In a patent application dating back to August 2005 Sony Ericsson discusses how a television remote control could be integrated into a mobile phone.
The phone, which likely already has infra red capabilities, would have a touch screen with the image of a TV remote control and a series of soft keys so the user can perform the normal actions of changing channels and adjusting the volume.
Whilst this might seem like a useful idea on paper we just cannot see it every becoming popular. Firstly 99.9% of people don’t need another remote control. TV manufacturers supply a remote with every new TV and most people are quite happy using the supplied remote. Some people will upgrade the remote to a high tech version that will control multiple devices but these are likely to be more advanced and user friendly than a cell phone could hope to be.
Also the remote control in most houses takes quite a lot of punishment and gets misplaced, dropped and thrown across the room on a daily basis. Would you really want to throw your shiny new Walkman phone across the room so your kids can watch cartoons? How do you mute the TV when you get an important call? What if your wife is on the phone when the game starts?
Sony Ericsson just haven’t thought this through.
A mobile terminal is configured to download a virtual remote control for a device to be controlled, wherein the virtual remote control includes a graphical interface corresponding to that device. The terminal is further configured to display the virtual remote control, and to transmit commands to the device responsive to receiving user inputs directed to the displayed virtual remote control.
The terminal’s display screen may be a touch screen display, and the user inputs may be touches directed to graphical facsimiles of control buttons. Regardless, the virtual remote control generally comprises a graphic that mimics or otherwise provides a facsimile of all or a portion of the control layout of a dedicated remote control corresponding to the device to be controlled.
The potentially cleaner approach involves the use of display screens to provide varying sets of soft buttons on an LCD screen or the like. Generally, these approaches suffer in that the soft button layouts are not intuitive or matched to the control layout intended for a particular device to be controlled. Moreover, the use of LCD screens in universal remotes drives up their cost significantly.
In at least one embodiment, the graphic comprising the virtual remote control is a graphical “skin” representing all or part of the dedicated remote control.
Read the patent via Unwired View
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Sekturina 07.21.08 at 8:49 pm
And what if it’s just easier to use your mobile which is near you most of the time? And you can’t misplace your phone as you could easily call to see where it is. You would also use your regular remote, but I still don’t see why this is a stupid idea…
Aid 05.22.09 at 1:22 pm
Whilst this might seem like a useful idea on paper we just cannot see it every becoming popular.
iphone?
Mike 06.23.09 at 8:47 pm
I wish my nokia could open my garage gate =D that it would be really useful and awesome