US 2,003,103,088 · Filed 2002-11-06
The Universal Remote UI That Learned to Share Control Across Your Home
Universal Electronics patented a handheld remote app interface that lets multiple people control different appliances in different rooms from one device. It can be updated over time and shares information about what each device is doing, so everyone knows what's running where.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a handheld electronic device with a graphical user interface designed specifically for remote control applications. What's protected here is the combination of displaying operational mode information, allowing setup for multiple users across multiple rooms, enabling favorites access, supporting upgradeable software, and sharing operational data between the device and controlled appliances. Someone copying this exact arrangement of features and functionality would be infringing.
Why it matters
This patent reflects a critical moment in consumer electronics: the shift from single-purpose physical remotes to unified digital control hubs. By 2002, homes were accumulating more connected devices, and Universal Electronics—a major supplier of remote control technology to TV manufacturers and cable providers—was staking a claim on how people would orchestrate multi-device, multi-user environments. The patent's emphasis on upgradeability and information sharing hints at the emerging smart home ecosystem that would dominate the industry decades later.
Real-world use
When you open a smart home app and see one dashboard showing your TV in the living room, your AC in the bedroom, and your lights in the kitchen, you're experiencing the kind of multi-room, multi-appliance interface this patent describes.
Original USPTO abstract
A hand-held electronic device having a remote control application user interface that functions to displays operational mode information to a user. The graphical user interface may be used, for example, to setup the remote control application to control appliances for one or more users in one or more rooms, to perform activities, and to access favorites. The remote control application is also adapted to be upgradeable. Furthermore, the remote control application provides for the sharing of operational mode information.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 2,003,103,088
- Filing date
- 2002-11-06
- Grant date
- Application — not yet granted
- Assignee
- Universal Electronics Inc.
- Inventor(s)
- DRESTI MAURO, HAYES PATRICK H., CAMPBELL ROBERT, HUANG STEVE LANPING, WANG WEIDONG WILLIAM, YUH HAN-SHENG, CONWAY JAMES N., KLEIN SANDRO DAVID, SMITH-KIELLAND INGVALD ALAIN, LOUIE ALEX, SCOTT CHERYL, SCOTT WAYNE
- CPC class
- G08C17/02
Want to file your own patent?
If you're building your own smart home control app, use our free scanner to check whether your UI approach treads on existing remote control patents before you launch.
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