Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B1/00—Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
  • H04B1/06—Receivers
  • H04B1/16—Circuits
  • H04B1/20—Circuits for coupling gramophone pick-up, recorder output, or microphone to receiver
  • H04B1/205—Circuits for coupling gramophone pick-up, recorder output, or microphone to receiver with control bus for exchanging commands between units
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B15/00—Driving, starting or stopping record carriers of filamentary or web form; Driving both such record carriers and heads; Guiding such record carriers or containers therefor; Control thereof; Control of operating function
  • G11B15/02—Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing
  • G11B15/023—Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing remotely controlled
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03G—CONTROL OF AMPLIFICATION
  • H03G1/00—Details of arrangements for controlling amplification
  • H03G1/02—Remote control of amplification, tone or bandwidth

Definitions

• This invention is directed to a remote control entertain ⁇ ment system that can be utilized with off-the-shelf audio and video components, and, in particular, to a remote control entertainment system that permits conventional components, such as a high fidel ⁇ ity amplifier, turntable, tape player, etc., to be utilized to service a multiplicity of rooms - in the same building and be controlled from each and every room within the same building.
• conventional components such as a high fidel ⁇ ity amplifier, turntable, tape player, etc.
• remote control multi-room entertainment sys ⁇ tems have often had one or more of the following drawbacks.
• Many such entertainment remote control systems require custom installa ⁇ tion utilizing a specific manufacturer's equipment.
• such systems usually work on either a "line of sight” or “ultrasonic tone” principle which is limited to a maximum distance of twenty feet.
• such systems require a hard wired hookup between a transmitter in the remote control and a receiver in a central control.
• a remote control entertainment system for use with conven ⁇ tional audio and visual components in a plurality of rooms in a
• a common carrier transmission bus is adapted to have impressed thereon a plurality of digital command signals produced by a remote control circuit.
• a central control circuit is coupled to the common carrier transmission bus for detecting the digital command signal impressed on the common carrier transmission bus by the remote control circuit and, in response thereto, is adapted to produce a function control signal and/or a mode control signal to thereby control either the type or manner in which the audio and visual entertainment is presented, the different rooms in which such entertainment is presented and the manner in which it is presented within each particular room.
• the central control circuit is adapted, in response to producing control signals, to impress upon said common carrier, transmission bus a digital verification signal that is detected by said remote control circuit so that a signal indicating the type of entertainment selected and the type of control thereof that has been commanded by the central control circuit is indicated at the location of the remote- control circuit.
• a further object of the instant invention is to provide a remote control entertainment system that does not require any "hard wired hook ups" other than the common carrier transmission bus, between the remote control and the central control.
• Still a further object of the instant invention is to provide a remote control entertainment system that permits more than two sets of loudspeakers to be utilized in more than two rooms with a conventional amplifier-preamplifier and provides indepen ⁇ dent loudspeaker volume control in each pair of speakers in each room.
• Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a remote control entertainment system whereby the opera ⁇ tional status of the system is indicated at the remote control when the system is in operation.
• Still a further object of the instant invention is to provide a remote control entertainment system whereby verification of each command transmitted by the remote control is indicated at the location of the remote control.
• Fig. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a remote control entertainment system constructed in accordance with the instant invention
• Fig. 2 is a block circuit diagram of the control signals and low level audio signal connections of the remote control entertainment system depicted in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 is a block circuit diagram of the remote control circuit of the instant invention.
• Fig. 4 is a block circuit diagram of the mode select circuit and the central control circuit illustrated in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 5 is a block circuit diagram illustrating the single room control circuit of the remote control entertainment system illustrated in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 6 is a block circuit diagram of the tape control circuit illustrated in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 7 is a block circuit diagram of the simultaneous speaker amplifier protection circuit and the low level matching circuit illustrated in Fig. 2;
• Fig. 8 is a block circuit diagram of the memory tuner circuit illustrated in Fig. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
• Fig. 1 a block circuit diagram of a remote control entertainment system, constructed in accordance with the instant invention, is depicted.
• the remote control entertainment system includes a remote control, generally indicated as 10, coupled through a common carrier transmission bus, generally indicated as 12, to a central control, generally indica ⁇ ted as 14.
• the common carrier transmission bus of the instant invention is a conventional single phase 110-120 VAC line current in a building (hereinafter "AC bus") .
• AC bus conventional single phase 110-120 VAC line current in a building
• the term "common carrier transmission bus” refers to the type of system disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,114,718 to Levy wherein signals * are transmitted to a modulated radio frequency carrier wave over the same wires that furnish power to the system and thereby eliminate the necessity of providing an additional hard wired connection between the remote control 10 and the central control 14.
• each of the remote controls 10 include a remote control circuit 16 coupled through an AC interface circuit 17 to the AC bus 12 that supplies power to the remote control and, in a conventional building, the AC interface would include a male plug (not shown) that could be inserted into any female receptacle in the building in order to permit remote control command signals to be impressed on the AC bus.
• the central control 14 also includes an AC interface circuit 17' and, in addition thereto, a main logic and power supply circuit 19 and a three room control circuit 20.
• the main logic and power supply 19 is coupled through AC interface circuit 17' to the AC bus in order to receive signals impressed upon the AC bus by the remote control circui ⁇ 16 and, additionally, transmit verification command signals to the remote control circuits 10 through the respective AC interface 17' , the AC bus 12 and the AC interface 17' , the AC bus 12 and the AC interface circuit 17 intermediate the AC bus and the remote control circuits.
• the AC interface circuit 17' would therefore, in an exemplary embodiment of the instant inven ⁇ tion, also include .a male plug (not shown) that could be inserted into any female wall receptacle in the same manner discussed above with respect to the AC interface circuits 17 of the remote control.
• an additional three room control circuit 22 can be selectively added to the three room control circuit 20 to increase the number of rooms in which the operation of loudspeakers by the remote control entertainment system of the instant invention can be achieved.
• a detailed schematic of each room control circuit utilized in the three room control 21 and additonal three room control 22 is illustrated in Fig. 5 and. will be discussed in greater detail below.
• the remote control entertainment system of the instant invention is particularly characterized by its use with conven ⁇ tional off-the-shelf video and audio components.
• amplifier 24 is a conventional high fidelity amplifier- preamplifier manufactured by most major manufacturers.
• Phono 25 refers to any conventional turntable or phonograph
• tuner 26 refers to any conventional FM tuner
• tape player 27 refers to any conventional reel-to-reel, cassette or other type of tape player that includes therein a remote control jack.
• the instant invention is also equally compatible with any combination amplifier-FM tuner commonly referred to as an "FM receiver" and, accordingly, any explanation with respect to the tuner 26 of the instant invention will be equally applicable to a conventional FM-receiver.
• the main logic and power supply circuit 19 of the central control 14 is coupled through a control bus 29 to a mode selector circuit 30 to thereby permit tuner mode control signals 31 to be applied to a memory tuner 33, tape mode control signals 34' to be applied to a tape relay 34 and phono mode control signals 36 to be applied to the phono 25 in a manner to be discussed in greater detail below.
• the tape player 27 is adapted to apply low level tape player audio signals 38 produced thereby through the mode selector 30 to amplifier 24 in the same manner that tuner 26 and phono 25 are
• Amplifier 24 is adapted to apply the low level audio signals applied through the mode selector to the main logic and power supply 19 which, in turn, is coupled to the respective room control circuits 21 and 22 in order to permit same to be reproduced in respective locations that are selected by the central control 14.
• the central control 14 functions as a central communications interface between the respective stereo components, such as the phono 24, tuner 26 and tape player 27, and the respective modules to which they are coupled, such as the mode selector 30, memory tuner 33 and tape relay 34, and additionally receive and decodes all commands transmitted from the remote controls 10 and insures that the commands received therefrom are performed in the manner detailed below.
• the remote control circuit 16 and the interface circuit 17 of the remote control 10 are illustrated as receiving its power from the AC bus which is a standard 110-120 volt VAC power line.
• the remote control 10 would be provided with a male plug (not shown) that is inserted into any female receptacle in the building to thereby couple the remote control to the communication carrier AC transmission bus of the remote control entertainment system.
• the AC power signal from the AC bus is applied to a step-down transformer 41 and a bridge rectifier circuit 42 to thereby apply a power signal at the terminal Vcc of a microprocessor 43 in the remote control circuit 16.
• the step-down transformer 41 and rectifier circuit 42 provide the energizing interface between the AC bus and the remote control circuit 16 and are part of the AC interface circuit 17.
• a clock buffer circuit 46 is coupled to a clock output CL of the microprocessor 43 and applies a first clock input to an AND gate 47, which AND gate is utilized in the interface circuit to gate into the microprocessor DATA signals received from the AC bus.
• the AC interface circuit 17 also includes a line coupling transformer 49 that receives an information signal from an AC bus, transforms same into a DATA signal and applies the DATA signal through a level
• OMPI detector 50 OMPI detector 50, amplifier 51 and a shaper circuit in order to apply a DATA IN signal to the other input of AND gate 47 so that the clock buffer 46 gates the DATA IN signal into the microprocessor 43 of remote control circuit 16.
• the remote control circuit 16 includes microprocessor circuit 43 which circuit is formed on a dedicated circuit chip and has coupled thereto a panel having keyboard switches 54 which apply inputs to the microprocessor 43 so that the microprocessor will produce specific binary coded function command signals represen ⁇ tative of the function selected by a specific key.
• the keyboard switches of the portable controller would include a first switch for turning the entire system on and off, a second switch for turning the speakers in that room on and off, a third switch for controlling the volume of the speakers in the room in which the remote control is located, a fourth switch for turning the speakers in other rooms on and off, three additional switches for selecting between the tuner, phono, tape player and, additionally, any other additional switches for adding on additional tape players, etc.
• Additional switches could be provided for selecting FM radio stations utilizing the memory tuner, selecting different tracks on an eight track player or selecting records on an automatic turntable when the system is in a phono mode. Additionally, separate switches could be included for disposing the tape player into a play, stop, fast forward, rewind, reverse, play, pause and record mode and, additionally, any additional switches that may be deemed necessary or appropriate to form a particular command function.
• a room and house code selector 55 selects specific room codes and house codes to be utilized in the system and these specific room codes and house codes are detected as a first input of the micro ⁇ processor and the specific manually operated switch actuated by the user that is representative of a particular command signal is also detected by the microprocessor.
• the remote control remains in a stand-by mode and no command data signal is produced by the microprocessor 43.
• the remote control remains in a stand-by mode and no command data signal is produced by the microprocessor 43.
• the remote control remains in a stand-by mode and no command data signal is produced by the microprocessor 43.
• OMPI microprocessor 43 intergrates into a binary word a specific binary number representative of the specific switch that is actuated and. a specific binary number representative of a room code and house channel code. For example; room 3, house channel 10, command no. 1 (power on) would define three binary words and these binary words are then applied through a data signal injector 57 and line coupling transformer 49 to the AC common carrier transmission bus and are transmitted as an amplitude modulated signal on the AC bus.
• the binary word is amplitude modulated so that each binary "1" or "HIGH” binary pulse in the binary word is approximately a 700 micro-second duration pulse and each binary "zero" or "LOW” pulse in the binary word is represented by a pulse having a duration of approximately 400 micro-seconds.
• the command data signal is AC modulated and impressed upon the AC bus, it is applied through AC interface circuit 17' , which is identical to the AC interface 17, described with respect to the remote control 10.
• the main logic of the central control illustrated in Fig. 4, includes, therein, a central control microprocessor 62 that continuously monitors the AC common carrier transmission bus. Accordingly, the command data signal that has been amplitude modulated and transmitted. along the AC bus is applied to the interface circuit 17' and is transmitted through a line coupling transformer 49, level detector 50, ampli ⁇ bomb 51 and Schmidt trigger shaper 52 to AND gate 47 whereafter it is gated as a COMMAND DATA IN signal 63 to the microprocessor 62 in the same manner discussed above with respect to interface circuit 17.
• the central control microprocessor 62 compares the binary words with an internal set of binary words to assure that the central unit is set to the same house code stored in code selector 55. If not, the microprocessor ignores the entire word. However, if they are the same, a command will be executed by the microprocessor.
• the microprocessor 62 executes the command, the fol ⁇ lowing sequence occurs. First, the microprocessor 62 will transmit through line 63, the AC interface 17', AC bus 12 and interface 17 in the remote control unit, a command verification signal that is substantially the same binary word as the command signal. This verification command signal is transmitted through the line coup ⁇ ling transformer 49 of the AC interface circuit 17 and is ultimately clocked through the AND gate 47 to the remote control microprocessor
• a power on command signal would be transmitted by the microprocessor 43 through interface circuit 17 to the AC bus and would be decoded by the interface cirucit 17' and detected by the central control microprocessor 62. If the central control microprocessor 62 executes a power on control signal to thereby turn on some or all of the components in the remote control entertainment system, a command verification signal would also be transmitted through the interface circuit 17' and the AC bus to the remote control unit to thereby light up an LED that is positioned adjacent to the power on switch, thereby verifying to the person at the remote control that the central control 14 has, in fact, received the power on command and has executed that command. Accordingly, the instant invention is particularly characterized by remote control units that can transmit command signals to a central control unit and can verify that the specific command signals have been received and executed by a central control.
• the microprocessor 62 in the central control 14, executes a control command in response to being addressed by the remote control by either producing a plural ⁇ ity of room control signals or a plurality of function control signals.
• the function control signals include two address signals AO and Al, input-output ' signal I/O, a clock signal Cl and a read-write signal R/W.
• the function control signals are utilized to address the mode selector 30, memory tuner 33 and tape control 34, and are applied thereto by a function bus 66.
• the room control signals are applied along a room control bus 68 and includes three address signals BO, Bl and B2.
• a read- write signal 2/W2 is applied to both three room control circuits 21 and 22, which circuits are illustrated in detail in Fig. 5, and will be discussed in greater detail below.
• the room control bus 68 includes three address signals BO, Bl and B2.
• a read- write signal 2/W2 is applied to both three room control circuits 21 and 22, which circuits are illustrated in detail in Fig. 5,
• OMPI control signals applied on the room control bus 68 four room control signals, including a volume-up signal VTJ, a volume-down signal V- Q , applied on the room control bus, and a speaker on-off singal S Q and an all speaker signal S A are produced by the central control 14 and applied to the appropriate room control circuits 21 and 22.
• the function control signals produced by the microprocessor of the control circuit are transmitted on the function control bus 66, in order to enable a particular unit, such as the phono, tuner or tape player, to be selected.
• a predetermined binary address code is selected for each unit and is serially read and applied as a serial signal .1/0 to an address decoder and data enable circuit 70.
• the signal I/O is detected by the central control 14, to verify that the mode selector is coupled thereto.
• the address signals AO, Al and the clock signal together with the input-output signal enables the serial data which appears as the signal I/O to be decoded by the address decoder 70 and to be applied to a shift register 71 wherein the previous address code stored therein is indexed by a count of one and is stored therein until a new address code is applied thereto.
• the shift register 71 is therefore indexed by a count of one and will respectively energize, in sequence, either the low level signal phono relay 73a, the low level signal tuner relay 74a, the low level audio tape relay 75a or the auxiliary relay 76.
• the shift register cyclically indexes the respec ⁇ tive relays to thereby select ⁇ .
• the shift register 71 also coincidentally addresses the AC phono relay 73b, AC tuner relay 74b, AC tape relay 75b or AC auxiliary component relay 76b in order to assure that the specific component that is selected receives power from the power supply, and thereby assures that the specific component that is selected is not only turned ON but also that the remaining components are not energized.
• bypass circuit 73 is utilized when the tape player 27 or, alternatively, a secondary tape player that
• O is coupled to the auxiliary jack is recording audio fidelity signals produced by the phono or the FM tuner.
• the FM tuner has been selected by the shift register 71, and the tape player 27 is to be utilized to record the audio fidelity signals produced by the tuner 26, a manually actuated tape bypass switch 74 is actuated to thereby transmit a binary "1" signal through bypass OR gate 75 to the AC relay 75b of the tape player 27, to thereby energize the tape player and permit same to allow the tape player 27 to be disposed in a tape recording mode.
• auxiliary bypass switch 76 and OR gate 77 operate in the same manner to permit the auxiliary jack to be utilized with an additional tape player and permit the tape player to record the audio fidelity signals produced by the phono 25 or tuner 26.
• the shift register can be cycled to produce a remote record signal 78 through a remote record switch 79 in order to permit the AC tape relay 75b or AC AUX relay 76b to be selected by the remote control addressing the central control and thereby causing the central control to produce an appropriate remote record signal 78.
• AUX switch 81, tape switch 82, tuner switch 83 and phono switch 84 are each connected thorugh a function encoder 85 to thereby manually impress upon the input-output data line an input- output signal that is identical to the signals discussed above that are produced by the microprocessor 62.
• the room control circuit 21 includes three circuits (not shown) identical to the circuit illustrated in Fig. 5 and each circuit is coupled in parallel therewith.
• the microprocessor produces the address code signals BO, Bl and B2 and applies them on the room control bus 60 to an address decoder circuit 88 which circuit, in response thereto, applies room selector signals 89 to a room selector circuit 90.
• the room selector circuit 90 produces a first room selector signal 91, a second room selector signal 92 and a third room selector signal 93.
• the first room selector signal 91 is applied to a speaker control
• OMPI circuit in order to energize a speaker volume control circuit, generally indicated as 94.
• the second room selector signal 92 is applied to a speaker volume control circuit (not shown) for a second room and a third room selector signal 93 is applied to a speaker volume control circuit (not shown) for a third room in order to permit the speaker volume control to be effected in the second and/or third rooms in the identical manner that will be explained below with respect to the control of volume in the first room.
• Speaker volume control circuit 94 includes a volume-up AND gate 96 and a volume-down AND gate 97 which AND gates receive as a first input thereto the first room selector signal 91 produced by the room selector 90.
• a second input 98 is coupled to a high * level voltage contact H of a rotary potentiometer 99 that includes a rotary wiper 100 that is mechanically linked to a motor M.
• the lowest level voltage contact L of the potentiometer 99 is coupled to the second input of the volume-down AND gate 97.
• the third input of the volume-up AND gate 96 is the VOLUME UP signal Vg and the third input to the VOLUME DOWN AND gate 97 is the VOLUME DOWN signal V D .
• the outputs of both AND gates 9 " 6 and 97 are coupled to the motor M, which motor is, in turn, physically coupled to the wiper 103 of a volume control potentiometer 104.
• the volume control potentiometer 104 is coupled to a pair of speakers 105 which represent a pair of stereo speakers within the room. Accordingly, the operation of the speaker volume control circuit 72 is as follows. When the fist room selector signal 91 is a HIGH level signal, the first inputs 91 of AND gates 96 and 97 receive a HIGH LEVEL binary input. If the rotary wiper 100 of the potentiometer 99 is positioned at any contact other than H, a HIGH LEVEL signal 98 is applied to the second input of the AND gate 96.
• a LOW LEVEL signal is applied as the second input to AND gate 96, thereby inhibiting the transmission of the VOLUME UP signal V-g from being transmitted to the motor.
• a LOW LEVEL signal L is applied as the second input to AND gate 97 to thereby prevent the VOLUME DOWN signal V D from being transmitted through the AND gate to the motor M.
• manually operated VOLUME UP switch 108 and a manually controlled VOLUME DOWN switch 109 are also provided at the outputs of the AND gates 96 and 97 to permit manual adjustment of the volume control at the location of the room control circuit as well as at the remote control location.
• the central control circuit 14 also produces a speaker on-off signal S Q , which signal is applied to a speaker on-off decoder circuit 111.
• Decoder circuit 111 is coupled through a relay Kl to an on-off actuator for turning on the power by closing relay actuated switch Kl' to thereby permit the speaker to be selectively turned ON and OFF by the signal S Q produced by the microprocessor 43.
• the speakers 105 in a particular room can be turned off from the remote control unit when the remote control unit instructs the microprocessor 62 to produce signal S Q .
• the speakers can also be turned ON and OFF by a manually operated speaker-on switch 113 and a manually controlled speaker-off switch 114 from the room wherein the room control circuit is located.
• an LED 115 is coupled to the speaker on-off decoder to indicate at the room control circuit whether or not the speakers in each particular room were turned ON or turned OFF.
• an all speakers decoder circuit 116 is adapted to receive an all speaker signal S A produced by the microprocessor 62.
• a manually operated all speaker signal can be produced by manually operated all speaker switch 117 to thereby apply a positive all speaker signal to the first input of AND gates 96 and 97 in order to assure that all three pairs of the speakers are capable of being controlled at the same time in response to the VOLUME UP and VOLUME DOWN signals being respectively applied thereto.
• the instant invention permits the volume control caravan of the speakers in each and every room to be adjusted simultaneously or, alternatively, " permits each of the loudspeakers in each of the rooms to be independently adjusted by the remote controls.
• a simultaneous speaker circuit including a low level match ⁇ ing circuit 130 and a load protection circuit 131, illustrated in Fig. 7, must be utilized in order to permit simultaneous operation of more than two speakers.
• an additonal three room control circuit 22, that is a duplicate of the first three room control circuit 21 can be coupled to the central control and addressed and controlled in the same manner discussed above with respect to the room control circuit 22,.
• any combination of rooms up to six rooms to be selected and the volume control thereof remotely adjusted.
• Still a third room control circuit can be added to control nine rooms without exceeding the power requirements of most off-the-shelf components.
• the tape control circuit 34 is preferably included in an independent module and, as explained in detail below, permits remote control operation of any solenoid operated, logic controlled reel-to-reel, cassette or video tape recorder which is equipped with a remote control jack.
• the tape control circuit 34 includes an address decoder 120, which address decoder receives address signals AO and
• OMP Al from the microprocessor 62.
• Signals AO and Al, in combination with input-output data signal I/O and read-write signal R/W * are applied to control the respective functions selected thereby.
• the address decoder 120 disposes a function decoder 131 into a tape control mode whereby the function decoder can be indexed through a count of seven to thereby simultaneously generate a play control signal 122, fast forward signal 123, rewind signal 124, stop signal 125, play signal 126, pause signal 127 and record signal 128, which signals are respectively applied to play relay K ] _, fast forward relay K2, rewind relay K3, stop relay K4, play relay K5, pause relay Kg and ' record relay K7.
• the function decoder circuit will further return the signal I/O and the read-write signal R/W to ' the central control to thereby indicate to the central control the state of the function decoder and permit a verification signal to be transmitted to the remote control when the precise function is selected by the function decoder 121.
• the actuated relay coils K ⁇ through K7 of the tape control module represent the solenoid operated logic controlled terminals of a tape player equipped with a remote control jack and, accordingly, based there ⁇ on, the instant invention permits each of the tape recorder func ⁇ tions to be remotely selected.
• simultaneous speaker circuits comprised of a low level matching circuit and an amplifier protection circuit, are provided in order to permit the central control to energize speakers in more than two rooms at a time.
• the low level matching circuit 130 is coupled intermediate the mode selector and the amp-preamp in order to receive the low level output audio signals from the mode selector and effect low level matching thereof.
• the amplifier protection circuit 131 is coupled intermediate the amplifier 24 and detects the number of speakers turned on and automatically matches the speaker load to the ideal maximum amplifier power load, thereby assuring sufficient power to energize the speakers and further assuring that no damage to the amplifier-preamplifier occurs as a result of the driving of more than two pairs of speakers in a conventional stereo mode.
• the amplifier protection circuit 131 is energized by a 12 Volt signal produced by a step-down transformer (not shown) disposed between the central control and the amplifier protection circuit.
• the .12 Volt current signal is applied through line 150 to the speaker relays Kj of each of the room control circuits, which speaker relays are coupled in parallel.
• the 12 Volt current signal is applied through line 150 and powers the speaker relays K * ⁇ , in each room control circuit when speakers in any number of rooms, from one to six or more, are energized.
• a voltage drop resistor 151 is placed in series with the speaker line 150 in order to measure a predetermined voltage drop, as each of the speaker relays K ⁇ are actuated.
• a first comparator 152 is, therefore, biased by a potentiometer 153 to measure when the voltage drop across the resistor 151 drops below a first voltage level (such as 11 volts) . Specifically, when the comparator detects that the voltage drop across resistor 151 is above the first voltage level, an off signal is applied to relay 156 ⁇ _.
• relay switches 156-2 coupled to resistors 157L and 157-R, which resistors are respectively coupled in series with the hot leg of each left and right channel of the amplifier output and in series with the speaker load output.
• relay switches 1562 are normally closed, so that resistors 157*r_. and 157* ⁇ are short circuited.
• the relay coil 156 when the relay coil 156 is turned on by the comparator, in response to a drop in the voltage across resistor 151 below the first voltage level, the relay switches 1562 are opened thereby adding resistors 157- Q and 157 R in series with channel outputs of the same amplifier and speaker load. The output impedance of the amplifier is thereby increased and is protected from overloading.
• comparator 159 and potentiometer 160 are utilized to detect when the voltage drop across resistor 151 drops to a second level and, in response thereto, is adapted to turn on relay 158 * j_ to thereby open normally closed switches 1582 an ⁇ *** a ⁇ resistors 158-- and 158R into the circuit, thereby once again increasing the impedance load at the output of the left and right channels of the amplifier.
• the load protection circuit measures when speakers in zero to two rooms are being simultaneously driven, when loudspeakers in three to five rooms are being simul ⁇ taneously driven and when six or more rooms are being simultaneously driven and, in response thereto, assures that for each of these conditions, the impedance load at the audio output of the amplifier is increased and that sufficient power to energize the speakers is provided and, further, that no damage to the amplifier-preamplifier occurs as a result of the driving of more than two pairs of loudspeakers.
• the outputs 161 and 162 of comparators 152 and 159 are applied to a status decoder 163, which decoder energizes LED 164 when zero to two rooms of loudspeakers are energized, LED
• Potentiometer circuit 130 Also coupled to the status decoder is low level matching circuit 130. It is noted that potentiometer 176 is commonly coupled to the LED 164, potentiometer 168 is commonly coupled to LED 165 and potentiometer 169 is commonly coupled to LED 166. Potentiometer circuits 167, 168 and 169 select three distinct voltage levels and are coupled through a summing diode (not shown) to a first input of an operational amplifier 170. The second input 171 of the opera ⁇ tional amplifier 170 is the low level audio signal produced by the mode selector, and the output 172 of the operational amplifier is
• OMPI a low level audio signal that is applied to the amp-preamp of the remote control entertainment system.
• the matching circuit assures that the entire system is appropriately balanced by attenuating.the low level audio signal produced at the output of the mode selector circuit when an additional number of speakers is added to the circuit.
• the three potentiometer circuits, 167, 168 and 169 select three distinct levels and reference the first input of the operational amplifier to one of these three levels in response to zero to two rooms of loudspeakers being energized, three to five rooms of loudspeakers being energized or six or more rooms of loudspeakers being energized and automatically assures that the gain of the operational ampli ⁇ fier 17-.0 and, hence, the level of the audio signals produced at the output thereof are appropriately attenuated.
• the instant invention provides a simultaneous speaker circuit includ ⁇ ing an amplifier protection circuit 131 and a low level matching circuit 130 to thereby permit a conventional amplifier-preampli ⁇ fier that is normally utilized with only two loudspeakers to simultaneously drive pairs of loudspeakers in more than two rooms without imbalancing the low level audio signals of the system and furthermore without overloading the output of the amplifier-pre ⁇ amplifier power circuits.
• a memory tuner 33 of the instant invention is adapted to receive signals produced on the function signal bus 66 and, additionally, is adapted to be coupled to an off-the-shelf FM tuner 26 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 8.
• the address signals AO and Al are applied to the address decoder circuit 139 which is, in turn, coupled to a station select and home decoder circuit 140 which includes a counter that is serially indexed through a count of .5 in response to each I/O pulse applied thereto.
• the station s.elect and home decoder is reset to the initial count (1) thereof.
• the station select and home decoder will be indexed by a count of one.
• Manually operated switches 142a through 142e permit each of the five counts of the station select and reset decoder to be manually selected at the location of the memory tuner.
• Each of the five counts of the station select and reset decoder are applied to a digital tuner 182 having a digital display 183.
• the five LED's, 141a through 141 are coupled to the respective outputs of the station select and reset decoder for indicating which of the five preset conditions have been selected by the station select and reset decoder.
• the digital tuner is a conventional preset digital tuner and includes five memories for permitting five distinct preset radio frequencies to be stored therein and, in response to each of the frequencies stored therein being selected, the specific frequency is displayed by digital display digits 183, each disposed in a conventional seven digit numerical display orientation.
• digital tuners having digital dipslays which permit specific frequencies to be stored therein, are known in the art and, accordingly, no further discussion with respect thereto is con ⁇ tained herein.
• the digital tuner 182 applies a tuning signal 141 to a Varactor tuner 185, which tuner is coupled to an FM antenna 184 to thereby produce a tuning signal 144.
• Tuning signal 144 is applied through a mixer 145 and is combined with a carrier signal 147 produced by a local oscillator 146 and is applied to the FM antenna jack of the FM tuner 26, to override the tuning mechanism thereof.
• the memory tuner circuit illustrated in Fig.
• a conventional FM tuner permits a conventional FM tuner to be utilized in combination with the memory tuner and central control and to be turned on and off by remote control 10 and, additionally, in response to the actuation of a button on the remote control, to select one of five preset stations stored in the digital tuner with the additional feature that the station select and reset decoder will always return to a predeterm ⁇ ined count if the station select button on the remote control is actuated for more than two seconds to thereby permit the person at the remote control location to always be able to return to a home or reference point.
• the instant invention is particularly char ⁇ acterized by a central control that can be addressed from a remote control along a common carrtier transmission bus by selectively coupling the remote control to any outlet of the common carrier transmission bus and in combination with the specific components of the system, such as the room control circuits, gate control cir ⁇ cuits, mode selector circuits, memory tuner circuit and simulta ⁇ neous speaker circuit, permit remote control of conventional off- the-shelf audio components.
• the room control circuits gate control cir ⁇ cuits, mode selector circuits, memory tuner circuit and simulta ⁇ neous speaker circuit
• a digital tuning circuit for tuning a television whereby the Varactor tuner produces a singal that is applied to the antenna jack of the television, can be utilized to remotely tune and control a tele ⁇ vision in the same manner that such control is provided to an FM tuner.
• a television could be coupled to an auxiliary jack and be switched in and out of the system in the same manner discussed above with respect to the memory tuner.
• the description of the instant invention refers to a microprocessor circuit 43 in the remote control and a second microprocessor circuit 62 in the central control, which microprocessors are conventional dedicated program ⁇ mable circui.t chips that are fabricated by and manufactured by instructing the manufacturer, or persons of ordinary skill in the art to design the chip to produce signals of the type disclosed herein.
• both of the microprocessors of the instant invention could be replaced by a conventional hard wired digital logic system for producing the signals however the size of the respective central control and remote control would be increased thereby.
• the instant invention is particularly suitable for use with a common carrier transmission bus such as a conventional 110-120 VAC voltage line utilized to energize a building, house or any other structure.
• a common carrier transmission bus such as a conventional 110-120 VAC voltage line utilized to energize a building, house or any other structure.
• communication carrier transmission bus could also refer to an RF transmitter and receiver that would impress an RF binary coded signal of the type discussed above into
• O transceivers in both the remote control and central control would also avoid any permanent hard wired connections between the transmitter and the receiver and would further permit the remote control units to be readily utilized in any room in a building.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Selective Calling Equipment (AREA)

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• 1981
  • 1981-06-12 EP EP19810901953 patent/EP0053180A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1981-06-12 WO PCT/US1981/000803 patent/WO1981003713A1/en unknown

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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