Earlier this morning MacNN posted the original report on Apple’s new iTV universal remote control patent and in this follow-up report I’ll briefly discuss the possibilities of one unique cross marketing method that the universal remote will implement along with a peek of at least one of the possible embodiments of the forthcoming universal remote which the patent states would use buttons rather than a touch screen display. In addition, it should be noted that today’s published patent application differs from Apple’s previously granted patent which was published earlier this year. The basic differences between the two are pointed out in this report for clarification.
Unique Cross Marketing Method
Interestingly, Apple’s new universal remote control patent touches on a unique feature which will present the user with a touch screen display that provides hyperlinks within a given ad or instruction set. I think that this may be a very interesting feature twist which could have far reaching commercial applications.
All that the patent states is ” Note that the individual appliances determine what is displayed for that appliance, therefore, the appliance can also display an icon such as the manufacturer’s logo, user instructions, or an advertising message on remote control…”Further on, the patent states that “This specification can be encoded in a markup language such as extensible markup language (XML) or hypertext transport protocol (HTTP).”
Although the patent doesn’t delve into this unique feature’s applications in any way shape or form, I think that you could see where this feature could be beneficial or likely to be used. For instance, at the end or beginning of watching a particular major motion picture or TV program, the remote control could be programmed to automatically provide the user with a message in the remote’s display area which hyperlinks to say, Apple’s iTMS, where they could then review and/or purchase the corresponding sound track and/or the TV program/movie itself on demand. The hyperlink of course could simply be in the form of a button to push and noted simply as “Buy this Sound Track,” “Buy this Movie,” Rate this Film” or have an advertising button that when pressed could lessen the cost of a particular kind of content by simply viewing their ad in full. Advertising subsidies may be a new feature that Apple is considering.
In respect to music, I don’t know how many times that I’ve watched a program with a great soundtrack only to miss out on seeing the ending-credits which would tell me which artist(s) performed it? So if Apple’s new hyperlink feature works as it implies, then we’ll have the convenience of never missing out on catching a soundtrack artist again. Accommodating impulse buying is just one of the ways that this feature could be used in beyond simply linking to websites for instructional purposes.
Other Remote Control Embodiments to Consider
While today’s patent pointed to one of the embodiments for a universal remote control utilizing a touch display, it also presented the notion of alternative embodiments using physical buttons. The patent however, didn’t provide any illustrations supporting such an embodiment. Nonetheless, back in July I broke the news that Apple had filed new iPod designs with the European Patent, Trademark and Designs Office earlier this year. At that time I pointed to these designs and questioned whether the center design could act as either a TV remote or iPhone embodiment. Being that this in an official Apple design for a future iPod, it could very well fit the bill as being one of the possibilities for a universal remote control design with buttons as the current patent suggests.
The fact is that Apple’s Front Row remote doesn’t currently use a display of any kind. So it would appear at this point that a new Front Row remote will either surface when iTV launches or Apple will sell a Front Row Remote upgrade at some point in time. The alternative of course is that Apple may decide to only offer a universal TV remote feature with a future video iPod and/or iPod nano. Only time will tell which way Apple actually decides to go with – but it’s likely the latter.
Apple’s Patent Claims Mark the Difference
Today’s patent application number 20060227032 differs from Apple’s previously granted application number 6,914,55 in that all previous Claims are noted as “cancelled” (1-29) and replaced with Claims 30 – 50. Today’s patent doesn’t state that it’s a continuation patent in any way and is therefore considered to be regarded as a new application. What that means for the actual granted patent is unknown by this author. However, from what I could gather, granted patent Claims 1-10 begin with “A universal remote control” and the application’s beginning points begin with “The appliance.” So it’s likely that this is simply a different application which contains specific Claim points which Apple wishes to cover beyond that which is covered by their previously granted patent. The following is an example from the two patents:
As an example, patent application number 6,914,55 filed in July states in it’s first claim that “A universal remote control, comprising: a display screen; a user input mechanism; a processing unit configured to display information on the display screen and to accept selection data from the user input mechanism; a wireless communication mechanism configured to provide communications between the processing unit and an appliance; and a requesting mechanism configured to request a user-interface menu from the appliance that is specific to the appliance to display on the display screen; wherein the menu is customized for a current state of the appliance; and wherein the processing unit is further configured to accept information through the user-interface menu that is entered through the user input mechanism for communication to the appliance.
In Today’s patent, the claims only begin with Claim 30 which states ” An appliance which includes a mechanism for configuring a remote control device to control the appliance, comprising: a wireless communication mechanism configured to communicate with the remote control device; and a configuration mechanism configured to send a specification for an appliance-specific user interface to the remote control device via the wireless communication mechanism, which allows the remote control device to use the specification to facilitate transmission of commands to the appliance.”
Apple’s patent Figure 4 best presents the differences between the “Remote Control” noted as 102 and the “Appliance” noted as 402. Today’s patent application “Claims” places emphasis on the “Appliance” differing from Apple’s previous Granted patent “Claims” which focused on the “Remote Control.”
