There is a keyboard assembly for a handheld device, including a housing having a first section and a second section. The keyboard assembly has a plurality of slots formed on the first section. A printed circuit board (PCB) is disposed between the first and second sections. A key mat is sandwiched between the first section and the PCB, the key mat having a plurality of fixed keys and a plurality of interchangeable keys, each key protruding from the key's corresponding slot on the first section. Each interchangeable key has a unique identity, such that when each interchangeable key is replaced onto another slot on the first section, the interchangeable key's unique identity remains with the interchangeable key.

A display device includes a display; a communication device which communicates with a remote controller that includes a first button group having at least one button, and a second button group having at least one other button. A processor highlights and displays at least two key objects on the keypad from among a plurality of key objects arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, upon receiving a first control signal according to manipulation of the at least one button of the first button group from the remote controller, and recognizes, as an input key, one key object, which corresponds to a second control signal according to manipulation of the at least one other button of the second button group, among the at least two key objects, upon receiving the second control signal from the remote controller.

A television/space heater combination device for displaying image content and for heating air and method of using the same is presented. The television/space heater combination device includes a television, a space heater and, sometimes, a frame. The method of use includes activating the space heater; selecting a temperature value for the space heater; generating heat and distributing the same into a room from the space heater; activating the television; and displaying an image on a screen of the television while generating heat with the space heater. The displayed image may be an image of a wood or gas burning fireplace generated by a continuous video loop; or be images from regular television programming or images generated by data transmitted to the television by a remote computer.

Various embodiments provide a dual use remote-control device. In one embodiment, a dual use remote-control device may include a first set of input controls such as buttons positioned on a top side of the housing, a second set of input controls positioned on a bottom side of the housing including a QWERTY keyboard and an optical sensor to remotely control movement of a cursor on a display by the optical sensor detecting movement of a user's finger across the optical sensor or movement of the optical sensor across an object such as a table, arm of a chair or user's lap. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

The systems described herein provide a remote keyboard service for a media device on a computing device without having to invoke an application or unlock the computing device. The computing device can receive a message indicating that a text input field on the other device is selected and present a notification to the user prompting the user to invoke the virtual keyboard on the computing device to provide text input to the selected text input field. The computing device can receive user input selecting the notification and present a virtual keyboard for providing text input to the other device. The computing device can receive keyboard input from the user selecting characters and send the characters to the other device. The other device can then user the characters as text input to the selected text input field.

The present invention discloses an electric apparatus and operation method thereof. The electric apparatus includes: display unit to display the output content from said electric apparatus; operation unit used to operate said electric apparatus; the apparatus further includes: the primary indication unit, when the primary indication unit is started up, the operation unit is in visible status and otherwise the operation unit is in invisible status. The design of the present invention improves the front visual effect and the interactive performance of the electrical apparatus.

Embodiments of the invention provide a method for searching program metadata using a media device, such as a set-top-box, to search for other programs related to a particular program. Program metadata is received at the media device, the program metadata comprising a plurality of data fields populated with accompanying data for each of a plurality of television programs. The media device is controlled by an input device, such as a remote control, and an input, such as a button, of the input device is associated with a data field. It is determined when an input, associated with a data field, is activated and in response the accompanying data within the associated data field, for a first program, is compared with the corresponding accompanying data of a plurality of other television programs. Data is then presented to the user, relating to those television programs having substantially equivalent data in the selected data field to the selected program. A corresponding apparatus is also provided.

The present invention discloses an electric apparatus and operation method thereof. The electric apparatus includes: display unit to display the output content from said electric apparatus: operation unit used to operate said electric apparatus; the apparatus further includes: the primary indication unit, when the primary indication unit is started up, the operation unit is in visible status and otherwise the operation unit is in invisible status. The design of the present invention improves the front visual effect and the interactive performance of the electrical apparatus.

Provided are a signal emitting apparatus, a signal receiving apparatus a signal processing method and a display system, wherein a remote controller can be deformed by applying a force to it, and a remote controlling signal is transmitted to a display apparatus to perform image displaying. The signal emitting apparatus comprises: a first receiving unit configured to receive a deformation operation input by a user, wherein the signal emitting apparatus is deformed under the deformation operation to generate a deformation quantity; a signal generating unit configured to generate a control signal according to the deformation quantity; and a signal transmitting unit configured to transmit the control signal to the signal receiving apparatus.

A remote resource access interface apparatus is provided. A key input unit has keys for generating input key values. A communication unit transmits a connection establishment request message including screen resolution information to, and receives a connection establishment response message including supportable key information from, a portable device. The communication unit transmits input key information to and receives video information from the portable device after establishing the connection. A pixel information processing unit converts the video information to pixel signals for a video output unit to display as a visual image. A key advisor unit extracts supportable key information from the response message and outputs the supportable key information to the video output unit. The video information is video data adjusted in resolution based on the screen resolution information, and the input key value is mapped to one of key values indicated by the key information of the portable device.