composer composition direct access to multiple layers of graphics as well as any other information stored in files 300 Stated another way
26. screen displays based on said user profile said different function to be indicated in a second graphics file with layers of graph ics that indicate said different function is assigned to said atleastoneuser operable control that appears in said one or more on screen displays shown on said display device said different function to be performed in response to said user navigating through said one or more on screen displays shown on said display device using software to parse said first graphics file or said sec ond graphics file to extract the layers of graphics that indicate said function or said different function is assigned to said at least one user operable control and US 8 199 113 B2 9 passing commands to an application programming inter face API to cause said function or said different func tion to be performed 9 The method as in claim 8 wherein said user profile includes information regarding services which said user is authorized to access using said one or more on screen dis plays 10 The method as in claim 8 wherein said user profile includes information regarding whether said user has a handi cap 11 The method as in claim 8 wherein said user profile includes information regarding parental controls applicable to said user 12 The method as in claim 8 wherein said at function is dependent upon said user s physical location 13 The method as in claim 8 wherein said different func tion is dependent upon said u
27. ser s physical location 14 The method as in claim 8 wherein said function is dependent upon said user s selection of a predetermined ser vice provided by a programmable multimedia controller 15 A programmable multimedia system comprising a programmable multimedia controller including a general purpose computer and coupled to a display device said display device configured by the programmable mul timedia controller to show one or more on screen dis plays which include one or more user operable controls for commanding said programmable multimedia con troller a graphical programming environment configured to assign a function to at least one of said one or more user operable controls using a user profile which corre sponds to said user and that includes information regard ing said user s preferences said function to be indicated ina first graphics file with layers of graphics that indicate said function is assigned to said at least one user oper able control and is performed in response to said user operating said at least one user operable control and to assign a different function to said at least one user operable control using said user profile said different function to be indicated in a second graphics file with layers of graphics that indicate said different function is assigned to said at least one user operable control and is performed in response to said user navigating through said one or more on screen displays sho
28. t actions that a user may take in connection with the Lighting Control Service which will be recognized by the programmable multimedia controller as valid actions Any of the service requests 706 may be assigned to any of the on screen display buttons or physical buttons on a pro grammable remote control that appear in panel 606 which is the same panel shown in FIG 6 except that the on screen display menu named RotateLighting is now expanded and displayed To assign a particular service request to a particular button one simply uses a mouse to drag the service request 706 and drop it on the desired button 606 FIG 8 shows a graphical programming environment 800 in which service requests 806 for controlling a cable TV service 804 are presented for assignment to desired on screen or physical buttons As described above any service request 806 may be assigned to any button present in panel 606 by a drag and drop operation An on screen display menu named RotateCableTv is expanded and displayed in panel 606 FIG 9 shows a graphical programming environment 900 depicting an alternative method for assigning a user com mand to an on screen display button or physical button A panel 902 presents a list of all possible user commands 902 for controlling a cable TV converter box Similar lists not shown may be provided for any desired group of devices e g receivers DVD players TVs etc up to an including a master collection of all
29. t in which a collection of on screen display menus are associated with a particular zone US 8 199 113 B2 3 FIG 7 is a screen shot showing a graphical programming environment in which service requests for controlling a home lighting system are presented for assignment to on screen display buttons or physical buttons on a programmable remote control FIG 8 is a screen shot showing a graphical programming environment in which service requests for controlling cable TV are presented for assignment to on screen display buttons or physical buttons on a programmable remote control and FIG 9 is a screen shot showing a graphical programming environment in which all possible commands for controlling a cable TV converter box are presented for assignment to on screen display buttons or physical buttons on a programmable remote control DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT FIG 1A shows an on screen display 2 for a programmable multimedia controller not shown or other device in which a rotating selection of programmable buttons are presented to a user not shown Details regarding the structure operation and services which may be performed by the programmable multimedia controller are set forth in the above referenced related applications Also for purposes of clarity video images graphics and other content are omitted from on screen display 2 but it should be understood that such content may be displayed on the screen alo
30. ttons is pressed in connection with a first predetermined on screen display being shown on a display device separate from the physical remote control an 0 20 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 using the graphical programming environment to assign a different function to said at least one of said buttons based on said user profile said different function to be indicated in a second graphics file with layers of graph ics that indicate said different function is assigned to said at least one of said buttons said different function to be performed in response to said user navigating with said physical remote control to a second predetermined on screen display shown on said display device separate from the physical remote control and said user pressing said at least one of said buttons in connection with said second predetermined on screen display being shown using software to parse said first graphics file or said sec ond graphics file to extract the layers of graphics that indicate said function or said different function is assigned to said at least one of said buttons and passing commands to an application programming inter face APT to cause said function or said different func tion to be performed 2 The method as in claim 1 wherein said user profile includes information regarding services which said user is authorized to access using said physical remote control 3 The method as in claim 1 wherein said user pr
31. utput 1 VideoOulpull VideoOutputt hdmi VideoOutputt co VideoOutputt coa AudioOulpuls2 AudioOutputs3 AudioOulpuls4 AudioOutputs5 AudioOutputs6 AudioOutputs 7 AudioOutputs8 P Dala 604 DU WV Control Ports IR Serial PWM Por 1 IR Serial PWM Por 2 IRiSerial PWM Por 3 IR Serial PWM Por 4 Serial Port 1 HW Serial Port 2 HW Serial Parl 3 HW Serial Port 4 Trigger 1 Trigger 2 Trigger 3 Trigger 4 Trigger 5 Trigger 6 Trigger 7 Relay 1 Relay 2 Hp Se c Nu ooooo000 Digi allnput2 optical_di PlayCableTv PlayDigitalArt PlayDVD PlayFmRadio PlayGames PlayMediaManagement PlayPhotos PlaySatelliteTv PlayWebBrowser PlayWcblnfo PlayWebServices PlayWidgets RotateCebleTv RotateCebleTvGuide RotateConceirage RotateDigitalAri RotateDVD RotateFavorites RotateFmRadio RotateGames RotateHVAC RotateLighting RotateMultimecia RotatePhotos RotatePre erences RotateSatelliteTvGuide RotateServices RotateZones Direction output Show user defined properties Video OUT 3 composite FIG 6 US 8 199 113 B2 Sheet 10 of 12 Jun 12 2012 U S Patent D weg 122801 snog Leer e neg 94 D343 punog adi ones Byluepi seg mega ACH CIOS DEN gt ag UATHA ZH dn zung Z uoungaieapizH zm Lrmmgseanz br age cuevAedsq repay nae 7 qup Bnqeg Sburogfinaeq stunoioeg paqeuj punorhosg odmeny Dunorbosg apy zuors a US e DH eeh zeen wunnen 4 E Ee hl SCH sou oes E
32. wn on said display device and 20 30 10 software configured to parse said first graphics file or said second graphics file to extract the layers of graphics that indicate said function or said different function is assigned to said at least one user operable control and pass commands to said programmable multimedia con troller to cause said function or said different function to be performed 16 A programmable multimedia system comprising a programmable multimedia controller including a general purpose computer and coupled to a display device said display device configured by the programmable mul timedia controller to show on screen displays for com manding said programmable multimedia controller a physical remote control separate from the programmable multimedia controller and said display device said physical remote control having physical buttons usable in conjunction with said on screen displays shown on said display device and a graphical programming environment configured to assign a function to at least one of said physical buttons using a user profile which corresponds to said user and that includes information regarding said user s prefer ences said function to be indicated in a first graphics file with layers of graphics that indicate said function is assigned to said at least one physical button and is per formed in response to said user operating said at least one physical button on said physical remote co
33. y are often so small they are difficult and annoying to use Further the physical layout ofthe buttons does not conform to any indus try standard nor to an arrangement that most users find intui tive or even familiar In addition because of the small button size and counterintuitive layout most users cannot operate a universal remote control by touch in a heads up manner but must instead frequently look down at the buttons to ensure the correct one is pressed This represents a recurring frustrating distraction for many users Lastly a conventional universal remote control has no capability to change its functionality based on different users preferences handicaps or other fac tors SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In brief summary the present invention provides both a programmable on screen display and a programmable remote 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 control through which a user may command the operations of a multimedia controller or other device Through a graphical programming environment the function of each button in the programmable on screen display or physical button on the programmable remote control may be easily assigned or modified A button s assigned function may vary by indi vidual userto accommodate personal preferences handicaps parental controls or other factors Similarly a button s assigned function may vary according to a physical zone in which the user is present when
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search