Notes: Redesign of TV remotes

This note is part of my proposal for collaborating with VIDEOCON INTERNET TV , which was planned to be launched in 2001 .

My focus was on enabling TV viewers to be able to carry out following activites ONLINE , on this INTERNET TV :

> Search for JOBS

> Submit their RESUMES

> APPLY against any advertised job

This internal not was sent to colleague on 18 June 2001

hemen parekh

WHAT SHOULD WE DO TO BE ABLE TO USE/OPERATE AN iTV WITH A “REMOTE” (– as far as possible)

Select 30 Topics/Subjects, e.g.
- News
- Films
- Sports
- Health
- Education
- Jobs
- Music
- Politics
- etc.
For each of these 30 topics, select 10 TOP/BEST WEBSITES, making a total of 10 × 30 = 300 URLs.
Hardcode these into memory of iTV’s SET-TOP BOX (or any other chip embedded into iTV).
Create a “remote” which enables a person to select any of these 300 URLs by pressing keys/buttons.

On the Remote:

Diagram showing buttons:

Power on/off
Volume
Scroll Screen
Submit / Reset

Topic (left side) | Sites (right side):

Portals → ① Helloworld
Jobs → ② 3pjobs
...
Search Engines
→ 10 (popular websites)

Instructions:

A person first presses “TOPIC” button (i.e., Topic Selection) — out of 30 topic buttons.
Then, he can click on ① to ⑩ buttons on right-hand side to select the most popular websites (URLs).

KIND ATTN: Mr. Nitish Tipnis, Mr. Naveen Mandhana

If he wishes to go to any other URL,
he should be able to type-in the URL in the infrared keyboard.

Maybe the remote could have a built-in facility to “RECONFIGURE/RESET” the 10 sites (URLs) of a user’s choice.

For this resetting/reconfiguring, the set-top box should contain URLs of 2000 most popular websites.
Surfer should be able to scroll these (up/down) on iTV screen and then press a button “Select” by pointing the laser-beam on that URL on the screen.

Presto! It gets added to the temporary memory of the remote.

USE OF “REMOTE” TO NAVIGATE 3pjobs

Whether 3pjobs.com or any other website, any link should be clickable using laser-beam from the remote.
Perhaps this feature is already incorporated.
It is obvious that to use an iTV, a surfer should not have to use 3 different devices, viz:

a keyboard → for 10% use
a remote
a mouse → these must be combined for 90% of the use

Using an iTV from home. If he is a Personnel Manager, he would most likely log onto 3pjobs from his office and use a regular computer (unless he too wants to submit his resume and/or conduct a jobsearch! — something he would not dare to do from his office).

As far as a "jobseeker" is concerned, he would want to use the following features of 3pjobs from the privacy/comfort of his home:

#1 ▶ Submit Resume
#2 ▶ Conduct Job-Search
#3 ▶ Use "Resume Forwarding Service" (i.e. instruct our webserver to send his resume to ABC "job-advertiser").

In future, we propose enlarging the scope of this service whereby a jobseeker can instruct our webserver to forward his resume to anyone of (maybe) 50,000 companies whose names he can click upon, on our website — even if such a company has advertised or not.

Of course, for such PUSHING of "unsolicited" resumes, we will need advance permission of concerned companies. Otherwise, we will annoy a lot of our existing/prospective client-corporations.
We will work out a method to get such a permission, before uploading the name (and of course, email address) of the company on our website.

#4 ▶ Receive "Job-Alert" emails & check-up "job-adverts" stored in his job-alert box.
#5 ▶ Search several other databases available on our website.

Let us examine each one of these.

#1 SUBMIT RESUME
Currently this requires use of a keyboard.
For a TV user, it is cumbersome to switch between a remote & a keyboard every few minutes! It is inconvenient/annoying!

Can an iTV user,

▶ click on a “field” & then speak out (voice-recognition) the data?

Implications:

Sound card / microphone /
V-R Software / voice-enabled website?

▶ Use of IVRS (thru ordinary telephone — which most iTV homes may have) after clicking on a “field” in the resume-form, displayed on iTV screen.

Most (or all) of dropdown list selections should be able to be carried out with laser-beam/click on the remote.

Perhaps, what a jobseeker "enters" thru IVRS, can appear instantly on iTV screen, so that he knows if entry is correct.
If not, he can “type-in” the corrections.

Even if these “solutions” are technically feasible, the most important question to be asked — and answered — continuously is:
"Will this solution simplify matters or make it worse?"

Each so-called “solution” must be tested on users who do not know how to use a computer/keyboard.

#2 CONDUCT JOB-SEARCH

	Job Search Parameters
	Ind-ustry
-------------------	-----------
IT Jobs	▼
Non-IT jobs	▼
Entry-level
Vocational/Designated Staff Jobs

From the above chart, it is clear... (text continues on next page)

"Posting City" → will need to be typed in (since it is a free text box)
Even here, it is possible to have a dropdown list of some 200/300 bigger cities/towns for clicking; with a provision to type in any other name. We are anyway considering this.
Ind / Function / Desig / Position / Category / Trade
All of these are in the form of dropdown lists. It should be possible to point the laser-beam on the desired value & then click the remote.

As far as "Short Display" & "Long Display" are concerned, either there are:
▶ Links (clickable)
OR
▶ Check-boxes ☑ (clickable)

RESUME FORWARDING SERVICE

(Whom do you want us to forward your resume to?)

This form contains:

UserName: ______
Password: ______
Job Advt. No.: ______

I suppose, these are best typed in using the keyboard.

We should, however, consider the following (simplified) solution:

First step:
Jobseeker, upon entering “Job-Search” area/section, types in his Username & Password.
Next step:
Whichever job-advt. (or company name) he sees (in whatever type of search-results), he simply points the laser-beam & CLICKS.
That takes care.

RECEIVE JOB-ALERT

If he logs on through his email (online), he will be taken to his personal page where he sees all the “matching/suitable” job-adverts stored.

Each job-advert should carry ☑ check-box. If interested, he simply points & clicks to forward his resume (i.e. apply online).

The fact that he has been able to “access” his PERSONAL PAGE, means the server knows who he is (i.e. Username / Password / PEN) and can pick up his “Long Display” resume from the database & forward.

This means, he need not enter his Username / Password again, if he is “Returning the Job-Alert Call”!