WO1999065143A1

WO1999065143A1 - Remote control for an audio signal playing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1999065143A1
Application number: PCT/GB1999/001833
Authority: WO
Inventors: Peter Robert Wood
Original assignee: Peter Robert Wood
Priority date: 1998-06-10
Filing date: 1999-06-09
Publication date: 1999-12-16
Also published as: AU4280699A; GB9812433D0

Abstract

A remote control (1) of the type used for remotely controlling parameters on a television or Hi Fi set, such as sound, is adapted to be connected to a telephone (4), the remote control (1) incorporating switch means (12) for switching on the remote control in response to an incoming signal indicative of sound, and means for emitting a control signal to change a required parameter, such as by reducing or eliminating the level of sound of a television (3) when the telephone rings.

Description

REMOTE CONTROL FOR AN AUD IO SIGNAL PLAYING APPARATUS

This invention relates to television remote controls but may find application with other kinds of electrical apparatus which produce audio signals including, without limitation, Hi Fi's and radios.

Television remote controls are usually hand held and emit codified infrared signals that can be detected by a television photo-diode to thereby switch the television on or off, change channel, change volume and mute sound, such as when a conversation is being held within the room or remotely via a telephone. Operation is by the simple expedient of pointing the television remote control in the general direction of the television and, because of the generally spherical propagation of the infra-red radiation emitting therefrom, such is usually sufficient to be picked up by the infra-red signal detector at the front of the television which is linked in with the television circuitry to selectively change parameters as required.

Because of the widespread use of such remote controls on a variety of household audio equipment then in order to avoid having a correspondingly large number of remote controls, one for each item, it is now possible to buy what are called "learning remote controls" into which signals from a number of standard remote controls can be input so that a learning remote control can then be used to operate one or several items of equipment such as a television, a video cassette record and play back device, a satellite channel selector, and so on. The present invention is derived from the realisation that it would be advantageous for a television to be muted automatically on the happening of an event involving an audio signal such as a telephone ringing or a door bell ringing. The reason is that when a television is on loudly, or if the viewer is hard of hearing, the competition

between audio signals may mean that the extraneous audio signal is not picked up by a viewer of the television so that a telephone call may be missed or a caller using a door bell

may not be able to gain the attention of the listener.

According to the invention there is provided a remote control adapted to be connected to a telephone or other electrically operated audio signal producing apparatus, the remote control incorporating switch means for switching on the remote control in response to an incoming signal indicative of sound; and means for emitting a control signal to a position remote from the remote control to change a required

parameter when a television or other electrically operated audio signal playing apparatus

is on.

Conveniently, the required parameter to be changed is the level of sound,

which may be reduced to a level at which the sound from the audio signal producing

apparatus can be heard, or it eliminated entirely. Preferably, the remote control is

programmable so that it can be used on a variety of television sets or other kinds of electrically operated apparatus such as Hi Fi's, VCR's and the like without the need for having individual remote controls for each item.

Conveniently, the remote control according to the invention is adapted to be wall or ceiling mounted so that its infra red or other type of signal emitting source can

be pointed towards e.g. a television, with the remote control being plugged into a standard telephone line socket so than when a call is received the incoming signal can be detected

and used as a means to electrically activate the remote control to, in turn, emit a pre- determined control signal to the television or other kind of electrical audio signal playing

apparatus.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the remote control is

connected directly to an electrically operable door bell so that upon the ringing of the bell the remote control is switched on to immediately emit a control signal to the television, which control signal provide a reduction to or elimination of the level of sound, or a visual message may be displayed on the screen instead indicating that the door bell has been

rung.

In a still further embodiment of the invention the remote control is adapted

to be connected to a telephone via a microphone pick up which may be connected to a

telephone handset, to audibly detect when the telephone is ringing and provide a signal

to the remote control indicative thereof. In either event it will be apparent that the

telephone may or may not be a mobile telephone.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with

reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic side elevation of a remote control in accordance with the invention installed within a room, and

Figure 2 is a simplified circuit diagram of one embodiment of switching

means for the remote control of Figure 1.

Referring firstly to Figure 1, a television remote control unit shown generally at (1) is mounted on an inside wall surface (2) of a lounge of a building, only part of which is shown. Within the lounge is a television set (3) of conventional type

which can be switched on an off by a conventional hand held remote control unit (not

shown) and when switched on a number of parameters can be adjusted including volume, channel, etc..

In the hall of the building a conventional telephone (4) is shown connected

to a standard telephone line socket (5) for receiving and making telephone calls.

The wall mounted remote control (1) is also electrically connected to the

socket (5) and more specifically to the terminals providing an alarm signal for the

telephone (4) by which it may ring in order to indicate to occupants of the building an

incoming telephone call.

Turning now to Figure 2, there is shown a simplified circuit diagram for

that part of the television remote control (1) to be connected to the wall socket (5) which

essentially comprises an interface between the AC line voltage by which the telephone (4)

operates and the DC voltage by which the remote control (1) operates, although it will be understood that the interface itself could be of a different configuration altogether depending upon the type of telephone, the country in which it is operating, and so on.

Referring to Figure 2 the two terminals (6,7) represent the connection to the telephone socket (5) which would typically be a 13 - 35 line voltage AC source. Accordingly, a bridge rectifier (8) is provided to convert the voltage to direct current, the resulting circuit being established by, respectively, a capacitor (9) of, typically, rating 220 μF, voltage regulator (10) which may typically provide a constant 12 volt source, a variable resistor (11) and a transistor switch (12) having a base B, a collector C and an emitter E. A DC battery (13) provides power to the circuit between the transistor (12) and the remote control (1), which circuit also includes a variable resistor (14).

In operation, when the telephone (4) rings the electrical signals from the socket (5) are also fed to the interface circuitry shown with reference to Figure 2 so that the remote control 1 can be activated. The remote control (1) is preferably preprogrammed to emit an infra-red signal for a chosen parameter, such as the muting of a television set or a Hi Fi set, or changing some other parameter including a reduction in the noise level or the presentation of a message on the screen of the television (3).

Accordingly, upon the ringing of a telephone the chosen parameter can be

changed but can be easily overridden by the use of a standard remote control if required. Where the remote control (1) is primarily for use with a television set a parameter change may also be in the form of a pre-programmed message displayed on the screen to the effect that the telephone is ringing in another part of the building or, in the event that the remote control apparatus in accordance with the invention is connected to, say, an electric doorbell, that the doorbell is ringing instead.

The invention therefore provides an elegantly simple solution to the effects of competition between, primarily, sound emanating from television sets and Hi Fi's etc.

and alarm sounds such as those indicating that a telephone is ringing. By the use of a remote control of the learning type, which incorporates an interface with e.g. a telephone

line socket the invention therefore obviates the need, otherwise, to be tailored for use with particular items of sound producing electrical apparatus such that, with economies of

scale, the remote control according to the invention is capable of providing a useful function within a household at relatively low cost.

Claims

1. A remote control adapted to be connected to a telephone or other

electrically operated audio signal producing apparatus, the remote control incorporating switch means for switching on the remote control in response to an incoming signal indicative of sound; and means for emitting a control signal remote from the remote

control to change a required parameter when a television or other electrically operated

audio signal playing apparatus is on.

2. A remote control according to Claim 1 wherein the required parameter to be changed is a reduction in the level of sound.

3. A remote control according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the remote

control is programmable for use on a variety of electrically operated audio signal playing

apparatus.

4. A remote control according to any preceding Claim adapted to be wall or

ceiling mounted and being connectable to a standard telephone line socket for

subsequently detecting when a telephone call is received.

5. A remote control according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 adapted to be connected to an electrically operable doorbell to emit a control signal to a remote electrical audio signal playing apparatus when the doorbell is rung.

6. A remote control according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 further adapted to be connected to a telephone via a microphone pick-up to audibly detect when the telephone is ringing and thereafter provide a signal to the remote control indicative thereof.

7. A remote control substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.