GB2312306A

GB2312306A - Remote control of electrical devices

Info

Publication number: GB2312306A
Application number: GB9707740A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Simon Andrew Quinn Jacobs
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-04-17
Filing date: 1997-04-17
Publication date: 1997-10-22
Also published as: GB9607900D0; GB9707740D0

Abstract

Electrical devices 14 are controlled using the medium of a conventional radio paging system dialled up from an MF tone telephone over the public telephone network. A simple code sequence is received by a radio pager receiver 10, checked for validity and decoded by an interface decoder and timer circuit 12, and used to operate a selected electrical device 14 via a relay switch 16. The system may also be used to control a programmable device such as a video tape recorder 18 via an infra-red remote control 20.

Description

"Remote Control of Electrical Devices" This invention relates to the remote control of electrical devices making use of radio paging systems.

The invention is particularly, but not exclusively, intended for use in controlling domestic electrical appliances such as a video cassette recorder.

Radio paging systems have been known for some time and national paging systems are commercially available, a typical radio pager being a small portable device for receiving and displaying messages.

Previously, the usage of national paging systems has been confined to the business community due to high ongoing rental costs. However, more recently new products have become available which allow people to purchase pagers, with national coverage, at a one off price and with no further monthly charges. This has effectively opened up the pager market to allow all sectors of the community to participate.

The present invention builds upon the availability of cheap, nationwide paging systems to provide a novel control arrangement of particular interest to domestic users.

Systems are already known which allow the remote control of electrical devices over the telephone network from an MF tone telephone, but such systems require each device under control to be permanently connected to either a fixed or a mobile cellular telephone circuit. Pager systems currently available allow only the transmission of brief messages for display and information purposes.

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a radio pager adapted to control operation of an electrical device in response to a message signal paged to the receiver.

The message signal may be paged by means of an MF tone telephone.

According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a control system for controlling operation of an electrical device by means of a signal paged to a radio pager receiver comprising means for interpreting a message signal paged to the radio pager receiver and means for controlling the operation of the electrical device in response to the interpreted message.

The control system may include the radio pager receiver.

According to a third aspect, the present invention provides a system comprising at least one remotely controllable electrical device and an associated control system in accordance with the second aspect of the invention.

The system may have a single radio pager receiver arranged to control a plurality of electrical devices.

The system may include one or more of the following elements: (a) an interface between the radio pager and the electrical device; (b) a decoder; (c) a timer; (d) a relay switch between the radio pager receiver and the electrical device; and (e) a remote control unit for the electrical devices, operable by the radio pager receiver.

The electrical device may be a video tape recorder; it may be an infra-red video tape recorder.

The message signal may comprise a Video Plus Code for programming a controller of the video tape recorder.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a schematic block diagram of one form of control system in accordance with the invention.

The system of Fig. 1 comprises a radio pager receiver 10 and an interface decoder and timer circuit 12. The radio pager receiver 10 is of standard type for receiving signals over a selected pager network according to existing protocols, but is adapted to pass signals to the interface decoder timer circuit 12, which may suitably be done by directly transferring the drive signals for the conventional liquid crystal display of the pager receiver 10.

The interface decoder and timer circuit 12 examines the format and content of the pager message received and checks that the message contains the correct PIN code for security. Valid messages are then decoded and control signals are generated as determined by the message. The circuit 12 also includes a real time timer, and the received message may contain information which can be used to programme the timer.

The received and decoded message is then used to control one or more selected devices, either directly or via the timer.

As seen in the drawing, the system may include a number of electrical devices 14a to 14n each of which is switched on or off by a respective relay switch 16a to 16n under the control of the interface decoder timer circuit 12.

The system may alternatively, or additionally, control a video tape recorder 18 via an infra-red remote control 20 which in turn is controlled by the interface decoder and timer circuit 12. Preferably, the remote control 20 is of a type compatible with the VIDEOplus+ (trade mark) system.

Controlling signals can be sent to the system by using an MF tone telephone and the selected national paging system. A typical message pager system allows for the transmission of messages of at least 20 characters and can allow any of the following characters to be used: O to 9, "U", " , " " , "[" and "j" For the direct control of up to ten relay switches a suitable signal has the general format: "]XXXXyzyzyz..." where the first character is "]", which identifies the message as a direct switch control sequence. The next four characters "XXXX" are an optional personal identification number (PIN) for security. Pairs of "yz" are then used to control individual switches, where "y" is the switch indication number 0 to 9 and "z" is either 0 for off or 1 for on.

For example the message "]4321415031", "]" is the identifier, "4321" is the PIN, and switches 4 and 3 are switched on and 5 is switched off.

This system can be extended in order to allow the control of more than 10 switches.

For programming the timer, the general format is: " XXXXNyyyyZZZZww" where the first character " ", that is a space, identifies the message as programming the timer. The next four characters "XXXX" are an optional personal identification number (PIN) for security. The next character "N" is the switch indication number 0 to 9.

The next four characters "yyyy" is the start (on) time in 24 hour time. The next four characters "ZZZZ" is the end (off) time in 24 hour time, or may indicate a time duration. The final characters "ww" are optional, and represent possible extra parameters.

For example the message "~4321507301515", " " is the identifier, "4321" is the PIN, and switch 5 is switched on at 07:30 and off at 15:15.

For programming the video tape recorder controller, the general format is: "-XXXXyyyy..." where the first character is "-", that is a hyphen, and identifies the message as a VIDEOplus Code. The next four characters "XXXX" are an optional Personal Identification Number (PIN) for security. The next character sequence "yyyy..." is the VIDEOplus Code.

For example for the message "-43219673521", "-" is the identifier "4321" is the PIN, and "9673521" is the VIDEOplus Code.

For all of the three cases given above, the first character has been chosen as "]", " " or "-" since these characters are unlikely to be used as the first character of a normal pager numeric message. The system would ignore messages which do not confirm to valid formats. Where the pager network and receiver allow for the transmission of longer messages, these formats can easily be combined into one pager message so that one phone message can be used to control many devices.

The system of the foregoing is ample as many potential applications, including signal and control systems.

Potential home automation applications include domestic appliances, central heating, security systems, oven, lights and garden sprinklers. The system can also be connected to a suitably configured computer interface, which would allow the system to control a computer programme or macro. The relay switches 16 described above could be either electro-mechanical relays or semiconductor switches. The system may be used to control a satellite television receiver via an infrared remote control, in a similar manner to the video control described.

The invention thus provides a means of controlling one or more devices from a single telephone call, without the devices having to be directly or indirectly connected to each other.

The embodiment described above operates as a master control system, with one pager receiver and interface controlling a number of peripheral switched devices.

The invention could also be implemented in the form of a number of individual controllers, each device to be controlled having its own pager receiver and interface configured to receive and decode the same pager message. Each device would then have its pager interface programmed to respond to different pager messages, using an encoding scheme similar to that already described. Thus such devices can be controlled without the need for them to either be physically situated near each other, or be connected to each other. A conventional display radio pager receiver configured to receive, decode and respond to the same pager message as the system can be carried by the user.

This will give some degree of confirmation that the correct message has actually been sent. It can also be used as a pager for receiving conventional messages.

Claims

1. A radio pager receiver adapted to control operation of an electrical device in response to a message signal paged to the receiver.

2. A control system for controlling operation of an electrical device by means of a signal paged to a radio pager receiver, the system comprising means for interpreting a message signal paged to the radio pager receiver and means for controlling the operation of the electrical device in response to the interpreted message.

3. The control system of claim 2, including a radio pager receiver.

4. A system comprising at least one remotely controllable electrical device and an associated control system in accordance with claim 2 or claim 3.

5. The system of claim 4, comprising a single radio pager receiver arranged to control a plurality of electrical devices.

6. The system of claim 5, including one or more of the following elements: (a) an interface between the radio pager and the electrical device; (b) a decoder; (c) a timer; (d) a relay switch between the radio pager receiver and the electrical device; and (e) a remote control unit for the electrical devices, operable by the radio pager receiver.

7. The system of claim 6, in which the electrical device is a video tape recorder.

8. The system of claim 7, in which the video tape recorder is an infra-red video tape recorder.

9. The system of claim 8, adapted to respond to a message signal which comprises a VIDEOplus (TM) Code for programming a controller of the video tape recorder.

10. A radio pager receiver substantially as herein described with reference to the drawing.

11. A control system as claimed in claim 2 and substantially as herein described with reference to the drawing.

12. A system as claimed in claim 4 and substantially as herein described with reference to the drawing.