WO2001027895A1 - Combined wireless telephone and remote controller with voice commands - Google Patents

A system (101) and method (201, 301) for controlling appliances (102) remotely with a wireless telephone (104). In the system (101), a plurality of appliances (102) are configured for the reception of remote control commands via a wireless link (105) and wireless signal ports (106). The remote control commands are generated in the wireless telephone (104) and transmitted from wireless signal port (103) on the wireless telephone (104) via a wireless link (105). The wireless telephone (104) may also comprise a personal digital assistant or a combination wireless telephone and personal digital assistant. In the method (201), the wireless telephone (104) starts in an idle (state (202). A user then issues an audio command (203), the wireless telephone (104) determines what the corresponding remote control command is (204), and transmits the remote control command to the appliances (205). The wireless telephone (104) then returns to the idle state (206). In the method (301), the wireless telephone may also start in the call state (302). A user then switches to the remote state (303) and issues an audio command (304). The wireless telephone (104) determines what the corresponding remote control command is (305), transmits the remote control command to the appliances (306), and waits for a period of time to determine if another voice command has been issued (307). If another voice command is issued, the wireless telephone (104) determines what the corresponding remote control command is (204) and steps through the following steps as before. If another voice command is not issued, the wireless telephone (104) may switch back to the call state (308).

COMBINED WIRELESS TELEPHONE AND REMOTE CONTROLLER WITH VOICE COMMANDS BACKGROUND

I. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the wireless transmission of data signals. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method of using a voice-driven wireless telephone and /or personal digital assistant as a universal remote to control various appliances and devices.

II. Description

At present, many households have a variety of devices in their homes including multiple televisions, video cassette recorders (VCRs), personal computers, stereo equipment such as audio tuners, compact disc recorders and stereo speakers, heating and cooling systems, home security systems, outdoor sprinkling systems, fire alarm systems and the like. Many of these appliances are capable of remote controlled operation. However, in most cases a separate remote control device must be used for each appliance capable of remote controlled operation. The result is that a household may have a plurality of remote control devices. The existence of these multiple remote control devices can result in clutter, inconvenience to the user and inability to locate the proper remote control device for the appliance he or she wishes to control.

One solution to the problems raised by the existence of multiple remote control devices is the purchase of a programmable universal remote. Programmable universal remotes allow a user to consolidate all the control functions of each separate remote control device into a single remote control device by programming the control commands for each appliance into the universal. Thus, the use of a programmable universal remote limits the number of remote control devices in a household, but does not eliminate the presence of at least one dedicated remote control device in the household. Wireless telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and combination wireless telephone-PDAs (combination telephones) however, often have infrared ports capable of transmitting and receiving data. Accordingly, because most household remote control devices presently in use utilize infrared frequency wireless signals to communicate their remote control commands to their associated appliances, the complete elimination of dedicated remote control devices is now possible. Furthermore, because of the presence of powerful speech recognition software in wireless telephones, PDAs and combination telephones, it is easy to use these devices as voice driven universal remotes at practically no cost. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a system and method for controlling appliances remotely with a wireless telephone. The system comprises a plurality of appliances and a wireless telephone for communicating remote control commands to the appliances, the remote control commands being generated by the wireless telephone in response to audio commands issued by a user of the wireless telephone. The wireless telephone may also comprise a personal digital assistant or a combination wireless telephone and personal digital assistant. The remote control commands may also be generated by a user selecting an icon or other display symbol on a graphical user interface. The method comprises the steps of issuing an audio command to the wireless telephone, determining the remote control command associated with the audio command, and transmitting the remote control command to the appliances via a wireless link. In both the system and the method, a user may switch between a call state and a remote state of the wireless telephone, personal digital assistant, or combination wireless telephone and personal digital assistant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements and wherein:

Figure 1 is a. block diagram of a system for controlling a plurality of appliances from a remote location, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a flow diagram of a method for using a wireless telephone as a universal remote to control a plurality of appliances, in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a method for using a wireless telephone as universal remote to control a plurality of appliances, in accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a block diagram of a system

101 for controlling a plurality of appliances from a remote location in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. The appliances A-n

102 in the system 101 include, by way of example only, televisions, home video equipment such as video cassette recorders (VCRs), digital video disc (DVD) players, DIVX players and digital cameras, home audio equipment such as stereo receivers, tape decks and compact disc players, heating and cooling systems, home security systems, fire alarm systems, telephones and /or voice mail messaging systems, and computers. Each of the appliances A-n 102 must however be equipped to receive remote control commands via wireless signals. In other words, the software and hardware on telephone 104 must be able to establish link 105, impress the remote control commands generated in telephone 104 upon link 105, and communicate those commands to appliances A-n 102, and appliances A-n 102 must include both software and hardware for receiving link 105 and processing the remote control commands arriving on link 105. The number of appliances A-n 102 that may be controlled in system 101 is otherwise unlimited. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, link 105 comprises an infrared link 105 and both telephone 104 and appliances A-n 102 include infrared ports 103 and 106 respectively for generating and receiving infrared link 105 respectively. Telephone 104 may comprise a wireless telephone and/or a personal digital assistant ("PDA") that is capable of communicating with appliance A 106 via link 105. PDAs are wireless, hand-held electronic devices that may be connected to a personal computer or other PDAs via wireless communications signals, and are primarily designed to capture, store and display information, access and search the stored information, and update stored information. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, telephone 104 comprises a combined wireless telephone and PDA or combination telephone. Telephone 104, whether a wireless telephone, PDA, or combination telephone, includes a microprocessor, storage capabilities such as ROM and EPROM, and software executed by the microprocessor for controlling the operation of telephone 104. The software in telephone 104 allows telephone 104 among other things to communicate with appliances A-n 102 via link 105. The software executed by the microprocessor in telephone 104 also allows a user to generate the remote control commands for appliances A-n 102 by uttering voice commands into combination telephone 104. Voice recognition software that may be utilized for this purpose is described in U.S. Patent Appl. Serial No. 09/248,513, U.S. Patent Appl. Serial No. 09/246,413, U.S. Patent Appl. Serial No. 09/248,514, and U.S. Patent Appl. Serial No. 09/246,499, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, telephone 104 includes a graphical user interface and the software onboard telephone 104 is configured so that in addition to uttering the voice commands, a user may also generate remote control commands by selecting an icon on the graphical user interface. The manner in which the icon is selected by the user is a matter of design choice, but a preferred method is through the use of a pen. In a further embodiment of the invention, a user may generate remote control commands by placing an audio tone generator on the mouthpiece of telephone 104. In a still further embodiment of the invention, the hardware and software onboard telephone 104 allows a user to switch between a wireless telephone call (i.e., the call state) and operation as a universal remote (i.e., the remote state). Again, the precise manner in which the telephone is switched from state to state is a matter of design choice. Preferred methods would include however, the use of an icon on a graphical user interface or the selection of a key on a keypad of telephone 104.

Referring still to FIG. 1, telephone 104 may be pre-configured with the appropriate remote control commands and information for popular models of appliances A-n 102. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, telephone 104 may be programmed to include the remote control commands and information for the specific appliances A-n 102 included in system 101. A user would connect telephone 104 to a computer having a remote control command and information database via a standard computer interface, for example a serial/USB interface, and the appropriate remote control commands and information for each appliance A-n 102 in system 101 would be downloaded into telephone 104 via the computer interface. Remote control information may include, but is not limited to, remote control features that each appliance A-n 102 supports and icons that can be displayed on a graphical user interface.

Referring now to Figure 2, there is shown a flow diagram of a method 201 for using telephone 104 of FIG. 1 as a universal remote. The method starts in step 202 wherein telephone 104 is in an idle state waiting to receive input from a user. In step 203, a user issues an audio command to telephone 104. In step 204, the processor on telephone 104 detects the audio command and uses the voice recognition software onboard telephone 104 to determine what remote control command is associated with the audio command. In step 205, having determined the appropriate remote control command, the processor on telephone 104 establishes link 105 and transmits the remote control command to the appropriate appliance A-n 102 in FIG. 1 via link 105. The audio commands issued in step 203 may comprise words spoken by the user of telephone 104 or tones generated with an audio tone generator. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, in step 203 a user may select an icon displayed on a graphical user interface, and in step 204 the software onboard telephone 104 determines what remote control command is associated with the icon. As described above, the manner in which the icon is selected by the user is a matter of design with a preferred method utilizing a pen. In step 206, telephone 104 enters the idle state again and waits until the user wishes to generate another remote control command or enter the call state. Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown a flow diagram of a method

301 for using telephone 104 of FIG. 1 as a universal remote in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention. The method starts in step 302 wherein telephone 104 is in the call state. In step 303, a user switches telephone 104 from the call state to the remote state without terminating the wireless telephone call currently in process by selecting, for example, an icon on a graphical user interface or a key on the keypad of telephone 104. In step 304, the user issues an audio command to telephone 104. In step 305, the processor in telephone 104 detects the audio command and uses its voice recognition software to determine what remote control command is associated with the audio command. In step 306, having determined the appropriate remote control command, the processor establishes link 105 and transmits the remote control command to the appropriate appliance A-n 102 of FIG. 1 via link 105. The audio commands issued in step 304 may comprise words spoken by the user of telephone 104 or tones generated with an audio tone generator. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, in step 304 a user may select an icon displayed on a graphical user interface, and in step 305 the software onboard telephone 104 determines what remote control command is associated with the icon. As mentioned earlier, the manner in which the icon is selected by the user is a matter of design choice with a preferred method utilizing a pen. In step 307, telephone 104 waits for further input from the user. If the user issues another voice command or selects another remote control icon, telephone 104 returns to step 305. If the user does not issue another voice command or select another remote control icon after a certain period of time though, telephone 104 returns to the call state in step 308 so that the user may continue the wireless telephone call. The user may also return to the call state and resume the wireless telephone call at any point in the method by selecting the appropriate state switching means provided on telephone 104.

Thus, a system and method for using a voice-driven wireless telephone and/or PDA as a universal remote to control a plurality of appliances has been shown and described. Users of the system or method have the ability among other things to remotely change NCR programming options, unlock doors, turn air conditioning and /or heating systems on or off or change temperature settings, and control the power and volume of televisions and stereos with their wireless telephone and /or PDA. The previous description of the preferred embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to the embodiments described above however will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without the use of inventive faculty. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the methods and apparatuses shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the claims set forth below.

What is claimed is:

1. A system (101) for controlling appliances, comprising: a p lur a l i ty o f a p p l i a nc e s ( 1 02 ) ; an d a wireless telephone (104) for communicating (103, 105, 106) remote control commands to said appliances (102), said remote control commands generated by said telephone in response to audio commands issued by a user of said telephone (104).

2. The system (101) of claim 1, wherein said control commands are communicated (103, 105, 106) to said appliances via an infrared frequency wireless signal (105).

3. The system (101) of claim 1, wherein control configuration information may be loaded into said telephone (104).

4. The system (101) of claim 3, wherein said loading comprises transferring said control configuration information from a control configuration database to said telephone (104) through a serial data connection.

5. The system (101) of claim 1, wherein said wireless telephone (104) comprises a personal digital assistant.

6. The system (101) of claim 1, wherein said wireless telephone (104) comprises a combination telephone.

7. The system (101) of claim 1, wherein said audio commands are issued by said user speaking into said telephone (104).

8. The system (101) of claim 1, wherein said audio commands are issued by said user with an audio tone generator.

9. The system (101) of claim 1, wherein said remote control commands are generated in response to the selection of an icon displayed on a graphical user interface on said telephone (104).

10. The system (101) of claim 9, wherein said icon is selected with a pen.

11. The system (101) of claim 1, wherein a user may switch between a call state and a remote state.

12. A method (201) for using a wireless telephone (104) as a universal remote to control a plurality of appliances (102), comprising the steps of:

(A) issuing an audio command to a wireless telephone (203); (B) determining the remote control command associated with said a u d i o c o m m a n d ( 2 0 4 ) ; a n d (C) transmitting said remote control command to said plurality of appliances via a wireless link (205).

13. The method (201) of claim 12, wherein said wireless telephone (104) comprises a personal digital assistant.

14. The method (201) of claim 12, wherein said wireless telephone (104) comprises a combination telephone.

15. The method (201) of claim 12, wherein said link (105) comprises an infrared frequency link.

16. The method (201) of claim 12, wherein said audio command comprises words spoken by a user of said telephone (104).

17. The method (201) of claim 12, wherein said audio command comprises tones generated by a user with an audio tone generator.

18. The method (201) of claim 1, wherein said issuing of an audio command in step (A) comprises the selection of an icon displayed on a graphical user interface on said telephone (203), and step (B) comprises determining the remote control command associated with said icon (204).

19. The method (201) of claim 18, wherein said icon is selected with a pen.

20. The method (301) of claim 12, comprising the additional steps of switching from a call state to a remote state before issuing said audio command in step (A) (303), and returning to said call state after said transmitting in step (C) (308).

21. The method (301) of claim 20, comprising the additional step of waiting for a period of time after said transmitting in step (C) before returning to said call state and returning to step (B) if another audio command is issued during said waiting period (307).

22. The method (201, 301) of claim 12, wherein a user may switch between a call state and a remote state at any point in said method.

23. A universal remote (104) for controlling a plurality of appliances (102) with remote control commands, comprising:

(A) means for receiving an audio command from a user of said remote; (B) means for determining the remote control command associated with said audio command; and

(C) means for transmitting said remote control command a plurality of appliances via a wireless link.

24. The universal remote (104) of claim 23, wherein said audio command comprises words spoken by said user of said telephone (104).

25. The universal remote (104) of claim 23, wherein said audio command comprises tones generated by said user of said telephone with an audio tone generator.

26. The universal remote (104) of claim 23, wherein said means for receiving comprises means for selecting an icon displayed on a graphical user interface, and said means for determining comprises means for determining the remote control command associated with said icon.