EP2043070A1

EP2043070A1 - Method for controlling consumer electronics devices, mobile terminal and consumer electronics device

Info

Publication number: EP2043070A1
Application number: EP07117298A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Paul Lahaye
Original assignee: Vodafone Holding GmbH
Current assignee: Vodafone GmbH
Priority date: 2007-09-26
Filing date: 2007-09-26
Publication date: 2009-04-01
Anticipated expiration: 2027-09-26
Also published as: EP2043070B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling consumer electronics devices (3) which is characterized in that at least part of the personal settings of a consumer electronics device (1) associated to a current user of a foreign consumer electronics device (3) are received at the foreign consumer electronics device (3) from a remote unit (4, 1) and are at least temporarily installed on the foreign consumer electronics device (3). Also a mobile terminal (2) for communication with at least one consumer electronics device (3, 1) and a consumer electronics device (1, 3) having at least one communication interface (31) for communication with a mobile terminal (2) and / or for communication with at least one remote unit (4, 1) are described.

Description

The present invention relates to a method for controlling consumer electronics devices, a mobile terminal and to a consumer electronics device
Communication and entertainment devices can be operated in accordance with settings input by a user and / or can render content licensed to the user. In general, the personal settings and content is stored on the respective communication device or entertainment device.
In some cases a user may, however, want to or may be forced to use a device, which is not owned by him and thus does not have his personal settings or his content available. Such situations may for example occur if a user wants to use a TV or stereo in a hotel room.
For personal computers (PC's) personal settings such as saved history menu structure are essential for user experience. In some cases, a user may not be able to perform his duty if these settings are missing. Presently, this problem is partially addressed by storing information centrally on servers. The user can login into a website by entering a user name and a password. Once logged-in, the user will be provided with a personalized look and feel of the user interface. However, this experience will only be provided for a single website and does not offer a full solution for all user interaction on the device.
Also content owned by the user, such as media files, e.g. songs, videos, etc. as well as tables of content, possibly sorted according to the user preferences will be stored on the user's own device. This device may be a TV set or a media centre and will be located at the premises of the user. Hence, the content and content list or table will not be available to the user if he is not at home. This problem can be resolved by using portable storage medium, such as a DVD. The storage capabilities of portable storage medium are, however, limited. In addition, the user will have to be aware of the fact that he will want to use specific content and store the respective content on the storage medium before leaving the house.
Finally, content or settings stored on the foreign device to be used, i.e. the device not owned by the current user will be accessible to the current user. The actual owner of the device will have to specifically block folders or files on the device, e.g. with username-password protection to avoid access by the user not owning the device.
Consumer electronics devices can be controlled via control elements on the device itself or via a remote control. The controlling of the device herein comprises the handling of user commands and initiating respective functions of the consumer electronics device. Recently, also mobile terminals such as mobile phones are being used to control consumer electronics devices. For example in US 2006/0148518A1 a remote control system is described. In this system a handheld apparatus such as a mobile phone communicates with an interface device via Bluetooth. From the interface device commands can be transmitted to a television set. In addition, information on the current status of the television set can be transmitted from the television set to the interface device for further transmission to a handheld apparatus. With this system it becomes possible for the user to for example select a channel to be displayed on the television screen via his mobile phone. Additionally, program listings for the current channel can be transmitted to the mobile phone. The interface device will only transmit information which is available on the television set to the handheld apparatus and the input options of the user via the handheld apparatus are limited by the options available on the television set.
One drawback of these known systems is that the settings of individual devices are different and the user always has to adapt to new settings when using a different device.
The problem underlying the present invention is thus to provide a solution for facilitating the use of a consumer electronics device.
The invention is based on the finding that this problem can be solved by transmitting the personal settings of one consumer electronics devices to at least one other consumer electronics device.
According to a first aspect, the invention relates to a method for controlling consumer electronics devices. The method is characterized in that at least part of the personal settings of a consumer electronics device associated to a current user of a foreign consumer electronics device are received at the foreign consumer electronics device from a remote unit and are at least temporarily installed on the foreign consumer electronics device.
Controlling of a consumer electronics device according to the present invention may comprise the downloading, receiving and installing of configuration settings, i.e. configuring a consumer electronics device, as well as the handling of user commands at the consumer electronics device.
The consumer electronics device for which the inventive method can be used may be any electronic equipment intended for everyday use. In particular, consumer electronics devices may include devices for entertainment and/or communications. The consumer electronics device may for example be video equipment such as a television or video set, audio equipment such as a radio or a stereo set, communication equipment, such as a mobile phone, a personal computer (PC) or a laptop, or support systems such as a navigation system. The consumer electronics device according to the present invention is referred to as being associated to a user if the user is the owner of the consumer electronics device or has permanent rights to use the consumer electronics device. In particular, the consumer electronics device is referred to as being associated to the user if personal settings of the user have been entered by the user at the consumer electronics device. The current user of a consumer electronics device, in contrast, is a person currently utilizing the consumer electronics device. The consumer electronics device may be associated to the current user but it may also be a foreign consumer electronics device. The foreign consumer electronics device according to the present invention is a consumer electronics device which is not associated to the current user. Generally, the foreign consumer electronics device will be owned by a different user.
The remote unit from which the personal settings are received at a foreign consumer electronics device may be network server, in particular a server on the Internet. The remote unit may, however, also be another consumer electronics device which is remote to the foreign consumer electronics device.
By installing at least part of personal settings at a foreign consumer electronics device which are received from a remote unit, it will become possible for the current user of the foreign consumer electronics device to have the same user experience as he would have at their own consumer electronics device, i.e. the consumer electronics device associated to them. As the personal settings do not have to be entered by the user, the provision of the personal settings on a foreign consumer electronics device is facilitated over a manual input of personal settings.
Another advantage of the transmission of personal settings to a foreign consumer electronics device is that the transmission may be subject to rules or settings which may account for security policies. In addition, with the personal settings being transmitted to the foreign consumer electronics device it will be possible to only receive personal settings which are currently needed at the consumer electronics device rather then transmitting a whole profile of a user to the foreign consumer electronics device.
According to a preferred embodiment, the transmission of the personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device is at least partially carried out via a mobile terminal of the current user. The mobile terminal may be used in the transmission of the personal settings to send a request for transmission to the remote unit and/or to the foreign consumer electronics device. The actual transmission or downloading of the personal settings is preferably carried out from the remote unit directly to the foreign consumer electronics device. It is, however, also possible that also the transmission or downloading of the personal settings is carried out via the mobile terminal. In this case, the personal settings received at the mobile terminal will subsequently be transmitted to the foreign consumer electronics device.
According to one embodiment, the foreign consumer electronics device transmits a request to the remote unit for transmittal of the personal settings of the current user to the foreign consumer electronics device from the remote unit. In this embodiment, the request for downloading of personal settings will be managed by the foreign consumer electronics device. The request may have been received at the foreign consumer electronics device from a mobile terminal of the current user. One advantage of this embodiment is that the remote unit can use the origin of the request as the target address for downloading the personal settings. That means that no additional indication of the foreign consumer electronics device is necessary for addressing the download of the personal settings at the remote unit.
In one embodiment, the remote unit is a network server of a communications network, which at least temporarily has a communication connection to the consumer electronics device associated to the current user of the foreign consumer electronics device. The communication connection between the consumer electronics device of the user and the remote unit may be a connection according to the Internet Protocol (IP). The connection may be established from the remote unit upon receipt of a request for personal settings from a foreign consumer electronics device. Alternatively or additionally, the connection may be established from the consumer electronics device associated to the user. This connection may be established by the user via his consumer electronics device or the consumer electronics device may be set up to automatically, for example periodically connect to the remote unit. In the later case; the personal settings of the user may be stored on the remote unit and may be updated periodically. Also the foreign consumer electronics device preferably has a communication connection to the remote unit. This communication connection can also be a connection according to the Internet Protocol (IP). This connection can be used for download of personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device.
According to one embodiment, the foreign consumer electronics device may establish a temporary connection to the remote unit associated to the current user upon detection of the usage of the installed personal settings, in particular upon selection of an option within the personal settings. This embodiment is advantageous, as only lists or folder menus have to be provided at the foreign consumer electronics device. Once an option of the personal settings, for example a list item is selected, the foreign consumer electronics device will access the remote unit to obtain the respective content item for rendering or displaying on the foreign consumer electronics device.
According to a preferred embodiment, the foreign consumer electronics device at least temporarily replaces local settings with received personal settings. The replacement of the local settings by the received personal settings preferably is to be understood such that the received personal settings will be used when operating the consumer electronics device. The local settings in this case will not be deleted from the foreign consumer electronics device but will not be used for operation of the consumer electronics device.
According to a preferred embodiment, a mobile terminal of the current user of the foreign consumer electronics device establishes a communication connection with the foreign consumer electronics device. The communication connection may be a Bluetooth connection, an NFC connection, a wire connection or any other type of local connection. The communication connection may be used for the initiation of the transmission of the personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device. Alternatively or additionally, the communication connection may be used for authentication of the current user. For the authentication of the user the subscriber identification module (SIM) of the mobile terminal may be used. This identification and/or authentication is advantageous in that fraud in accessing personal settings can be avoided. In addition, the identification of the user by means of a SIM or other identification module is advantageous for identifying the personal settings to be downloaded from a remote unit or the consumer electronics device to be contacted by the remote unit for access to personal settings. Finally, the communication connection between the mobile terminal and the foreign consumer electronics device may also be used for monitoring of the applicability of the installed received personal settings. In particular, the presence of the current user in the vicinity of the foreign consumer electronics device may be used as a criterion to decide which personal settings are to be used.
According to one embodiment, the foreign consumer electronics device uninstalls the received personal settings upon termination of the communication connection with the mobile terminal. This embodiment of the inventive method provides for increased security, as the personal settings will only be available while the mobile terminal of the respective user is connected to the consumer electronics device. Fraud of personal settings of other users can thus be avoided. It is, however also possible that the received personal settings are stored on the foreign consumer electronics device for future usage. This might be beneficial for foreign consumer electronics devices which are frequently used by a user who is not the owner of the consumer electronics device. For example, a consumer electronics device owned by one family member may have the received personal settings of other family members stored thereon. After the foreign consumer electronics device has uninstalled the received personal settings, it will re-install the local settings which were installed in the foreign consumer electronics device before the receipt and installation of the received personal settings.
The transmission of the personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device may be initiated by the mobile terminal of the current user of the foreign consumer electronics device. This may be done by the mobile terminal connecting to the remote unit and indicating that the personal settings are to be downloaded to a specific foreign consumer electronics device.
The mobile terminal may preferably initiate the transmission of the personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device by transmitting a request to the remote unit. According to the present invention, it is, however, also possible that a request for allowing the download and installation of personal settings is first sent from the mobile terminal to the foreign consumer electronics device. This request will also be referred to as a request for hand-over of control. Only if the consumer electronics device approves the request, the mobile terminal will send a download request to the remote unit.
The personal settings according to the present invention may comprise configuration settings and / or content lists. Configuration settings may be settings such as volume settings, program tables, display settings, preferences and other settings used during the operation of a function of the consumer electronics device. The content lists are preferably lists of content items to be rendered or displayed at the consumer electronics device. These content items may for example be music or video.
The personal settings are preferably transmitted via a universal communication protocol from the owned consumer electronics device to the remote unit and from the remote unit to the foreign consumer electronics device or directly from the owned consumer electronics device to the foreign consumer electronics device. By using a universal communication protocol, no adjustments for transmission of the personal setting has to be made at the respective consumer electronics device and the received personal settings can easily be handled at the respective consumer electronics device.
According to a further aspect, the present invention relates to a mobile terminal for communication with at least one consumer electronics device. The mobile terminal is characterized in that it comprises a communication interface to communicate with a consumer electronics device and a control unit for control of transmission of personal consumer electronics device settings from a remote unit. The control unit is in particular adapted to generate a request specifying the personal settings to be downloaded and the foreign consumer electronics device to which the personal settings are to be downloaded. The transmission of the personal settings in contrast will not be performed via the mobile device.
The control unit may thus preferably comprise a request generator for generating a transmission request, wherein the request generator is connected to the communication interface for communication with the consumer electronics device and/or with a communication unit for communication with a remote unit. Thereby, the request for download of personal settings can be transmitted directly to the remote unit from where it will be transmitted to the foreign consumer electronics device or it may be transmitted to the foreign consumer electronics device from where it will be forwarded to the remote unit.
The mobile terminal may be any terminal of a communication network and preferably is a mobile phone.
According to a last aspect, the present invention relates to a consumer electronics device having at least one communication interface for communication with a mobile terminal and / or for communication with at least one remote unit. The consumer electronics device is characterized in that the consumer electronics device further comprises a management unit for managing transmission of personal settings of the user of the mobile terminal for a different consumer electronics device from the remote unit.
The consumer electronics device may comprise an installation unit connected to the management unit for installing and/or uninstalling personal settings received from the remote unit.
Finally the consumer electronics device may comprise an input unit connected to the management unit for control of input at the consumer electronics device.
Features and advantages which are described with respect to the inventive method also apply to the inventive mobile terminal and the inventive consumer electronics device, respectively, and vice versa. The units of the individual devices of the present invention may be realized as hard ware and/or software units and may at least partially be combined into one single unit.
The invention will now be described again with reference to the enclosed figures,
wherein:
Figure 1: shows a schematic setup for the inventive method; and
Figure 2: shows a schematic detailed view of the components of a mobile terminal and a consumer electronics device according to one embodiment of the invention.
In Figure 1 a system wherein the inventive method can be used, is shown. The system comprises a consumer electronics device 1 which is owned by a user and will hereinafter also be referred to as the owned device. In addition, a mobile terminal 2 owned by the same user is shown. The consumer electronics device 1 of the user has access to the Internet and in particular to a server 4. Also a foreign consumer electronics device 3, owned by a different user, is shown, which also has access to the Internet and in particular to a remote server 4.
Between the mobile terminal 2, which is depicted as a mobile phone, and the foreign consumer electronics device 3 a local connection can be established. This local connection may be set up from the mobile terminal 2 via Bluetooth or NFC but also other local connections may be used including a wired connection.
Figure 2 shows the components of the mobile device 2 and the foreign consumer electronics device 3 according to one embodiment of the invention. The owned consumer electronics device 1 may have the same components as the depicted foreign consumer electronics device 3. For clarity sake, the components of the consumer electronics device 3, 1 will hereinafter only be described with respect to the foreign consumer electronics device 3. In the depicted embodiment, the mobile device 2 has a communication interface 22 to communicate with a consumer electronics device 3. This communication interface 22 may for example be a Bluetooth interface or an NFC interface. In addition, a control unit 23 for control of transmission of personal consumer electronics device settings from a remote unit 4 is provided in the mobile device 2. Within the control unit 23 a request generator 231 for generating a transmission request is provided. The request generator 231 is connected to the communication interface 22 for communication with the consumer electronics device 3. Additionally, as indicated by the dashed line in Figure 2, the request generator 231 may be connected with a communication unit 21 for communication with a remote unit 4. This later communication unit 21 may be the transceiver of the mobile device 2 for communication via a cellular communication network.
The consumer electronics device 3 as shown in Figure 2 has at least one communication interface 31 for communication with a mobile terminal 2. In the depicted embodiment this communication interface 31 is a Bluetooth interface or an NFC interface. The communication interface 31 may also be adapted for communication with at least one remote unit 4. In this case, the communication protocol used by the communication interface 31 may be the Internet Protocol and preferably a separate communication unit (not shown) is provided within the consumer electronics device for this communication. A management unit 32 for managing transmission of personal settings is also provided within the consumer electronics device 3. This managing unit 32 manages the transmission of personal settings of the user of the mobile terminal 2 for a different consumer electronics device 1 from the remote unit 4. The managing unit 32 may in particular serve for receiving personal settings. An installation unit 33 is connected to the management unit 32. The installation unit 33 serves for installing and/or uninstalling personal settings received from the remote unit 4. Finally an input unit 34 connected to the management unit 32 is shown. The input unit 34 serves for control of input at the consumer electronics device 3.
One use case will now be described with reference to the Figures.
A user, who owns a consumer electronics device 1, has his personal settings such as volume settings, program tables, display settings, preferences and other settings used during the operation of a function of the consumer electronics device as well as contents lists, such as music libraries installed and stored on his consumer electronics device 1. If the user wants to use a consumer electronics device 3 which is not owned by him, the user may indicate the intent to use the consumer electronics device 3 with his own personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device 3. This indication is performed by sending a request for hand-over of ownership from a mobile terminal 2 to the foreign consumer electronics device 3. The request can be sent to the foreign consumer electronics device 3 via a near field communication NFC, Bluetooth connection a wired connection or any other type of local connection with the foreign consumer electronics device 3. Upon receipt of the hand-over request, the foreign consumer electronics device 3 will verify that a hand-over is possible. It may for example deny the request if the owner of the device is currently using the consumer electronics device 3 or if the owner of the device has set the device 3 to not allow hand-over or to only allow hand-over to specific people.
If the foreign consumer electronics device 3 approves the request a confirmation is sent to the mobile terminal 2 via the communication connection established between these two devices 2, 3. Upon receipt of the confirmation, the mobile terminal 2 will generate a request, preferably in the request generator 231 for transmission of the personal settings of the current user to the foreign consumer electronics device 3. The foreign consumer electronics device 3 may be indicated in the transmission request by information which was included in the confirmation of the hand-over request. The thus generated transmission request will be sent from the mobile terminal 2 to the remote unit 4. This transmission can be performed via a mobile communication channel such as a channel from a cellular communication network. The request may, alternatively also be sent via the foreign consumer electronics device 3. In the latter case, the request is sent via the local connection from the mobile terminal 2 to the foreign consumer electronics device 3 and via the Internet connection to the remote server 4.
In one embodiment, the personal settings of the owner are stored on the remote unit 4. In this case, the transmission of the settings to the foreign consumer electronics device 3 can be initiated immediately from the remote unit 4. It is, however, also possible that the remote unit 4 upon receipt of the transmission request routes the request to the consumer electronics device 1 owned by the user. The personal settings on the owned consumer electronics device 1 will then be transmitted via the remote unit 4 to the foreign consumer electronics device 3.
The thus received personal settings will be installed on the foreign consumer electronics device 3. If the current user then operates the foreign consumer electronics device 3, the settings which is accustomed to, will be applied. In this state, the local settings of the owner of the foreign consumer electronics device 3 which are still stored on the foreign consumer electronics device 3 will not be applied.
If the consumer electronics device 3 is for example a TV set, the personal settings may comprise program lists and volume settings. The current user will thus be able to select his programs the same way as with his own consumer electronics device 1.
The personal settings may also comprise for example a list of content such as movies. If the consumer electronics device 3 is a DVD player, the list of available movies will be displayed on the foreign consumer electronics device 3. The personal settings, in particular the content lists, are protected by means of user centric Rights Objects. Since the user has identified himself towards the foreign consumer electronics device 3 via his mobile terminal 2, the downloaded contents list can be displayed. The contents list of the owner of the foreign consumer electronics device 3 will be hidden. When the current user selects a content item from the contents list, the input of the user will be interpreted by the input unit 34 and the connected management unit 32 of the consumer electronics device 3 will identify that the list item is not stored on the foreign consumer electronics device 3. Instead this content item will be downloaded from his own consumer electronics device 1 via the internet connection of his own device 3 and the internet connection of the foreign consumer electronics device 3 to the foreign consumer electronics device 3. Alternatively, the content item may be downloaded from a remote unit 4 from which the personal settings had originally been received.
If the current user terminates the connection of the mobile terminal 2 to the foreign consumer electronics device 3, the personal settings of the current user may either be uninstalled. Alternatively, the settings may be stored in the foreign consumer electronics device 3 but will not be used, unless the current user re-establishes the connection between his mobile terminal 2 and the foreign consumer electronics device 3.
With the present invention an easy manner for solving the problem that the user interface offered on a foreign consumer electronics device (settings, menus, folder structures) normally does not match the current user's preferences. Also the problem that contents of a user, which is stored on his consumer electronics device at home is normally not accessible on a foreign consumer electronics device, is addressed by the present invention. The invention thus allows the user to use a foreign consumer electronics device for his communication and entertainment services in the same way as his own device, which means he has the same user experience at the foreign consumer electronics device as at his own consumer electronics device. With the present invention a temporary hand-over of the "ownership" of a device is introduced.

Claims

Method for controlling consumer electronics devices, characterized in that at least part of the personal settings of a consumer electronics device (1) associated to a current user of a foreign consumer electronics device (3) are received at the foreign consumer electronics device (3) from a remote unit (4,
1) and are at least temporarily installed on the foreign consumer electronics device (3).
Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmission of the personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device (3) is at least partially carried out via a mobile terminal (2) of the current user.
Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the foreign consumer electronics device (3) transmits a request to the remote unit (4, 1) to transmit the personal settings of the current user to the foreign consumer electronics device (3) from the remote unit (4, 1).
Method according to anyone of claims 1 or 3, characterized in that the remote unit (4) is a network server of a communications network, which at least temporarily has a communication connection to the consumer electronics device (1) associated to the current user of the foreign consumer electronics device (3).
Method according to anyone of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the foreign consumer electronics device (3) establishes a temporary connection to the remote unit (4, 1) associated to the current user upon detection of the usage of the installed personal settings, in particular upon selection of an option within the personal settings.
Method according to anyone of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the foreign consumer electronics device (3) at least temporarily replaces local settings with received personal settings.
Method according to anyone of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a mobile terminal (2) of the current user of the foreign consumer electronics device (3) establishes a communication connection with the foreign consumer electronics device (3) for the initiation of the transmission of the personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device (3), authentication of the current user and/or for monitoring of the applicability of the installed personal settings.
Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the foreign consumer electronics device (3) uninstalls the received personal settings upon termination of the communication connection with the mobile terminal (2).
Method according to anyone of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the transmission of the personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device (3) is initiated by the mobile terminal (2) of the current user of the foreign consumer electronics device (3).
Method according to anyone of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the mobile terminal (2) initiates the transmission of the personal settings to the foreign consumer electronics device (3) by transmitting a request to the remote unit (4, 1).
Method according to anyone of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the personal settings comprise configuration settings and / or content lists.
Method according to anyone of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the personal settings are transmitted via a universal communication protocol.
Mobile terminal for communication with at least one consumer electronics device (3), characterized in that it comprises a communication interface (22) to communicate with a consumer electronics device (3) and a control unit (23) for control of transmission of personal consumer electronics device settings from a remote unit (4, 1).
Mobile terminal according to claim 13, characterized in that the control unit (23) comprises a request generator (231) for generating a transmission request, wherein the request generator (231) is connected to the communication interface (22) for communication with the consumer electronics device (3) and/or with a communication unit (21) for communication with a remote unit (4, 1).
Mobile terminal according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that it is a mobile phone.
Consumer electronics device having at least one communication interface (31) for communication with a mobile terminal (2) and / or for communication with at least one remote unit (4, 1), characterized in that the consumer electronics device (3) further comprises a management unit (32) for managing transmission of personal settings of the user of the mobile terminal (2) for a different consumer electronics device (1) from the remote unit (4, 1).
Consumer electronics device according to claim 16, characterized in that it comprises an installation unit (33) connected to the management unit (32) for installing and/or uninstalling personal settings received from the remote unit (4, 1).
Consumer electronics device according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that it comprises an input unit (34) connected to the management unit (32) for control of input at the consumer electronics device (3).