Remote control with microphone used for pairing the remote control to a system and method of using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9905125-B2
Application number	US-201615050219-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2016
Priority date	Feb 22, 2016
Publication date	Feb 27, 2018
Grant date	Feb 27, 2018

Abstract

According to the principles as disclosed herein, a remote control contains a microphone. The microphone inside the remote control picks up the audio content of all surrounding sound in the room in which is it located. Specifically, if a program is being presented for viewing and listening on a particular A/V system, a remote control with a microphone will hear the program which is being presented at the same time that the system is sending the signal to its own speakers. The A/V system then receives a signal from the remote control providing the audio signal that that remote control has received. If the audio signal which the remote control has received matches the audio signal which the A/V system output to its speakers to broadcast into the room, then the A/V system will switch to be able to receive input from that particular remote control.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A first audio/visual system comprising:
an input circuit housed within a set top box that receives audio/visual program data that has an audio portion and a video portion;
a display that receives the video portion and displays the video portion for viewing by a user;
a memory housed within the set top box storing the audio portion of the audio/visual program data;
a speaker that receives the audio portion of the audio/visual program data sent from the memory and broadcasts the audio portion as sound to be heard by the user;
a control circuit housed within the set top box that receives the audio/visual program data and transmits the video portion to the display and the audio portion to the speaker;
a remote control device that controls the control circuit's operation to control the presentation of the video program on the display and broadcast the audio portion by the speakers, the remote control device having a housing;
a microphone in the housing of the remote control device, the microphone receiving the broadcast audio portion from the speaker;
a transmitting antenna in the housing of the remote control device that transmits the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker to the control circuit;
a compare circuit within the control circuit that compares the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker via the remote control device with the stored audio portion from the memory that was transmitted to the speaker; and
a match circuit that outputs a match signal when the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker via the remote control device matches the stored audio signal from the memory that was sent to the speaker,
wherein the remote control device is paired with the set top box in response to the match circuit outputting the match signal,
wherein the compare circuit performs a time shift of the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker and the stored audio portion from the memory to time align the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker with the stored audio portion from the memory.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a second audio/visual system on a same network as the first audio/visual system, the second audio/visual system receiving the transmitted broadcast audio portion;
a blocking circuit that blocks the second audio/visual system from responding to the remote control device that controls the control circuit's operation to control the presentation of the video program data on the display and broadcasting the audio data on the second audio/visual system.

3. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising other devices, wherein, when the first audio/visual system is paired to the remote control device, the first audio/visual system disables the other devices from controlling the first audio/visual system.

4. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising other devices, wherein the first audio/visual system has a unique paring to a specific device and, when the controller decides that the signal from one of the other devices matches the data, builds a temporary matching of the remote control device to the one of the other devices.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the temporary matching is confirmed on a periodic basis.

6. A remote control device, comprising:
a microphone picking up a sound that is broadcast by a set top box via a speaker;
storing sound data in the set top box that corresponds to the broadcast sound from the speaker;
a converter converting the broadcast sound from the speaker to a signal that represents the broadcast sound from the speaker; and
a transmitter transmitting the signal that represents the broadcast sound from the speaker to the set top box,
wherein, when the set top box determines that the signal that represents the broadcast sound from the speaker matches the sound data stored in the set top box, the remote control device is paired to the set top box and enables the remote control device to control the set top box,
wherein the set top box performs a time shift of the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker and the stored audio portion from the memory to time align the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker with the stored audio portion from the memory.

7. The device according to claim 6 , wherein the signal includes voice command data to control the set top box.

8. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the broadcast sound includes a voice command, and wherein the voice command is converted to voice command data.

9. The device according to claim 6 , further comprising other set top boxes, wherein the remote control device has a unique paring to a certain set top box and, when one of the other set top boxes decides that the signal from the remote control device matches sound data stored in the one of the other set top boxes, builds a temporary paring to the one of the other set top boxes.

10. A system, comprising:
a set top box and a remote control device;
the set top box, comprising:
a memory storing sound data that corresponds to a sound;
a speaker broadcasting the sound;
an antenna receiving a signal from the remote control device that represents broadcast sound from the speaker; and
a controller comparing the signal that represents broadcast sound from the speaker to the sound data,

the remote control device, comprising:
a microphone that picks up the broadcast sound from the speaker;
a converter that converts the broadcast sound from the speaker to the representative signal; and
a transmitter that transmits the signal to the set top box,

wherein, when the set top box determines that the signal that represents broadcast sound from the speaker matches the sound data, the set top box is paired to the remote control device and enables the remote control device to control the set top box,
wherein the set top box performs a time shift of the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker and the stored audio portion from the memory to time align the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker with the stored audio portion from the memory.

11. A method for matching a remote control device and an a/v apparatus, comprising:
broadcasting a sound, via a speaker, stored in the audio/visual apparatus, the audio/visual apparatus including a set-top box;
storing sound data in the set top box that corresponds to the broadcast sound from the speaker;
picking up the broadcast sound from the speaker in the remote control device via a microphone;
converting the broadcast sound from the speaker to an RF signal in the remote control device;
transmitting the RF signal that represents the broadcast sound from the speaker to the audio/visual apparatus from the remote control device;
comparing the RF signal that represents the broadcast sound from the speaker with the sound data stored in the set top box;
outputting a match signal when the RF signal that represents the broadcast sound from the speaker matches the sound data stored in the set top box;
pairing the remote control device to the set top box and enabling the remote control device to control the set top box, when the set top box determines the RF signal matches the sound data stored in the set top box,
wherein the set top box performs a time shift of the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker and the stored audio portion from the memory to time align the received broadcast audio portion from the speaker with the stored audio portion from the memory.

Assignees

• Echostar Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Greene Gregory H

Classifications

• G08C17/02 Primary

  using a radio link · CPC title

• G08C2201/31

  Voice input · CPC title

• H04N21/42203

  sound input device, e.g. microphone · CPC title

• G08C19/28

  using pulse code · CPC title

• G08C2201/20

  Binding and programming of remote control devices · CPC title