Universal Electronics Inc.

Jeffrey Kohanek

Arsham Hatambeiki

Patrick H Hayes

Pamela Eichler Keiles

Naimisaranya D Busek

Rex Xu

Jeremy K Black

Joseph Lee Haughawout

Paul Ogaz

Joven Jubilo

Paul D Arling

Jesus Perez

Norman G Sheridan

Ramzi Ammari

Brandt J Thompson

Cesar Alvarado

Lou Hughes

Pamela E Keiles

A bridge device, in communication with a smart device, functions to command one or more controllable appliances in response to communications received from the smart device. The bridge device also includes input elements by which the bridge device can be used to directly command common functional operations of the one or more controllable appliances. In this manner, common functional operations, such as volume control, playback pause/resume control, etc., may be made readily available without necessitating the use of the smart device, whilst the more sophisticated GUI provided by the smart device remote control app may be advantageously utilized when more complex or less frequently used command functions are to be performed.

System and method for facilitating appliance control via a smart device

A hand-held device having a touch sensitive surface uses a relative distance from an origin location to each of a plurality of touch zones of the touch sensitive surface activated by a user to select a one of the plurality of touch zones as being intended for activation by the user.

System and methods for enhanced remote control functionality

A universal controlling device is provided with one or more buttons which, when activated in a set up mode, serves to initiate a rapid configuration of the universal controlling device to adapt the universal controlling device to transmit communications to an intended target appliance.

System and method for rapid configuration of a universal controlling device

A system and method for enabling set up of a controlling device capable of controlling a plurality of appliances provides an interactive instruction set and associated programming which is downloadable to a controllable appliance having an associated display, such as an Internet enabled television. The programming is accessible by the controllable appliance and is configured to appropriately display interactive instructions from the interactive instruction set to a user during a user initiated set up procedure for setting up the controlling device to communicate commands to another controllable device (e.g., a DVD, VCR, DVR, etc).

System and method for widget-assisted setup of a universal remote control

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 the bridge device using a transmission protocol recognized by the controllable appliance.

System and method for appliance control via a network

A universal controlling device is provided with one or more buttons which, when activated in a set up mode, serves to initiate a rapid configuration of the universal controlling device to adapt the universal controlling device to communicate with an intended target appliance.

A controlling device having an activity mode corresponding to a controllable activity in which activation of a command key within a logical group of command keys of the controlling device causes a transmission of command data to control one or more functional operations of an intended target appliance. For a controllable activity the controlling device has a memory in which is stored a plurality of predetermined appliance to logical group of command keys mappings. To configure the controlling device for the controllable activity one or more predetermined keys of the controlling device are activated to thereby designate one or more intended target appliances for the controllable activity. When the controlling device is then placed into the activity mode corresponding to the controllable activity, the controlling device will use the configuration to select one of the plurality of predetermined appliance to logical group of command keys mappings to determine which appliance command data to transmit in response to an activation of a command key within a logical group of command keys.

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Westminster, CA, United States of America

Jeffrey Kohanek