GB2416249A

GB2416249A - Parasitic wireless transceiver module

Info

Publication number: GB2416249A
Application number: GB0415564A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Russell John Haines
Original assignee: Toshiba Research Europe Ltd
Current assignee: Toshiba Europe Ltd
Priority date: 2004-07-12
Filing date: 2004-07-12
Publication date: 2006-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 2024-07-12
Also published as: GB2416249B; GB0415564D0

Abstract

The present invention relates to wireless networking, particularly but not exclusively for home entertainment equipment. In general terms the present invention provides a wireless transceiver module 10 for home entertainment equipment 1 which draws power parasitically from the same mains power source 3 serving the equipment 1, without the need for separate power cabling and plugs or sockets. This reduces the size of the combined wireless transceiver 10 and home entertainment equipment 1 arrangement, such compactness being important in home entertainment systems 1.

Description

24 1 6249 Parasitic Wireless Transceiver Module

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to wireless networking, particularly but not exclusively for home entertainment equipment.

Background of the Invention

Wireless networking is becoming increasingly popular as a way of minimising cabling requirements and maximising the portability and flexibility of a networked system.

Various applications exist, including wireless networking for home entertainment equipment such as hi-fi and home cinema systems. Such systems include various "centralized" components such as CD or MP3 players, DVD or video players, satellite, cable or terrestrial wireless set-top boxes, as well as other equipment such as TV sets or other display equipment such as plasma screens, speakers, remote control units and computer systems. Various connections between these components is required in order for the system to operate properly. Traditionally this has been achieved using cabling and infra-red (JR) beam links for remote controllers.

By integrating a wireless network into such a home entertainment system, the level of cabling required is reduced, and the system itself may be vastly expanded, for example extending into multiple rooms throughout a home. The lack of cables also leads to increased flexibility and cabling is not required to be re-installed with each re-location of certain system components.

Figure I illustrates a home entertainment system using a number of wirelessly coupled home entertainment equipment 1 as shown. A wirelessenabled home entertainment equipment such as an amplifier which is part of the larger home entertainment system of figure 1 is illustrated in figure 2. The home entertainment equipment I is connected via audio or other connectors 6 to a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver module or terminal 2. The module 2 interfaces with the WLAN of the home entertainment system in order to receive for example streams of music from a CD player, and/or to send streams of audio to speakers or other components of the system.

The equipment 1 and transceiver module 2 are typically mains powered via a mains cable 5 to mains sockets 3.

A problem with WLAN based home entertainment systems however is that each item of equipment 1 requires its own wireless terminal 2, which encroaches on household space and reduces the aesthetic appeal of the system

Summary of the Invention

In general terms the present invention provides a wireless transceiver module for home entertainment equipment which draws power parasitically from the same mains power source serving the equipment, without the need for separate power cabling and plugs or sockets. This reduces the size of the combined wireless transceiver and home entertainment equipment arrangement, such compactness being important in home entertainment systems.

A further advantage is that the addition of WLAN functionality does not consume twice as many mains sockets; a valuable advantage as most homes are already struggling to find enough sockets for all of today's accoutrements. It also makes connecting the transceiver to the home entertainment equipment more logical and easier for the user, an important consideration as technology's rate of change outstrips the learning curve of the average user.

The term parasitic refers to the wireless transceiver module being able to draw mains sourced electrical power from the home entertainment equipment. This may be achieved in a number of ways, for example via a direct electrical connection with the equipment power cable and plug using for example an extension mains plug and socket; or inductively using one of the home entertainment equipment's mains power lead phase or neutral wires.

In particular in one aspect the present invention provides a wireless terminal for a home entertainment equipment, the terminal having an integral wireless transceiver module and power supply module, the power supply module arranged to receive mains sourced electrical power from the same electrical mains plug and cable as the equipment; the terminal further comprising data connectors for transferring data between the wireless transceiver module and the equipment.

In one embodiment, the power supply module comprises plug connectors adapted for connection to a mains power electrical socket, and a mains power electrical socket which is electrically coupled to the plug connectors and for coupling to an item of home entertainment equipment.

In another embodiment the power supply module comprises an inductive power supply unit adapted to inductively receive electrical power from the electrical power cable of the home entertainment equipment when placed in close proximity to said cable.

Preferably the unit engages with the cable, the engagement preferably comprising encircling a single phase lead of the cable.

Preferably the engagement comprises winding the single phase lead around an iron- based core within the engagement.

By eliminating the need for additional mains connectors, the embodiments achieve a high level of compactness which is highly desirable to users in the home entertainment market. This compactness is further enhanced when using integral mains and data connectors between the WEAN module and the home entertainment equipment.

In particular in another aspect the present invention provides a one piece electrical plug having plug connectors adapted for connection to a mains power electrical socket, the plug comprising: a wireless transceiver module for communicating wirelessly with other wireless transceivers in a wireless local area network; a mains power electrical socket which is electrically coupled to the plug connectors and for coupling to a home entertainment equipment; second connectors for transferring data between the wireless transceiver and said equipment.

Preferably said home entertainment equipment is one of the following: him equipment; television; home cinema equipment; computer.

In particular in another aspect the present invention provides a wireless terminal for a home entertainment equipment, the terminal comprising: a wireless transceiver module for communicating wirelessly with other wireless transceivers in a wireless local area network; electrical plug connectors adapted for connection to a mains power electrical socket; a mains power electrical socket which is electrically coupled to the plug connectors and for coupling to said home entertainment equipment; second connectors for transferring data between the wireless transceiver and said equipment.

In particular in another aspect the present invention provides a home entertainment system comprising: a home entertainment equipment; a wireless terminal for said home entertainment equipment, the terminal comprising: a wireless transceiver module for communicating wirelessly with other wireless transceivers in the home entertainment system; electrical plug connectors adapted for connection to a mains power electrical socket; a mains power electrical socket which is electrically coupled to the plug connectors and for coupling to said home entertainment equipment; second connectors for transferring data between the wireless transceiver and said equipment.

In particular in another aspect the present invention provides a wireless terminal for a home entertainment equipment, the terminal comprising: a wireless transceiver module for communicating wirelessly with other wireless transceivers in a wireless local area network; an inductive power supply unit adapted to encircle an electrical power supply cable in order to inductively receive electrical power from said cable; second connectors for transferring data between the wireless transceiver and said equipment.

In particular in another aspect the present invention provides a home entertainment system comprising: a home entertainment equipment having an electrical supply cable; a wireless terminal for said home entertainment equipment, the terminal comprising: a wireless transceiver module for communicating wirelessly with other wireless transceivers in said home entertainment system; an inductive power supply unit adapted to encircle said home entertainment equipment electrical power supply cable in order to inductively receive electrical power from said cable; second connectors for transferring data between the wireless transceiver and said equipment.

There is also provided a method of installing home entertainment equipment including utilising an terminal as herein described to couple the equipment to the mains power socket and a WLAN associated with a larger home entertainment system.

There is also provided a method of operating a home entertainment system including providing a home entertainment equipment coupled to the mains power supply and a wireless transceiver for coupling to a home entertainment WLAN, and parasitically supplying the transceiver with power from the equipment mains coupling, and transferring data between the WLAN and the home entertainment equipment using connectors and leads between the equipment and the wireless transceiver.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments are described in detail with respect to the following drawings, by way of example only and without intending to be limited, in which: Figure 1 shows a home entertainment system having equipment distributed throughout a household; Figure 2 shows a known home entertainment equipment and wireless transceiver or terminal connection arrangement; Figure 3 shows a first embodiment wireless enabled home entertainment equipment arrangement; Figure 4 shows a perspective of the first embodiment wireless module and connection arrangement; Figure 5 shows a schematic for the wireless module of the first embodiment; Figure 6 shows a second embodiment wireless enabled home entertainment equipment arrangement; Figure 7 shows a modified mains power cable for a home entertainment equipment according to the second embodiment; Figure 8a-8e illustrate various views of a wireless module according to the second embodiment; and Figure 9 shows a schematic for the wireless module of the second embodiment.

Detailed Description

As discussed above with respect to figures 1 and 2, home entertainment equipment gains extra flexibility and scalability by incorporating wireless connectivity. This also provides the further advantage of reducing the cabling necessary. A disadvantage however is that at the site of the various items of home entertainment equipment such as TV's and speakers, there is an additional "box", the wireless terminal, and power and data or signal cabling between the equipment and the box.

Figure 3 illustrates a first embodiment in which the power cabling requirements for a home entertainment and wireless terminal combination are reduced providing improved compactness compared with known arrangements. There is shown a standard item of home entertainment equipment 1 such as a hi-fi amplifier for example, which comprises data or signal connectors 1', such as audio cable connections. The wireless terminal 10 also comprises data or signal connectors 15 as shown in figure 4, for connection with the equipment connectors 1' via standard connection leads 6. These connectors might include SCART or coax connectors for coupling a TV or video to other equipment such as a DVD player or set-top box, or phono or RCA connections for him equipment.

The wireless terminal or transceiver module 10 comprises a data or signal interface 11 (audio and/or video for example) for coupling to the entertainment equipment, a controller 12 and a WLAN interface 13 for coupling via an antenna 14 to a WLAN (e.g. IEEE802. 1 la) associated with the larger home entertainment system. Referring also to figure 4, the transceiver module 10 additionally comprises a mains plug connector 16 and a mains plug socket 17. The plug connectors 16 and socket 17 are electrically connected.

This arrangement allows the wireless terminal module 10 to be plugged directly into a mains socket (not shown), and the home entertainment equipment mains plug to be plugged into the terminal's socket 17. In this way, one mains plug and one mains cable are removed from this combination of equipment (1 and 10). This makes the combination more compact, as desired by home users of home entertainment systems.

Referring now to figure 5, a schematic of the terminal module 10 is shown. This comprises an analogue audio-video interface 11 such as a coax connector, a SCART connector and a S-video connector for a terminal module for a TV. A digital interface could alternatively be used, for example for interfacing with an optical output from a DVD player/recorder.

The home entertainment equipment connector interface 11 is coupled to a digitiser 12a which digitises the analogue input from the home entertainment equipment 1. This will typically comprise a sampler and an analogue to digital converter.

The digital data (eg digital audio) is then parcelled into packets such as IF packets by a packetiser 12b in order to make the data suitable for network transport. Digitisers and packetisers are well known to those skilled in the art. The packets are then forwarded to the WLAN interface 13 which formats frames in a suitable format (e.g. 802.11g) for transmission onto the WLAN via the antenna 14.

The digitiser and packetiser modules can be implemented in hardware, for example as ASICs, or in a DSP.A CPU or microcontroller is used to control the overall processing and communication between the modules as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Essentially the module takes samples (speech, audio, video, or other analogue waves to the digitiser), then transmits these on a wireless connection as encoded, digital packets.

Various other combinations of components can be utilised in a terminal 10 depending on its function. For example some such modules 10 will be adapted to only receive streams of data, such as those associated with speakers. In this case data may be received from a WLAN interface, recovered from IP packets, and converted into an analogue signal for output to the speaker. Others will both receive and transmit data, for example a wireless module for an amplifier which may receive input from a CD player and forward this to a speaker.

Figure 5 also illustrates the connection between the mains plug connectors 16 to the mains socket 17 which is used for supplying the home entertainment equipment 1. The connectors 16 are also connected to an internal power distribution bus 18 which supplies the various components (11, 12, 13) within the wireless module 10.

Figures 6, 7 and 8 illustrate a second embodiment in which a standard item of home entertainment equipment 1 is employed together with a WLAN module 20 as part of a home entertainment system having wireless connectivity. As with the first embodiment wireless module 10, a data connection to the home entertainment equipment 1 is made using equipment connectors 1', suitable leads 6, and corresponding connectors 27 on the wireless module 20. As with the first embodiment module 10, the wireless module of figure 6 also comprises an analogue interface 21, a host controller 22, a WLAN interface 23, and one or more antennas 24.

The wireless module 20 also comprises a parasitic mains power module or inductive power supply unit 30 which retrieves power to supply the rest of the wireless module 20 from the mains supply to the home entertainment equipment 1. The power module 30 comprises two connectors 31a and 31b, which receive mains cable connections and effectively split the mains cable in order to retrieve a separate phase lead or wire 32.

This lead 32 separated from the mains neutral 34 can then be located adjacent an inductive element 33 in order to draw off some of the power supplied. Alternatively the neutral lead (32) can be used for inductively drawing power, whilst the phase or live lead (34) is kept separate. The separated lead 32 will generate an electro-magnetic field when carrying mains current. The inductive element 33 when placed within this field will have a corresponding current induced within it as is well known.

The inductive element 33 may simply be a short length of wire arranged to run parallel to the separated lead 32 (live or neutral), or more preferably is a wound coil arranged adjacent to the separated lead 32. A separate lead 32 is needed, as if both live and neutral leads were adjacent the inductive element 33, they would cancel each others'

electromagnetic fields out.

Figure 7 shows the split lead (32 and 34) arrangement in more detail. The first connector 31a may simply be a standard mains plug having plug connectors 26 which connects directly into a mains socket. The second connector 31b comprises a standard mains socket 27 which receives the mains plug from the home entertainment equipment 1. At the connectors 31, a separate live or neutral lead 32 is provided for inductive power retrieval. The connectors 31 may be integral with the larger wireless module 20, or they may be separate such that the wireless module 20 accepts the split lead 32 as shown in the perspective views of the wireless module 20 in figures 8a - 8e.

Figures 8a - Be shows a hinged housing for the power module 30, in which a shaft 35 receives a split lead 32, effectively running this parallel with an inductive element 33. A hinged lower part 36 of the housing drops down to allow placement or removal of the split lead 32.

Preferably the shaft 35 comprises a spiral groove 37 into which the split lead 32 is placed in order to increase the length of split lead 32 over which the inductive effect is effective. This improves the efficiency of the parasitic power recovery. Similarly, a spiralling split lead 32 may be used in other arrangements, for example where the connectors 3 l are integral with the wireless/power modules housing.

More preferably a ferrite core 38 (or some other magnetic material) is employed within the shaft 35 to further enhance the magnetic field produced by the split lead 32. Thus the split lead spirals around the ferrite core 38 within the shaft 35 as shown in figures ad and Be.

The power module 30 may also comprise a rechargeable cell which draws power slowly from the mains inductive coupling, and provides power perhaps at a higher rate to components within the wireless module 20 when needed; for example when receiving a digital audio stream over the WEAN.

Figure 9 shows a schematic of the wireless module 20 of the second embodiment. The module 20 comprises similar components to the module of the first embodiment including an analogue (or digital) interface 21, a digitising component 22a, a packetising component 22b, a WEAN interface 23 and an antenna 24. However the power supply module 30 differs in comprising an inductive element 33 positioned adjacent a split power lead 32 from the home entertainment equipment power cable.

The power module 30 also comprises a power distribution bus 39 which supplies other components within the wireless module (21, 22, 23), and which is supplied from the inductive element 33 via a rectifier 40. A rechargeable cell 41 is also preferably connected to the power distribution bus 39.

The skilled person will appreciate that the various embodiments and specific features described with respect to them could be freely combined with the other embodiments or their specifically described features in general accordance with the above teaching. The skilled person will also recognise that various alterations and modifications can be made to specific examples described without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A wireless terminal for a home entertainment equipment, the terminal having an integral wireless transceiver module and power supply module, the power supply module having means for parasitically receiving mains electrical power from the equipment; the terminal further comprising data connectors for transferring data between the wireless transceiver module and the equipment.

2. A terminal according to claim 1 wherein the parasitic means is arranged to receive mains sourced electrical power from the same electrical mains plug as the equipment

3. A terminal according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the power supply module comprises plug connectors adapted for connection to a mains power electrical socket, and a mains power electrical socket which is electrically coupled to the plug connectors and for coupling to the home entertainment equipment.

4. A terminal according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the power supply module comprises an inductive power supply unit adapted to inductively receive electrical power from the mains electrical cable of the home entertainment equipment when placed in close proximity to said cable.

5. A terminal according to claim 4 wherein the power supply unity comprises means for encircling a single phase lead of the cable.

6. A terminal according to claim 5 wherein the power supply unit comprises means for engaging the lead into a winding arrangement

7. A terminal according to claim 6 wherein the power supply unit further comprises a magnetic core arranged so as to be enclosed by said winding.

8. A terminal according to any one preceding claim wherein the home entertainment equipment is one of the following: him equipment; television; home cinema equipment; computer.

9. A home entertainment system comprising a terminal according to any one preceding claim.