Abstract: A hand-held control device includes a housing including first and second housing pieces and a touch pad attached to an exterior surface of the first housing piece. The second housing piece defines a coupler well containing an electrical header. A speaker retention structure on an interior surface of the second housing piece includes an annular wall extending from an interior surface of the first housing piece and including a plurality of gaps at spaced intervals, and a resilient speaker retention finger extending from the interior surface of the first housing piece in each of the gaps. A cable connector assembly includes a coupler containing a socket, and a control cable electrically connected to the socket within the coupler. The coupler is sized and shaped to fill a coupler well in the housing so that the socket is connectable to the electrical header in the coupler well.

Abstract: A hand-held control device includes a housing including first and second housing pieces and a touch pad attached to an exterior surface of the first housing piece. The second housing piece defines a coupler well containing an electrical header. A speaker retention structure on an interior surface of the second housing piece includes an annular wall extending from an interior surface of the first housing piece and including a plurality of gaps at spaced intervals, and a resilient speaker retention finger extending from the interior surface of the first housing piece in each of the gaps. A cable connector assembly includes a coupler containing a socket, and a control cable electrically connected to the socket within the coupler. The coupler is sized and shaped to fill a coupler well in the housing so that the socket is connectable to the electrical header in the coupler well.

Abstract: A control device signals user inputs to an audio-video display. The control device may be configured as a pillow speaker and include a speaker for reproducing audio from the audio-video display. The control device is coupled to the audio-video display by wiring. Shared signals in the wiring are used to provide power to operate the control device and are used to signal the user inputs to the audio-video display. A touch panel is used to sense user inputs. The touch panel may be transparent with an underlay containing indicia of user-selectable commands located below the touch panel. The arrangement and selection of commands available to the user may be modified by changing the underlay.

Abstract: A control device signals user inputs to an audio-video display. The control device may be configured as a pillow speaker and include a speaker for reproducing audio from the audio-video display. The control device is coupled to the audio-video display by wiring. Shared signals in the wiring are used to provide power to operate the control device and are used to signal the user inputs to the audio-video display. A touch panel is used to sense user inputs. The touch panel may be transparent with an underlay containing indicia of user-selectable commands located below the touch panel. The arrangement and selection of commands available to the user may be modified by changing the underlay.

Abstract: This invention relates to a modular electronic unit which provides a combined switching and display function for controlling equipment of all kinds. The unit may be used alone to control equipment as desired, or several such units may be combined to control several pieces of equipment with a single master unit, including a microcontroller which controls the master unit, plus several slave units. The unit of the invention uses a microcontroller in combination with a non-volatile random access memory to provide fully programmable switching codes and display messages. The unit of the invention may be included in new equipment or as a retrofit for existing equipment.