A Christmas stocking having illumination means associated therewith for signalling the arrival of Santa Claus.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7956766 | Apparatus operating system Each apparatus transmits to a control server a notification signal indicative of a pending change or a change in an output state of the apparatus. The control server has stored therein a control rule which associates an output state of one apparatus with an output s... | 06/07/2011 |
| 7528735 | Method for controlling devices within a network by dedicated remote control and devices for carrying out said method The invention relates to a method of controlling devices linked by a digital communication network, a device having a control device—typically a remote control—that is dedicated to it; the control device comprising command input means—typically keys—for ente... | 05/05/2009 |
| 7414516 | System and method for remote controlling and monitoring electric home appliances A system for remote controlling and monitoring a home appliance includes a first home appliance having a master function, at least one second home appliance having a slave function, and a communication line path for communication only between the first home applianc... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7378984 | Audio visual system On a display (100) end, maker codes and device codes are read from all STBs (110˜112) connected to the display (100) to create a connected-device table. When a user presses a button on a remote controller, the display receives a remote control ... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7366670 | Method and system for aligning natural and synthetic video to speech synthesis Facial animation in MPEG-4 can be driven by a text stream and a Facial Animation Parameters (FAP) stream. Text input is sent to a TTS converter that drives the mouth shapes of the face. FAPs are sent from an encoder to the face over the communication channel. Disclo... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7367043 | System and method for generating metadata for programming events Metadata for a programming event may be generated by receiving descriptive information and timing information for the programming event and analyzing this information to determine category goodness of fit scores for the programming event corresponding to categories ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7363031 | System for monitoring and controlling a set of household appliances A system for monitoring and controlling a set of power users, in particular household appliances, which users (U) are connected to a first communication network (RE) through appropriate interfacing means (N) for the exchange of information and/or instructions, where... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7359757 | Remote control method and apparatus, remote controller, and apparatus and system based on such remote control When a user gives a parameter storage instruction via a remote controller, current settings of parameters in an input switching circuit, surround circuit, graphic equalizer and electronic volume are stored into a non-volatile RAM. Then, once the user gives a reprodu... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7356556 | System and method for selecting internet media channels A system and method provide for selecting Internet media channels. Generally speaking, the selection involves choosing target channels based on user preferences. In one example embodiment, the system and method receive a user preference relating to a data item avail... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7352288 | Apparatus and method for preventing malfunction of remote controller A malfunction of interpreting one remote control operation as a plurality of remote control operations by mistake is prevented without impairing the responsiveness of a remote controller. A counter code which is updated each time a key of the remote controller is op... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7345593 | Apparatus for implementing universal remote controller and method thereof The present invention provides an apparatus for implementing a universal remote controller and method thereof, by which a multitude of electronic products can be controlled by one remote controller. In a system including an electronic product module storing each rem... | 03/18/2008 |
| 7340367 | Fan control apparatus and fan control method A fan control apparatus and method to reduce the temperature in an equipment body by a time control when setting a stop period constant at the start by adding a time axis fan control by means of a temperature sensor. The fan control apparatus includes a temperature ... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7324168 | Universal remote control unit A universal remote control unit for controlling the operation of a plurality of devices such as a cable box, a television, a video device, and an audio device, includes a processor having a plurality of operating modes. In one embodiment the universal remote control... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7321783 | Mobile entertainment and communication device A mobile entertainment and communication device in a palm-held size housing has a cellular or satellite telephone capable of wireless communication with the Internet and one or more replaceable memory card sockets for receiving a blank memory card for recording data... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7310559 | Timed control system with shifted time features A control system with a clock or calendar based control has two time frames defined for assigning control events during different days of the week. The weekday time frame is defined as Sunday noon through Friday noon, while the weekend time frame is defined as Frida... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7287113 | Method of and apparatus for controlling bidirectional streams of isochronous data flowing between an application and a bus structure An isochronous data pipe provides a bi-directional path for data between an application and a bus structure. The isochronous data pipe includes the ability to send, receive and perform manipulations on any isochronous stream of data, including data on any number of ... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7266049 | Clock radio with integral digital music storage system and infrared interface An alarm clock is provide capable of alternately actuating a plurality of visual stimulative and auditor stimulative appliances in a programmable manner such that a variation and randomization of the type of stimulation will be used to prompt the waking of the user.... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7254416 | Mobile entertainment and communication device A mobile entertainment and communication device in a palm-held size housing has a cellular or satellite telephone capable of wireless communication with the Internet and one or more replaceable memory card sockets for receiving a blank memory card for recording data... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7246234 | Transmitter device, transmitting method, receiver device, receiving method, communication system, and program storage medium A memory stores a hash value of content management data. When an IEEE1394 interface authenticates a personal computer connected thereto via a network, the IEEE1394 transmits content management data to the personal computer while receiving a hash data of the content ... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7242316 | Device control apparatus and method An apparatus and method of distributing media content from a hardware input device to a hardware output device, located remotely from each other, in a home network, is disclosed. A control unit receives a user input and converts it to a control signal. An encoder de... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7224886 | Method of using AV devices and AV device system A plurality of devices and a device system are disclosed, in which a plurality of input devices generate an input AV signal, a related device records and reproduces the AV signal, and a display device displays the AV signal. The input devices, the related device and... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7216015 | HVAC control system Systems and methods are described for a HVAC control system. An apparatus, includes: a microcontroller; a digital temperature sensor coupled to the microcontroller; a liquid crystal display coupled to the microcontroller; a set of cursor buttons coupled to the micro... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7203486 | Wireless system having a dynamically configured multimodal user interface based on user preferences A wireless system is provided for dynamically configuring a multimodal user interface based on user preferences to communicate with a local appliance. An appliance node is operably linked to the local appliance and configured to transmit interface format data of the... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7197148 | System for controlling remote speakers using centralized amplifiers, centralized monitoring and master/slave communication protocol An apparatus and method for providing a centralized speaker system that allows multiple speakers connected to a central amplifier speaker line to be monitored and controlled from a central location via a master/slave protocol. The centralized speaker system comprise... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7194755 | Information signal transmission system and remote control device for the same An information signal transmission system and a remote control device for such a system for allowing a viewer to continuously watch, for example, in a bedroom a program the viewer has watched in a living room. A recipient of information is detected referring to iden... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7191024 | Remote control method and apparatus, remote controller, and apparatus and system based on such remote control When a user gives a parameter storage instruction via a remote controller, current settings of parameters in an input switching circuit, surround circuit, graphic equalizer and electronic volume are stored into a non-volatile RAM. Then, once the user gives a reprodu... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7187986 | Internet based home communications system An Internet based home communications system for allowing a homeowner to monitor and control various features of their home. The system comprises a plurality of control devices positioned within a home, a control unit in communication with the plurality of control d... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7183908 | Alarm in electronic device An electronic device comprising means for setting a primary alarm method, means for setting an alarm time, means for checking at the alarm time one or more alarm conditions relating to the primary alarm method, means for giving the alarm by using the primary alarm m... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7177633 | Remote control system, remote control apparatus, remote control method, program for implementing the method, and electronic apparatus A remote control system which can reliably provide desired control while saving power. A remote control apparatus is capable of carrying out two-way wireless communication with an apparatus to be controlled. A control signal corresponding to a key switch for remote ... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7171677 | Broadcast storing and displaying apparatus and video apparatus A broadcast storing and displaying apparatus including a network, a network management apparatus for managing the network, and plural types of video apparatuses connected to the network, wherein each of the plural types of video apparatuses transmits the state there... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7170400 | System for customizing settings and sounds for vehicle A system for customizing vehicle settings includes a control unit adapted to communicate with a vehicle input source and a vehicle auxiliary device. The system further includes a data storage device in communication with the control unit for storing and retrieving a... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7170396 | Addressable smart speaker An addressable smart speaker for use in a fire alarm system connects to and receives messages over a network, has plural taps for selecting audio power. In response to a command, a selector in an addressed smart speaker selects a tap to select a particular audio pow... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7165265 | Broadcast reception apparatus for obtaining and storing high-use-possibility reproduction programs beforehand The program-for-cache determining unit 107 counts the number of contents (a corresponding contents number) that are to use reproduction programs, for each reproduction program transmitted over each channel during the current service period and onward up to th... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7158047 | Remote control system The present invention provides a remote control system capable of controlling a number of devices on a network by one remote controller. A remote controller (10) requires a controlled device (20) defined as an object to be controlled to send display in... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7154473 | Method for controlling position of indicator An apparatus and process for controlling the position of an indicator in a user interface using a menu is disclosed. By the method, when a menu having items selected and adjusted by an indicator is displayed, and the position and a size of the menu are changed, the ... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7154566 | Programmable universal remote control unit and method of programming same A universal remote control unit stores signal formatting data which includes an indication of the category of device to which the signal formatting data corresponds. During programming of the universal remote control unit, the user provides a numerical entry which c... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7148818 | Method of command entry for an electronic device A method of command entry for an electronic device. First, a single button is pressed to enter the electronic device into a multi-function entry state, indicated by a first light status. The button is pressed again within a first predetermined period after entering ... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7148810 | Evacuation systems providing enhanced operational control An evacuation system, which provides enhanced operational control to an operator. In an embodiment, each voice point module capable of playing evacuation messages is implemented as an addressable unit, and an operator can cause different messages to be played on dif... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7145921 | Asynchronous data pipe for automatically managing asynchronous data transfers between an application and a bus structure An asynchronous data pipe (ADP) automatically generates transactions necessary to complete asynchronous data transfer operations for an application over a bus structure. The ADP includes a register file which is programmed and initiated by the application. The regis... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7142932 | Hand-held remote control system An infrared hand-held remote control for handling a single or plural devices such as lights, shades, drapes and the like contains ergonomically selected and placed control buttons that are self-describing and easy to use. It allows explicit, easy-to-use control of d... | 11/28/2006 |