`United States Patent
`
`[19]
`
`[11] Patent Number:
`
`4,623,887
`
`
`Welles, II
`[45] Date of Patent:
`Nov. 18, 1986
`
`[54] RECONFIGURABLE REMOTE CONTROL
`[75]
`Inventor: Kenneth B. Welles, II, Schenectady,
`N.Y.
`[73] Assigneez General Electric Company,
`
`ABSTRACI‘
`[57]
`A reconfigurable remote control transmitter is disclosed
`that has the ability to learn, store and repeat the remote
`contr<f3_l codfils from any otliter lii1tfrared.ttrtans.rnitlte(§. The
`
`[21] APPL N04 510,377
`[22] Filed:
`May 15, 1984
`[5
`Int. Cl.4 ........................
`[52] U.S. Cl. .......................... 340/825.57; 340/825.69;
`340/82172; 455/603; 358/194']
`[58] Field of Search .................... .. 340/825.57, 825.69,
`340/825.72, 825.34, 825.31; 358/194.1;
`455/601, 603’ 608
`
`[55]
`
`Refefeflces Cited
`US. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`.............. 340/310 A
`4,200,862 4/1980 Campbell et al.
`4,274,082
`6/1980 Litz et al. ............
`340/167 R
`
`4,398,193
`8/1983 Kuniyoshi et a1.
`.
`358/194.1
`4,535,333
`8/1985 Twardowski ................ .. 340/825.69
`
`Primary Examiner——Ulysses Weldon
`Assistant Examiner——Ra1ph- E. Smith
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Marvin Snyder; James C.
`Davis, Jr.
`
`scratch pad random access memories, and an infrared
`tratmsfrnitter. The itnicropropessor application ist dividetd
`in 0 our main ca egories: earning, s oring, re ransmi -
`ting, and user interface_ In the learning process, the
`reconfigurable remote control transmitter receives and
`decodes the transmissions from another remote control
`.
`.
`.
`transmitter. The process 1S repeated at least twice for
`hk tom k S re thatith Sbee
`eceiv d
`.
`1
`eac
`ey
`a e u
`a
`nproper yr
`e
`and decoded. Once the data has been received and de-
`coded, it is stored for later use. In order to do this, the
`received and decoded data is compressed so that it can
`fit into the nonvolatile memory. This process is re-
`peated for each of the several remote control transmit-
`ters that are to be replaced by the reconfigurable remote
`control transmitter. When the learning and storing op-
`erations have been completed, the reconfigurable re-
`mote coritrol transmitter is ready to use.
`
`10 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures
`
`LCV
`
`VIDEO
`
`67
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`SOURCE:
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`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 1
`
`
`
`U.S. Patent Nov. 18,1986
`
`Sheet1of9
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`4,623,887
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`Universal Remote Conirol Exhibit 1013 Page—2
`
`
`
`U.S. Patent Nov. 18,1986.
`
`Sheet2of9
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`4,623,887
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`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 3
`
`
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`U.S. Patent Nov. 18,1986
`
`Sheef3 of9
`
`4,623,887
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`/6
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`. Universal Remote Control Exhibit ‘1013 Page 4
`
`
`
`U.S. Patent Nov. 18,1986
`
`Sheet4of9
`
`4,623,887
`
`32
`
`35 PUSH-BUTTON KEYBOARD
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`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 5
`
`
`
`U.S. Patent Nov. 18,1986
`
`Sheet5 of9
`24
`
`4,623,887
`
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`LEARN ‘E34
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`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 6
`
`
`
`U.S. Patent Nov. 18, 1986
`
`Sheet6of9
`
`4,623,887
`
`N/I |\V| l\I/I I\|/I l\l/I I\I/I |\l/I |\I/| :
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`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 7
`
`
`
`U.S. Patent Nov. 18,1986
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`4,623,887
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`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 8
`
`
`
`U.S. Patent Nov. 18,1986
`
`Sheet8of9
`
`4,623,887
`
`FIG‘. 5a
`
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`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013. Page 9
`
`
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`U.S. Patent
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`Universal Remote Control Exhi it 1013 Page 10
`
`
`
`
`'
`1
`
`RECONFIGURABLE REMOTE CONTROL
`
`CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATION
`
`4,623,887
`
`2
`point of view of the consumer. A simpler, less expensive
`solution to the problem is needed.
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`The subject matter of this application is related to the
`subject matter of an application entitled “Programma-
`ble Functions for Reconfigurable Remote Control"
`filed by Raymond G. Ehlers, Ser. No. 610,549 filed
`concurrently herewith and assigned to a common as-
`signee with this application. The subject matter of that
`application is incorporated herein by reference.
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention generally relates to remote
`control transmitters of the type used with various con-
`sumer products such as television receivers and the like
`and, more particularly, to a reconfigurable remote con-
`trol transmitter which may be programmed to emulate
`any one of a plurality of individual transmitters.
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`Many new consumer electronic products, particu-
`larly video products, are available with hand held infra-
`red remote control transmitters. A consumer may have
`separate remote control transmitters for a television, a
`cable converter, video cassette recorder, and a video
`disc player, for example. In such a case, it is confusing
`to know which transmitter to pick up to control which
`prouct. Moreover, carrying around four different re-
`mote control transmitters spoils the convenience of the
`remote control feature. It is therefore desirable to pro-
`vide a single remote control transmitter for controlling
`each of the several products.
`A number of solutions have been proposed for this
`problem in the prior art. One example is disclosed in the
`patent to Litz et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,082. In the Litz
`et al system, an amplifier, a'tuner, a tape recorder, and
`a turntable are interconnected by a two-conductor ca-
`ble. Each of these devices is controlled by a corre-
`sponding microprocessor, and a hand held transmitter is
`used to transmit coded signals that control the operation
`» of the inividual devices. The coded signals are received
`by a common receiver and first conversion circuit to
`provide voltage pulses on the two-wire cable. Addi-
`tional conversion circuits are required for each micro-
`processor in order to convert the voltage pulses on the
`two-wire cable to pulses which can be used by the mi-
`croprocessors.
`Another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
`4,200,862 to Campbell et al. The Campbell et al system
`includes a single receiver/transmitter unit which may
`be placed on a table, for example, and a hand held trans-
`mitter, but in this case, the receiver/transmitter unit
`injects digital pulses onto the house mains at times of
`zero crossing of the mains voltage. Various appliances
`are plugged into the house mains via slave units which
`are each responsive to an assigned digital address and a
`digital operation code to control its appliance.
`Common to both the Litz et al and Campbell et al
`systems is the use of a central receiver, an interconnect-
`ing transmission line and the requirement of a separate
`controller device for each product or appliance.
`Clearly, this approach solves the basic problem of mul-
`tiple transmitters for multiple products or appliances,
`but the solution is both complex and expensive from the
`
`l0
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`It is therefore an object of the present invention to
`provide a single remote control transmitter which can
`operate any product or appliance with a remote control
`feature without modification or interconnection of the
`individual products or appliances.
`It is another object of the invention to provide a
`simple an inexpensive control for a plurality of remotely ’
`controlled consumer products even though those
`proucts may be produced by different manufactures and
`respond to different transmission protocols.
`The objects of the invention are accomplished by
`providing a reconfigurable remote control transmitter
`that has the ability to learn, store and repeat the remote
`control codes from any other infrared transmitter. The
`reconfigurable remote control transmitter includes an
`infrared receiver, a microprocessor, nonvolatile and
`scratch pad random access memories, and an infrared
`transmitter. The microprocessor application is divided
`into four main categories: learning, storing,‘ retransmit-
`ting, and user interface. In the learning process, the
`reconfigurable remote control transmitter receives and
`decodes the transmissions from another remote control
`transmitter for, say, a television receiver. The process is
`repeated at least twice for each key to make sure that it
`has been properly received and decoded. Once the data
`has been received and decoded, it must be stored for
`later use; however, in order to do this, the received and
`decoded data must be compressed so that it can fit into
`the nonvolatile memory. This process is repeated for
`each of the several remote control transmitters that are
`to be replaced by the reconfigurable remote control
`transmitter. When the learning and storing operations
`have been completed, the reconfigurable remote con-
`trol transmitter is ready to use.
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`The foregoing and other objects, advantages and
`aspects of the invention will be better understood from
`the following detailed description of the invention with
`reference to the drawings, in which:
`FIGS. 1a to 11' are graphical representations of sev-
`eral modulation schemes which are used in infrared
`remote control transmitters:
`FIGS. 2a to 2d are graphical representations of sev-
`eral keyboard encoding schemes that may be used with
`the modulation schemes illustratted in FIGS. 1a to 11‘;
`FIG. 3 is a plan view of the reconfigurable remote
`control transmitter according to a preferred embodi-
`ment of the present invention;
`FIGS. 4a—4d, aligned from left to right, constitute a
`block diagram designated FIG. 4 of the reconfigurable
`remote control transmitter according to a preferred
`embodiment of the invention;
`FIGS. 5a and 5b are graphical and tabular representa-
`tions of the data collection and initial data compression
`technique performed by the preferred embodiment
`shown in FIG. 4;
`FIG. 6 is a tabular representation of the correlation
`process performed during the learning procedure;
`FIG. 7 is a tabular representation of the process of
`removing repeats from the learned code in order to
`further compress the data for storing in the nonvolatile
`memory; and
`
`(cid:56)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:40)(cid:91)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:69)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:20)
`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 11
`
`
`
`3
`FIG. 8 is a tabular representation of the compressed
`learned code.
`
`4,623,887
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
`PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
`
`20
`
`30
`
`35
`
`4
`desired which causes the individual legends TV, VCR,
`CABLE, and AUX to be successively displayed in
`accordance with the succession of source key depres- ’
`sions. When the legend for the desired source is dis-
`played, the user simply proceeds to operate the selected
`source. There is also provided a learning switch (not
`shown) which may be provided in a protected location
`on the side or bottom of the transmitter case since this
`switch is used only once (typically) for each transmitter
`which is to be emulated. This switch might be located,
`for example, behind a slidable or pivotal cover 67 in
`order to prevent younger members of the family from
`operating it. In the learning mode, the switch is moved
`to the learning position and the transmitter which is to
`be emulated is placed so that its transmitter infrared
`light emitting diode (LED) is adjacent the photoelectric
`receiver in the reconfigurable remote control unit. The
`photoelectric receiver 14 might, for example, be located
`at the end opposite to the infrared LED transmitter 16
`in the reconfigurable remote control
`transmitter as
`shown in FIG. 3. The source is selected by pressing the
`source key 12 as described above, and when the legend
`for the desired source is displayed, the user presses the
`. entire key 78. The user is then prompted in the liquid
`25
`crystal display 10 to press a key on the reconfigurable
`remote control transmitter and a corresponding key on
`the transmitter to be emulated so that the transmitted
`code can be received and encoded. As will be explained
`in further detail, this prompt is repeated at least twice
`for each key in order to insure that the transmitted
`signal has been properly received and encoded.
`Turning now to FIG. 4, the receiver 14 for the recon-
`figurable remote control transmitter includes a photodi-
`ode 18 connected by a differentiating capacitor 20 to the
`variable input of threshold amplifier 22. The output of
`this amplifier 22 is a series of pulses having a frequency
`equal to the frequency of the transmitted signal. The
`output of amplifier 22 is connected to an input of the
`microprocessor 24 and also to a detector diode 26. The
`output of the detector diode 26 is integrated by capaci-
`tor 28 and supplied to the variable input of a second
`threshold amplifier 30. The output of this amplifier is
`the detected envelope of the transmitted signal and is
`supplied to another input of the microprocessor 24.
`Also supplied as inputs to the microprocessor 24 are the
`outputs of the push button keyboard 32 and the learn
`switch 34. The microprocessor 24 has its own internal
`clock which is controlled by a crystal 36. The micro-
`processor 24 provides addresses for the nonvolatile
`random access memory 38 and the scratch pad memory
`40 to the address register 42 which comprises an 8-bit
`latch. The two memories are essentially the same except
`that the nonvolatile random access memory 38 is pro-
`vided with a low voltage power supply 45, typically a
`lithium battery, in addition to being supplied from the
`main power supply in order to maintain the data stored
`in the memory even when the main battery supply is off
`or dead. The microprocessor 24 also provides the con-
`trol signals to the LCD driver 46 which in turn controls
`the liquid crystal display 10. In addition, the micro-
`processor provides the drive signals for the infrared
`transmitter 16. In order to minimize battery drain, the
`several integrated circuits shown in FIG. 4 are made
`with CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconduc-
`tor) technology. For example, the microprocessor may
`be an Intel 87C5l or a Mitsubishi 50741 microprocessor,
`and the memories may be Intel 2816 or Hitachi HM61 16
`random access memories.
`
`40
`
`In order to understand the learning process, the avail-
`able infrared codes to be learned must first be under-
`stood. This turns out to be a very wide range of differ-
`ent codes. FIG.
`1
`illustrates
`several modulation
`schemes. FIGS. la through lg are different types of 10
`gated carrier frequency. Typical carrier frequencies for
`infrared remote transmitters are 20 KHz to 45 KHz,
`with the majority at 38 KHz and 40 KHz. The gating
`schemes illustrated include both fixed and variable bit
`periods, non-retum to zero (NRZ), variable burst
`width, single/double burst modulation schemes, and a
`final catch-all category called random because there is
`no readily distinguishable pattern of ones and zeros. In
`addition to these schemes, there is also a transmitter
`which puts out a different continuous frequency (CW)
`for each key at approximately 300 Hz spacings as repre-
`sented in FIG. lh. Finally, several new types of trans-
`mitters do not use a carrier frequency at all but, instead,
`send a stream of pulses where the data is encoded in the
`spacing between infrared pulses as shown in FIG. 11'.
`FIG. 1 shows the data modulation schemes, but most
`transmitters also have a higher level of data organiza-
`tion, which may be called a keyboard encoding scheme.
`This causes data to be sent in different formats depend-
`ing on the transmitter and the key pressed. FIG. 2
`shows several of these keyboard encoding schemes.
`FIG. 2b shows data that is sent once for each key press.
`FIG. 2c shows data that is repeated three times and then
`stopped for each key press. These schemes are used to
`conserve power and extend battery life. FIG. 2c also
`shows data that continues to repeat as long as the key is.
`pressed. This is often used for continuous functions such
`as volume control or-channel scanning. FIG. 2d shows
`a modification of the continuous repeat scheme shown
`in FIG. 2c where the initial key data is sent, followed by
`a series of “keep-alive” pulses as long as the key is
`pressed. This scheme is also used to conserve power and
`extend battery life. In addition to schemes 2b through
`2d, some remote control transmitters preceed all trans-
`mitted key data witth some form or preamble data
`stream to get the receiver’s attention. This is shown in
`FIG. 2a, but it will be understood that such preamble
`data stream can be used with each of the keyboard
`encoding schemes shown in FIG. 2.
`Reference is now made to FIG. 3 which shows in
`plan view the reconfigurable remote control transmitter
`according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
`The first thing to be observed is that this unit is not
`much more complicated than a single transmitter for a
`single product. This is accomplished by the use of a
`combination of hard keys and soft keys and an liquid
`crystal display (LCD) about which more will be said
`latter. Suffice it to say for now that hard keys are those
`which have a predefined function and soft keys are
`those which have a programmable function. The recon-
`figurable remote control transmitter shown in FIG. 3 is
`capable of emulating up to four different transmitters
`. which are indicated in the liquid crystal display 10 adja-
`cent the legend “SOURCE” as TV, VCR, CABLE,
`and AUX, the latter being for “auxiliary” which may be
`any fourth device such as, for example, a video disc
`player. The user selects the desired source by pressing
`the source key 12 each time a change in the source is
`
`45
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`50
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`55
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`65
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`(cid:56)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:40)(cid:91)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:69)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:21)
`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 12
`
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`20
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`5
`The reconfigurable remote control in the learning
`process, must be able to receive, learn and repeat all of
`the schemes described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
`In addition, in the learning process the reconfigurable
`remote control must read each code at least twice to 5
`make sure that it has been properly received and de-
`coded. Small variations in the incoming code must be
`tolerated while large variations (errors) must be recog-
`nized and rejected. The process, according to a proce-
`dure entitled LEARN ONE KEY in the program for
`microcomputer 24,
`is illustrated with reference to
`FIGS. 5 and 6. Referring to FIG. 5a first, the modula-
`tion scheme represented by FIG. 1b is taken as exem-
`plary. This modulation scheme uses a fixed bit time but
`the burst width is modulated. In other words, the time
`for a binary “l” is the same as the time for a binary “0”
`but, in the case illustrated, the number of pulses trans-
`mitted for a “l” is more than for a “O”. The time period
`for a binary bit is nominally 1.85 milliseconds, the num-
`ber of pulses for a binary “l” is nominally 37, and the
`number of pulses for a binary “O” isnominally 16. When
`the learn switch 34, shown in FIG. 4 is switched to the
`“learn” position, the liquid crystal display 10 flashes the
`letter “L” to constantly remind the user that the recon-
`figurable remote control
`transmitter is in the learn
`mode. The user is then prompted to press a key on the
`reconfigurable remote control transmitter and a corre-
`sponding key on the transmitter to be emulated in order
`to transmit a signal to be received and encoded. The
`first step in the receiving and encoding process is to
`count the number of pulses in each burst and the time
`period of each pause between pulses. This pulse count
`and pause duration data completely defines the incom-
`ing signal. From this data the frequency of the transmit-
`ted signal is computed by dividing the largest number of 35
`pulses in a single burst by its corresponding time dura-
`tion. For example, in FIG. 5a the largest number of
`pulses is 38 and its time period is 0.95 milliseconds,
`resulting in a 40. kilohertz transmitting frequency. The
`reason for using the largest number of pulses and its 40
`time period is to obtain the most accurate determination
`of the frequency of the transmitted signal. This initial
`raw data consists of 100 states, each state being defined
`as two 16-bit numbers (between 1 and 65,535). The first
`16-bit number represents the number of infrared pulses 45
`in the pulse train. The second 16-bit number represents
`the time interval that the infrared pulse train was off.
`An additional 16-bit number represents the frequency of
`the infrared pulse train (typically from 30 KHz to 100
`KHz). This data requires about 3200 hits of data per key
`pressed.
`The first compression of this data is made by catego-
`rizing the pulse bursts and pauses into “bins”, each bin
`being two bytes with the most significant bit indicating
`whether the bin is a burst or a pause. As shown in FIG.
`5a, four bins, identified as CATEGORIES in the pro-
`gram for microcomputer 24 of FIG. 4, are established
`for the illustrated example according to a procedure of
`the program procedure entitled CONVERT IR DATA
`TO CATEGORIES. These are labeled A, B, C, and D 60
`with A and C being designated as bins for bursts and B
`and D being designated as bins for pauses. It will of
`course be understood that more or fewer bins may be
`required depending on the modulation scheme which is
`being learned. In order to categorize the pulse bursts
`and pauses into the several bins, a tolerance is estab-
`lished so that all the bursts and pauses within a nominal
`range are appropriately categorized into one or another
`
`6
`of the bins. This is indicated in FIG. 5b which shows
`lower, middle and upper values of the number of pulses
`in a burst and the duration of a pause. Those bursts or
`pauses not falling into one of these bins would be as-
`signed to another bin established for that burst or pause.
`By creating these bins, the initial raw data or about 3200
`bits is stored to 1600 bits per key and 16 bits per bin in
`the scratch pad memory 40 in FIG. 4. The user is then
`prompted in the liquid crystal display 10 to press the
`encoded key a second time and the process is repeated.
`Then correlation is performed on the encoded data for
`that key as illustrated by FIG. 6. Suppose that for key
`one, the two encoded data are the same as shown at the
`top of the figure. In this case, the key code sequence has
`been properly learned and can be further compressed
`for storage in the nonvolatile memory 38. On the other
`hand, assume that in the process of pressing key two for
`the second time, the user inadvertently moves the trans-
`mitter to be emulated and the reconfigurable remote
`control transmitter with respect to one other so that the
`encoding for the second key press is an error. In this
`case, the user will be prompted on the liquid crystal
`display 10 to press the key a third time. If the third
`encoding matches the first as illustrated in the figure,
`then the key code sequence is considered to be properly
`learned and can be further compressed for storage in the
`nonvolatile memory. A third possiblity is illustrated in
`FIG. 6 and this is the case where the initial encoding is
`in error. Under these circumstances, no successive en-
`coding would ever match the first. What the correlation
`algorithm does in this case is if the third encoding does
`not match the first, then the fourth is compared with the
`third and so on until a match of alternate encodings is
`obtained.
`When each key has been properly learned, the ini-
`tially encoded data for each key must be further com-
`pressed to such an extent that the data for all four re-
`mote transmitters will fit into a 2K byte memory. This
`data compression must maintain all of the vital informa-
`tion so that the infrared signal can be accurately recon-
`structed during transmission. The first step is illustrated
`in FIG. 7 and as set out in a procedure entitled RE-
`MOVE REPEATS in the program for microcomputer
`24 of FIG. 4, involves the removal of repeats from the
`key encoding. It will be recalled that some of the key-
`board encoding schemes shown in FIGS. 2c and 2d
`involved repeated transmission patterns. As illustrated
`in FIG. 7, the first two bytes (each representing a differ-
`ent bin) are compared with the second two bytes, and if
`there is no match, then the first four bytes are compared
`with the next four bytes. Again, if there is no match, the
`first six bytes are compared with the next six bytes and
`so on increasing in two byte intervals until a total of half
`of the stored bytes are being compared with the other
`half of the stored bytes. If no match is obtained, then the
`process is repeated from the start but omitting the first
`two bytes and then the first four bytes. In the case illus-
`trated in the figure, a repeating pattern of ten bytes is
`found after an initial four byte preamble. The number
`and pattern of the repeats are then encoded in a reduced
`format, as shown in FIG. 8. This reduces data to be-
`tween 6 and 60 states per key, 96 to 960 bits of data per
`key. Once this'has been accomplished, the encoding for
`all keys is examined in order to determine if there is a
`common preamble. If there is, this preamble is sepa-
`rately encoded and stripped from the encoding of all
`keys according to a procedure entitled REMOVE
`PREAMBLES in the program for microcomputer 24 of
`
`'
`
`4,623,887
`
`10
`
`15
`
`25
`
`30
`
`50
`
`55
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`65
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`(cid:56)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:40)(cid:91)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:69)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:22)
`Universal Remote Control Exhibit 1013 Page 13
`
`
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`4,623,887
`
`.
`7
`FIG. 4. This reduces data to (typically) 96 to 480 bits
`per key. Then the number of bins is represented by a
`smaller number of bits than the eight bits comprising
`each byte. For the case illustrated in FIG. 5, for exam-
`ple, the number of bits required to represent the four
`bits is only two. Typically, the 8-bit bin pointer or num-
`ber is reduced to a 5-bit or less bin pointer depending on
`the number of bins required to encode the original data.
`This typically reduces data to 48 to 240 bits per key. In
`this way, data is reduced to a manageable storage size,
`and all of the compression data is also retained to allow
`re-expansion of the data to its uncompressed format for
`retransmission during emulation. More specifically, the
`compressed data comprises the bin code, the position of
`the start of any repeating patterns, the length of the
`repeating pattern, the number of repeats, and the fre-
`quency of the transmission. If there is a preamble, this is
`stored separately to be generated for each key pressed.
`This compressed data is then stored in the nonvolatile
`memory 38 of FIG. 4.
`This completes the learning and storing processes
`which are common to all the keys on the transmitter to
`be emulated. Certain keys are common to most remote
`transmitters, and these keys are included on the recon-
`figurable remote control transmitter as shown in FIG.
`3. For example, the upper part of the transmitter in-
`cludes a power key 46, a mute key 48, a channel up key
`50, a channel down key 52, a volume up key 54, and a
`volume down key 56. In addition, specific keys may be
`providedfor a video cassette reco