System and method for appliance control via a network

Abstract

A first remote control application is configured to cause a smart device to transmit at least one command for controlling at least one functional operation of a controllable appliance in response to a user interface element of the smart device being activated while a second remote control application of a bridge device is configured to cause the bridge device to transmit at least one command for controlling at least one functional operation of the controllable appliance in response to receiving at the bridge device the at least one command transmitted from the smart device. The at least one command is transmitted from the smart device using a first transmission protocol and the at least one command is transmitted from to the bridge device using a transmission protocol recognized by the controllable appliance.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for control of electronic consumer device (ECD) functions, the system comprising:
 a device having a first communication interface, a second communication interface, a third communication interface, and a fourth communication interface, wherein the device is programmed to use the first communication interface to communicate with an ECD device for receiving from the ECD device a device identifier data, to use the second communication interface to communicate with an ECD function information database to obtain a function information for the ECD via use of the device identifier data whereupon the function information for the ECD received via the second communication interface is stored in a memory of the device, and to use the third communication interface to transmit to the ECD a signal for controlling the functional operation of the ECD in response to a corresponding signal being received by the fourth communication interface from a controlling device wherein the signal received via the fourth communication interface from the controlling device is used to select the function information for the ECD stored in the memory of the device and the function information for the ECD is used to create the signal for controlling the functional operation of the ECD; and   a single line bus communications cable that places the first communication interface in communication with the ECD.   
     
     
         2 . The system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the device identifier data comprises a brand name and a model number for the ECD. 
     
     
         3 . The system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the device identifier data comprises device type information. 
     
     
         4 . The system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the function information for the ECD comprises a command data and command transmitting protocol information and wherein the third communication interface comprises an infrared (IR) communication interface. 
     
     
         5 . The system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the fourth communication interface comprises a radio frequency (RF) communication interface.