Apple Patent Details a Touchscreen Universal Remote

Apple's patent applications continue to pile up, and indicate the impending launch of an Apple Television. After filing a patent application about dynamic backlighting of displays a few weeks ago, Apple filed a new application titled "Apparatus and Method to Facilitate Universal Remote Control," which proposes the idea of a minimal, universal remote to control all your (Apple) devices.

The patent starts off with the problems current remotes have, one - that there are too many of them, and the second - each remote is filled with buttons that most users don't need. The solution to the first problem, the universal remote, isn't all that simple to operate either:

While universal remote controls attempt to address the problem of multiple remote controls, these devices are even more complex to operate, further confusing the user. Additionally, a universal remote control may not be able to duplicate every command sequence designed into a remote control designed for the appliance, and for future appliances.

Hence, users must spend time learning a new remote control or programming an existing universal remote control each time they purchase a new remotely controllable appliance, which detracts from the enjoyment of using the appliance after it is first purchased.

What is Apple's solution?

Get rid of these static buttons entirely and use a touchscreen equipped remote which would dynamically present buttons relevant to the appliance being controlled. The remote would have an inbuilt "discovery mechanism," which would detect nearby devices using Bluetooth.

Because the interface can be custom made for different uses using an XML markup, not just appliances, but each app running on your device could present a custom tailored layout on the remote's screen.

The remote could be used for:

one or more of a television, a video tape player, a video disk player, a stereo, a home control system, and a computer system with remotely controllable software (for example: a DVD player, a CD player, an MP3 player, or slideshow presentation software). Note that this application is not restricted to only electronic appliances, but could also be used to control programs and functions that run on a computer system. For example, the remote control can be used to control DVD, CD or MP3 player software running on a computer.

Apple's strategy to eliminate physical buttons from devices was first seen in the iPhone, and then extended to the iPod and the iPad. Steve Jobs, during the introduction of the iPhone, highlighted the flaws of these fixed buttons taking the example of smartphones that came with physical keyboards:

"Every application wants a slightly different user interface, a slightly optimized set of buttons just for it. And what happens if you think of a great idea six months from now? You cant run around and add a button to these things, they're already shipped."

The remote that currently ships with Apple TVs has a few buttons that control the most important functions of a media device, which are play, pause and navigation. An alternative remote, somewhat similar to Apple's description in this patent, is the Remote app available on the App Store. It can detect devices on the same network using Bonjour, pair up with them and present an interface according to the device type.

It has been rumored that the primary interface to the Apple Television would be Siri, but not all the time would voice be as fast as tapping a button. And although the patent application doesn't mention this, it maybe possible that the remote ships with a microphone to act as an input to Siri. Not just that, if Apple is very serious about gaming and decides to open up the Apple TV platform to developers, it could even bundle an accelerometer with the remote to act as a way of input.

Apple has extensive experience in sourcing capacitive touchscreens of all size, right from the 9.7 inch iPad to the 1.54 inch iPod nano, so building a small touchscreen device with built in Bluetooth would be a relatively easy task for the company.

What do you think?

[via Apple Insider]