Configuration and management of menus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10216492-B2
Application number	US-201213474583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2012
Priority date	May 17, 2012
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

Customizing menus for a consumer electronics device, including: preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device; generating menu configuration information using the prepared menu definitions; and transmitting the generated menu configuration information to the consumer electronics device. Keywords include customization of menus and consumer electronics device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of customizing menus for a consumer electronics device, the method comprising:
receiving a menu customization request from the consumer electronics device upon triggering of an event including changing of an IP address of the consumer electronic device;
preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device,
wherein the menu definitions restrict choices for parameters that are set through the menus, wherein the menu definitions include at least one menu action to specify a variety of actions to perform;
performing the variety of actions including: (a) running a program code on the consumer electronics device; (b) launching an Internet service; (c) navigating to a uniform resource locator (URL) including running a web application; and (d) setting parameters on the consumer electronics device including volume level, channel selection, and picture settings, wherein each menu of the menus includes a plurality of menu items,
wherein the menus are tailored based on the capabilities of the consumer electronics device based on a menu item definition indicating a functionality required by the consumer electronics device for each menu item,
wherein the same menu item definition is given to a plurality of consumer electronics devices with differing capabilities and each menu item is only displayed on the plurality of consumer electronics devices that supports the indicated functionality;
generating menu configuration information using the menu definitions; and
transmitting the menu configuration information to the consumer electronics device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the menu configuration information comprises a markup language format.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the menu configuration information does not need to include the menu definitions for predefined device menu items.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the menu configuration information comprises the menu definitions for device menu items.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the menu definitions specified in the menu configuration information are of a type that provides hierarchical arrangement of the device menu items.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the menu configuration information specifies text and icons to use for each menu item of the device menu items.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the menu configuration information specifies ordering of the menus in the consumer electronics device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the menu configuration information defines nested sub-menus by allowing the menus to be menu items in other menus.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the menu customization request includes device specific information to identify the consumer electronics device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device comprises
providing the menus customized for the consumer electronics device that is making the menu customization request.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the menus customized for the consumer electronics device comprise
tailoring the menus such that menu items for parameters not on the consumer electronics device are left out.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the menus customized for the consumer electronics device comprise
tailoring the menus such that menu items for services that provide content using a codec that is not supported by the consumer electronics device are left out.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a response by a server to the menu customization request comprises information that changes frequency of menu usage or triggers that cause another menu customization request from the consumer electronics device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the menu customization request comprises functionalities supported by the consumer electronics device.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein said preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronic device comprises:
detecting a country in which the consumer electronic device is located; and
providing the menus customized for the country.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein said preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device comprises
providing the menus customized in accordance with a current business rule,
wherein only services that are allowed in the country are made accessible through the menus.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising
determining the country where the consumer electronics device is located based on the IP address it uses.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein said preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device comprises
providing the menus customized in accordance with a current business rule,
wherein only services that are allowed for the consumer electronics device are made accessible through the menus.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
customizing services included in the menus based on capabilities of the consumer electronics device.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
detecting one or more languages selected by a user of the consumer electronics device.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein detecting one or more languages comprises
detecting one or more languages supported by the consumer electronics device.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein said preparing menu definitions for the menus to be customized on the consumer electronics device comprises:
detecting one or more languages selected by a user of the consumer electronics device; and
providing the menus customized for the one or more languages.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising
providing the menus with translations for the one or more languages so that when a user changes a menu language preference the same menus can be presented to the user in a newly-selected language.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising
customizing the menu definitions transmitted to the consumer electronics device based on the menu language preference set on the consumer electronics device.

25. The method of claim 22 , further comprising
providing a single menu customization that includes the one or more languages,
wherein only the one or more languages applicable for consumer electronics device are included in the menu customization when it is sent to the device.

26. The method of claim 25 , further comprising
enabling a user of the consumer electronics device to change the one or more languages without a network access for the consumer electronics device.

27. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
performing a factory reset on the consumer electronics device to restore the menus of the consumer electronics device to an original out-of-the-box state.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein performing a factory reset comprises
resetting any associations of the consumer electronics device.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein resetting any associations comprises:
resetting even when the consumer electronics device is not connected to a network; and
transmitting that a factory reset was performed as soon as the consumer electronics device has network connectivity restored.

30. A non-transitory

Assignees

• Mccoy Charles
• Pedlow Jr Leo Mark
• Wong Ling Jun
• Xiong True
• Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC

Inventors

• Mccoy Charles
• Pedlow Jr Leo Mark
• Wong Ling Jun
• Xiong True

Classifications

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• H04N5/44543

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G11B20/00159

  Parental control systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• H04N1/00509

  Personalising for a particular user or group of users, e.g. a workgroup or company · CPC title