IP Library › Granted Patent US 6,912,126
Granted Patent B2
US 6,912,126 · App. 10/649,059 · Granted Jun 28, 2005

System and method for personalizing an electrical device

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 6,912,126
App. No.
10/649,059
Granted
Jun 28, 2005
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for personalizing an electrical device. In one arrangement, the system comprises an electrical device having a plurality of button openings that are adapted to receive buttons that control operation of the electrical device, and a plurality of removable buttons that can be interchangeably disposed within the button openings of the electrical device, the buttons being provided with a variety of discrete features so as to be selectable by a user for provision on the electrical device in an arrangement chosen by the user to personalize the device as desired by the user. In one arrangement, the method comprises the steps of receiving selection of a particular device functionality to be associated with a particular encoded button, and assigning the selected device functionality to the encoded button such that when the encoded button is disposed within a button opening of the electrical device and depressed, the selected functionality will be performed by the electrical device.

Claims (8)

1. A method for controlling operation of an electrical device, comprising:

detecting reception of a removable button by a button receiving member;

identifying the position of a pin of the removable button, the position of the pin being related to a given functionality, wherein identifying the position of a pin comprises identifying the position of a nonconductive pin through actuation of a button receiving member sensing element by the nonconductive pin; and

determining a functionality associated with the removable button from the identified pin position.

2. The method of claim 1 , further including identifying the position of a pin comprises identifying the position of a conductive pin that makes contact with a conductive sensing element of the button receiving member.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a functionality comprises determining what electrical device operation to perform when the removable button is selected.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a functionality comprises determining a sound to generate when the removable button is selected.

5. The method of claim 1 , further including changing the functionality of the removable button.