# US 10,771,608 B2 · System and method for provision of appliance control functionality to a smart device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,771,608 B2 - Document ID: US10771608B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/391,575 - Filed: 2019-04-23 - Published: 2019-08-15 - Granted: 2020-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2012-09-04 - Assignees: Universal Electronics Inc. - Applicants: Universal Electronics Inc. - Inventors: Brandt Thompson; Patrick H. Hayes - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10771608B2 ## CPC - H04M 1/72415: for remote control of appliances - H04B 10/1149: {Arrangements for indoor wireless networking of information} - H04M 1/72412: using two-way short-range wireless interfaces - H04N 21/4183: {providing its own processing capabilities, e.g. external module for video decoding} - H04N 21/42204: {User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor (constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205)} - H04N 21/4222: {Remote control device emulator integrated into a non-television apparatus, e.g. a PDA, media center or smart toy (remote control device for a television receiver integrated into a mobile phone H04M1/72415)} - H04W 4/80: Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication - H04N 21/42206: {characterized by hardware details} - H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08) - H04B: TRANSMISSION - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract A system for use in issuing commands to a plurality of appliances each of a specific one of a plurality of different appliance types includes a smart device adapted to transmit command communications and a plurality of low-energy consuming controllers each adapted to transmit a command to a one of the plurality of appliances of a specific one of the plurality of different appliance types in response to receipt of a command communication originating from the smart device. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A non-transitory, computer readable media having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a smart device, cause the smart device to perform steps for configuring a low-energy consuming controller to control functional operations of a target appliance comprising: receiving from the low-energy consuming controller a data indicative of a type of device which the low-energy consumer controller is dedicated to control; receiving a data indicative of at least a brand for the target appliance; using the received data indicative of the type of device which the low-energy consumer controller is dedicated to control and the received data indicative of at least the brand of the target appliance to cause a codeset for use in issuing commands to control functional operations of the target appliance to be identified; and issuing a communication to the low-energy consumer controller having a data indicative of the identified codeset whereupon the low-energy consumer controller will use the data indicative of the identified codeset received from the smart device to configure itself to use the identified codeset when requested by the smart device to issue a command to control a functional operation of the target appliance. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the smart device to receive from the low-energy consuming controller the data indicative of the type of device which the low-energy consumer controller is dedicated to control during a pairing operation between the smart device and the low-energy consuming controller. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the smart device receives the data indicative of at least the brand for the target appliance via use of a bar code scanner associated with the smart device. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the smart device receives the data indicative of at least the brand for the target appliance via use of activations of input elements associated with the smart device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the data indicative of the identified codeset comprises a pointer to a codeset stored in a memory of the low-energy consuming controller. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the data indicative of the identified codeset comprises codeset data retrieved from a memory of the smart device. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the data indicative of the identified codeset comprises codeset caused to be retrieved from a network server in communication with the smart device. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the smart device to add to a user interface associated with the smart device an icon representative of the type of device which the low-energy consuming controller is dedicated to control in response to receiving from the low-energy consuming controller the data indicative of the type of device which the low-energy consumer controller is dedicated to control, the added icon being selectable to cause the user interface to display further icons for causing the smart device to request the low-energy consuming controller to issue corresponding commands to control corresponding functional operations of the target appliance. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the data indicative of the identified codeset is caused to be communicated to the low-energy consuming controller via use of a radio frequency transmitter of the smart device. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the smart device receives the data indicative of at least the brand for the target appliance via use of a radio frequency tag reader associated with the smart device. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the identified codeset comprises an infrared codeset. ### Claim 12 (depends on 2) The non-transitory, computer readable media as recited in claim 2, wherein the low-energy consuming controller is paired with the smart device via use of a new device discovery process executed by the smart device.