Method and apparatus for controlling a sprinkler system

#The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for environmental control.

#FIG. 1 is an example of a conventional MP3 player. MP3 player includes an interface 106, nonvolatile solid state memory 102, a decoder 110, a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter 147, an audio output 116, a key pad 108, a display 112, a controller 104, RAM 144 and ROM 145.

#Controller 104 controls the operation of the MP3 player in accordance with a set of programmed instructions. Programmed instructions for controller 104 are stored in nonvolatile memory or ROM 145, and RAM 144 is provided as the working memory for controller 104.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional MP3 player.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a media player/recorder in accordance with the present invention.

#FIG. 3 is a more detailed block diagram of a first embodiment of the media player/recorder of FIG. 2.

#The leading digit(s) of each reference numeral used in this specification indicates the number of the drawing in which the reference numeral first appears. Like reference numerals refer to like parts.

#Embodiments of the present invention are directed to an apparatus for environmental control using digital data transmitted to the apparatus. The digital data can be encoded, compressed or both, and can be transmitted wirelessly or by wire, cable, or the like.

#While implementation of the present invention are discussed in terms of data compression such as MP3, the invention is not limited to data compression, but includes other forms of data encoding that may or may not include data compression. In implementations where the data encoding includes data compression, the media data is encoded by a process that compresses the media data, and the encoded media data is decoded by a process that decompresses the encoded media data.