GB2523167A

GB2523167A - Remote control system for electrical appliances

Info

Publication number: GB2523167A
Application number: GB1402746.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Patrick Gerard Howley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-02-17
Filing date: 2014-02-17
Publication date: 2015-08-19
Also published as: WO2015121662A1; GB201402746D0

Abstract

A control system for remote control of an electrical appliance has a control unit (1) and at least one remote unit (2), the control unit having a WAN interface (5) for receiving user input (e.g. over the Internet), and a LAN interface (6) to communicate with the remote unit (e.g. over a home wireless network). The remote unit has an appliance interface (7) for coupling to the electrical appliance, the appliance interface having an electrical power supply output to the electrical appliance. The system controls the electrical appliance through the appliance interface according to the user input, by emulating a control protocol recognised by the electrical appliance, such as an infra red IR remote control protocol, or a sequence of changes in power supply. This can enable a wider range of appliances to be controlled remotely with more consolidation of power supplies and interfaces and with lower power consumption.

Description

REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES

Technical Field

The present invention relates to control systems for remote control of an electrical appliance, to corresponding methods of control, to corresponding programs, and to control units and remote units for such control systems.

Backaround

It is known to provide remote control of household electrical appliances such as heating or lighting or video recording, by providing an internet connection coupled to control each appliance. Each different appliance will typically recognise a different control protocol, and therefore it becomes more complex and expensive to provide and maintain remote control of many different new and existing electrical appliances.

Summary

Embodiments of the invention can provide improved apparatus or methods or computer programs. According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a control system for remote control of an electrical appliance, the control system comprising: at least one control unit and at least one remote unit, the control unit having a WAN interface for receiving user input via the WAN, and having a LAN interface, the remote unit having a LAN interlace and having at least one appliance interlace for coupling to the electrical appliance, the appliance interface having an electrical power supply output, and the control system being arranged to control the electrical appliance through the appliance interface according to the user input, by emulating a control protocol recognised by the electrical appliance. This can enable a wider range of existing electrical appliances to be controlled remotely with more consolidation to reduce a number of power supplies and interfaces and enable more comprehensive control with less complexity and lower power consumption.

Another aspect of the invention provides a method of using a remote control system, the control system comprising: at least one control unit and at least one remote unit, the control unit having a WAN interface for receiving user input via the WAN, and having a LAN interface, the remote unit having a LAN interface and having at least one appliance interface for coupling to the electrical appliance, the appliance interface having an electrical power supply output, and the method having the steps of: receiving user input over the WAN, and emulating a control protocol used by the electrical appliance, and outputting the emulation to the appliance interface for output to the electrical appliance to control the electrical appliance.

Another aspect of the invention provides a computer program having instructions which when executed by a computer to cause the computer to carry out the method set out above.

Another aspect provides a control unit for use in the control system. Another aspect provides a remote unit for use in the control system.

Any additional features can be added to any of the aspects, and some such additional features are described and some set out in dependent claims. Numerous other variations and modifications can be made without departing from the claims of the present invention.

Therefore, it should be clearly understood that the form of the present invention is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings

How the present invention may be put into effect will now be described by way of example with reference to the appended drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a control system according to an embodiment, Figure 2 shows some operational steps of the embodiment of Figure 1 or other embodiments, Figures 3 to 6 show views of further embodiments, Figure 7 shows a schematic view of a remote unit according to an embodiment, Figure 8 shows a schematic view of a control unit according to an embodiment, and Figure 9 shows a schematic view of another embodiment for a range of different electrical appliances.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to drawings but note that the invention is not limited to features described, but only by the claims. The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn to scale for illustrative purposes.

Definitions: Where the term "comprising" is used in the present description and claims, it does not exclude other elements or steps and should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listed thereafter. \Miere an indefinite or definite article is used when referring to a singular noun e.g. "a" or "an", "the", this includes a plural of that noun unless something else is specifically stated.

References to programs or software can encompass any type of programs in any language executable directly or indirectly on any computer.

References to computer or processor are intended to encompass any kind of processing hardware which can be implemented in any kind of logic or analog circuitry, integrated to any degree, and not limited to general purpose processors, digital signal processors, ASICs, FPGAs, discrete components or logic and so on, and are intended to encompass implementations using multiple processors which may be integrated together, or co-located or distributed at different locations for example.

References to electrical appliances are intended to encompass any kind of appliance relying on an electrical supply and which can be controlled remotely, including but not limited to household appliances, office equipment, lighting systems, heating or cooling systems, sound vision or multimedia presentation or storage systems and so on, and also including industrial equipment for manufacture or process control.

References to a WAN are intended to encompass any kind of wide area network operating over a range wider than the LAN, for example at ranges over 1km, or over 10km.

References to a LAN are intended to encompass any kind of local area network operating over ranges within 1 km, or within a single building or single office or single commercial or business premises.

Figures 1 and 2, control system according to an embodiment Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a control system according to an embodiment of the invention. Electrical appliances are coupled to a remote unit 2, and the remote unit is coupled to a control unit 1 using any kind of local area network LAN 10, for example a conventional WiFi or power line communications PLC network. Remote control of the electrical appliances is achieved according to user input from a user input device 3 such as a computer or smart phone coupled to the control unit over any kind of WAN 4, for example over the public internet. The control unit has a LAN interface 6 and a WAN interface 5.

The system is also provided with an appliance control protocol emulator 8 for emulating a control protocol recognised by each of the electrical appliances, and noimally only capable of being controlled locally, for example by hand or within the same room, and not from outside the building, or via a WAN. Such a control protocol can involve for example a sequence of changes to a power supply, or a sequence of control signals to the electrical appliance, to achieve a desired control according to the user input and in some cases according to other inputs such as sensor inputs. Examples of the control protocol to be emulated are IR input sequences for remote control of a TV or air conditioning unit, or garage door, or an access security system. Other examples can be based on RF links such as WiFi or Bluetooth or power line communications, or other standardised or proprietary wired or local wireless links. In some cases the control protocol can be a two way protocol, including information fed back from the appliance to the emulator, such as status, sensing inputs or acknowledgements and so on. As shown the emulator is located in the control unit, though in principle it can be located anywheie convenient and accessible by the system, for example in the remote unit.

The remote unit is typically co-located with the corresponding electrical appliance, for example so that it can be coupled to a power supply input of the electrical appliance or be coupled to a control signal input, such as a socket, or be within range of an IR or WiFi receiver on the electrical appliance. It has a LAN interface 6 and an appliance interface 7, the appliance interface having a power supply 9 which can be fed to the electrical appliance or appliances. Optionally this can be controllable under the control of the user input and the emulator. Two remote units are shown coupled to the LAN, there can be many more, for many different electrical appliances. This can enable a control "grid" within a building for example, and can enable more comprehensive and coordinated control to be implemented at less cost and complexity, to control a variety of different types of electrical appliance, either individually or in groups.

Figure 2 shows some operational steps of the embodiment of Figure 1 or other embodiments. At step 100 user input is received at the control unit to control a selected electrical appliance, or a group of appliances. At step 105 the control unit identifies which remote unit is coupled to the indicated electrical appliance or group of appliances. The control unit also identifies which control protocol recognised by that electrical appliance or group of electrical appliances. At step 110 the emulator carries out the emulation to carry out the desired control. This can be carried out at the control unit or at the remote unit for example, and may involve looking up information in a store of control protocols, and generating a sequence of power control changes, or generating a sequence of control signals. If carried out at the control unit, then this emulation in the form of a sequence for example, can be passed to the identified remote unit over the LAN. Emulation at the control unit can enable the intelligence and thus processing resources to be concentrated in the control unit, which can be more efficient and easier to maintain, and enables the remote units to be simpler. As there may be a multitude of remote units, this simplification is likely to be more cost effective than a corresponding simplification of the control unit.

At step 115 the emulation is sent to the appliance interface of the remote unit so that the sequence can be output to the electrical appliance. In the case that the emulation is a sequence of power supply control changes, the appliance interface makes use of the controllable power supply, otherwise the appliance interface may output control signals to the electrical appliance, or in some cases both power and control signals.

At step 117 there is a step of executing the sequence of control signals or power variations in the correct physical format acceptable to the appliance and receiving any feedback signals for decoding and transmission back to the user.

Compared to a conventional remote control without an emulator, more complex types of appliances can be controlled and more different types of existing electrical appliance can be controlled. This enables more complete automation and control using one control system, with less complexity than trying to integrate together different control systems for each different type of electrical appliance. By combining this with a controllable power supply in the appliance interface in the remote unit, again more different types of appliance can be controlled, without needing the additional complexity of providing different types of remote unit. This also enables more complete automation and control for a given complexity of the control system, and in particular enables power consumption savings to be achieved since there may be fewer separate power supply and interface devices, and in operation the electrical apparatus can in many cases be powered down rather than spending long periods in a standby mode awaiting commands. Furthermore, such consolidation of power supply control with remote control of function, can in some cases facilitate making the control aware of the power status and lead to more efficient control.

Figures 3 to 6, further embodiments Figure 3 shows a further embodiment similar to that of Figure 1 and corresponding reference numerals have been used as appropriate. In Figure 3 the appliance interface has a control signal transmitter 20 for sending the emulated control signals to the electrical appliance. This could be implemented for example by a conventional IR remote control transmitter, or an optical transmitter or an RF transmitter using a Bluetooth or WiFi standard, or a wireline transmitter, depending on what the electrical appliance recognises.

Figure 4 shows a further embodiment similar to that of Figure 1 and corresponding reference numerals have been used as appropriate. In Figure 4 the remote unit has a sensor interface 25 which is for coupling to a sensor 12. Inputs from the sensor can be fed back to the control unit via the LAN, and used as an additional input in the control of electrical appliances, or fed back directly to the user. Examples of such sensors can include temperature sensors, for use with a heating system, or movement sensors or video cameras for use with a security system. The coupling to the remote unit can be implemented by a wireless link such as a WiFi link, or via the LAN 10. The input from the sensor may be part of the control protocol being emulated by the emulator, in which case the sensor input is fed to the emulator. The sensor interface is shown sharing the same remote unit as an appliance interface for controlling an appliance, but this is not essential, in some cases the sensor interface could be part of a separate remote unit, as shown in Figure 9 described below.

Figure 5 shows some operational steps of the embodiment of Figure 4 or other embodiments. As in Figure 2, at step 100, user input is received at the control unit to control a selected electrical appliance, or a group of appliances. At step 105 the control unit identifies which remote unit is coupled to the indicated electrical appliance or group of appliances. The control unit also identifies which control protocol recognised by that electrical appliance or group of electrical appliances. At step 130 sensor input is received from the remote unit, or directly from the sensor if appropriate, for use by the control protocol. At step 135 the emulator carries out the emulation to carry out the desired control according to the user input and according to the sensor input. This may involve looking up information in a store of control protocols, and generating a sequence of power control changes, or generating a sequence of control signals as described above. At step 115 the emulation is sent to the appliance interface of the remote unit so that the sequence can be output to the electrical appliance. Step 117 corresponds to that shown in figure 2, described above.

Figure 6 shows a further embodiment similar to that of Figure 1 and corresponding reference numerals have been used as appropriate. In Figure 4 the remote unit has an auxiliary power input 310, which is coupled to receive power from the electrical appliance if the electrical appliance has an emergency power supply 30. This may be for example a battery backup for emergency lighting or for an alarm system for use in the event of a power cut. By coupling this to the auxiliary power input of the remote unit, it may enable the remote unit to continue to function even if its own power supply is cut.

Figure 7, remote unit Figure 7 shows a schematic view of a remote unit 2 according to an embodiment, for use in the control system. The remote unit has a power supply 9, optionally this is controllable as described above, and a LAN interface in the form of an RE part 46 for a WiFi link. A processor and memory 47 is provided, which has stored programs 49 for controlling the controllable power supply to implement the emulated control protocol, and for controlling the LAN interface in the form of the WiFi link to receive the emulation from the control unit, and if appropriate to feedback any acknowledgements and status information to the control unit.

Figure 8, control unit Figure 8 shows a schematic view of a control unit 1 according to an embodiment, for use in the control system. The control unit has a LAN interface in the form of an RF part 46 for a WiFi link. A processor and memory 47 is provided, which has an interface to the WAN, and has stored programs 58 for carrying out the emulation for controlling the electrical appliances remotely, and for managing multiple remote units and multiple electrical appliances and sensors if appropriate.

Figure 9, embodiment showing different electrical appliances for a home or office building Figure 9 shows a schematic view of a control system according to a further embodiment similar to that of Figure 1 and corresponding reference numerals have been used as appropriate. In Figure 9 a number of different electrical appliances are shown by way of example, it is not essential that all of these are included in an implementation. Internal parts of the remote units and the control unit are not shown for the sake of clarity. A heating appliance 91 is shown coupled to a remote unit, and this may be grouped with a temperature sensor 90 coupled to another remote unit, since the heating appliance may be in a boiler room or anywhere away from the space being heated, where the temperature sensor is likely to be located. Lighting appliances 92 are shown, with a lighting sensor 93, coupled to the same remote unit since these may well be in the same location. Other sensors may also be used to control the lighting such as security sensors, to enable the lighting to be dimmed or switched off when no one is in the room or in the building.

A PIR security sensor 98 coupled to a remote unit is shown for detecting intruders or detecting movement, and this may be used for controlling an alarm or controlling lighting or heating or controlling access. Likewise a video camera 94 is shown coupled to a remote unit, and may be used for similar purposes. A printer 95 is shown coupled to its own remote unit. This remote unit may be coupled only to the power supply of the printer, to enable remote control of the power input to the printer, to enable it to be switched off completely under remote control, to save power used when it is in a standby mode. An electrically driven curtain 96 or blind can be provided, and remotely controlled, either by an IR control protocol, or in some cases by means of controlling the power supply to be on or off for defined periods, to cause opening or closing of the curtain or blind. Similarly an electrically driven gate 97 is shown coupled to a remote unit. Again this can be remotely controlled, either by an IR control protocol, or in some cases by means of controlling the power supply to be on or off for defined periods, to cause opening or closing of the gate.

As this may be located at a distance from the building, a WiFi repeater 86 is shown, to extend the LAN to reach the electrically driven gate. Other appliances can be envisaged including display screens, washing and drying appliances, monitoring instrumentation, office equipment, exercise equipment, swimming pool equipment and so on for home or office use. For commercial premises, further appliances can be considered such as process equipment, manufacturing equipment, retail equipment, and so on. References to use in buildings can include portable buildings and mobile structures such as ships and oil rigs.

Control and oDeration features Such control systems can enable remote control of a multitude of electrically powered appliances within or near a building or office through a single gateway. The programs in the control unit can manage the appliances individually or in groups. Users and developers can in some cases add or create or adapt apps to manage the appliances.

Communications between parts of the control system can be kept secure from public access, and can operate "off internet". A hierarchy of levels of authority can be implemented in the control unit, for use by different users, to enable some functions to be reserved and others to be accessible to more users. This is facilitated by providing the emulation of control protocols in a centralised location so that the authorisation can be implemented directly Each programmable with adaptive control protocols to enable use with legacy installed appliances and a wide range of different types of appliances with a minimum of different interfaces.

Consequences of some of the described additional features Energy savings can be achieved by effectively consolidating power supply control and functional control into a minimum number of remote units, by effectively absorbing functions and interfaces into a grid of standardised parts compared to conventional practice. Installation, maintenance and upgrading may all be facilitated compared to conventional more complex combinations of different control systems associated with each different type of electrical appliance.

In embodiments where the control protocol comprises a sequence of changes to the electrical power supply output to the electrical appliance, this extends the range of different types of electrical appliance and can help avoid the additional hardware and complexity of managing a separate control signal output.

In embodiments where there is a control signal output to the electrical appliance, and the control protocol comprises changes to the control signals, this enables separate control of power supply and appliance functions, which in some cases can be coordinated with each other.

In some embodiments, the appliance interface is arranged to receive information from the electrical appliance, and the control protocol is a two way protocol depending on such information received from the electrical appliance. This can enable more complex control, or more reliable control, for example, and can enable use with a wider range of electrical appliances.

In embodiments in which the control unit is arranged to carry out the emulation and to send a representation of the control protocol over the LAN to the remote unit, this helps centralise the intelligence in the control system.

In embodiments having at least one sensor coupled to communicate sensing inputs at least to the control unit, and the control system being arranged to carry out the control of the electrical appliance also according to the sensing inputs, again the range of different types of electrical appliance can be extended and the control can be more comprehensive.

In embodiments having an auxiliary power input for receiving electrical power from the electrical appliance for powering the remote unit, the resilience and reliability of the system can be enhanced.

Other embodiments and variations can be envisaged within the scope of the claims.

Claims

Claims 1. A control system for remote control of an electrical appliance, the control system comprising: at least one control unit and at least one remote unit, the control unit having a WAN interface for receiving user input via the WAN, and having a LAN interface, the remote unit having a LAN interface and having at least one appliance interface for coupling to the electrical appliance, the appliance interface having an electrical power supply output, and the control system being arranged to control the electrical appliance through the appliance interface according to the user input, by emulating a control protocol recognised by the electrical appliance.
2. The control system of claim 1, the electrical power supply output being controllable according to the user input.
3. The control system of claim 2, the control protocol comprising a sequence of changes to the controllable electrical power supply output to the electrical appliance.
4. The control system of any of claims 1 to 3 and the appliance interface having a control signal output to the electrical appliance, and the control protocol comprises changes to the control signals.
5. The control system of any of claims 1 to 4, the control unit being arranged to carry out the emulation and to send a representation of the control protocol over the LAN to the remote unit.
6. The control system of any of claims 1 to 5, the control system having at least one sensor coupled to communicate sensing inputs at least to the control unit, and the control system being arranged to carry out the control of the electrical appliance also according to the sensing inputs.
7. The control system of any preceding claim, the appliance interface being arranged to receive information from the electrical appliance, and the control protocol being a two way protocol depending on such information received from the electrical appliance.
8. The control system of any preceding claim, the appliance interface also having an auxiliary power input for receiving electrical power from the electrical appliance for powering the remote unit.
9. The control system of any preceding claim, the WAN comprising at least one of: a private intranet, a wireless or wired telephone network, and a public internet network, and the LAN comprises at least one of: a WiFi network, a Bluetooth network, a powerline communications network, and an in-building wireless or wired network.
10. A method of using a remote control system, the control system comprising: at least one control unit and at least one remote unit, the control unit having a WAN interface for receiving user input via the WAN, and having a LAN interface, the remote unit having a LAN interface and having at least one appliance interface for coupling to the electrical appliance, the appliance interface having an electrical power supply output, and the method having the steps of: receiving user input over the WAN, and emulating a control protocol used by the electrical appliance, and outputting the emulation to the appliance interface for output to the electrical appliance to control the electrical appliance.
11. The method of claim 10, the electrical power supply outlet being controllable and the control protocol comprising a sequence of changes to the electrical power supply output to the electrical appliance.
12. The method of claim 10 or 11 and the appliance interface having a control signal output to the electrical appliance, and the emulating of the control protocol comprises making changes to the control signals.
13. The method of any of claims 10 to 12, the step of emulating being carried out at the control unit and comprising sending a representation of the control protocol over the LAN to the remote unit.
14. The method of any of claims 10 to 13, the appliance interface being arranged to receive information from the electrical appliance, and the control protocol being a two way protocol depending on such information received from the electrical appliance.
15. The method of any of claims 10 to 14, the control system having at least one sensor coupled to communicate sensing inputs at least to the control unit, and the step of controlling the electrical appliance being carried out also according to the sensing inputs.
16. The method of any of claims 10 to 15, the appliance interface also having an auxiliary power input, and the method having the step of receiving electrical power from the electrical appliance for powering the remote unit.
17. A computer program having instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to carry out the method of any of claims 10 to 16.
18. A control unit for use in the control system of any of claims 1 to 7.
19. A remote unit for use in the control system of any of claims 1 to 7.