) 2 12 i
Contents
1. Page2 6 088 621 A 7 2000 Woytowitz et al 6 112 127 A 8 2000 Bennett 6 121 593 A 9 2000 Mansbery et al 6 139 177 A 10 2000 Venkatraman et al 6 157 982 A 12 2000 Deo et al 6 160 359 A 12 2000 Fleischmann 6 161 133 A 12 2000 Kikinis 6 185 491 2 2001 Gray et al 6 256 378 7 2001 Iggulden et al 6 281 820 8 2001 Fields 6 370 141 Bl 4 2002 Giordano III et al 6 385 542 Bl 5 2002 Millington 6 415 023 B2 7 2002 Iggulden et al 6 483 906 11 2002 Iggulden et al 6 487 717 11 2002 Brunemann et al 6 505 243 Bl 1 2003 Lortz 6 704 401 B2 3 2004 Piepho et al 6 775 603 B2 8 2004 Yester et al 6 882 712 B1 4 2005 Iggulden et al 379 102 03 6 975 958 B2 12 2005 Bohrer et al 7 215 746 B2 5 2007 Iggulden et al 7 257 426 B1 8 2007 Witkowski et al 455 569 2 7 289 611 B2 10 2007 Iggulden et al 379 102 03 7 379 541 B2 5 2008 Iggulden et al 379 102 03 7 415 102 B2 8 2008 Iggulden et al 8 046 800 B2 10 2011 Daniels 2001 0043686 Al 11 2001 Iggulden et al 2002 0035429 Al 3 2002 Banas 2002 0097851 Al 7 2002 Daum et al 2002 0111698 1 8 2002 Graziano etal 700 17 2002 0196158 1 12 2002 Lee 2004 0104842 Al 6 2004 Drury et al 2011 0178656 Al 7 2011 Iggulden et al FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS DE 10131395 1 2003 EP 0754940 1 1997 EP 0803808 10 1997 EP 0837599 4 1998 JP 10276487 A 10 1998 JP 2003209893 A 7 2003 WO WO 9718636 5 1997 WO WO 9730375 8 1992. vided 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 location of the thermostat for transfer of the data Since all of the settings have been entered into computer 12 they may be conveniently saved locally and or by server 14 for subsequent 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 but tons during a set up procedure It will be appreciated that a thermostat physically incorpo rating 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 ther mostat programming may be accomplished with a thermostat that is no larger and no more costly than a conventional thermostat Indeed a thermostat as just described could easily
3. 2006 01 05 15 02 2006 01 HOAL 29 08 2006 01 GO6F 9 445 2006 01 APPLIANCE TRANSFER DEVICE 52 U S CI CPG cence HOAL 67 125 2013 01 605 15 02 2013 01 GOSB 2219 2642 2013 01 2058 2219 23306 2013 01 GO6F 9 44505 2013 01 USB ne 379 102 03 379 102 05 379 102 01 58 Field of Classification Search USPC ene 379 102 03 102 05 102 01 See application file for complete search history 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 3 407 301 A 3 737 566 A 10 1968 Kovanic 6 1973 Baer et al Continued FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS DE 19750372 5 1999 DE 10064937 7 2002 Continued OTHER PUBLICATIONS The Trane Company Trane Building Management Systems Ameri can Standard Inc 1996 34 pages Continued Primary Examiner Stella Woo 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 automotive appli ance The interface is hosted by a server on a global computer network The automobile owner initiates a connection to the server and is presented with a graphical user interface for setting the preferences and features of the automotive appli ance Once the desired settings have been made they are downloaded to the automobile either directly from the server or the automobile owner s computer or indirectly using a portable transfer device
4. 25 Claims 7 Drawing Sheets INTERACTIVE SITE SERVER 14 LOCAL COMPUTER US 8 811 580 B2 56 3 993 861 4 034 362 4 329 684 4 807 031 4 962 522 4 999 617 5 003 591 5 051 720 5 086 385 5 109 222 5 153 568 5 228 077 5 231 488 5 268 995 5 309 509 5 333 054 5 341 988 5 347 110 5 400 246 5 410 326 5 414 756 5 471 190 5 488 571 5 500 794 5 521 966 5 528 740 5 535 147 5 544 036 5 553 123 5 557 254 5 565 855 5 570 297 5 579 308 5 592 188 5 594 493 5 600 711 5 608 655 5 619 555 5 636 994 5 648 769 5 652 602 5 706 191 5 726 645 5 734 363 5 745 068 5 746 602 5 748 895 5 752 880 5 754 784 5 761 601 5 767 896 5 774 063 5 774 664 5 774 667 5 781 125 5 801 664 5 801 940 5 805 443 5 805 676 5 815 086 5 818 428 5 819 039 5 819 294 5 838 910 5 838 916 5 850 304 5 852 615 5 873 765 5 875 430 5 880 769 5 905 486 5 907 350 5 953 047 5 999 740 6 049 778 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt 11 1976 7 1977 5 1982 2 1989 10 1990 3 1991 3 1991 9 1991 2 1992 4 1992 10 1992 7 1993 7 1993 12 1993 5 1994 7 1994 8 1994 9 1994 3 1995 4 1995 5 1995 11 1995 1 1996
5. 3 1996 5 1996 6 1996 7 1996 8 1996 9 1996 9 1996 10 1996 10 1996 11 1996 1 1997 1 1997 2 1997 3 1997 4 1997 6 1997 7 1997 7 1997 1 1998 3 1998 3 1998 4 1998 5 1998 5 1998 5 1998 5 1998 6 1998 6 1998 6 1998 6 1998 6 1998 7 1998 9 1998 9 1998 9 1998 9 1998 9 1998 10 1998 10 1998 10 1998 11 1998 11 1998 12 1998 12 1998 2 1999 2 1999 3 1999 5 1999 5 1999 9 1999 12 1999 4 2000 Baer Balanca et al Monteath et al Broughton et al Marian Uemura et al Kauffman et al Kittirutsunetorn Launey et al Welty Shaw Darbee Mohrbacher et al Diefendorff et al Cocklin et al Tanaka et al Rein et al Audebert et al Wilson et al Goldstein Levine Zimmermann Jacobs et al Fujita et al Friedes et al Hill et al Jacobs et al Brown Jr et al Chan et al Johnson et al Knibbe Brzezinski et al Humpleman Doherty et al Nemirofsky Yuen Moughanni et al Fenton et al Tong Sato et al Fishman et al Bassett et al Kamon et al Blouin et al Takahashi et al Kikinis Shiff et al Gabai et al Garland et al Nemirofsky et al Nemirofsky Berry et al Hidary et al Garvey et al Godau et al Seidensticker et al Russ et al Raffray et al Martino Ivie et al Eisenbrandt et al Morgaine Chambers Domenikos et al Domenikos et al Elmers et al Holo et al Rifkin et al Koether Nemirofsky et al Brittenham et al Nemirofsky Nemirofsky Rowley Walker et al
6. be made the size of a postage stamp Another example of an appliance to which the present invention can be advantageously applied is the modern auto mobile The driver interface for automobiles has become more and more complicated as more and more electronic and computer driven features have become available Seat posi tion and temperature mirror position audio entertainment settings HVAC settings and navigational settings can all be set electronically Many of the available settings are changed only infrequently and thus may require reference to the own er s manual in order to change the settings manually Natu rally different drivers have different preferences and this can result in a lengthy process of changing settings each time a different driver enters the vehicle The present invention pro vides a convenient way to communicate driver preferences to the various electronic systems ofan automobile As explained above a driver can set many of the desired preferences using an interactive program with a graphical user interface A transfer device is then used to communicate the preferences to the automobile In this particular example the transfer device may also function as a key to enable operation of the auto mobile Certain preferences such as seat position and mirror position that are established in the automobile itself can be stored in the transfer device along with the preference data downloaded from the driver s hom
7. of which may include temporary storage of the data digits received from A D converter 206 or information derived therefrom In many applications receiving device 200 will include a user interface 214 comprising a display and or various controls such as function selection buttons and the like Receiving device 200 may also include a provision to allow for automatic calibration of the analog to digital con verter A peak detector 216 detects the peak white level in the received signal This level is used to establish the upper range of A D converter 206 This allows the full range of the A D converter to be used over the receiver s data detection range Receiving device 200 may be configured in any convenient form As discussed above in connection with transfer device 16 receiving device 200 may have an elongated cylindrical shape similar to a pen or a wand In such case photodetector 202 may be conveniently located at one end of the device However it has been found that pen or wand shaped devices have disadvantages when used with LCD flat screen displays If the device is pressed against the display even with light pressure the display may be distorted thereby affecting the accuracy of the data transfer For flat panel displays a flat card shaped receiving device is preferred Such a device may be held against the display screen without distorting the dis play To ensure proper registration of the receiving device with the display scr
8. 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 is then used to pro gram the appliance Sincethe appliance itself does not require a user interface for set up procedures and programming the appliance can be smaller cheaper and lighter without sacri ficing any functionality In addition the need for a printed user s manual is largely obviated since all of the information normally containedin such a manual can be obtained from the interactive site 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 mentofthe invention wherein an appliance receives data from a local computer via a transfer device FIG 3 is a functional block diagram ofa transfer device as shown in FIG 2 FIG 4 illustrates a graphical user interface suitable for setting programmable features of a thermostat FIG 5isa functional block diagram ofa third embodiment 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 FIG 7 illustrates luminance
9. automotive appliance selecting the at least one programmable feature of the automotive appliance removably coupling a transfer device to the computer initiating the transfer of set up data representing the pro grammable feature of the automotive appliance from the remote site to the transfer device removably coupling the transfer device to the automobile and initiating the transfer of the set up data from the transfer device to automobile wherein the remote site is remote from the automotive appliance 7 method comprising providing a remote interactive site accessible over a global computer network via a computer the interactive site relating to at least one programmable feature of an auto motive appliance receiving a command over the global computer network to set a programmable feature of the automotive appliance and in response to receiving the command sending program ming data representing the command to the automotive appliance wherein the remote interactive site is remote from the auto motive appliance 8 The method of claim 7 wherein the automotive appli ance is an automotive heating ventilating and air condition ing HVAC system 9 The method of claim 8 wherein the programmable fea ture is a temperature setting 10 The method of claim 7 wherein the automotive appli ance comprises a global positioning satellite GPS receiver 11 The method of claim 7 wherein the automotive app
10. dwelling contains a number of individual appliances The dwelling together with the individual appliances may be viewed collectively as a single appliance This is particularly true if the individual appliances are connected to a home network In this case a single user interface may be provided to program the various systems and appliances of the dwelling These may be com municated directly to a central controller on the home net work or through a transfer device A transfer device may be advantageously combined with a key to open the dwelling so that appliance features are programmed upon entering the dwelling This is especially useful when there are multiple occupants in the dwelling Each key may then carry the indi vidual preferences of the respective occupant Conflicts in preferences may be resolved through a priority hierarchy established when the preferences are programmed with the user interface Of course the invention is not limited to resi dential dwellings and may be employed as well with offices stores and other habitable spaces The invention also has applicability apart from setting pro grammable features of appliances For example the invention may be employed to purchase pay per view programming at an interactive web site An authorization code may then be downloaded into the transfer device of the invention and transferred to a TV set top box so that the purchased program will be descrambled This approac
11. 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 function as a data transfer device in addition to its more conventional remote control functions As discussed above the transfer device or appliance of the present invention preferably receives data by means of an opto electronic data link Any suitable source of light modu lation may be employed to transmit data to the transfer device or appliance These include LEDs incandescent bulbs LCDs and CRTs A convenient source of light modulation is the display screen of a local computer At least a portion of the display of the local computer may be modulated to transmit data to the transfer device Most current approaches to video modulation data transfer use sequential pulsing of the video image to provide a series of binary 175 and 0 s These binary bits are used with framing bits start and stop bits to form complete data bytes Some of the current approaches rely on the scanning CRT image to serialize the data bits by providing a luminance pulse for each data bit This approach will fail when applied
12. luminance not color Accurate luminance detec tion depends on the color response ofthe display the monitor contrast brightness and color settings and the color response characteristics of the photodetector Accurate detection using this method typically requires some form of calibration to match the photodetector response to the display color response c Dithering With reference to FIG 8 the currently preferred method displays a regular pattern of black and white pixels within a region of the display to produce an average luminance level This dithering average level is created by dividing the entire detection region into a matrix of smaller discrete cells com prising one or more pixels Each cell is either driven full white or full black The ratio of black to white cells determines the overall average luminance for the detection area This method eliminates problems with unpredictable gray scale response in the display due to contrast or brightness settings The dithering approach illustrated in FIG 8 uses a rectan gular matrix to obtain an average luminance for a given area US 8 811 580 B2 11 It is also possible to display other graphic patterns or charac ters which have a distinctive appearance while also present ing an average overall luminance Some examples are shown in FIG 9 Each of these have a unique luminance level when the black areas are averaged with the white background This allows the photodetector
13. of the array in the receiving device 4 Self Clocking Regardless of the method of modulation employed it is desirable that the data transmission be self clocking This means that individual data characters are detected by the receiving device without precise time spacing between char acters This self clocking approach allows for pauses to occur 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 during the transmission of data characters without creating transmission errors Pauses can occur in PCs if the operating system performs another task while the transmission is active For example multitasking operating systems will commonly write data between memory cache storage and disk drives This activity can preempt the operation of other software and cause short pauses in the operation of lower level applica tions For internet based data transfers varying delays are also common when moving data between servers and client PCs It is also important to accommodate different data rates depending on the type of display monitor being used Prior to starting the data transfer the user can make a selection to indicate the type of display being used If the display is a CRT a faster transfer rate may be used up to 75 digits per second If an active matrix display is being used the transfer rate will be slower 20 digits per second While the selection of trans fer rate is easily accomplished on the PC side the receiving devic
14. or support facility via an Internet or email connection Analysis of the data can then be used to issue appropriate repair orders In some cases repairs may be effectuated by downloading connective software or firmware in the same manner that appliance set up is accomplished Some types of appliances can be readily adapted to utilize existing components for establishing communications with computer 12 For example electronic cameras inherently possess optical sensors that can be used to sense modulation of a computer display screen or other light source The pri mary imaging path of the camera may be used in the case of 10 5 20 40 45 50 55 60 6 video cameras and digital still cameras This simply requires the addition of circuitry and or software to decode the modu lation and store the appropriate set up parameters Alterna tively the receiver of the camera s focusing range finder may be used as the optical sensor In order to provide the appropriate interface for program ming the features of appliance 10 server 14 preferably receives 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 manufacturer The latter approach offers the advantage of insuring that the most recent product information is available to server 14 One method of insuring that th
15. two way or may simply have a data demodulator for one way communications Coupling of appliance 10 to the telecommunications network may be by aconventional RJ 11 connection Alternatively appliance 10 may incorporate a cordless telephone module for communicating with a sepa rate base station Communications between server 14 and appliance 10 could also be implemented with radio signals For example appliance 10 could incorporate a conventional paging receiver A particular example of the embodiment illustrated in FIG 5 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 Appropriate data demodulation circuitry is incorporated 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 trans fer 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
16. 7 WO WO 9838570 9 1998 WO WO 0043870 7 2000 OTHER PUBLICATIONS MisterHouse operational questions http misterhouse sourceforge net faq html accessed via Internet on Jul 27 2011 34 pages Program listing for MisterHouse http misterhouse svn sourceforge net svnroot misterhouse trunk lib http server pl accessed via Internet on Jul 27 2011 35 pages The Network Vehicle Presented at COMDEX 1997 2 pages Kirschner S K Wired Wheels Popular Science Mar 1998 54 55 Lind R et al The Network Vehicle A Glimpse into the Future of Mobile Media IEEE AES Systems Magazine Sep 1999 27 32 Crestron e Control Reference Guide Crestron Electronics Inc Technical Documentation Department Jul 2003 74 pages Crestron e control Getting Started Crestron Electronics Inc Apr 1999 1 page Crestron e control delivers media management and A V control solutions at the University of Wisconsin Creston Electronics Inc Apr 1999 1 page Crestron e Control provides the Internet based control solution for Cisco Crestron Electronics Inc Apr 1999 1 page Crestron Control Products Catalog Crestron Electronics Inc May 1998 100 pages Renovated San Francisco City Hall features latest Crestron control technology Crestron Electronics Inc Apr 1999 1 page Microsoft Corporation Setting Up Your Microsoft Cordless Phone is Easy website printout Dec 15 1998 NBX Corpo
17. a2 United States Patent Iggulden et al US008811580B2 US 8 811 580 B2 Aug 19 2014 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent 54 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SETTING PROGRAMMABLE FEATURES OF AN AUTOMOTIVE APPLIANCE 75 Inventors Jerry Iggulden Los Angeles CA US Kyle Fields El Dorado Hills CA US 73 Assignee pointSET Corporation Los Angeles CA US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 174 days This patent is subject to a terminal dis claimer 21 Appl No 13 076 316 22 Filed Mar 30 2011 65 Prior Publication Data US 2011 0178656 Al Jul 21 2011 Related U S Application Data 63 Continuation of application No 12 033 821 filed on Feb 19 2008 now abandoned which is a continuation of application No 11 745 323 filed on May 7 2007 now Pat No 7 415 102 which is a continuation of application No 10 938 057 filed on Sep 9 2004 now Pat No 7 215 746 which is a continuation of application No 10 155 531 filed on May 24 2002 now Pat No 6 882 712 which is a continuation in part of application No 09 415 299 filed on Oct 8 1999 now Pat No 6 483 906 which is a continuation in part of application No 09 351 270 filed on Jul 12 1999 now Pat No 6 256 378 which is a continuation in part of application No 09 235 709 filed on Jan 22 1999 now Pat No 6 415 023 51 Int CI 04 11 00
18. aim 20 wherein the automotive appli ance comprises a global positioning satellite GPS receiver 25 The system of claim 21 wherein the automotive appli 5 ance is an automotive sound system
19. amming instructions to net a program mable feature of the one or more automotive appli ances 14 The system of claim 13 further comprising a transfer device comprising at least one microprocessor to assist the transfer device in receiving the programming instructions over the global computer network from the server and transferring the programming instructions to the one or more automotive appliances via a data link 15 The system of claim 14 wherein the automotive appli ance is an automotive heating ventilating and air condition ing HVAC system 16 The system of claim 15 wherein the programmable feature is a temperature setting 17 The system of claim 14 wherein the automotive appli ance is an automotive sound system 18 The system of claim 13 wherein the automotive appli ance comprises a global positioning satellite GPS receiver 19 A server containing programming for causing a device in global computer network communica tion with the server to present a graphical user interface depicting one or more programmable features of one or more automotive appliances receiving data over the global computer network from the device related to setting a programmable feature of the one or more automotive appliances and sending programmable data for the programmable feature over the global computer network to the one or more automotive appliances wherein the server is remote from the one or more auto motiv
20. arry et al discloses a method and apparatus for remote control ofelectronic devices from a computer transducer such as an infrared transmit ter is coupled to a computer and aimed at an electronic device to be controlled An application program running on the com puter generates appropriate signals for control of the elec tronic device U S Pat No 5 815 086 issued to Ivie et al discloses a method and apparatus for communicating commands to elec trical appliances from remote locations Various appliances 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 aninfrared transmitting device coupled to the bus A handheld control device may be supplied for controlling 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 a computer and receives signals from conventional remote controllers The programming device correlates the received signals with a database of stored sig nals used by various appliance manufacturers The program ming device then sends a complete set of appropriate con
21. atent 9798 S9NIGOON3 LLLELTTITIT LE E m 311HA 33V 5 SL 2011021 6 SI 39VH3AV YOLOSISGOLOHd NEN pan LI d EE E NOLLVINGOW 32 3 343 590 Ot 32 343334 STAAN SSN TWA v 6 0 8 8 L 8 v 6 0 U S Patent Aug 19 2014 Sheet 4 of 7 US 8 811 580 B2 o qr GRAPHIC PATTERNS UNIQUE PICTURES UNIQUE CHARACTERS FIG 9 RED CHANNEL GREEN CHANNEL PHASE RELATIONSHIP PHASE MODULATION FIG 54 4 0 DETECTOR VIDEO BAR CODE FIG ORIGINAL DATA 3 5 518 0 9 4 4 4 2 3 4 ENCODED DATA 5 gt 8 0 9 4 gt 4 2 3 4 REPEAT REPEAT SELF CLOCKING DATA ENCODING FIG 12 US 8 811 580 B2 Sheet 5 of 7 Aug 19 2014 U S Patent Fl Old 002 AMOW3N d 012 WvsbSONd WO 712 SNOLLNG AVIdSIO JOVINSINI WISN 802 202 RO HI er pd MO J3TIOSINOOOMOIN a v 8 PERES Wad YOLOSLIGOLOHd ronda 904 912 21 AMOW3N U S Patent Aug 19 2014 Sheet 6 of 7 US 8 811 580 B2 PLACE CARD HERE U S Patent Aug 19 2014 Sheet 7 of 7 US 8 811 580 B2 t 0 0uS 1 t 0 0uS 0 08V 0 00V CRT photoresponse FIG 15 t 0 0uS 1 t 0 0uS t 0 0uS 0 02V 0 02V 0 00 calibration
22. ay typically 13 to 17 msec per field FIG 15 is an actual capture of the signal received by the detector using a CRT based display Since the received signal is a pulse a software algorithm processes the A D conversion readings in order to establish the luminance level represented by the peaks of the detected pulses The software algorithm is then capable of decoding these levels back into packets of data It is desirable for the system to automatically adapt to varying intensity levels on the display Different luminance levels will result due to variances in the brightness response of the display the sensitivity characteristics ofthe photodetector and also due to adjustment of the brightness and contrast settings of the monitor To automatically adjust for these differences the system provides a calibration sequence at the start of each data trans mission As illustrated in FIG 16 the calibration pattern consists ofa staircase of each ofthe 12 luminance levels used A full white pulse level 12 is sent at the start of the sequence followed by values of 0 to 12 This signal is detected by the receiver and used to establish the actual 12 discrete levels obtained from the monitor In FIG 16 the bottom signal is the actual pulse waveform received by the photodetector The top signal is that obtained after processing by a software algo rithm It will be recognized that the above described invention may be embodied in other specific fo
23. e appliance 20 A system comprising a server containing programming for causing a device in global computer network communi cation with the server to present a graphical user inter face depicting at least one programmable feature of one or more automotive appliances receiving data over the global computer network from the device related to setting at least one programmable feature of one or more automotive appliances and sending programming data over the global computer network toward the one or more automotive appli ances wherein the server is remote from the one or more auto motive appliances wherein the one or more automotive appliances comprises a data receiver configured to receive the programming data and a data processor configured to utilize the programming data to set a programmable feature of the one or more automotive appliances 21 The system of claim 20 further comprising a transfer device comprising a data receiver configured to receive the programming data over the global computer network from the server and a data transferor configured to transfer the programming data to the one or more automotive appliances via a data link 22 The system of claim 21 wherein the automotive appli ance is an automotive heating ventilating and air condition ing HVAC system US 8 811 580 B2 17 18 23 The system of claim 22 wherein the programmable feature is a temperature setting 24 The system of cl
24. e 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 programming of the same appliance Warranty registration for the appliance may be conveniently performed during this same procedure 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 manu facturer also facilitates new marketing opportunities The manufacturer can readily target advertising to identified pur chasers 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 the invention 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
25. e computer Use of the present invention facilitates customized driver controls For example touch screen display panels are now used in many automobiles Using a graphical user interface a driver can design a customized set of controls for operating features of interest to that driver One driver may wish to have certain radio selections readily available whereas another driver may wish to have available a selection of destinations for the navigation system These preferences are communi cated via the transfer device as described above Controls that are customized in this manner are not limited to touch screen selections By the same process driver defined functions may be assigned to buttons dials and other mechanical controls as well to create individualized function keys Furthermore it US 8 811 580 B2 9 will be appreciated that creating customized controls in this manner is not limited to the context of automobiles but may be applied to any type of appliance 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 incor porate a conventional modem in which case communications may be
26. e will preferably be compatible with all available trans fer rates Using self clocking data allows the receiving device to receive data at the transmission rate without the need for a data rate selection on the receiving device itself An efficient self clocking method using a non binary data encoding is illustrated in FIG 12 If luminance modulation is used the receiving device can detect each discrete luminance level change as a new digit The length of time between successive digits is irrelevant If the same digit value is sent twice in succession a special repeat character can be used to indicate that the last digit value is repeating As shown in FIG 12 11 indicates a repeating digit value If the data stream contains three successive 4 s the encoded data will be 4 11 4 With this approach a single digit value is never repeated twice in succession The detector can simply wait for each change in luminance level to indicate a new digit value has been sent Timing relationships between characters is not significant 5 Time Interval Modulation In contrast to self clocking methods another modulation approach is based on the time spacing between changes in intensity level or color With this approach only a limited number of intensity levels or colors is required The number ofdiscrete intensity levels or colors may be as few as two The time interval between changes in intensity level or color has a number of possible discrete valu
27. een a visual indication of the area of the display screen that will contain the data modulation is pref erably provided As shown in FIG 14 a rectangular area of the display screen generally corresponding in size and shape to the card shaped receiving device may be configured as a window and may be labeled with a legend such as place card here Intheexamples discussed above a single photodetector or paired detectors in the case of bi color modulation is used in combination with a single modulated region of the display screen It will be appreciated that the data transfer rate can be multiplied by employing a suitable array of photodetectors in combination with a corresponding array of data transmission regions Obviously the array of detectors must be properly registered with the array of modulated regions on the display This can present a challenge in the case of a handheld receiv ing device One solution to this challenge is illustrated in FIG 14 Here the display is divided into four quadrants that are independently modulated The receiving device includes an array of four independent photodetectors By providing simple registration marks on both the display screen and the receiving device the receiving device can be held against the display screen so that the photodetectors are in proper regis tration with the corresponding quadrants 7 Experimental Results A prototype system has been constructed The prototype receiving d
28. es each of which corre sponds to a numerical value A significant advantage of this approach is that it is not sensitive to variations in display intensity or color fidelity However due to the characteristic response times this approach is better suited to CRT displays than to LCD displays 6 Receiving Device FIG 13 is a block diagram of a receiving device 200 suitable for use in connection with the present invention Light emitted by or reflected by a display panel falls on photodetector 202 The output of the photodetector is ampli fied by amplifier 204 and asserted at the input of the analog to digital A D converter 206 The digitized output in this case comprising an 8 bit word is presented as an input to microcontroller 208 The operation of microcontroller 208 is controlled by program instructions stored in read only memory ROM 210 These instructions govern the conver sion of the raw digitized input from A D converter 206 into a data digit The data digits are further processed in accordance with the particular functions to be accomplished by receiving device 200 When configured as a transfer device such as transfer device 16 discussed previously receiving device 200 will further communicate the data digits or information derived therefrom to a host device via a wired or wireless interface A random access memory RAM 212 is coupled to US 8 811 580 B2 13 microcontroller 208 for use as a scratchpad memory the use
29. evice is configured as a card having the same length and width as a standard credit card A 9 mm round photodetector element is located in the center of one face of the card Electronic circuitry within the card amplifies the output signal ofthe photodetector which is then applied as an analog input to a conventional personal computer system where A D conversion is performed The photodetector ele mentis designed to detect the average luminance over a 9 mm round area of the display screen The detector consists of a translucent glass window and a photo Darlington transistor photodetector mounted in a plastic enclosure The prototype system employs luminance modulation using the dithering approach discussed above A total of 12 luminance levels are used to represent ten decimal values plus two additional values to indicate formatting and repeating 0 5 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 characters Using a CRT display the prototype system has achieved data transfer rates of 20 characters per second The photodetector in the receiver detects the luminance change as the electron beam in the CRT passes over the detector This screen phosphor glows with a brightness related to the average screen luminance For a CRT display the beam is constantly scanning the screen This creates a pulse as the beam passes over the detector Therefore the signal detected is a pulse which repeats at the frame rate of the displ
30. g With this method a video bar code is displayed across the screen The user swipes a receiving device across the bar code to read data from the screen Conventional printed bar codes work by using different spaces between vertical lines The spacing relationship is translated into binary data bits Multiple bits are combined to form bytes of data Using a video image data can be represented using lumi nance levels or color This allows higher data density because each bar in the video bar code can represent an entire decimal digit instead of just a single binary bit This increases data density by 8 to 10 times compared to conventional bar codes FIG 11 illustrates a video bar code using luminance levels Note that luminance levels can be generated using the same methods as previously described for spot modulation Each bar represents one of many luminance levels for example with 10 luminance levels each bar can represent a digit value of 0 to 9 3 Color Modulation Chromatic luminance modulation was described above as a form of intensity modulation It is also possible to employ a true color modulation in which specific color hues are used to represent corresponding numerical values Depending on the range of hues used an array of two or three separate detectors sensitive to different spectral components such as by using appropriate filters is required A beam splitter may be employed to direct light to the individual detectors
31. h eliminates the tele phone connection required for most TV set top boxes with pay per view capability Another potential application for the invention 15 as a pro grammable token For example a consumer product manu facturer may offer discounts on certain of its products at its web site Authorization to receive the discount may be down loaded into the transfer device ofthe invention and the trans fer device may then be taken to a retailer The transfer device is then used to transmit the discount authorization to a receiv ing terminal at the retailer Ideally the terminal would also have the ability to modify the stored contents of the transfer device so that the discount authorization could be cancelled once the discount is given This same token approach can also be applied to pre paid purchase transactions reserva tions at restaurants hotels parks etc entry authorization to entertainment venues or other secured areas and similar situ ations in which a conveniently transported authorizing token serves as an extended communication link from a computer system US 8 811 580 B2 5 A first embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG 1 An appliance 10 receives set up data from a local computer 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
32. in order to receive the downloaded data Upon receipt of the data the controller is configured to operate the appliance USS Pat No 5 600 711 issued to Yuen discloses an appa ratus 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 commandis for initializing the settings in the appliance over 0 20 30 40 45 55 65 2 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 ofinitializing a programmable control device such as aremote controller fora 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 envi ronment of the control device by using touch tone keys to respond to audio inquiries transmitted by the computer The computer then transmits the initializing program for loading into the memory of the control device U S Pat No 5 774 063 issued to B
33. ized include clocks tele phones televisions television set top decoders video record ers audio and video entertainment system components 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 refrigerators conventional ovens microwave ovens dish washers irrigation systems global positioning satellite GPS receivers automobile heating ventilating and air con ditioning HVAC systems automobile sound systems home security systems home HVAC systems home master control systems facsimile machines copiers cameras postage meters etc Programmable features refer to any appliance features that may be altered These include for example initialization or set up parameters stored data e g tele phone speed dial numbers or GPS receiver database and the operating system or other internal software Specific examples are given below to illustrate operation ofthe inven tion 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 Appliances will be understood to include any device or system that has programmable features including those that not normally thought of as appliances For example an automobile has numerous on board systems that are pro grammable in one way or another Thus the automobile itself may be viewed as an appliance as may the individual systems In a similar vein a residential
34. li ance is an automotive sound system 12 A server containing programming for causing device in global computer network communica tion with the server to display information about one or more programmable features of one or more automotive appliances receiving instructions over the global computer network from the device to seta programmable feature of the one or more automotive appliances and sending programmable data representing the instructions over the global computer network toward the automotive appliance wherein the server is remote from the automotive appli ance 13 A system comprising a server containing programming for causing a device in global computer network communi cation with the server to display information about at least one programmable feature of one or more auto motive appliances receiving programming instructions over the global computer network for setting at least one program mable feature of one or more automotive appliances and sending the programming instructions over the global computer network toward the one or more automotive appliances wherein the server is remote from the one or more auto motive appliances 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 16 wherein the one or more automotive appliances comprises at least one microprocessor to assist the one or more automotive appliances in receiving the programming instructions and utilizing the progr
35. mmodate For an active matrix LCD panel 20 dwells could be sent in one second This allows 20 digits of infor mation per second which is substantially faster than sending binary data The luminance levels are detected by a photodetector in a receiving device Discrete luminance levels can be generated using several different methods a Gray Scales This method drives a spot on the display to one of several discrete shades of gray The photodetector in the receiving device can detect the discrete levels and convert each level into a single digit value Reference levels can also be sent periodically in the data stream to establish the black and white highest lowest luminance levels This allows the photode tector output to be scaled to more accurately detect each discrete gray level One limitation to this method is that the gray scale response of the display may not be linear In fact gray scale levels are greatly affected by the monitor s contrast and brightness controls These controls can be changed by the user and are not predictable or known constants b Chromatic Luminance It is possible to convey various luminance levels by select ing different color combinations Each color has a luminance component combined with a chroma component Selecting different colors also selects different luminance levels For example dark brown has a low luminance while cyan has a high luminance Note that what is being detected with this method is
36. modulation for transferring decimal data digits FIG 8 illustrates luminance modulation with dithering encoding FIG 9 illustrates luminance modulation with irregular graphic patterns FIG 10 illustrates bi color phase modulation FIG 11 illustrates video bar code modulation FIG 12 illustrates a self clocking data encoding scheme for use with the present invention FIG 13 is a functional block diagram ofa receiving device suitable for use with the present invention FIG 14 illustrates a display screen having a portion thereof for data transfer FIG 15 is a plot of CRT photoresponse of a prototype system constructed in accordance with the present invention FIG 16 is a plot of a calibration sequence used in the prototype system 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 variety ofhome and office appliances Some categories of appliances in which the invention may be util
37. own 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 pre sented on a display of computer 12 Such interface is shown merely for purposes of illustration it being understood 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 tempera ture 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 tempera ture selection applies When the desired settings have been made the user selects ENTER button 130 to store the selec 5 40 45 50 8 tions 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 the selected temperature profile may be pro
38. ppliance 10 with an electrical cable or tether which may have a fixed or removable connection to the transfer device and or the appli ance In still other embodiments appliance 10 may be pro US 8 811 580 B2 7 vided with an infrared receiver coupled to its internal control electronics In the case of an IR link transfer device 16 is equipped with an appropriate infrared transmitter 114 and 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 transmitter 114 Indicator 110 may confirm to the user that the data has been transmitted Alter natively 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 to transfer data from the appliance back to the computer as well This facilitates synchronization of the virtual and real appliances as explained above Data from the appliance may be loaded into the transfer device by means of an opto electronic link in the same manner by which data is loaded from the computer Preferably however the transfer device will have a direct electrical coupling to the appliance for applications involving two way communications Transfer of data into the comp
39. ration Product Solutions NBX NetSet Application Notes NBX NetSett Administration Utility website printout Dec 14 1998 US 8 811 580 B2 Page 3 56 References Cited OTHER PUBLICATIONS Pointset Corporation Office Action mailed Mar 26 2008 U S Appl No 11 745 323 7 pages Shear D Going Global in the Real World Putting an Embedded System on the Internet EDN Electrical Design News Cahners Publishing Co Newton Massachusetts vol 42 No 19 Sep 12 1997 pp 37 46 Draft Request for Inter Partes Review of U S Patent No 7 415 102 by ecobee inc received Sep 18 2012 60 pages Corcoran Peter M et al A Remote Electronic Object Emulation System for Home Bus Applications IEEE Transactions on Con sumer Electronics vol 40 Issue 3 1994 405 410 Home Automation Inc PCStat Software Owner s Manual Release 1 1 Document 16800 Revision Apr 1998 15 pages cited by examiner U S Patent Aug 19 2014 Sheet 1 of 7 US 8 811 580 B2 MANUFACTURER DATA FEEDBACK lt INTERACTIVE SITE SERVER 14 FIG 2 U S Patent Aug 19 2014 Sheet 2 of 7 US 8 811 580 B2 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 122 126 i 128 V ENTER 130 1352 75 70 65 6910 NOON 6PM FIG 4 FIG 5 TRANSFER DEVICE APPLIANCE SERVER 4g COMPUTER FIG 6 US 8 811 580 B2 Sheet 3 of 7 Aug 19 2014 U S P
40. rms 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 rather is to be defined by the appended claims What is claimed is 1 A method comprising using a computer to navigate over a global computer net Work to a remote site viewing information provided by the remote site relating to at least one programmable feature of an automotive appliance selecting the at least one programmable feature of the automotive appliance and initiating the transfer of set up data representing the pro grammable feature ofthe automotive appliance from the remote site to the automotive appliance wherein the remote site is remote from the automotive appliance 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the automotive appli ance is an automotive heating ventilating and air condition ing HVAC system 3 The method of claim 2 wherein the programmable fea ture is a temperature setting 4 The method of claim 1 wherein the automotive appli ance comprises a global positioning satellite GPS receiver 5 The method of claim 1 wherein the automotive appli ance is an automotive sound system 6 A method comprising using a computer to navigate over a global computer net work to a remote site US 8 811 580 B2 15 viewing information provided by the remote site relating to at least one programmable feature of an
41. sequence FIG 16 US 8 811 580 B2 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SETTING PROGRAMMABLE FEATURES OF AN AUTOMOTIVE APPLIANCE RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a continuation application of co pending applica tion Ser No 12 033 821 filed Feb 19 2008 which is a continuation of application Ser No 11 745 323 filed May 7 2007 now U S Pat No 7 415 102 which is a continuation application of application Ser No 10 938 057 filed Sep 9 2004 now U S Pat No 7 215 746 which is a continuation of application Ser No 10 155 531 filed May 24 2002 now 0 8 Pat No 6 882 712 which is a continuation in part of application Ser No 09 415 299 filed Oct 8 1999 now 17 5 Pat No 6 483 906 which is a continuation in part of appli cation Ser No 09 351 270 filed Jul 12 1999 now 17 8 Pat No 6 256 378 which is a continuation in part of application Ser No 09 235 709 filed Jan 22 1999 now U S Pat No 6 415 023 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to the field of setting pro grammable features of an appliance More particularly the invention provides a method and apparatus for conveniently setting various programmable features of an appliance using a graphical user interface accessed with a computer via a global computer network 2 Prior Art The advent of microprocessors and other miniaturized electronics has facilitated the implementation of increasingly comple
42. shown Typically com puter 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 interactively setting the programmable features of appliance 10 Prefer ably 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 coupled directly to local computer 12 This embodiment is best suited for portable appliances that may be conveniently carried to the computer for set up The coupling between appliance 10 and computer 12 may be one way from the computer or two way One way communication may be accomplished optically by providing appliance 10 with an optical sensor and modulating the display of computer 12 utilizing one or more of the techniques described belo
43. to discriminate between unique pat terns or characters to convert to a corresponding data value d Multi Color Modulation Another method is to use two or more color channels to provide a means of data modulation For this method two or more photodetectors are used each responsive to different portions of the color spectrum For example separate red and green photodetectors could be used to detect varying shades of each color Using two channels allows data encoding using the luminance level of each color channel or the phase between two color signals Phase modulation works by modulating the color channels at a given rate but varying the phase relationship between the two channels as shown in FIG 10 To further increase the data density it is possible to com bine modulation of color luminance with color phase Thus at any given sample interval three parameters are available red intensity green intensity and phase relationship If eight dis crete values of each parameter are used each sample point can represent 83 values or 1 of 512 discrete numerical values per sample A disadvantage to this method is the requirement for two color selective detectors Also color response can vary between displays so some type of color calibration may be required 2 Video Bar Code FIG 11 illustrates another method of data encoding using video bar code modulation This approach is similar to printed bar codes but uses a higher density data codin
44. to flat panel LCD screens because these screens do not have a scanning luminance response like that found with the CRT Other methods provide a binary bit stream where each bit is produced at the video field rate For a typical CRT this 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 provides one binary data bit each 16 msec 60 fields per second While this approach is viable for the CRT it will not work well for flat panel displays The slow response time of LCD panels mean that only a small number of data bits could be transferred per second For a passive display 3 bits would be possible assuming 300 msec response time For active panels 20 bits could be transferred Using conventional start and stop bits a passive panel would then be capable of trans mitting 0 3 bytes per second and active panels 2 bytes per second This is too low a data rate for many applications Various modulation schemes are proposed below that are suitable for use with both CRT and LCD displays 1 Luminance Modulation A first approach to data modulation of a display screen employs luminance modulation This method drives the dis play with varying levels of intensity Each intensity level can represent an entire data digit For example FIG 7 illustrates a method using 10 shades of gray to represent a decimal digit The luminance level for each successive decimal digit or luminance dwell is generated as fast as the display can acco
45. 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 programming data from local computer 12 by a wired connection to computer 12 or by an opto electronic or other wireless data link such as will be described more fully below Furthermore the transfer device may communicate with the appliance via a wired connection or via a 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 module 102 Data modulated on the display screen of com puter 12 is sensed by optical detector 104 upon activation of receive switch 106 The data is demodulated by electronics 102 and is stored in memory 108 Upon confirmation of error free transfer and storage of the data a suitable indica tion 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 may include a docking port for transfer device 16 Thus transfer device 16 may be an integral component of appliance 10 which is provided to the con sumer by the appliance manufacturer Alternatively transfer device 16 may be connected to an input port of a
46. trol signals to the programmable universal controller U S Pat No 5 228 077 issued to Darbee discloses a uni versal 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 net work The site hosts a graphical user interface with which preferences and other parameters of an appliance may be set US 8 811 580 B2 3 by the user In some embodiments set up data for the appli ance may be downloaded directly to the appliance from the user s computer or the interactive site
47. uter may be accomplished in a number of ways For example transfer device 16 may couple directly to a serial or parallel input port of the computer as discussed previously in which case a single physical port on the transfer device may serve as both input port and output port Alternatively transfer device 16 may include a sound transducer by which data may be transferred through a microphone coupled to the computer 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 that is docked into appliance 10 as described above In such case communication 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 com prise the brains of appliance 10 in the form of a micropro cessor or equivalent device Aside from the ease of program ming features and functions of the appliance such an arrangement offers the added benefit of facilitating service or replacement of the appliance s electronic components in the event of malfunction The embodiment sh
48. w Other communication techniques can be employed using audio magnetic inductive infrared or radio frequency cou pling Two way communications are most conveniently established by connection to a serial port of computer 12 The serial port may be configured in accordance with any of the appropriate industry standards such as for example Univer sal Serial Bus USB Fire Wire etc Naturally this type of connection is not ideal for all 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 witha serial port connection in the configuration illustrated in FIG 1 A two way connection also allows synchronization of the real appliance with the virtual appliance Even though most of the feature configuration of an appliance will be done using the virtual appliance interface there may still be fea tures and settings that can be controlled directly at the real appliance By periodically reestablishing a two way connec tion with the computer the virtual appliance can be updated with any changes in the settings of the real appliance Another advantage of two way communications is that it may be used to facilitate remote troubleshooting of appli ances Data from the appliance may be transmitted to com puter 12 and from there to the appliance manufacturer
49. x 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 sophisti cated 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 Because ofthe sophis tication and complexity of the controls owner s manuals for appliances are becoming increasingly voluminous and diffi cult to comprehend Due to the growing complexity of modern appliances many of the available features are never utilized by consum ers even as competition in the marketplace drives the prolif eration of such features A number of solutions have been proposed for making appliances easier to control and gener ally 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 com puter The user communicates certain background informa tion to the remote site and set up data is then downloaded via the telephone connection The earpiece of the telephone is held in proximity to a microphone built into the appliance controller
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