FR2842636A1 - METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING ORDERS BETWEEN A TRANSMITTER AND A RECEIVER - Google Patents

Abstract

The method of transmitting orders between a transmitter and a receiver acting on equipment capable of carrying out commands associated with the orders, comprises a step of transmitting at least one order by the transmitter, the orders succeeding each other in a frame or in several frames. It is characterized in that at least certain orders is associated with a marker emitted by the transmitter and intended to link, by logical and / or conditional and / or temporal relations, the orders associated with these orders.

Description

The present invention relates to a method for transmitting orders between

  a transmitter of orders and a receiver of orders acting on an equipment able to carry out orders associated with the orders, comprising a step of emission of at least one order by the transmitter of orders, the orders succeeding one another

one frame or in several frames.

  Such a method of transmitting orders relates for example to transmitters of orders and receivers of orders operating on the same communication network and used for technical management and comfort management in a residential building or in a

commercial building.

  A first problem encountered with prior art order receiving devices, as described in application EP 0 521 818, concerns the

  purely sequential behavior of these devices.

  Thus, any new command is made after the previous command so that it is impossible to execute commands in parallel on the same

order receiver.

  A second problem encountered concerns the scalability of products. When a command receiver is designed, provision is made to make it recognize and execute certain commands. Very often, we realize, after analysis of user behavior, that it would be wise to provide the receiver with new commands. However, it is too late to install these on already installed products and it is expensive to install these in the form of modified software modules in the new products manufactured. One possible solution to this type of problem is to download new software modules to the order receiver, as described for others.

  applications in US patent 5,787,288.

  A third problem apparently unrelated to the previous concerns the case of remote controls where it is not the pressing of the command key which causes the command, but the duration of this pressing which makes it possible to discriminate a first command from a second ordered. In the known case of the control of roller blinds or of the control of automotive windows, a short pulse is interpreted as a command to move rapidly to the extreme position, while a sustained pulse is interpreted as a command to move slowly as long as the key is kept pressed. If the discriminating value short press / sustained press is fixed at 0.3 seconds, it is only after this duration that the

  command can be issued by the order issuer.

  Thus, the total reaction time can turn out to be much higher than this value. In fact, even when permanently installed, the order-receiving devices can be supplied autonomously, for example with electric batteries. The problem is to reduce the consumption of the receiver. To this end, processes have been devised for periodically sleeping the

  receiver, as described in US Patent 5,134,347.

  For example, the receiver wakes up every 500 ms and goes back to sleep mode if it does not observe any transmission. Consequently, the transmitter of orders must emit a signal called "wake up frame" which lasts at least

  500 ms so that it is received by a receiver.

  The actual control signal then follows this

wake up frame.

  Thus, when such methods are applied to the control of an autonomous receiver by a remote control discriminating orders corresponding to a short press and orders corresponding to a sustained press, it may be necessary to wait for more than 800 ms before either send the order, resulting in a very clearly perceptible reaction time and the impression

  possible malfunction of the ordered product.

  From US application 2001/0010503, a method is known for implementing "macro-commands" on a universal remote control. This process includes a

  learning phase of a succession of commands.

  This sequence of commands is then restored identically when the execution key is pressed

of the macro command.

  From US Patent 6,208,341, a method and a device are known which likewise make it possible to record a succession of commands with the possibility of inserting adjustable time intervals between two

  commands issued when the macro command is returned.

  These last two methods make it possible to solve the problem of the scalability of the products. However, two problems persist. Indeed, the execution of commands is always sequential and there is always a dead time linked to the interpretation of. the will of the user of a remote control commander

  the functioning of an autonomous device.

  The object of the invention is to provide a method which overcomes these drawbacks. In particular, the invention proposes to provide a method for transmitting orders allowing the controlled electrical equipment to perform actions in parallel and making it possible to reduce the dead time linked to the interpretation of the user's will. a remote control controlling the operation of an autonomous device. Another object of the invention is to provide a device allowing the implementation of a

such process.

  The method of transmitting orders according to the invention is characterized in that each marker or at least certain orders is associated with a marker emitted by the transmitter of orders and intended to link, by logical relationships and / or conditional and / or

  the orders associated with these orders.

  The method may include a prior step of recording in a memory of the command transmitter a logical and / or temporal sequence of control commands associated with a manipulation of the command transmitter. The marker (s) may be coded on at least

two bits.

  The installation allowing the implementation of such a method comprises an order transmitter comprising a logic processing unit connected to order transmission means, a memory and an input means, and a receiver '' orders comprising a logic processing unit connected to order reception means, to a memory and driving an actuator

acting on equipment.

  The accompanying drawing shows, by way of example, an embodiment of the order transmission method

according to the invention.

  Figure 1 is a diagram of the device for the

  implementation of the method according to the invention.

  Figure 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment

  of the transmission method according to the invention.

  FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the method applied to

  control of a ventilation cycle.

  The set of orders EO, RO orders and equipment 15 shown in Figure 1 allows the execution of the order transmission method according to the invention. The RO command receiver contains a radio frequency transmitter-receiver 12 connected to an antenna-type coupling device 11 on the one hand, and to a processing unit 13 of the type

  microprocessor or microcontroller, on the other hand.

  This processing unit 13 controls an actuator 14

  whose power supply is not shown.

  The actuator 14 acts on equipment 15 such as a blind, a door, a shutter, a heating radiator or an air conditioning or lighting device. Although the processing unit 13 is preferably a microcontroller, which integrates a memory area, a memory 16 is shown here, separately intended to contain inter alia a

  order management and execution program.

  The EO order transmitter comprises an antenna 21, a radio frequency transceiver 22, a processing unit 23 of the microcontroller type, a means of

  keyboard type input 24 and memory 25.

  Bidirectional communication, represented by arrow 1, between the EO order transmitter and the receiver

  RO orders are made by electromagnetic waves.

  The invention is based on the introduction, within the transmission frame of an order, of markers, coded on at least two bits and each associated with an order, the function of which is to indicate to the receiver which the logical and / or temporal relationships between

the orders transmitted.

  These markers have two bits and the table

  associated truth is given in table 1.

Table 1

  Behavior Bit 1 Bit 0 Single command 0 0 Next command to be executed in

O 1

  series Next command to be executed in

1 O

  parallel End of command group i 1 An order transmission frame the transmitter of orders to the contains at least: - a CMD order,

- a MAK marker.

  Transmitted receiver from orders In general, the order transmission frame also contains elements of identification of the receiver (s) of orders receiving the order, and of identification and / or authentication of

the issuer of orders.

  When performing, as shown in FIG. 2, an action A1, consisting for example of pressing a button on the keyboard 24 of the EO command transmitter and corresponding to a series of commands called macro5 command, a program 110 is activated. This program searches the memory 25 of the command transmitter EO for the command commands CMDa to CMDn constituting the macro-command as well as the markers MAKa to MAKn associated with the command commands. Each command order CMDa to CMDn and the marker MAKa to MAKn which is associated with it is then transmitted in a frame by the transmitter of orders EO to the receiver of orders RO. Each frame received by the command receiver is analyzed by a program 201. This program 201 stores the command order and the marker in memory and tests the marker so as to determine whether or not to activate a management program 210

and fulfillment of orders.

  For example, in FIG. 3 is shown the flow diagram of the method according to the invention allowing a ventilation cycle of a room equipped with a fan installed in a ventilation duct and associated with shutters allowing the opening and the

duct closure.

  The action A2 on the key of the transmitter of orders EO corresponding to a short ventilation cycle has the effect of activating the program 110 which searches in memory the command orders CMD1, CMD2 and CMD3 which constitute this macro-command and the markers MAK1, MAK2 and MAK3 associated therewith. It then allows the sending of these orders and these markers from the order transmitter to the order receiver. The command associated with the CMD1 command corresponds to 100% opening of the ventilation duct, the command associated with the CMD2 command corresponds to the activation of the fan for 10 minutes and the command associated with the CMD3 command corresponds to closing the ventilation duct. When the command receiver receives the first frame containing the command order CMD1 and the marker MAK1, the program 201 stores this order and this marker in memory. The program 201 further tests the value of the marker MAK1 and deduces therefrom that a command will be to be carried out after the command associated with the command CMD1. The command receiver then receives a second frame containing the command CMD2 and the marker MAK2. Program 201 stores this order and this marker in memory. It further tests the value of the MAK2 marker and deduces therefrom that an order will have to be made after the order associated with the order CMD2. The command receiver then receives a third frame containing the command CMD3 and the marker MAK3. Program 201 stores this order and this marker in memory. It also tests the value of the MAK3 marker and deduces that the command associated with the CMD3 command is the last command of the macro-command. Consequently, the command management and execution program 210 is activated. It searches the memory for previously saved control commands and causes the ventilation duct to open 100%, then activate the fan for 10 minutes and finally close the ventilation duct. Depending on the transmission rate, it can be envisaged either as previously described an embodiment where the frames are all stacked, without start of execution, during a burst transmission, the control orders then being analyzed and executed by a task manager program, again an embodiment in which the first command received immediately gives rise to a start

execution.

  Likewise, all of the command orders constituting a macro-command can be sent in a single frame. When two commands are to be executed in parallel, the command associated with the first order received can be executed immediately or be saved in memory in order to be executed synchronously with the

  command associated with the second order received.

  For example, commands with parallel execution can be applied to the operation of a Venetian blind. A first order would result in the deployment of the blind and a second order would result in the orientation of the slats. The execution of these commands in parallel rather than in series considerably modifies the visual repercussions of activation which requires a certain time of execution. Regarding the reaction time of the products, we understand the use that can be made of orders accompanied by a marker indicating a serial execution. In fact, the example cited of the slow / fast ascent (or orientation) command depending on the duration of the support clearly shows that in both cases, the action is to be taken in the same direction, but with different speeds. The important thing for the user is that the ordered product begins to react as soon as possible. We can therefore foresee that when pressing a key on the keyboard of an order transmitter, for example the Up key, this transmitter immediately causes the sending of a command code corresponding to the slow rise, accompanied by the marker with the value 01 and indicating that the following command must be executed in series. As soon as the key is released, the command transmitter determines whether it was a short press or not. In the first case, it immediately issues a command code corresponding to the rapid climb to the end of the race, accompanied by an end of group marker with the value 11 and indicating that it is only there will be no order

next.

  In a preferred form, the method uses a three-bit behavior marker, the table of which

truth is given in table 2.

Table 2

  Instruction Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0 End of macro-program 0 0 0 Immediate execution O O 1 Parallel execution & ET function O 1 0 Parallel execution & OR function O 1 1 Parallel execution & Function 0

NO AND

  Test 1 0 1 Jump 1 1 0 Timeout 1 1 1 Eight behavior instructions can thus be associated with each command, which is enough to create

  a programming language integrated into the frame.

  Such a communication protocol thus saves the possibility of giving afterwards advanced and new apparent functionalities to a product, when these are in fact implanted in the transmitter.

orders.

  The choice of coding is of course arbitrary and the programming logic can be chosen in various ways provided that it comprises at least two association functions and a complement function.

  and at least one test and connection instruction.

  In addition, the EO command receiver may contain a

  success indicator of command execution.

  This indicator, noted SUCS is in an active state (1) if the command could be executed. Thus, when a marker takes the value 000, it indicates to the command receiver that the macro-command is finished. The order management and execution program must then be launched. In the event that the order issuer issues a single command, it

is accompanied by the marker 000.

  When a marker takes the value 001, it indicates to the command receiver that the command associated with the received command can be executed in series with the other commands. For example, if you simply want to execute several commands in series, as in the previous example with the 2-bit marker, each command will be accompanied by a marker having 001 as value and the last command order will be

  accompanied by a marker having the value 000.

  When a marker takes the value 010, it indicates to the command receiver that the command associated with the received command can be executed in parallel with the following command. In addition, the execution results of each

  command are combined according to a logical AND.

  The final SUCS indicator is only active if each of the

  orders was successfully completed.

  When a marker takes the value 011, it indicates to the command receiver that the command associated with the received command can be executed in parallel with the following command. In addition, the execution results of each command are combined according to a logical OR. The final SUCS indicator is active if either

  of orders has been successfully completed.

  When a marker takes the value 100, it indicates to the order receiver that the command associated with the received command can be executed in parallel with the following command. In addition, the result of execution of this command is reversed before being combined according to an AND

  logic with the result of the following command.

  The final SUCS indicator is only active if the first command could not be carried out and if the second

  order was successfully completed.

  When a marker takes the value 101, it indicates to the command receiver that the state of the success indicator SUCS must be tested after the execution of the command. The following command is executed if the SUCS flag is active, otherwise it is the second

  next command that is executed.

  When a marker takes the value 110, it indicates to the command receiver a particular jump command in the execution of the commands. The relative value of

  jump then replaces the command code.

  When a marker takes the value 111, it indicates to the command receiver a particular delay command in the execution of the commands. The timeout value then replaces the command code. An example shows how an advanced order can be issued to capable or

not to execute it as such.

  The product ordered is a Venetian blind that recognizes in particular the commands - lowering: DWN - horizontal positioning of the slats

Tilth.

  Some products have kinematics allowing them to execute these commands in parallel, other products can only realize them in series, by first performing the descent, then

  secondly the orientation of the blades.

  We create, as shown in Table 3, in the order transmitter, a DNTH macro-command of

  descent with the blades oriented horizontally.

  Table 3 frame sent marker command

1 TILTH 010

2 DWN 101

3 +3 110

4 DWN 001

TILTH 001

6 NOP 000

  When the user presses the key of the command transmitter corresponding to this DNTH macro-command, the command receiver stacks in memory the sequence of command commands and then starts execution. He recognizes that the first two commands for horizontal positioning of the TILTH blades and DWN descent must be executed in parallel. If the order receiver orders a Venetian blind allowing the execution of these two orders in parallel, it starts the execution and the success indicator SUCS goes to the active state after the execution of these commands. This is followed by a jump to the end

macro command.

  If, on the other hand, the order receiver controls a Venetian blind that does not allow the execution of these two orders in parallel, it immediately sets the success indicator SUCS to 0. The DWN descent and positioning commands horizontal

  TILTH blades are then executed one after the other.

  It is clear that other logical and conditional operators such as NOT AND or NOT OR operators, could be used provided that they make it possible to generate all the logical functions by

  application of rules known to those skilled in the art.

  The transmitters and receivers of orders described above use wireless communication by radio frequencies and of bidirectional nature, but the invention can also be applied to devices with

one-way communication.

  It should be noted that communication can still take place via a wired bus type connection.

or of the carrier current type.

  The same order receiver can communicate with one or more order issuers and the same order transmitter can communicate with one or more

order receivers.

  Thanks to such a process, it is possible to create new functionalities on the products ordered by acting on the only transmitter of orders whose programming or changing is much easier than that of the

product installed.

  An advantage of the method is that only one authentication operation is necessary

  before or after the transmission of the command group.

  This saves processing time, but

  also and above all to limit traffic on the network.

Claims (4)

claims   1. Method for transmitting orders between a transmitter of orders (EO) and a receiver of orders (RO) acting on an equipment (15) capable of carrying out commands associated with the orders, comprising a step of transmitting at least one order by the order issuer (EO), the orders succeeding in one frame or in several frames, characterized in that at least certain orders are associated with a marker issued by the order issuer ( EO) and intended to link, by logical and / or conditional and / or temporal relationships,   the orders associated with these orders.   2. Method for transmitting orders according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a prior step of recording in a memory (25) of the order transmitter (EO) of a logical sequence and / or time of control orders associated with manipulation of the transmitter of orders (EO).   3. Method of transmitting orders according to one of   claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the or   the markers are coded on at least two bits.   4. Installation for implementing the process   according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized   in that it comprises an order transmitter (EO) comprising a logic processing unit (23) connected to order transmission means (21, 22), to a memory (25) and to a means of input (24), and an order receiver (RO) comprising a logic processing unit (13) connected to order reception means (11, 12), to a memory (16) and driving an actuator (14 ) acting on a equipment (15).