TRANSFER 14 \INTERACTIVE SITE COMPUTER
Contents
1. Brittenham et al Nemirofsky Nemirofsky Walker et al Bennett Deo et al Kikniis 364 140 Sues 345 157 T 700 86 709 212 s 709 220 U S Patent Jul 2 2002 Sheet 1 of 2 US 6 415 023 B2 MANUFACTURER DATA N FEEDBACK T 14 12 APEHANGE COMPUTER ia 14 INTERACTIVE SITE SERVER 10 TRANSFER DEVICE LOCAL COMPUTER APPLIANCE RECEIVE SWITCH OPTICAL 106 CONTROL PETECTOR SEND SWITCH ELECTRONICS IR 12 INDICATOR fe a ae one _ MEMORY POWER 114 110 108 116 FIG 3 U S Patent Jul 2 2002 Sheet 2 of 2 US 6 415 023 B2 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 22 124 126 128 74 12 00 AM 6 00 AM 130 132 ET 80 79 1 70 E 65 60 MID 6AM NOON 6PM MID FIG 4 10 INTERACTIVE SITE APPLIANCE 7 SERVER LOCAL COMPUTER 12 FIG 5 14 rsa i TRANSFER dies INTERACTIVE SITE C APPLIANCE a Cs d COMPUTER FIG 6 US 6 415 023 B2 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SETTING PROGRAMMABLE FEATURES OF AN APPLIANCE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to the field of setting programmable features of an appliance More particularly the invention provides a method and apparatus for conve niently setting various2. a computer and receives signals from conventional remote controllers The programming device correlates the received signals with a database of stored signals used by various appliance manufacturers The pro gramming device then sends a complete set of appropriate control signals to the programmable universal controller U S Pat No 5 228 077 issued to Darbee discloses a universal remote controller that may be programmed from a remote location The remote controller receives program ming data via a video or telephonic data transmission system U S Pat No 5 488 571 issued to Jacobs et al discloses a system for transferring data from a video display monitor of a personal computer to a portable information device such as an appointment scheduling device The video display is modulated to transmit data to an opto electronic receiver in the portable information device Microsoft Corporation has introduced a cordless phone having programmable functions controlled by a personal computer The base station of the phone is coupled to the serial port of a computer and application software is installed on the computer to control operation of the phone SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides methods and apparatus for setting preferences and other parameters of an appliance In preferred embodiments of the invention a user initiates a connection to an interactive site on a global computer network The site hosts a graphical user
3. a thermostat FIG 5 is a functional block diagram of a third embodi ment of the invention wherein an appliance receives data directly from an interactive site server FIG 6 is a functional block diagram of a fourth embodi ment of the invention wherein an appliance receives data from an interactive site server via a transfer device DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the following description for purposes of explanation and not limitation specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention However it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details In other instances detailed descriptions of well known methods and devices are omitted so as to not obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary detail The present invention finds application with a wide vari ety of home and office appliances Some categories of appliances in which the invention may be utilized include telephones televisions video recorders audio and video entertainment system components refrigerators conven tional ovens microwave ovens dishwashers irrigation systems global positioning satellite GPS receivers auto mobile heating ventilating and air conditioning HVAC systems automobile sound systems home security systems home HVAC systems home master control systems fac simi
4. appli ance either directly from the server or the appliance owner s computer or indirectly using a portable transfer device 7 Claims 2 Drawing Sheets 14 INTERACTIVE SITE SERVER LOCAL COMPUTER US 6 415 023 B2 Page 2 5 410 326 5 414 756 5 488 571 5 521 966 5 528 740 5 535 147 5 553 123 5 570 297 5 592 188 5 594 493 5 600 711 5 636 994 5 652 602 5 726 645 5 734 363 5 745 068 5 746 602 5 748 895 5 752 880 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS a a a a ed 4 1995 5 1995 1 1996 5 1996 6 1996 7 1996 9 1996 10 1996 1 1997 1 1997 2 1997 6 1997 7 1997 3 1998 3 1998 4 1998 5 1998 5 1998 5 1998 Goldstein Levine Jacobs et al Friedes et al Hill et al Jacobs et al Chan et al Brzezinski et al Doherty et al Nemirofsky Yuen Tong Fishman et al Kamon et al Blouin et al Takahashi et al Kikinis Shiff et al Gabai et al 5 761 601 5 767 896 5 774 063 5 781 125 5 805 443 5 815 086 5 819 294 5 850 304 5 852 615 5 873 765 5 880 769 5 905 486 5 907 350 5 953 047 6 049 778 6 112 127 6 157 982 6 161 133 cited by examiner PrP rrr rrr rrr rr rr PrPS 6 1998 6 1998 6 1998 7 998 9 1998 9 1998 10 1998 12 1998 12 1998 2 1999 3 1999 5 1999 5 1999 9 1999 4 2000 8 2000 12 2000 12 2000 Nemirofsky et al Nemirofsky Berry et al Godau et al Raffray et al Ivie et al Chambers Elmers et al Holo et al Rifkin et al Nemirofsky et al
5. computer The user communicates certain background information to the remote site and set up data is then downloaded via the telephone connection The ear piece of the telephone is held in proximity to a microphone built into the appliance controller in order to receive the downloaded data Upon receipt of the data the controller is configured to operate the appliance U S Pat No 5 600 711 issued to Yuen discloses an apparatus and methods for providing initializing settings to an appliance When a user wishes to initialize the settings of an appliance the user initiates a telephone connection with a remote site The remote site then downloads a sequence of commands for initializing the settings in the appliance over the telephone connection A remote control device for the appliance receives the sequence of commands and stores them in an internal memory The remote control device is then aimed at the appliance and the user enters a command to transfer the stored sequence of commands to the appliance thereby initializing the settings U S Pat No 5 141 756 issued to Levine discloses a method of initializing a programmable control device such as a remote controller for a video cassette recorder The device is programmed by connecting it to a telephone system dialing a remote initializing center preferably employing a computer and providing the computer with information as to the environment of the control device by using touch tone keys
6. interface with which preferences and other parameters of an appliance may be set by the user In some embodiments set up data for the appliance is downloaded from the user s computer or the interactive site directly to the appliance In other embodiments set up data for the appliance is downloaded from the user s computer or the interactive site to a transfer device where it is temporarily stored The transfer device which is easily portable is taken by the user to the appliance and the set up data is downloaded from the transfer device to the appliance Since the appliance itself does not require a user interface for set up procedures and programming the appliance can be smaller cheaper and lighter without sac rificing any functionality In addition the need for a printed user s manual is largely obviated since all of the information normally contained in such a manual can be obtained from the interactive site US 6 415 023 B2 3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a functional block diagram of a first embodiment of the invention wherein an appliance receives data directly from a local computer FIG 2 is a functional block diagram of a second embodi ment of the invention wherein an appliance receives data from a local computer via a transfer device FIG 3 is a functional block diagram of a transfer device as shown in FIG 2 FIG 4 illustrates a graphical user interface suitable for setting programmable features of
7. the inven tion can facilitate warranty registration Since the appliance owner is already communicating with server 14 to set programmable features of the appliance it is a simple matter to collect the additional information necessary to complete warranty registration and if desired to provide additional demographic data to the manufacturer FIG 2 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the inven tion This embodiment is similar to that of FIG 1 except that programming data is provided to appliance 10 by a transfer device 16 This transfer device receives the pro gramming data from local computer 12 by a wired connec tion to computer 12 or preferably by an opto electronic or other wireless data link FIG 3 is a functional block diagram of a suitable transfer device 16 At the heart of device 16 is a control electronics US 6 415 023 B2 5 module 102 Data modulated on the display screen of computer 12 is sensed by optical detector 104 upon activa tion of receive switch 106 The data is demodulated by electronics 102 and is stored in memory 108 Upon confir mation of error free transfer and storage of the data a suitable indication is provided to the user by means of indicator 110 which may be for example a light emitting diode LED With the data loaded in memory 108 transfer device 16 may be carried to appliance 10 which preferably includes an infrared receiver coupled to its internal control electronics Transfer dev
8. to respond to audio inquiries trans mitted by the computer The computer then transmits the initializing program for loading into the memory of the control device 10 15 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 U S Pat No 5 774 063 issued to Barry et al discloses a method and apparatus for remote control of electronic devices from a computer transducer such as an infrared transmitter is coupled to a computer and aimed at an electronic device to be controlled An application program running on the computer generates appropriate signals for control of the electronic device U S Pat No 5 815 086 issued to Ivie et al discloses a method and apparatus for communicating commands to electrical appliances from remote locations Various appli ances within a structure such as a house are coupled to a signal conducting bus such as the AC power wiring bus of the structure Appliance commands are issued over the bus from a central transmitter Appliances may be directly coupled to the bus or may receive commands via an infrared signal from an infrared transmitting device coupled to the bus A handheld control device may be supplied for con trolling the various appliances in which case receivers for the handheld control device are coupled to the bus in various parts of the structure U S Pat No 5 819 294 issued to Chambers discloses a programmable universal remote controller A programming device is coupled to
9. 1 further comprising the step prior to the step of setting programmable features of enter ing a serial number of the real appliance 5 The method of claim 1 farther comprising the steps of extracting information from the set up data and sending said information to a manufacturer of the real appliance 6 The method of claim 1 wherein the output port of the transfer device comprises electrical contacts for mating engagement with a docking port of the real appliance 7 The method of claim 1 wherein the interactive site is accessed via the World Wide Web
10. A 12 1993 Diefendorff et al 5 309 509 A 5 1994 Coklin et al 379 165 5 333 054 A 7 1994 Tanaka et al 5 347 110 A 9 1994 Audebert et al List continued on next page FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS EP 0803808 4 1997 WO WO 97 18636 5 1997 WO WO 97 30375 8 1997 WO WO 98 98570 9 1998 OTHER PUBLICATIONS WO98 38570 Mtethods and apparatus for programming a device with a software package Sep 3 1998 NBX Corporation Product Solutions NBX NetSet Applica tion Notes NBX NetSett Administration Utility website printout Dec 14 1998 Microsoft Corporation Setting Up Your Microsoft Cordless Phone is Easy website printout Dec 15 1998 Shear D Going Global in the Real World Putting an Embedded System on the Internet EDN Electrical Design News US Cahners Publishing Co Newton Massachusetts vol 42 No 19 Sep 12 1997 pp 37 46 Primary Examiner Stella Woo Assistant Examiner Melur Ramakrishnaiah 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Blakely Sokoloff Taylor amp Zafman LLP 57 ABSTRACT An interactive interface facilitates the setting of preferences and other programmable parameters of an appliance The interface is hosted by a server on a global computer network The appliance owner initiates a connection to the server and is presented with a graphical user interface for setting the preferences and features of the appliance Once the desired settings have been made they are downloaded to the
11. a United States Patent Iggulden US006415023B2 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent US 6 415 023 B2 Jul 2 2002 54 75 73 21 22 G1 52 58 56 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SETTING PROGRAMMABLE FEATURES OF AN APPLIANCE Inventor Jerry Iggulden Santa Clarita CA US Assignee PointSet Corporation Los Angeles CA US Notice This patent issued on a continued pros ecution application filed under 37 CFR 1 53 d and is subject to the twenty year patent term provisions of 35 U S C 154 a 2 Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 0 days This patent is subject to a terminal dis claimer Appl No 09 235 709 Filed Jan 22 1999 Tite Cle oat H04M 11 00 US Ol ert 379 102 03 379 102 01 Field of Search 3 407 301 3 737 566 3 993 861 4 034 362 4 329 684 4 807 031 4 062 522 4 999 617 5 153 568 5 228 077 379 102 03 379 93 17 379 102 01 102 02 379 102 03 102 05 102 07 345 166 175 329 970 709 220 221 222 217 218 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS A A A A A A A A A A Kovanic Baer et al Baer Balanca et al Monteath et al Broughton et al Marian Uemura et al Shaw Darbee 10 1968 6 1973 11 1976 7 1977 5 1982 2 1989 10 1990 3 1991 10 1992 7 1993 10 APPLIANCE TRANSFER DEVICE 5 231 488 A 7 1993 Mohrbacher et al 5 268 995
12. ance s elec tronic components in the event of malfunction The embodiment shown in FIGS 2 and 3 is particularly well suited to appliances that are relatively fixed in position and that require only limited amounts of data Examples of such appliances abound in the home and office One such example is a thermostat for a home HVAC system FIG 4 illustrates a graphical user interface for a thermostat as presented on a display of computer 12 Such interface is shown merely for purposes of illustration it being under stood that the particular features of the interface are largely a matter of design choice Along the top of the display shown in FIG 4 is a day strip 122 The user may select any one of the days with a cursor to program the thermostat settings for that day Below the day strip is a temperature selector 124 Pointing at the up or down arrow with a mouse or other cursor positioning device the user selects the desired temperature To the right of temperature selector 124 there are a pair of time windows 126 and 128 Using the appropriate up and down arrows the user selects the starting and ending times for which the temperature selection applies When the desired settings have been made the user selects ENTER button 130 to store the selections and then proceeds to make the next set of selections For convenience the ending time last entered may be automati cally inserted into the starting time window A graphical display 132 of
13. ated in the telephone in order to download the data from server 14 FIG 6 illustrates a further embodiment of the invention generally similar to that of FIG 5 but incorporating a transfer device as in the embodiment of FIG 2 Here however transfer device 16 receives data directly from server 14 As with the previously described embodiment communication between server 14 and transfer device 16 may be telephonic or by radio One example of a transfer device 16 is embodied as a removable module or card of a telephone Data for an appliance 10 is downloaded from server 14 to the telephone where it is demodulated and stored in the card The card may then be taken to appliance 10 to transfer the data to the appliance with an infrared or other data link Another embodiment of the invention as illustrated in FIG 6 is a universal remote controller that may be coupled to a telecommunications network by means of an RJ 11 jack or equivalent in the manner disclosed by Darbee in U S Pat No 5 228 077 The remote controller could thus US 6 415 023 B2 7 function as a data transfer device in addition to its more conventional remote control functions It will be recognized that the above described invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the disclosure Thus it is understood that the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details but rath
14. ceives data from the appliance manufacturer Such data may be received periodically as new model appliances are released by the manufacturer or may be obtained by server 14 in real time with a dial up connection to the manufac turer The latter approach offers the advantage of insuring that the most recent product information is available to server 14 One method of insuring that the appropriate information for appliance 10 is obtained by server 14 is to prompt the appliance owner to input the serial number of the appliance at computer 12 This need only be performed once since the serial number can thereafter be stored in computer 12 and or server 14 for use in subsequent pro gramming of the same appliance An optional aspect of the invention is the ability of server 14 to provide valuable feedback to the appliance manufac turer During appliance set up operations server 14 collects information concerning consumer s use of product features that can be useful in product marketing and new product design The link between server 14 and the appliance manufacturer also facilitates new marketing opportunities The manufacturer can readily target advertising to identified purchasers of its products Also the manufacturer can offer accessories and related products for appliance 10 Such offers may be integrated with the set up interface or may be directed to the appliance owner separately by email or conventional mail It should be appreciated that
15. er is to be defined by the appended claims What is claimed is 1 A method for setting programmable features of an appliance comprising the steps of providing an interactive site on a global computer net work providing a graphical user interface at the interactive site said graphical user interface having a virtual appliance that graphically depicts programmable features of a corresponding real appliance establishing a connection between a user s computer and the interactive site entering data with the user s computer to set program mable features of the virtual appliance at the interactive site providing a portable transfer device separate from the user s computer having an optical sensor and an output port downloading the appliance set up data from the interac tive site to the user s computer 10 15 20 25 8 modulating at least a portion of a display coupled to the user s computer sensing the modulation with the optical sensor of the transfer device so as to receive the appliance set up data downloading the appliance set up data from the output port of the transfer device to the real appliance wherein the real appliance is in a location remote from the user s computer 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the output port of the transfer device comprises an infra red transmitter 3 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of creating a record of the set up data 4 The method of claim
16. ice 16 is held in proximity to the infrared receiver of appliance 10 Upon actuation of transmit switch 112 the data stored in memory 108 is appropriately modulated by electronics 102 and applied to infrared trans mitter 114 Indicator 110 may confirm to the user that the data has been transmitted Alternatively or in addition an indicator may be provided on appliance 10 to signal receipt of the data Power source 116 preferably in the form of common alkaline battery cells provides electrical power to the components of device 16 Transfer device 16 may be configured in various forms Preferably device 16 is easily portable Device 16 may be in the form of a pen or wand with optical detector 104 and infrared transmitter 114 at one end Transfer device 16 may also be integrated with a conventional remote controller for those types of appliances that are commonly controlled remotely In another variation transfer device 16 may be a removable module of appliance 10 In such case commu nication between the transfer device and the appliance may be accomplished with a direct electrical connection through a suitable arrangement of electrical contacts Transfer device 16 may in fact comprise the brains of appliance 10 in the form of a microprocessor or equivalent device Aside from the ease of programming features and functions of the appliance such an arrangement offers the added benefit of facilitating service or replacement of the appli
17. le machines copiers postage meters etc Program mable features refer to any appliance features that may be altered These include for example initialization or set up parameters stored data e g telephone speed dial numbers or GPS receiver database and internal software Specific examples are given below to illustrate operation of the invention However it will be understood that the invention has general applicability to appliances of all types and to all types of programmable features within such appliances A first embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG 1 An appliance 10 receives set up data from a local com puter 12 In a typical application local computer 12 is a general purpose personal computer of the type now widely found in homes and offices Details of computer 12 are not particularly relevant to the invention and are not shown Typically computer 12 will comprise at a minimum a processing unit a keyboard and a display Additional input devices such as a mouse or other pointing device and output devices such as a printer may also be included as part of computer 12 Local computer 12 is coupled to a remote interactive site server 14 by a telecommunications link In a typical embodi ment of the invention interactive site server 14 would be accessible via the World Wide Web Other appropriate means for connecting computer 12 to server 14 could also be employed Server 14 contains programming for interac
18. nd no more costly than a conventional thermostat Indeed a thermostat as just described could easily be made the size of a postage stamp FIG 5 illustrates another alternative embodiment of the invention In this case data for appliance 10 is received directly from server 14 rather than local computer 12 From the appliance owner s perspective the appliance program ming interface is otherwise identical to the previously described embodiments Communication between server 14 and appliance 10 may be telephonic Appliance 10 may incorporate a conventional modem in which case commu nications may be two way or may simply have a data demodulator for one way communications Coupling of appliance 10 to the telecommunications network may be by a conventional RJ 11 connection Alternatively appliance 10 may incorporate a cordless telephone module for com municating with a separate base station Communications between server 14 and appliance 10 could also be imple mented with radio signals For example appliance 10 could incorporate a conventional paging receiver A particular example of the embodiment illustrated in FIG 3 is a programmable telephone Speed dial numbers and other programmable features of a telephone may be conveniently set using a graphical user interface hosted by server 14 Once the features have been programmed by the user server 14 simply places a call to the telephone Appro priate data demodulation circuitry is incorpor
19. programmable features of an appli ance using a graphical user interface accessed with a com puter via a global computer network 2 Prior Art The advent of microprocessors and other miniaturized electronics has facilitated the implementation of increas ingly complex functions in home and office appliances Typically a relatively complex operator interface is required in order to invoke the various functions that are available For example home electronic devices such as televisions VCRs stereo receivers and the like are typically provided with sophisticated remote control devices Such remote control devices have a large number of individual buttons that are used to directly control features of an appliance and or that are used to navigate through on screen menus Due to the sophistication and complexity of the controls owner s manuals for appliances are becoming increasingly voluminous and difficult to comprehend Due to the growing complexity of modem appliances many of the available features are never utilized by consumers even as competition in the marketplace drives the proliferation of such features A number of solutions have been proposed for making appliances easier to control and generally more user friendly For example U S Pat No 5 553 123 issued to Chan et al discloses a method for downloading set up data via a telephone to an appliance controller A user first initiates a telephone call to a remote site having a
20. the selected temperature profile may be provided for the user s convenience When all settings have been completed the data is loaded into transfer device 16 which is then taken to the physical 10 15 20 25 30 35 50 55 60 65 6 location of the thermostat for transfer of the data Since all of the settings have been entered into computer 12 they may conveniently saved locally and or by server 14 for subse quent use in revising these settings or for reloading the settings in the event of a power failure A printed record of the settings may also be made from computer 12 For some appliances a print out following a set up procedure may be used as a template for the appliance to indicate selected options and programmed features For example certain appliances may have unlabeled function buttons for which a template may be made once selected functions have been assigned to the buttons during a set up procedure It will be appreciated that a thermostat physically incor porating the interface shown in FIG 4 would be quite large and costly in comparison to conventional thermostats This is due primarily to the relative complexity of the interface since the actual componentry to provide such flexibility of thermostat settings is actually quite small and inexpensive Through use of the present invention virtually unlimited flexibility in thermostat programming may be accomplished with a thermostat that is no larger a
21. tively 10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 setting the programmable features of appliance 10 Preferably server 14 presents to the owner of appliance 10 via computer 12 a graphical user interface that is tailored to appliance 10 and the programmable features thereof Such interface can be thought of as a virtual appliance This can be better understood from the discussion of FIG 4 below In the embodiment illustrated in FIG 1 appliance 10 is directly coupled to local computer 12 The connection between appliance 10 and computer 12 may be one way from the computer or two way One way communication may be accomplished optically by modulating the display of computer 12 as is known in the art Other communication techniques can be employed using audio magnetic inductive infrared or radio frequency coupling Two way communications are most conveniently established by con nection to a serial port of computer 12 Naturally this type of connection is not convenient for some appliances but is particularly well suited to portable appliances that may require a large amount of data For example loading data into a pocket organizer or similar type of personal digital assistant can be most conveniently accomplished with a serial port connection in the configuration illustrated in FIG 1 In order to provide the appropriate interface for program ming the features of appliance 10 server 14 preferably re
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