Mobile device which automatically determines operating mode

摘要

A mobile device such as a cell phone is used to remotely control an electronic appliance such as a television or personal computer. In a setup phase, the mobile device captures an image of the electronic appliance and identifies and stores scale-invariant features of the image. A user interface configuration such as a virtual keypad configuration, and a communication protocol, can be associated with the stored data. Subsequently, in an implementation phase, another image of the electronic appliance is captured and compared to the stored features in a library to identify a match. In response, the associated user interface configuration and communication protocol are implemented to control the electronic appliance. In a polling and reply process, the mobile device captures a picture of a display of the electronic device and compares it to image data which is transmitted by the electronic appliance.

主权项

1. A processor-implemented method for configuring a mobile device which communicates by wireless signals, comprising:
activating the mobile device to transmit a wireless signal, the wireless signal is received by a first electronic appliance comprising a first display device, the first electronic appliance transmits a wireless signal in response to receipt of the wireless signal from the mobile device, the wireless signal transmitted by the first electronic appliance comprises first image data corresponding to an image displayed on the first display device and information for controlling the first electronic appliance; receiving the wireless signal transmitted by the first electronic appliance at the mobile device; capturing the image displayed on the first display device using an image sensor of the mobile device; providing reference image data based on the captured image displayed on the first display device; determining if the first image data matches the reference image data; and based on whether the first image data matches the reference image data, deciding whether to configure a user interface of the mobile device to remotely control the first electronic appliance using the information for controlling the first electronic appliance.