| VIZIO INC. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20120066643 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING A USER INTERFACE - An application for a system for portraying a user interface of one device on another includes two devices, a primary device and a secondary device. Upon detection of the primary device, either within wireless range or direct connection, the devices communicate with each other, the secondary device portrays the user interface currently displayed on the primary device on a display of the secondary device. Thereafter, the primary device is controlled by user input devices interfaced to the secondary device that control the portrayed user interface | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120062757 | CONFIGURATION OF A DEVICE BASED UPON ORIENTATION - An application for a device that includes an image sensor, an orientation sensor and image capture capabilities. Operation of the device is based upon a detected orientation of the device by the orientation sensor. In one embodiment, when the device is in a horizontal orientation, the image capture operates as a digital still image camera and when the device is in a vertical orientation, the image capture operates as a digital video camera. Other orientations are anticipated including upside down as well as other operating modes such as flash enabled and flash disabled. Optionally, a control is provided to lock the operation in one of the modes irrespective of changes in the orientation of the device. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120030632 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING PRESENTATION OF CONTENT - An application for a system that enables cooperating devices to transfer presentation of content from one device to the other by sending either the content or an identification of content from a source device to a destination device. In some embodiments, the actual content is transferred while in other embodiments, an identification of the content and a position within the content is transferred from the source device to the destination device. | 02-02-2012 |
| 20110321093 | SELECTING ATTACHED CONTENT THROUGH AN ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE - A system includes one or more devices connected to a television. The television has software that displays both program information and information about the devices in an electronic program guide. Upon selecting of a program information entry in the electronic program guide, the software changes a current channel of the television to the channel associated with the program entry information. Upon selecting of one of the device entries in the electronic program guide, the software displays an exploration menu for the viewer to select content from the device for viewing (or listening to) at the television. The software performs scrolling operations on the electronic program guide responsive to directional inputs from a remote control device. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110321090 | SELECTING TELEVISION INPUTS THROUGH AN ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE - A system includes a television having one or more input ports. The television has software that displays both program information and input port information in an electronic program guide. Upon selecting of a program information entry in the electronic program guide, the software changes a current channel of the television to the channel associated with the program entry information. Upon selecting of one of the input port entries in the electronic program guide, the software changes the input of the television to the input port associated with the one of the input port entries. The software performs scrolling operations on the electronic program guide responsive to directional inputs from a remote control device. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110321071 | DEVICE-BASED ONE BUTTON SHOPPING USING METADATA - A television is interfaced to one or more on-line stores through a network connection. The television has purchasing data stored in a configuration file. Upon execution of a “one-button buy” function, metadata from a content stream and the purchasing data is used to find a purchase item related to the content stream, decide upon an on-line store and purchase the purchase item from the on-line store. In some embodiments, the a “one-button buy” function is a dedicated “buy” button on a remote control that is associated with the television. In some embodiments, without any further interaction, the purchase item is billed to the viewer and shipped to the viewer as if the viewer found the purchase item through the on-line store from a personal computer. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110320476 | TELEVISION-BASED SEARCH USING METADATA - A system includes a device such as a television interfaced to one or more servers through a network connection. The device (television) has software that accesses metadata related to a video stream and incorporates at least one search term from the metadata along with optional viewer-provided terms into a search query that is sent to one or more search engines through the network, returning one or more search results which are formatted and displayed on the device. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110320020 | PLAYLIST OF MULTIPLE OBJECTS ACROSS MULTPLE PROVIDERS - A system includes a device such as a television or multimedia player that has access to content residing at various storage sites and multimedia content providers. For example, the device has access to locally stored content, remotely stored content, music content that resides at music service providers such as Rhapsody and video content from multiple providers such as YouTube, NetFlix, Amazon, VuDu, etc. The user is provided with tools to create a playlist of content where the content includes, for example, one or more videos from local storage and remote services such as YouTube, NetFlix, Amazon, VuDu, etc. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110317079 | SELECTING REMOTE SERVICES THROUGH AN ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE - A system includes a television that has access to one or more services hosted on provider servers through a network. The television has software that displays both program information and services information in an electronic program guide. Upon selecting of a program information entry in the electronic program guide, the software changes the current channel of the television to the channel associated with the program entry information. Upon selecting of one of the services entries in the electronic program guide, the software presents a browsing menu to the viewer, the browsing menu presenting pages from the provider servers and accepting inputs from the viewer. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110317071 | INPUT SELECTION MECHANISM FOR A DISPLAY DEVICE - A television includes at least two ports (e.g. HDMI ports). The television polls the ports before presenting a user interface that displays some or all of the ports and before toggling between any two of the ports. The polling ascertains whether a device is connected to each of the ports and whether the device is powered. The television modifies the display and/or toggling based on the current state of each port. For example, in toggling, ports that are not connected and ports that are connected to inactive devices are skipped. In another example, when displaying a list of ports, only those ports that are connected to devices appear in the list. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110317069 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VOLUME CONTROL - An application for a system for controlling speaker volume of externally amplified speakers connected to a television includes a television with one or more external amplifiers, each driving one or more speakers. There is a channel for connecting the external amplifiers to the television providing an audio signal to the external amplifiers and a channel for communicating commands from the television to the externally amplifiers, which in some embodiments is the same channel. Responsive to a signal (e.g. remote control command) to the television indicating a request to change the volume of one or more of the external amplifiers, a volume change command is sent to one or more of the external amplifiers over the channel for communicating. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110316768 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPEAKER CONFIGURATION - An application for a device includes at least two speakers and at least two-channels of audio. The at least two-channels of audio are selectively routed to the at least two speakers. Routing of the audio to the speakers is made based upon an orientation of the device. The orientation of the device and therefore the speaker configuration is either manually changed by a viewer input or is automatically detected such as when a hand-held device is rotated, for example, to view a display of the device in portrait mode instead of landscape mode. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110242008 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INITIATING A USER INTERFACE - An application for a device or television has a detector capable of determining the location of a viewer in a range of the device or television. In response to the viewer coming within a pre-determined distance of the device/television, a touch-screen user interface is presented for the viewer to interact using a touch-screen interface integrated into a display of the device. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110241553 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BRIGHTNESS ADJUSTING OF AN ILLUMINATED LOGO - An application for a logo with an adjustable internal lighting includes an illuminated logo, a sensor and a circuit that controls the illuminated logo. The brightness and/or color of the illuminated logo are controlled by the circuit based upon ambient light and optionally, a user preference, operating mode and/or time-of-day. The sensor detects ambient light and signals the circuit to increase or decrease the brightness of the illuminated logo. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110228061 | SYNCHRONIZING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL EYEWEAR - An application for three-dimensional eyewear that includes a left-eye shutter and a right-eye shutter. The shutters open and close in unison with a display of left-eye content and right-eye content. Because the shutters do not instantaneously open and close, a delay is inserted into the opening of each of the shutters until the other shutter has had enough time to have at least partially closed. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110219405 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATING SOCIAL FUNCTIONS INTO A DEVICE - An application for a television interfacing to a social network includes an interface to the social network relating to a program or activity of the user. For example, if the user is watching a sporting event, using their remote control, the user easily informs other social network subscribers or groups of subscribers of the sporting event, in case they are unaware that the sporting event is being televised. With a simple command initiative, the receiving subscriber changes to the recommended content/program. | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110217928 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING CALLER-IDENTIFICATION - An application for a caller-identification system includes a circuit for receiving caller-identification information from a tip and ring interface and a circuit for wirelessly transmitting at least a subset of the caller-identification information to a display system. In the display system includes a circuit for receiving the caller-identification information and a circuit for displaying the caller-identification information on a display. | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110216083 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING BRIGHTNESS OF A DEVICE - An application for controlling the brightness of a display of a device includes having a first brightness setting and a second brightness setting, the first brightness setting is used to set the brightness of the display when two-dimensional content is displayed on the display while the second brightness setting is used to set the brightness of the display when three-dimensional content is displayed on the display. The first and second brightness settings are preferably administered through a user interface. | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110193946 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WIRELESS SYNCHRONIZING THREE-DIMENSIONAL EYEWEAR - An application for transmission of a three-dimensional eyewear synchronization signal to synchronize the operation of shutters of three-dimensional eyewear uses an industry standard wireless transmission technique. To compensate for inherent latencies of such transmission techniques, the latencies are measured and monitored to determine expected latencies and the shutter synchronization signal is skewed by the latency. In some embodiments, the synchronization signal is further adjusted by a user skew control. | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110188582 | PIXEL BASED THREE-DIMENSIONAL ENCODING METHOD - An application for three-dimensional encoding of frames of a digital video includes reserving a subset of pixels of each frame of the digital video and encoding frames meant for a first eye with a first pattern and encoding frames meant for the second eye with a second pattern, the second pattern being detectably different than the first pattern. Optionally, for frames having content for both eyes, any other pattern that is detectably different from the first pattern or second pattern is encoded into the subset of pixels. The subset of pixels is used during playback to shutter the left-eye and right-eye to simulate three-dimensions. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110187839 | FRAME BASED THREE-DIMENSIONAL ENCODING METHOD - An application for three-dimensional encoding of frames of a digital video includes reserving a subset of pixels of each frame of the digital video and encoding frames meant for a first eye with a first pattern and encoding frames meant for the second eye with a second pattern, the second pattern being detectably different than the first pattern. Optionally, for frames having content for both eyes, any other pattern that is detectably different from the first pattern or second pattern is encoded into the subset of pixels. The subset of pixels is used during playback to shutter the left-eye and right-eye to simulate three-dimensions. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110187838 | FRAME SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SYNCHRONIZING THREE-DIMENSIONAL EYEWEAR - An application for a three-dimensional television system includes content encoded with left/right frame indicators at a pre-determined location on each frame. For example, during display frames meant for a first eye, the set of pixels contain a first pattern while during display of frames meant for the second eye, the set of pixels contain a second pattern. A detector interfaced to the screen of the television detects the left/right indication and provides synchronization to shutters of three-dimensional eyewear. The detector is positioned over the set of pixels and determines which pattern is displayed, generating a synchronization signal based upon the patterns. The synchronization signal is then transmitted to three-dimensional eyewear where it is used to control the shutters. In some embodiments, a phased-locked loop is provided within the three-dimensional eyewear to continue operation during periods when the transmission of the synchronization signal is blocked or otherwise interrupted. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110187837 | PIXEL SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SYNCHRONIZING THREE-DIMENSIONAL EYEWEAR - An application for a three-dimensional television system includes content encoded with left/right frame indicators at a pre-determined location on each frame. For example, during display frames meant for a first eye, the set of pixels contain a first pattern while during display of frames meant for the second eye, the set of pixels contain a second pattern. A detector interfaced to the screen of the television detects the left/right indication and provides synchronization to shutters of three-dimensional eyewear. The detector is positioned over the set of pixels and determines which pattern is displayed, generating a synchronization signal based upon the patterns. The synchronization signal is then transmitted to three-dimensional eyewear where it is used to control the shutters. In some embodiments, a phased-locked loop is provided within the three-dimensional eyewear to continue operation during periods when the transmission of the synchronization signal is blocked or otherwise interrupted. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110157478 | TELEVISION PROGRAMMING OF A REMOTE CONTROL - A television includes a television with a remote control. A user interface running on the television ascertains a brand and model number of a device that is to be operated by the remote control and after responsive to such; the television transmits commands to the remote control to program the remote control, thereby enabling the remote control to control the device. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110157469 | TELEVISION REMOTE CONTROL UPDATE UPON EVENT - A television includes a remote control, at least two inputs and at least one device, each device connected to one of the inputs. Upon a system event such as changing from one input to another input, the television signals the remote control to change operation of at least one function key. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110157467 | ATTACHED DEVICE CONTROL ON TELEVISION EVENT - A television includes at least two inputs and at least one connected device (component). Upon a system event such as changing from one input to another input, the television signals the at least one connected device to change at least one operating parameter of the device. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110154385 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VIEWER DETECTION AND ACTION - An application for a television has a detector capable of determining the identity and/or presence of at least one viewer in a viewing area of the television. In response to viewers entering and leaving the viewing area of the television, the television adjusts its operation based upon settings for the currently present viewers (e.g., enables channels, content, etc). | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110141357 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING DOCKING OF HEADPHONES - An application for a television with a headphone dock. The headphone dock provides status to the television as to when a set of headphones are docked (idle) or undocked (in use). The television changes routing of audio signals based upon the status of the headphones. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110026743 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TELEVISION SPEAKER CONFIGURATION - An application for present invention includes a television with a set of speaker outputs including at least a left speaker and a right speaker. On screen displays are used to properly configure the speakers and assure maximum audio quality from the television. In some embodiments, a cross-point switch connects the speakers attached to the television with the correct outputs of an internal amplifier. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110025933 | TELEVISION WITH ANTIMICROBIAL COATING - An application for a television that minimizes the transference of pathogens includes a television with a display panel and bezel plus an antimicrobial coating that is deposited on various external surfaces of the television such as the display panel and bezel, thereby reducing g the transfer of active pathogens from one user of the television to another user. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110025924 | DUAL SLIDER BAR CONTROL - An application for a slider bar on a display has a series of ticks, each indicating one or more gradations of a parameter ranging between a minimum value and a maximum value. Two marker icons are on the display screen in relation to the ticks. A user control moves a first marker icon within a predetermined range of ticks. Once the first marker icon reaches an end of travel, if the end of travel is next the second marker icon, the first marker becomes inactive (remaining at its current location) and the second marker icon becomes the active marker icon, moving within a predetermined range for the second marker icon. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110025914 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESPONDING TO DEVICE ATTACHMENT - A television with at least one connection, either wired or wireless. Detection of an active device connected to the connection results in proper software and hardware configuration of the television to properly communicate with the device and provide, for example, proper user interface support and access to the device. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110019107 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUXILIARY USE OF INTERNAL SPEAKERS - An application for a system that has at least one internal speaker and an internal source of amplified audio interfaced to the internal speaker. The internal speaker is selectively disconnected from the internal source of amplified audio and connected to an external source of amplified audio. The selection is by, for example, a remote control directive, a switch or by detection of the external amplified audio. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110018849 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMBEDDING A DISPLAY IN A BEZEL - An application for a bezel with an internal graphics display system. The display system arranged to display static, dynamic or moving graphical images. The graphics display system consists of a bezel face and a display element. The bezel face is constructed of a transparent or translucent material such that light transmitted by the display element located behind the bezel face passes through the bezel face to the outside. The display element receives graphic images from a processing element and displays the image. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110018462 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ILLUMINATING A BEZEL - An application for a bezel with internal lighting includes at least one illuminated element situated behind a monitor/television bezel. The brightness and color of the illuminating elements and hence the bezel appearance are modified based upon either user preference or an internal or external parameters such as time, content being viewed, recording status, etc. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20100066904 | Synchronizing operational states of closed captioning and audio mute - The current invention addresses the problem of causing closed captioning to be launched or not launched automatically when a viewer mutes the audio on a digital television. The current invention allows for individualized options associated with a particular viewer. These options can be selected from a plurality of options either manually or automatically as determined by the viewer settings or viewer behavior. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20100062075 | Germicidal coating on hand held remote control devices for controlling electrical and electronic devices - The current invention addresses an issue where hand held remote control devices and other consumer electronics products can become a carrier of infectious germs or bacteria once touched by a person or animal carrying a pathogen or infectious agent. School aged children and house hold pets may be the carrier of such pathogens. Adults or any other person inflicted with a common illness such as a cold or flu can infect a hand held remote or other consumer electronic product which in turn can transmit those germs to the next person or persons who handle the remote. The present invention is intended to minimize the effects of pathogen transmission from person to person by killing the pathogens once they are deposited on such a consumer electronic product. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100058223 | Metadata driven control of navigational speed through a user interface - Scroll wheels have simplified the movement of cursors and changes in focus as a users navigate their way through menus, lists, tables, and other objects typically found in graphical user interfaces. Also typical of navigation schemes driven by scroll wheels is the ability of the user to accelerate the rate of movement of the cursor or focus by spinning the scroll wheel faster. One issue with this behavior is that a user who over accelerates the scroll wheel will often wind up overshooting his intended target and reversing the direction of the scroll wheel several times. The embodiment addresses this problem by giving control of the speed of the cursor or focus movement to the object being navigated. If the granularity of the list, table, menu, or other objects become smaller, the object has the ability to filter the speed input of the scroll wheel. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100050209 | Method and apparatus for freezing a video stream on a digital television display such that the frame freeze point is before the viewer initiates the event - A viewer of a digital television trying to freeze the video at a particular frame. Generally the human delay and the delay introduced by the remote control device and the control software executing on the television results in the frame that is displayed by the freeze event is some number of frames or seconds after the frame that the viewer wanted frozen. A small amount of memory that constantly buffers several seconds of digital video such that once the viewer initiates the freeze event the frame that is displayed is effectively some seconds in the past. The viewer then has the ability to single frame step to the frame that he actually was interested in viewing. The viewer's actions are refined by a rules based algorithm that allows it to more closely target and display what it believes will be the final frame the viewer wanted to be displayed. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100043039 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATING MESSAGING WITH A TELEVISION - An application for a digital television platform includes a display, a television receiver operatively coupled to the display and a processor operatively coupled to both the display and to the television receiver. A memory and a non volatile storage medium is communicably coupled to the processor. A communication link is also communicably coupled to the processor and a communication event is detected signaling reception of a communication on the communication link. Responsive to the communication event, a set of instructions is executed by the processor, the set of instructions is configured to receive the communication and to process the communication with respect to a set of user preferences. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100023425 | System, Method and Apparatus for Geographical Restriction of Offers for Sale - An application for a method of presenting items of a catalog in various geographic regions includes providing a catalog of items, each item having associated therewith at least one geographic code. A search term and a geographic location are provided. The catalog is searched for matching items that are related to the search term and in which the geographic code indicates the item is suitable for the geographic location. | 01-28-2010 |
| 20100007788 | Method and apparatus for managing non-used areas of a digital video display when video of other aspect ratios are being displayed - A system that intelligently manages the empty spaces on a digital television screen when video images other than the native aspect ratio of the screen are being displayed. These spaces are typically presented as black bars on either side and/or above and below a video image that is not the same aspect ratio as the aspect ratio that is native to the display screen. The invention allows for non-contrasting bars to minimize burning of the bar image onto screens that are susceptible to retention of a high contrast image. The invention also allows for the display of metadata such as current program related information and other data that may be of interest to the viewer. | 01-14-2010 |
| 20100002150 | Method and apparatus for turning off a digital television screen when the viewer or an application is running that does not require a display screen - A system and apparatus that allows the user or an application to turn off the display screen on a television when said application does not display images while it is active or the viewer is only interested in listening to the audio of a program. An example of this would be playing music received over a cable or satellite set top box or through a plurality of other means through the television speakers. Blanking or turning off the television display screen during this time results in a substantial energy savings. Another example is the viewer only being interested in the audio for a sports program such as basketball or baseball. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20090278861 | Displaying still and moving images of a constant size or images that occupy a specified percentage of a screen across different size display screens - Advertisers specify the size of an ad in pixels or in physical units such as inches or millimeters. The physical square area of an ad specified in pixels will change as the physical size of the television screen or computer display screen varies. The number of pixels of an ad specified in inches or millimeters will also change as the physical size of the television screen or computer display screen varies. The present invention manages the issue of keeping the physical area size of an image constant across television display screens regardless of the physical size of the screen. | 11-12-2009 |
