System and method for configuration of macro commands in a controlling device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10281893-B2
Application number	US-49168809-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2009
Priority date	Jun 25, 2009
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

A system displays a representation of an original equipment remote control device for a target device to be controlled using a macro button of a configurable controlling device. The displayed representation of the original equipment remote control device includes representations of buttons that would be used on the original equipment remote control device to control controllable functions of the target device. The system accepts input by which one or more of the displayed representations of buttons are selected. The macro button is then configured whereby an activation of the macro button will cause a transmission of commands from the configurable controlling device to control those controllable functions of the target devices that correspond to the one or more of the displayed representations of buttons that were selected.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for configuring a macro command sequence for use by a controlling device having programming for commanding functions of one or more target devices, comprising:
displaying in a display an exact image of an original equipment manufacturer remote control device that is provided with at least one of the one or more target devices where each displayed image of the original equipment manufacturer remote control device includes images of buttons that would be used to control controllable functions of a corresponding one of the one or more target devices;
accepting a first input by which one or more of the displayed images of buttons of the displayed image of the one or more of the original equipment manufacturer remote control devices are selected; and
using the selection of the one or more displayed images of buttons of the displayed image of the one or more of the original equipment manufacturer remote control devices to configure a macro button of the controlling device whereupon activation of the macro button will cause a transmission of commands from the controlling device to control controllable functions of the one or more target devices that correspond to the selected one or more of the displayed images of buttons of the displayed one or more images of the original equipment manufacturer remote control devices.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , comprising displaying an image of the macro button of the controlling device in the display together with the image of the original equipment manufacturer remote control device for at least one of the one or more target devices.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the controlling device comprises plural macro buttons and wherein an image of each of the plural macro buttons is displayed in the display and a second input is accepted to select an image of the plural macro buttons and thereby designate at least one of the plural macro buttons for configuring.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first input and the second input comprises a drag and drop operation.

5. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the second input precedes the first input.

6. The method as recited in claim 3 , comprising changing an appearance of a displayed one of the images of the plural macro buttons in response to the second input.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , comprising displaying in a display of the controlling device the image of an original equipment manufacturer remote control device that is provided with at least one of the one or more target devices.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , comprising displaying in a display of a computing device adapted to communicate with the controlling device the image of an original equipment manufacturer remote control device that is provided with at least one of the one or more target devices.

9. A method for configuring a macro command sequence for use by a controlling device having programming for commanding functions of plural target devices, comprising:
displaying in a display an exact image of each of the plural target devices;
accepting a first input by which plural ones of the images of each of the plural target devices are selected;
displaying in the display an exact image of an original equipment manufacturer remote control device that is provided with each of the plural target devices having a displayed image that was selected where each displayed image of the original equipment manufacturer remote control device includes images of buttons that would be used to control controllable functions of a corresponding one of the plural target devices;
accepting second input by which one or more of the displayed images of buttons of the displayed images of the original equipment manufacturer remote control devices are selected; and
using the selection of the one or more displayed images of buttons of the displayed images of the one or more of the original equipment manufacturer remote control devices to configure a macro button of the controlling device whereupon activation of the macro button will cause a transmission of commands from the controlling device to control controllable functions of the plural target devices that correspond to the selected one or more of the displayed images of buttons of the displayed images of the original equipment manufacturer remote control devices.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , comprising displaying an image of the macro button of the controlling device in the display together with the images of the original equipment manufacturer remote control devices for the target devices having images that were selected.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the controlling device comprises plural macro buttons each of which has an image that is displayed in the display and a third input is accepted to select an image of the plural macro buttons and thereby designate at least one of the plural macro buttons for configuring.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein the second user input and the third user input comprises a drag and drop operation.

13. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein the third user input precedes the second user input.

14. The method as recited in claim 11 , comprising changing an appearance of a displayed one of the images of the plural macro buttons in response to the third input.

15. The method as recited in claim 9 , comprising displaying in a display of the controlling device the image of an original equipment manufacturer remote control device for at least one of the one or more target devices.

16. The method as recited in claim 9 , comprising displaying in a display of a computer adapted to communicate with the controlling device the image of an original equipment manufacturer remote control device for at least one of the one or more target devices.

Assignees

• Xu Rex
• Alvarado Cesar
• Universal Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Xu Rex
• Alvarado Cesar

Classifications

• G05B2219/23077

  Reconfigurable remote programmer, learn control signals for different devices · CPC title

• G08C2201/92

  Universal remote control · CPC title

• G08C2201/33

  Remote control using macros, scripts · CPC title

• G05B19/0426 Primary

  Programming the control sequence · CPC title

• G08C19/28

  using pulse code · CPC title