WO2009077878A2 - Universal remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for configuring a user equipment operable to control at least one appliance responsive to control signals, said method comprising the acts of downloading a control protocol for said appliance from a remote server of a communication network, said control protocol associating control signal parameters to functions executable by said appliance; receiving a selection of a specific function; using the control signal parameters associated to the specific function so that the appliance executes said specific function.

Description

UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROLLER

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to a Universal Remote Control System operable to enable the control of equipments.

Background of the Invention

Remote controllers, or remote control devices, are used to control appliances like e.g. TVs, CD players, DVD players, air conditioning systems, music systems, lights, curtains, doors, any type of electronic device that operates functions that can be triggered remotely. A remote control device generally comprises a User Interface (Ul) which lists the functions of an appliance such as e.g. power on/off, play, open/close, stop, eject etc... A user may select on the remote control device a representation (e.g. key on a touch screen or key of a keypad...) associated with the desired function (or command) in order for the device to send a control signal activating the function on the appliance. Commonly (e.g. for infrared control signals), said control signal comprises a coded modulated signal at a pre-defined frequency that the appliance will demodulate and decode in order to activate the selected function. A coding mechanism (e.g. binary coding) allows including a code corresponding to the desired function into the signal. The code represents the command part associated with the desired function, whereas the modulation and frequency corresponds to the radio part between the remote control device and the appliance. Although the technology is similar for almost all remote controllers and commonly consists in using infrared transmission in the frequency range of 30-60 KHz, there is no common convention on carrier frequency, modulation mechanism and code format for data transmission. And as there is too little standardization and as, so far, manufacturers do not have to comply with the existing standards since it is not mandatory, each brand uses its own codes and protocols to communicate between remote controllers and appliances. Consequently, nearly every appliance needs its own remote controller which does not comply with others. Thus, several remote controllers are needed to control several appliances and it is required to know, for each appliance, the remote control device to select and the associated method to operate it. Besides, if a common standard were to be implemented, it would not be operable for the already existing appliances that use proprietary remote control protocols or codes.

So far there are two solutions for universal remote control: one is to provide a reconfigurable universal remote control device with programmable functions to learn, store and retransmit infrared codes that are emitted from the controller of a remotely controlled apparatus. There are several drawbacks to this solution:

- in order to learn and store the codes for each appliance, the capacity of the remote controller memory should be as large as possible and the cost will increase according to the capacity;

- more codes means more complexity of usage; - no matter how many codes have been stored, there's still no guarantee that this design can completely comply with appliances that will appear after the universal remote controller has been released;

- the "learning mode" is fastidious and complex, especially for nontechnical users: the learning process requires the user to enter and store for each remote controller each function one by one (or button by button) into the universal remote controller.

A second solution consists in connecting all appliances to a common, or universal, standard network, so that they can all be controlled through a single controller by using common protocols. The drawback of this solution is that there is a need for modifying the existing appliances, i.e. by adding some additional adapters which will be coupled with the control circuitry very tightly, in order to make these appliances compliant with the remote control protocols. Modifications may not be possible for all appliances, since most of the controllers of these appliances do not have the necessary interfaces. Even when the modification is applicable, it is still not a good solution, for its, inconvenience, cumbersomeness and high cost.

US 2005119770 teaches a remote control system that obtains control signal parameters from an appliance in order to further control said appliance. The major drawback of this solution is that currently existing appliances are not yet capable of providing such information to a remote control system. As a consequence of existing solutions, users still have to deal with:

- the "learning mode" where the universal remote control device needs to be taught function by function,

- having at least one adapter for either converting signals to communicate with the appliance or to obtain and store from an appliance the control signals parameters further needed to control said appliance.

There is no universal remote control solution today that allows the straightforward one-shot acquisition and use of control signals parameters needed to send control signal to a plurality of different appliances.

Today there is still a need for a Universal Remote Control solution that can be easily implemented on the existing infrastructures.

Summary of Invention

It is an object of the present system to overcome disadvantages and/or make improvement over the prior art.

The present invention relates to a universal remote control system by which a user can easily control different appliances. The system can support any current and even future appliances as long as it has a remote control interface. No complicated technical knowledge or configuration is required from the user, working similarly as a normal remote controller. The goal of the present system is to provide an open, easy to customize and scalable universal remote control solution without any modification of current appliances. The present invention allows the unification and the simplification of the remote control of different appliances.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, each remote control user interface or skin (graphical user interface) and protocol (codes, modulation schemes, frequencies etc... associated with a given remote controller) from a product manufacturer of a given appliance should be placed in a server database. The universal remote controller system proposed in the present invention allows the download of skins & protocols from said database. Thus, the system according to the invention may handle most appliances (old, even obsolete one as well as future ones as the information related to new appliances may be added to the server database at anytime). The "skin" means description of the layout of the User Interface (Ul) elements (such as text, icon, button, display panel, touch panel, etc) as well as the attributes of the Ul elements themselves (such as logo, font, size, image file of icons, etc.). It also contains extra information of hierarchical Ul, such as logic relation between different hierarchical Ul panes for a same appliance. The "protocol" here consists of two aspects: - the communication protocol of appliance, such as carrier central frequency, bandwidth, modulation, coding mechanism, etc...

- the mapping between appliance command/status symbols and control signals.

To that extend, the invention proposes a method for configuring a user equipment operable to control at least one appliance responsive to control signals, said method comprising the acts of:

- downloading a control protocol for said appliance from a remote server of a communication network, said control protocol associating control signal parameters to functions executable by said appliance;

- receiving a selection of a specific function;

- using the control signal parameters associated to the specific function so that the appliance executes said specific function.

The invention also recites a system according to claim 15. The invention also recites a user equipment according to claim 8.

The invention also recites a program arranged to carry out the present method according to claim 23.

Brief Description of the Drawings Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, where like parts are provided with corresponding reference numerals, and in which: O

Figure 1 schematically illustrates a system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 schematically illustrates a system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprising a gateway for sending control signals to at least one appliance;

Figure 3 schematically illustrates a block diagram of the method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 schematically illustrates a exemplary embodiment of a protocol for opening and closing a session between a device and a gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention ;

Figure 5 schematically illustrates a exemplary embodiment of a gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention

Description of Preferred Embodiments A remote control device comprises a User Interface (Ul) which lists the functions of an appliance such as e.g. power on/off, play, open/close, stop, eject etc... A user can select on the remote control device a representation (e.g. key on a touch screen or key of a keypad...) associated with the desired function (or command) in order for the device to send a control signal activating the function on the appliance. Commonly (e.g. for infrared control signals), said control signal comprises a coded modulated signal at a predefined frequency that the appliance will demodulate and decode in order to activate the selected function. A coding mechanism (e.g. binary coding) allows comprising the code corresponding to a function into the signal. The code represents the command part associated with a function, whereas the modulation and frequency corresponds to the radio part between the remote control device and the appliance. The parameters allowing the creation of a control signal (e.g. code, modulation, frequency...) are called control signal parameters. A device according to the present invention may be a user equipment

(UE) for controlling at least one appliance responsive to control signals. This UE is operable to: - download a control protocol for said appliance from a remote server of a communication network, said control protocol associating control signal parameters to functions executable by said appliance;

- receive a selection of a specific function; - use the control signal parameters associated to the specific function so that the appliance executes said specific function.

The control of the appliance is characterized by a specific protocol which corresponds to a given appliance. Once the control protocol is running on the UE, the selection of a specific function is allowed and the control protocol will provide the corresponding control signal parameters that are further transferred to the appliance for a subsequent execution of the specific function. In an additional embodiment of the present device, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) may be used to allow a better interaction of the user with the device. In this exemplary embodiment: - a skin corresponds to the GUI of a remote control device listing the representations of the functions associated with an appliance. The GUI may be provided by an application running on a processor of the remote control device. For simplification purposes, the GUI and the corresponding applications - unless mentioned otherwise - will be both referred to as skin here after.

- a protocol corresponds to the control signal parameters (comprising codes, frequencies, modulation schemes...) and the way of associating them with the here above mentioned , representations.

The control of the appliance is thus allowed through the control protocol, and the skin provides a GUI for the selection of the functions.

According to one embodiment of the present system, a server comprising a database is located in a communication network. The database allows storing skins and protocols associated with appliance remote control devices. The server allows the download of said skins and protocols to a device called User Equipment (UE) or universal remote controller. According to one embodiment of the present system and device, a User Equipment (UE) comprises a Network Communication unit which allows communications between said UE and said server.

According to one embodiment of the present system and device, a User Equipment (UE) also comprises a Remote Control unit which allows the management of skins and protocols and which is arranged for:

- selecting one or more appliance models and identifying it/them to the server;

- retrieving the associated skins (i.e. the corresponding applications) and protocols from the server;

- selecting an appliance protocol and the associated skin to control a given appliance;

- associating the representations of functions for the given appliance to the protocol; - sending control signal parameters or control signals associated with said selected representations.

Function representation selection may be done using the UE buttons or keyboard, or may be tactile etc...

The UE 10 may be a mobile terminal such as e.g. a mobile phone, a PDA, a Pocket PC, a laptop, a mobile dedicated device etc... or a fixed terminal such as e.g. a PC, a dedicated fixed device, etc...

According to one embodiment of the present system, a Control Communication (CC) unit is used to send control signals to a plurality of appliances. The Control Communication unit may be embedded in the UE or may be embedded in a separated Application Control Communication (ACC) gateway. In the latter case, control signals need firstly to be sent from the UE to a Receiving Communication unit, or receiver, embedded in the ACC gateway. Communications may be transmitted over a radio interface such as e.g. Bluetooth, Wifi etc... or using a cable or any mean of transmission.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 describes a universal remote control system which includes 3 basic components:

- a User Equipment (UE) 10 which comprises a Network Communication unit 12, a Remote Control unit 15, a Control Communication unit 45 and which can store data in a memory 17;

- a remote control skins and protocols server 20 which comprises or is connected to a database 30 which stores skins and protocols for existing appliances; - appliance(s) 50 to be remotely controlled.

As UE 10 needs to obtain the skin and protocol associated with a given remote controller, it thus communicates with the server 20 through the Network communication unit 12 in order to send the appliance model reference 60 to the server. Other ways to provide the appliance model reference to the server may be readily available to the man skilled in the art and with the scope of the present system. For instance, the appliance model reference may be selected through a web application using the user equipment 10. The user could browse all appliances listed in database 30 and the selection of an appliance would allow the identification of this appliance to the server 20. A user may select and download the relevant skin and protocol from the database 30 onto a second user equipment (e.g. a Personal Computer) then transfer said relevant skin an protocol onto a first user equipment (e.g. e dedicated device).

For instance, in order to add a new appliance, a user uses the user equipment to send the appliance model to the remote control skins and protocols download server 20 via e.g. SMS or WAP portal. The request is sent using the communication unit 12 of the UE 10. After the request is sent, the UE 10 will receive the remote control skin and related protocol(s) using the communication unit 12 via e.g. the same portal through GPRS/WAP or GPRS only.

Once the server has the information on the selected appliance model reference, it retrieves the corresponding skin and protocol 70 from the database and sends it to the UE or sends a request to the UE in order for the UE to download the skin and protocol. Once the skin and protocol are received or downloaded on the UE through the Network communication unit 12, they are stored in the UE memory 17.

When a user wishes to remotely control an appliance for which the associated skin and protocol have been obtained, he selects said skin and protocol in the UE memory 17. The skin allows the UE to graphically materialize the User Interface (Ul) associated with the remote control device of a given appliance in order to select functions to control said appliance. When the user selects a function to control the appliance, the corresponding control signal described by the associated protocol in terms of code and modulation scheme is communicated to the Control Communication unit 45.

The Control Communication unit 45 allows sending control signals 90 to the appliance. Control signals may be transmitted to the appliance using any signal interface (medium) allowing direct communication with the appliance such as e.g. infrared, Bluetooth, Wifi, Ultra Wideband (UWB), Zigbee (standard) etc... Most of the existing appliances uses infrared interface to be remotely controlled (e.g. TV). In this case, control signals are transmitted using an infrared interface.

According to the present invention, with the skin, the UE materializes graphically the representations of the functions associated with the given remote control device of a given appliance on the User Interface (Ul) whereas with the protocol, the UE communicates with appliances through the Control communication unit 45.

The Remote control unit 15 gathers the information given by the skin, protocol and the user's commands to either create control signals or to send this information to the Control communication unit 45 which will create the control signals from the received information.

It may be envisaged as an additional embodiment of the present invention to only download protocols associated with a plurality of remote control devices and use a single unified GUI covering all the functions for several appliances (in this case, the database 30 may only stores protocols but not skins). For example, a set of unified styles for the GUI, such as unified fonts, tones, buttons, etc may be chosen and used. Thus, a user may choose e.g. his own way of controlling different appliances and getting a consistent GUI experience at the same time.

The remote control skins and protocols server 20 and its associated database 30 may be located for example in an operator's network so that a user equipment like e.g. a subscriber of said network may use his mobile phone to download said skins and protocols. In this case, the UE (e.g. mobile phone) may be equipped with:

- an access to data services (e.g. GPRS, UMTS, SMS, etc..) ;

- at least one radio data communication interface such as e.g. Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), infrared etc... for sending control signals to the appliance.

The UE 10 may access the server 20 through a communication network such as e.g. internet, an intranet, locally etc... depending on where the server is located.

An example of skin and protocol downloaded from the server may contain the following parts:

- a metadata description of the protocol comprising model type, codes, total number of keys, carrier wave frequency, etc...

- the key map of the skin which describes the key position, trigger area, etc...

- the modulation scheme configuration data which is associated with the keys. Control signals or control signal parameters will be sent to the Control communication unit 45 after a key is pressed.

Figure 2 comprises elements previously described in Figure 1 and additional elements further described. Figure 2 describes a universal remote control system which includes 4 basic components:

- a User Equipment (UE) 10 which comprises a Network Communication unit 12, a Remote Control unit 15 and which can store data in a memory 17; - a remote control skins and protocols server 20 which comprises or is connected to a database which stores skins and protocols 30;

- an Appliance Communication Control (ACC) gateway 40 which comprises a Control Communication unit 45 and a Receiving communication unit 42;

- appliance(s) 50 to be remotely controlled.

The Control Communication unit 45 allows sending control signals 90 to the appliance using an interface that is compatible with said appliance.

As UE 10 needs to obtain the skin and protocol associated with a given remote controller, it thus communicates with the server 20 through the Network communication unit 12 in order to send the appliance model reference 60 to the server. Other ways to provide the appliance model reference to the server may be readily available to the man skilled in the art and with the scope of the present system. For instance, the appliance model reference may be selected through a web application using the user equipment 10. The user could browse all appliances listed in database 30 and the selection of an appliance would allow the identification of this appliance to the server 20. A user may select and download the relevant skin and protocol from the database 30 onto a second user equipment (e.g. a Personal Computer) then transfer said relevant skin an protocol onto a first user equipment (e.g. e dedicated device).

When a user wishes to remotely control an appliance of which it has obtained the skin and protocol, he selects said skin and protocol in the UE memory. The skin allows the UE to graphically materialize the User Interface (Ul) associated with the given remote control device of a given appliance in order to select functions to control the appliance. When the user selects a function to control the appliance, the corresponding control signal described by the associated protocol in terms of code and modulation scheme is communicated through the Remote control unit 15 of the UE to the Receiving communication unit 42 of the ACC gateway using e.g. a radio interface such as e.g. Bluetooth, Wifi, a cable etc... The Receiving communication unit 42 communicates said control signal to the Control communication unit 45. The Control Communication unit 45 allows sending control signals 90 to the appliance using an interface that is compatible with said appliance. Control signals may be transmitted to the appliance using any signal interface (medium) allowing direct communication with the appliance such as e.g. infrared, Bluetooth, Wifi, Ultra Wideband (UWB), Zigbee (standard) etc... Commonly, most of the existing appliances uses infrared interface to be remotely controlled (e.g. TV). In this instance, control signals are transmitted using an infrared interface.

As one embodiment of the present invention, in the common case where appliances are remotely controlled using an infrared interface, the ACC gateway 40 comprises a Control communication unit 45 equipped with an infra-red interface and a Receiving communication unit 42 equipped with a radio interface such as e.g. Wireless LAN, Bluetooth etc... The ACC gateway acts as adapter between the UE and the appliances as it either:

- receives control signals via its Receiving communication unit 42 on a radio interface and sends control signals to appliances via its Control communication unit 45 e.g. on an infrared interface;

- receives information on control signals via its Receiving communication unit 42 on a radio interface; selects the frequencies and modulation schemes accordingly from the information comprised in said received radio control signals in order to create control signals (e.g. infrared control signals); and sends control signals to appliances via its Control communication unit 45 e.g. on an infrared interface.

As with the exemplary embodiment of Figure 1 , the UE 10, when subscriber of an operator network (e.g. mobile phone), may be equipped with: - an access to data services (e.g. GPRS, UMTS, SMS, etc..) ;

- at least one radio data communication interface such as e.g. Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), infrared etc... for sending control signals directly to the appliance or to the ACC gateway 40 or for sending information on control signals to the ACC gateway 40 which will send the associated control signals to the appliance 50.

One advantage of using an ACC gateway 40 is that radio control signals such as e.g. Wifi or Bluetooth may penetrate walls as opposed to infrared control signals, which makes it possible to control appliances e.g. in different rooms.

For instance, a UE 10 may send radio control signals to a plurality of ACC gateways 40 placed e.g. in different locations. Each ACC gateway 40 of a different location may subsequently send control signals to one or several appliances 50.

Figure 3 describes one embodiment of the method according to the invention.

In an first act 100, the user proceeds to the appliance selection by selecting the appliance model reference (e.g. in a list or by typing the reference).

In a further act 1 10, the skin and protocol associated to the selected appliance are searched for in the UE memory 17 to check if they are already stored in said UE memory 17:

- if so, said skin and protocol are loaded from the memory 17 in a further act 140;

- if not, said skin and protocol need to be downloaded from the server 20. The skin and protocol selection on the server is done as explained in

Figure 1 and a request is sent to the server 20 in an act 120. The skin and protocol are downloaded from the server 20 in a further act 130.

In a further act 150, the remote control application is run with the selected skin and protocol in order to visualize the representations on the UE GUI (through the skin) and associate said representations to the appliance functions (through the protocol). This allows to further control the corresponding appliance (act 160) thanks to the selection of representations that allows the sending of the corresponding control signals.

According to an embodiment of the present system, the UE may send control signals or information on control signals using a communication channel like e.g. a Bluetooth interface to the ACC gateway 40. In one embodiment of the present User Equipment (UE), wherein the UE is a mobile terminal (e.g. a mobile phone), it may:

- send the appliance model reference by SMS to request a download of the appliance remote control skin and protocol using e.g. WAP, GPRS, 3G, Wimax etc...

- go onto a website to select and download the requested appliance remote control skin and protocol using e.g. WAP, GPRS, 3G, Wimax etc... or any wireless interface.

In an alternative embodiment, wherein the User Equipment is a fixed terminal (e.g. a PC), it may be possible for the UE to access a website for selecting and downloading the appliance corresponding remote control skin and protocol.

It may be equally envisaged to use a user equipment (fixed or mobile) to access a website then select and download the requested appliance remote control skin and protocol then further transfer these data onto a dedicated device.

Alternatively, the UE may also comprise one of the following features: - Support GPRS feature to download the appliance's remote control profile information from the server 40;

- Provide Bluetooth module and SPP (serial port profile) using JSR82, Java APIs for Bluetooth to download the specific remote control protocol corresponding to the Infrared remote control command; - Support mobile Operating System (OS) (Windows Mobile / Embedded

Linux) with Java support. The remote control program is Java based application which can display the appliance remote controller's GUI skin using J2ME;

- Be a mobile handset with touch panel input as it is easy to use. A keypad input mobile phones also can perform, but the total number of keys is a limitation to the flexibility. \ O

- Be a low power consumption device with sufficient RAM/ROM space for the execution and storage of Java Skin program and related configuration data.

The remote control skins on the user equipment may be implemented e.g. by Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) which is designed for cross- platform use and can provide Skins to enhance application GUI controls such as Buttons, Checks, Radios, Scrollbars, Progress Bar, Lists, Tables, Internal Frames, Colors, Background Textures, Regular Windows. Remote skins may vary with the appearance and functionalities of remote controllers of different appliances. In order to use a Bluetooth-enabled UE to control appliances, Bluetooth applications that customize these appliances need to be created and deployed them in a way that lets users download them, to a cell phone for example. Bluetooth and J2ME may work together to achieve this unified vision. Bluetooth allows devices to communicate wirelessly and J2ME allows writing custom applications and deploy them on mobile devices.

JSR-82 may provide Java Application Protocol Interfaces (APIs) for Bluetooth Wireless Technology to develop Bluetooth application. It hides the complexity of the Bluetooth protocol stack behind a set of Java APIs that allows focusing on application development rather than the low-level details of Bluetooth. JSR-82 is based on version 1 .1 of the Bluetooth Specification.

Open, non-proprietary standard API may be used by J2ME-enabled devices. Therefore, standard J2ME APIs and Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC)/Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)'s Generic Connection Framework may be used. Some features may be as follows:

- Object Exchange (OBEX), Logical Link and Control Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP) and Radio Frequency Communication (RFCOMM) communication protocols may be incorporated in the JSR 82 (JavaTM APIs for Bluetooth) APIs, primarily because Bluetooth profiles are designed to use these communication protocols,

- the JSR-82 specification addresses the Generic Access Profile, Service Discovery Application Profile, Serial Port Profile, and Generic Object Exchange Profile, - the Service Discovery protocol may also be supported. JSR 82 defines service registration in details in order to standardize the registration process for the application programmer.

In this example, JSR-82 requires that the Bluetooth stack underlying a JSR-82 implementation be qualified for the Generic Access Profile, the

Service Discovery Application Profile and the Serial Port Profile. The stack should also provide access to its Service Discovery Protocol and to the

RFCOMM and L2CAP layers.

APIs are designed in such a way that developers may use the Java programming language to build new Bluetooth profiles on top of this API as long as the core layer specification does not change. To promote this flexibility and extensibility, the specification is not restricted to APIs that implement Bluetooth profiles. JSR-82 includes APIs for OBEX and L2CAP so that future Bluetooth profiles may be implemented in Java, and these are already being used for that purpose.

As far as the Bluetooth Serial Port Profile is concerned, the RFCOMM protocol, which is layered over the L2CAP protocol, emulates an RS-232 serial connection (Serial Interface defined by EIA232 standard). The Serial Port Profile (SPP) eases communication between Bluetooth devices by providing a stream-based interface to the RFCOMM protocol.

For a server and client to communicate using the Serial Port Profile, each should perform at least few simple steps such as e.g.: - Construct a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that indicates how to connect to the service, and store it in the service record

- Make the service record available to the client

- Accept a connection from the client

- Send and receive data to and from the client. The URL placed in the service record may look something like: btspp://102030405060740A1 B1 C1 D1 E100:5. This indicates that a client should use the Bluetooth Serial Port Profile to establish a connection to this service, which is identified with server channel 5 on a device whose address is 102030405060740A1 B1 C1 D1 E100.

Figure 4 describes a way of building a connection under SPP between two Bluetooth devices.

An example of Bluetooth control message between the UE 10 and the ACC gateway 40 is as follows:

struct PotocolMessageUnit

{

AppType ModelType; long IRCarrierFreq; // Hz int CycleTime; // uS int ModulationType;

BYTE ^*IRCommandMessage;

};

struct CommandMessageUnit {

AppType ModelType; BYTE Command[N];

};

struct AppType

{

BYTE Type;// TV, DVD, Air conditioner,... BYTE Vendor;// Philips int Model;// 55P8341A }; When a button on a remote control skin of the mobile handset is pushed, it sends a string of Bluetooth control message to the R2IR using Bluetooth.

An example of implementation for the ACC gateway 40 is described in

Figure 5 and comprises:

- a battery 300;

- a power management unit 310 for managing the battery;

- an infrared transceiver 320; - a Micro-Controller Unit (MCU) 330;

- a Bluetooth transceiver 340;

- a non-volatile memory 350 for data management.

For the Bluetooth Transceiver 340, for instance built-in Bluetooth SPP profile should be supported. The user's handset with Bluetooth interface (with e.g. built-in SPP) will connect the ACC gateway 40 Receiving communication unit 42 (or Remote Adapter) through Bluetooth after the pairing process. The remote control protocol of the appliance will be transmitted to the ACC gateway 40 through Bluetooth SPP.

Through embedded software in ACC gateway 40, the remote control protocol download from mobile handset will be transferred into e.g. infrared control code which could be recognized by the controlled appliance which is under control through the IR signal. They are sent from the ACC gateway 40 using the Infrared transceiver 320.

For instance, the RC-5 (a remote control standard issued by PHILIPS) code and RECS80 (a Remote Control protocol using pulse distance modulation) code from Philips are possibly the most used protocol, probably because of the wide availability of cheap remote controls. The IR remote codes will be transmitted through infrared transceiver of the ACC gateway 40, then control most components that have infrared remote controls. Elements comprise the modulation, protocol realization and command definition.

A very low power and low cost MCU 330 is used. Quartz crystals or Ceramic resonators are used to generate clock for the MCU. The MCU sends a series of pulses which are generated under the RC-5 standard to the IR Transmitter circuit. RC-5 has defined a list of standardized commands for the purpose of the compatibility between devices.

Claims

Claims

1 . A method for configuring a user equipment operable to control at least one appliance responsive to control signals, said method comprising the acts of:

- downloading a control protocol for said appliance from a remote server of a communication network, said control protocol associating control signal parameters to functions executable by said appliance; - receiving a selection of a specific function;

- using the control signal parameters associated to the specific function so that the appliance executes said specific function.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the user equipment is arranged to convert the control signal parameters into control signals, said method further comprising the act of sending the control signals corresponding to the specific function to the appliance.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the act of using the control signal parameters further comprises the act of:

- sending the control signal parameters from the user equipment to a control gateway, said control gateway being arranged to convert the control signal parameters into control signals;

- sending the control signals corresponding to the specific function to the appliance using the control gateway.

4. A method according to claim 1 , further comprises a preliminary act of identifying the appliance model to the remote server.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the act of identifying the remote server further comprises the acts of:

- accessing a first database of appliance models; - identifying the appliance to the remote server using said first database.

6. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the user equipment comprises a display, said method further comprising the act of:

- downloading a Graphical User Interface (GUI) corresponding to said at least one appliance from the remote server, said GUI comprising selectable representations of the functions; - rendering said GUI on the display so that the selection of a specific function involves the selection of the corresponding representation.

7. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the user equipment is a mobile user equipment.

8. A user equipment for controlling at least one appliance responsive to control signals, said user equipment being operable to:

- download a control protocol for said appliance from a remote server of a communication network, said control protocol associating control signal parameters to functions executable by said appliance;

- receive a selection of a specific function;

- use the control signal parameters associated to the specific function so that the appliance executes said specific function.

9. A user equipment according to claim 8, said user equipment being further operable to:

- convert the control signal parameters into control signals; - send the control signals corresponding to the specific function to the appliance.

10. A user equipment according to claim 8, said user equipment being further operable to send the control signal parameters to a control gateway, said control gateway being arranged to convert said control signal parameters into control signals and send said control signals corresponding to the specific function to the appliance.

1 1 . A user equipment according to claim 8, said user equipment being further operable to identify the appliance model to the remote server.

12. A user equipment according to claim 1 1 , said user equipment being further operable to access a first database of appliance models in order to identify the appliance to the remote server.

13. A user equipment according to any of the preceding claims 8 to 12, further comprising a display, said user equipment being further operable to:

- download a Graphical User Interface (GUI) corresponding to the at least one appliance from the remote server, said GUI comprising selectable representations of the functions; - render said GUI on the display so that the selection of a specific function involves the selection of the corresponding representation.

14. A user equipment according to any of the preceding claims 8 to 13, wherein the user equipment is a mobile user equipment.

15. A system for configuring a first user equipment operable to control at least one appliance responsive to control signals, said system further comprising a remote server accessible through a second user equipment using a communication network, said second user equipment being operable to:

- download a control protocol for the appliance from the remote server, said control protocol associating control signal parameters to functions executable by said appliance; - transfer the downloaded control protocol to the first user equipment, the first user equipment being operable to:

- receive a selection of a specific function; - use the control signal parameters associated to the specific function so that the appliance executes said specific function.

16. A system according to the previous claims 15, wherein the second user is the first user equipment.

17. A system according to one of the preceding claims 15 and 16, wherein the first user equipment is further operable to:

- convert the control signal parameters into control signals;

- send the control signals corresponding to the specific function to the appliance.

18. A system according to one of the preceding claims 15 to 17, said system further comprising a control gateway, and wherein the first user equipment is further operable to send the control signal parameters to said control gateway, said control gateway being arranged to convert said control signal parameters into control signals and send said control signals corresponding to the specific function to the appliance.

19. A system according to one of the preceding claims 15 to 18, the first user equipment being further operable to identify the appliance model to the remote server.

20. A system according to one of the preceding claims 15 to 19, the first user equipment being further operable to access a first database of appliance models in order to identify the appliance to the remote server.

21. A system according to one of the preceding claims 15 to 20, wherein the first user equipment comprises a display, said first user equipment being further operable to:

- download a Graphical User Interface (GUI) corresponding to the at least one appliance from the remote server, said GUI comprising selectable representations of the functions;

- render said GUI on the display so that the selection of a specific function involves the selection of the corresponding representation.

22. A system according to one of the preceding claims 15 to 20, wherein the first user equipment is a mobile user equipment.

23. A computer program providing computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable medium, which when loaded on to a data processor causes the data processor to perform a method for configuring a user equipment for controlling at least one appliance responsive to control signals according to claims 1 to 7.