Boffins at Intel Labs are working on a TV remote that can know your viewing habits as soon as you grab it, give you more personalized viewing options and protect your little snow flakes from seeing something that might scare them.

By using the the remote control data, such as a sequence of button presses and accelerometer readings, the telly can be programmed to recognise a viewer by their habits. They’ve tested their methodology on a sample set of five households, capturing gestures via accelerometer as well as button pushes and then running the results through algorithms to determine the identity of the remote holder.

So far it is not completely accurate and Intel hope to improve things by broadening the data set to include the viewing habits of test subjects. The more times you log into the Internet using your HDTVs, their online profiles can also help the remote identify its holder. Eventually, such a remote could help you cut through channel clutter to find exactly what you want to watch. Although it could be a little embarrassing if you turn on the telly when your mum is visiting and it switches on the porn channel automatically.