Computer programmable remote control

Abstract

A portable hand-held remote control unit device is disclosed which may be utilized for selecting designated functions in a plurality of remotely controllable multimedia processing units. Multiple user selectable screen objects may be created from a general purpose computer and transferred to the remote control unit. The screen objects include screen layout and descriptions of soft keys to be displayed on a graphic display of the remote control unit, as well as commands associated with the screen object, the soft keys and programmable keys on the remote control unit. The user may select any of the loaded screen objects for controlling various multimedia processing units, for performing complex functions of commands to various multimedia processing units.

1. A remote control development program comprising a set of instructions on a computer-readable medium, the instructions configured to cause a general purpose computer to provide a user with the ability to edit a first screen object;
 the general purpose computer comprising a processor, an operating system, a short term memory, a long term memory, a graphics display and a user input device,  
 the screen objects each comprising a screen layout definition and at least one key object which is a soft key object or a programmable key object, the screen object providing for a screen display and commands associated therewith, wherein 
 each soft key object comprises a representation of a soft key, a text label for the representation, a location for displaying the graphic  soft key object, and a tagname for a command which is to be issued when the soft key is pressed,  
 each programmable key object comprises an identifier of one of plural programmable keys of a programmable remote control unit and a tagname for a command which is to be issued when the identified programmable key is pressed,  
 each command comprises a message which, when received by a given multimedia processing unit, causes the multimedia processing unit to alter a defined setting of the multimedia processing unit in a predictable manner;  
 
 the remote control development program further comprising instructions for causing a computer to facilitate editing of the first screen object by performing the following steps: 
 (a) displaying a representation of the appearance of the first screen object;  
 (b) simultaneously displaying information regarding the first screen object and the key objects of the first screen object;  
 (c) providing objected  object oriented tools for creating and editing soft key objects;  
 (d) providing objected  object oriented tools for creating and editing labels;  
 (e) displaying tagnames for commands which may be assigned to soft key objects in the first screen object, programmable key objects in the first screen object, and directly to the first screen object;  
 (f) receiving the user's selections of commands to assign to soft key objects in the first screen object, programmable key objects in the first screen object, and directly to the first screen object.  
 
 
     
     
       2. The remote control development program embodied on a computer readable medium of  claim 1 , the remote control development program further comprising instructions for causing the general purpose computer to:
 download the first screen object to a programmable remote control unit that is communicatively connected to the general purpose computer.  
 
     
     
       3. The remote control development program of  claim 1 , additionally comprising, the instructions further configured to cause a general purpose computer to provide a user with the ability to transfer the first screen object to programmable remote control unit. 
     
     
       4. The remote control development program of  claim 3 , wherein the instructions further configured to cause a general purpose computer to provide a user with the ability to transfer the first screen object to programmable remote control unit via a docking station that couples to the programmable remote control unit. 
     
     
       5. The remote control development program of  claim 3 , wherein each soft key comprises a representation of a soft key that will be displayed on the programmable remote control unit. 
     
     
       6. The remote control development program of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the general purpose computer to access one or more preconfigured screen objects. 
     
     
       7. The remote control development program of  claim 6 , wherein the preconfigured screen objects are stored in a database of the general purpose computer. 
     
     
       8. The remote control development program of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause a computer to facilitate editing of the first screen object by allowing the user to edit the tagnames for commands that are assigned to the soft key objects. 
     
     
       9. A method of editing one or more screen objects for downloading to a programmable remote control unit using a general purpose computer,
 the general purpose computer comprising a processor, an operating system, a short term memory, a long term memory, a graphics display and a user input device,  
 the screen objects each comprising a screen layout definition and at least one key object which is a soft key object or a programmable key object, the screen object providing for a screen display and commands associated therewith, wherein 
 each soft key object comprises a representation of a soft key, a text label for the representation, a location for displaying the graphic  soft key object, and a tagname for a command which is to be issued when the soft key is pressed,  
 each programmable key object comprises an identifier of one of plural programmable keys of a programmable remote control unit and a tagname for a command which is to be issued when the identified programmable key is pressed,  
 each command comprises a message which, when received by a given multimedia processing unit, causes the multimedia processing unit to alter a defined setting of the multimedia processing unit in a predictable manner;  
 
 the method comprising: 
 (a) the general purpose computer displaying a representation of the appearance of the first screen object;  
 (b) the general purpose computer simultaneously displaying information regarding the first screen object and the key objects of the first screen object;  
 (c) the general purpose computer providing objected  object oriented tools for creating and editing soft key objects;  
 (d) the general purpose computer providing objected oriented  orient tools for creating and editing labels;  
 (e) the general purpose computer displaying tagnames for commands which may be assigned to soft key objects in the first screen object, programmable key objects in the first screen object, and directly to the first screen object;  
 (f) the general purpose computer receiving the user's selections of commands to assign to soft key objects in the first screen object, programmable key objects in the first screen object, and directly to the first screen object.  
 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , additionally comprising the general purpose computer downloading the screen object to the programmable remote control unit. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9 , additionally comprising the general purpose computer accessing the first screen object from one or more preconfigured screen objects from a database. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the general purpose computer downloads the first screen object to the programmable remote control unit via a docking station that communicatively couples to the programmable remote control unit. 
     
     
       13. A remote control development program for use in connection with a general purpose computer comprising a processor, an operating system, a short term memory, a long term memory, a graphics display and a user input device, the remote control development program comprising:
   a set of instructions on a computer - readable medium, the instructions configured to cause the general purpose computer to provide a user with the ability to edit a screen object comprising a screen layout definition and at least one key object which is a soft key object, the screen object providing for a screen display and commands associated therewith wherein each soft key object comprises a representation of a soft key, a location for displaying the representation of the soft key, and a tagname for a command which is to be issued when the soft key is activated, the command comprising a message which, when received by a given multimedia processing unit, causes the multimedia processing unit to alter a defined setting of the multimedia processing unit in a predictable manner; and wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the general purpose computer to:    ( a )  display a representation of the appearance of the screen object;      ( b )  display information regarding the screen object and the key objects of the screen object;      ( c )  accept user input via object oriented tools for creating and editing soft key objects;      ( d )  display tagnames for commands which may be assigned to soft key objects in the screen object; and      ( e )  accept user selections of commands to assign to soft key objects in the screen object.        
     
     
       14. The remote control development program of  claim 13 , wherein the at least one key object further comprises a programmable key object, the programmable key object comprising an identifier of one of plural programmable keys of a programmable remote control unit and a tagname for a command which is to be issued when the identified programmable key is activated and wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the general purpose computer to display tagnames for commands which may be assigned to programmable key objects in the screen object and accept user selections of commands to assign to programmable key objects in the screen object.  
     
     
       15. The remote control development program of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the general purpose computer to simultaneously display information regarding the screen object and the key objects of the screen object.  
     
     
       16. The remote control development program of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the general purpose computer to download the screen object to a programmable remote control unit that is communicatively connected to the general purpose computer.  
     
     
       17. The remote control development program of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the general purpose computer to provide a user with the ability to transfer the screen object to a programmable remote control unit.  
     
     
       18. The remote control development program of  claim 17 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the general purpose computer to provide a user with the ability to transfer the screen object to the programmable remote control unit via a docking station that couples to the programmable remote control unit.  
     
     
       19. The remote control development program of  claim 17 , wherein each soft key comprises a representation of a soft key that will be displayed on the programmable remote control unit.  
     
     
       20. The remote control development program of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the general purpose computer to access one or more preconfigured screen objects.  
     
     
       21. The remote control development program of  claim 20 , wherein the preconfigured screen objects are stored in a database of the general purpose computer.  
     
     
       22. The remote control development program of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the general purpose computer to facilitate editing of the screen object by allowing the user to edit the tagnames for commands that are assigned to the soft key objects.  
     
     
       23. A method of editing one or more screen objects for downloading to a programmable remote control unit using a general purpose computer, the general purpose computer comprising a processor, an operating system, a short term memory, a long term memory, a graphics display and a user input device, the screen objects each comprising a screen layout definition and at least one key object which is a soft key object, the screen object providing for a screen display and commands associated therewith, wherein each soft key object comprises a representation of a soft key, a location for displaying the representation of the soft key, and a tagname for a command which is to be issued when the soft key is activated, the command comprising a message which, when received by a given multimedia processing unit, causes the multimedia processing unit to alter a defined setting of the multimedia processing unit in a predictable manner, the method comprising:
 ( a )  the general purpose computer displaying a representatoin of the appearance of the screen object;      ( b )  the general purpose computer displaying information regarding the screen object and the key objects of the screen object;      ( c )  the general purpose computer receiving user input via object oriented tools for creating and editing soft key objects;      ( d )  the general purpose computer displaying tagnames for commands which may be assigned to soft key objects in the screen object; and      ( e )  the general purpose computer receiving user selections of commands to assign to soft key objects in the screen object.      
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 23 , wherein the at least one key object further comprises a programmable key object, the programmable key object comprising an identifier of one of plural programmable keys of the programmable remote control unit and a tagname for a command which is to be issued when the identified programmable key is activated and wherein the method additionally comprises the general purpose computer displaying tagnames for commands which may be assigned to programmable key objects in the screen object and the general purpose computer receiving user selections of commands to assign to programmable key objects in the screen object.  
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 23 , additionally comprising the general purpose computer simultaneously displaying information regarding the screen object and the key objects of the screen object.  
     
     
       26. The method of  claim 23 , additionally comprising the general purpose computer downloading the screen object to the programmable remote control unit.  
     
     
       27. The method of  claim 26 , wherein the general purpose computer downloads the screen object to the programmable remote control unit via a docking station that communicatively couples to the programmable remote control unit.  
     
     
       28. The method of  claim 27 , additionally comprising the general purpose computer accepting user input via object oriented tools for creating and editing a label to be displayed with the screen object.  
     
     
       29. The method of  claim 28 , wherein the label is associated with a soft key object of the screen object.  
     
     
       30. The method of  claim 23 , additionally comprising the general purpose computer accessing the screen object from one or more preconfigured screen objects from a database.