# US 2022/0286646 A1 · Media Control Device and System > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2022/0286646 A1 - Document ID: US20220286646A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/683,516 - Filed: 2022-03-01 - Published: 2022-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2021-03-02 - Assignees: Carnegie Mellon University - Applicants: Carnegie Mellon University - Inventors: Jinmo Rhee - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20220286646A1 ## CPC - H04N 7/142: {Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display} - H04N 7/15: Conference systems - H04N 21/4221: {Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext} - H04N 21/4788: communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract Provided is a media control device system including a media control device including: a user interface configured to receive user input; and a communication interface configured to establish communication with a separate computing device. The system also includes a computer-readable non-transitory medium including program instructions that, when executed by a processor of the separate computing device, cause the separate computing device to detect a video conferencing application being executed by the separate computing device, in response to detecting the video conferencing application, determine an input configuration of the video conferencing application, receive a plurality of signals from the media control device via the communication interface, the plurality of signals representing a plurality of different user inputs, map the plurality of signals to a plurality of video conferencing application input signals based on the input configuration, and control the video conferencing application based on the video conferencing application input signals. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A media control device system comprising: (a) a media control device comprising: a user interface configured to receive user input; and a communication interface configured to establish communication with a separate computing device; and (b) a computer-readable non-transitory medium including program instructions that, when executed by a processor of the separate computing device, cause the separate computing device to: detect a video conferencing application being executed by the separate computing device; in response to detecting the video conferencing application, determine an input configuration of the video conferencing application; receive a plurality of signals from the media control device via the communication interface, the plurality of signals representing a plurality of different user inputs; map the plurality of signals to a plurality of video conferencing application input signals based on the input configuration; and control the video conferencing application based on the video conferencing application input signals. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The media control device system of claim 1, wherein the media control device further comprises a housing, and wherein the user interface comprises a plurality of buttons arranged on the housing. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The media control device system of claim 2, wherein each button of the plurality of buttons is associated with a different function of the video conferencing application. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The media control device system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are part of a device driver executing on the separate computing device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The media control device system of claim 1, wherein the video conferencing application is controlled based on the at least one video conferencing application input signal by emulating, by the processor, the at least one video conferencing application input signal. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The media control device system of claim 5, wherein emulating the at least one video conferencing application input signal comprises generating at least one operating system-level command. ### Claim 7 A media control device comprising: a housing; a user interface configured to receive user input arranged on the housing; a communication interface configured to establish communication with a separate computing device; and a controller arranged in the housing and in communication with the user interface and the communication interface, the controller configured to: generate signals based on the user input and control a video conferencing application executing on the separate computing device with the signals. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The media control device of claim 7, wherein the user interface comprises a plurality of buttons. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The media control device of claim 8, wherein each button of the plurality of buttons is associated with a different function of the video conferencing application. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The media control device of claim 7, wherein the controller generates the signals by converting the user input to keyboard inputs recognized by the video conferencing application. ### Claim 11 A media control method comprising: detecting, with a computing device, a video conferencing application being executed by the computing device; in response to detecting the video conferencing application, determining an input configuration of the video conferencing application; receiving at least one signal from a media control device via a communication interface of the media control device, the at least one signal representing a user input on the media control device of a plurality of possible user inputs, wherein the media control device is separate from the computing device; mapping the at least one signal to at least one video conferencing application input signal based on the input configuration; and controlling the video conferencing application based on the at least one video conferencing application input signal. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The media control method of claim 11, wherein the media control device comprises a housing and a user interface, the user interface comprising a plurality of buttons arranged on the housing. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The media control method of claim 12, wherein each button of the plurality of buttons produces a different signal when actuated, the method further comprising mapping each different signal to a different video conferencing application input signal based on the input configuration. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The media control method of claim 12, wherein each button of the plurality of buttons is associated with a different function of the video conferencing application. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The media control method of claim 11, wherein a device driver installed on the computing device maps the at least one signal to the at least one video conferencing application input signal and controls the video conferencing application. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The media control method of claim 11, wherein controlling the video conferencing application based on the at least one video conferencing application input signal comprises emulating, with the computing device, the at least one video conferencing application input signal. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The media control method of claim 16, wherein emulating the at least one video conferencing application input signal comprises generating at least one operating system-level command.