ITRM20090379A1 - "APPARATUS FOR WIRELESS TRANSFER OF DATA TO A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE THROUGH BRIGHT PULSES EMITTED BY A MONITOR" - Google Patents

Description

Description of the patent application for industrial invention entitled: "EQUIPMENT FOR THE WIRELESS TRANSFER OF DATA TO A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE VIA LUMINOUS PULSES EMITTED BY A MONITOR";

The present invention relates to the electronics sector and more precisely to an apparatus for wirelessly transmitting data from a monitor to a portable electronic device, such as a remote control, by means of light pulses emitted through said monitor.

Said apparatus allows to configure / program / update the operation of said portable electronic device with the aid of a computer that can be connected to the Internet which allows the user to access a specific website from which it is possible to obtain data relating to said portable device. configure / program / update.

According to the invention, these data are transferred from the website to the portable device through light pulses emitted by the computer monitor, once said device is placed at a close distance from the monitor itself in a specific area of the website's web page.

These light pulses are suitably modulated according to a protocol established by a software present on the site that the user must download in the so-called temporary files of their computer.

According to a peculiar characteristic of the invention, in order to receive said light impulses coming from the monitor, said portable electronic device is equipped with at least one optical sensor or light sensor or light transducer adapted to transform them into electrical impulses which are received by the electronic circuit which already manages the functions of the portable device itself.

The communication protocol that is used is supported on one side (TX) by the software which, via the website, runs on the computer and on the other side (RX) by a firmware that is set up inside the same microprocessor that is already find in the device.

Many techniques are known, even advanced and therefore expensive, with which an electronic device can connect wirelessly to a computer to transfer data, for example via a bluetooth <®> connection, Wi-Fi, etc.

Techniques are also known which allow an electronic device to be connected by means of a cable to a USB port or the like. In addition to the connection cable, the latter also provide hardware interfaces with costs that often make the device itself less competitive on the market. In fact, in order to connect this device to a USB port or the like, an interface on board the device itself is indispensable, which interface consists of electronic chips which significantly increase the cost of production.

These solutions are valid on electronic devices that can still compete on the market, despite the increase in cost.

Therefore, the present invention aims to solve the problem of configuration / programming / updating for all those electronic devices whose sale price is very low and which therefore would not be able to sustain increases in production costs and for which at the same time they would not it is necessary to transfer a lot of data and bi-directional transfer is not essential.

As already mentioned, a preferred use of the present invention is the updating of the transmission codes of universal and / or configurable replacement remote controls for TV, VCR, DVD, SAT, DTT etc.

As is known, in this type of product there are universal and / or configurable replacement remote controls that are designed to be configured by the customer for the operation of the device (TV, VCR, DVD, STB, etc.) owned by the customer.

After purchasing a replacement universal remote control, the customer must configure it for his appliance. The innumerable diversity of brands and models of audio video products makes it very difficult to search for the code to be entered manually in the remote control relying only on the instructions contained in the manual supplied with the universal remote control itself.

Furthermore, the continuous evolution of products in this sector means that new codes come out very quickly, so much so that a remote control becomes old in a few weeks as the codes resident in the factory replacement remote controls do not satisfy the new TVs, VCRs, DVDs, SATs. , DTT etc.

With the present invention, all this can be avoided by ensuring that the user, by selecting the brand and model of the device sought on the appropriate website, finds the code to be entered in the remote control in his possession.

These codes are contained in a database that is continuously updated by the remote control manufacturer or by third parties.

In this way, according to the invention, the user can program at home with ease and at a very low additional cost, a universal remote control for a product (TV, VCR, DVD, SAT, DTT, etc.) that may have been designed and placed on the market even after purchasing the remote control itself.

Further advantages and features of the invention will be evident from the detailed description that follows, referring to the attached figures which illustrate, by way of example only and not limiting, two preferred embodiments of the invention.

In the drawings:

fig. 1 shows a first embodiment of the apparatus object of the invention comprising a computer and a portable electronic device to be configured / programmed / updated, such as a television remote control;

figure 2 shows the block diagram of the portable electronic device of fig. 1;

figure 3 shows the block diagram of a variant of the portable electronic device of fig.

1;

figure 4 shows a modulation technique of the light pulses emitted by the monitor of fig. 1; Figure 5 shows a second embodiment of the apparatus;

figure 6 shows a modulation technique of the light pulses emitted by the monitor of fig. 5; figure 7 shows the block diagram of the portable electronic device of fig. 5.

With reference to the figures, in a preferred embodiment that is described, the apparatus comprises:

- a computer that can be connected to the Internet to allow the user to access a special website from which to download appropriate software on their computer; in said website there being a database which contains for each portable electronic device (brand - model) an alphanumeric code or string of data for the configuration / programming / updating of each of said portable electronic devices;

- a portable electronic device owned by the user whose alphanumeric code is to be configured / programmed / updated;

where said software is adapted to transform the alphanumeric code selected by the user for the configuration / programming / updating of his portable device into light pulses that are emitted through the screen of said computer and where said portable device is equipped with at least one optical sensor or brightness sensor or brightness transducer for receiving said light pulses and their transformation into electrical pulses to be sent to a suitable microprocessor with which the portable device is equipped or implemented.

Once the software download in the temporary files of your computer is complete, the user selects the brand and model of his portable device to be configured / programmed / updated, and after confirming the selected model, the computer sends the data needed for configuration / programming / updating of the portable device in the form of light pulses that are emitted from at least a specific area of the web page visible on the monitor and on which said device must be approached.

Preferably, said area displayed on the web page represents the image or shape of the same portable device to which the alphanumeric codes refer.

The sequence of pulses in the form of light with a strong contrast difference (White-Black Bit = 0 Bit = 1) reaches the portable electronic device.

This sequence is issued according to a standard communication protocol (for example RS 232) or proprietary as the one described below.

Once the user has positioned his portable device on the monitor, at close range, according to the instructions available on the website itself, these light pulses are received by the device through at least one optical sensor with which it is equipped. For this purpose, it is evident that the electronic device is equipped in correspondence with each optical sensor with a special opening to allow the reception of light pulses.

Each of said optical sensors transforms the light pulses into electrical pulses which correspond faithfully to the codes contained in the database of the website and which are received by the microprocessor which already manages the functions of the electronic device.

In other words, the data transmission is a serial type transmission and the monitor can be seen as a transmitter that emits a sequence of light pulses, of light-dark light, modulated according to a special communication protocol for the transfer of the necessary data. to the portable electronic device for its configuration / programming / updating, and each optical sensor can be seen as a receiver which receives said pulses containing such data.

The monitor surface through which the modulated light pulses are emitted will be large enough to avoid critical coupling of the monitor area capable of transmitting these pulses with respect to the size of the portable device to be configured / programmed / updated.

At this point, the data transfer procedure can be started by the user.

By pressing a button on the mouse or by executing a command on the device and on the computer software (for example by pressing two keys at the same time) it is possible to synchronize the serial communication protocol.

Figure 2 shows the block diagram of a portable device, such as a television remote control, which includes:

- an optical sensor A, such as a photo resistor, which is suitably polarized to transform the alternations of light (white-black) emitted by the monitor into electrical signals,

- a microprocessor C adapted to manage the functions of the remote control and to process said electrical signals;

- an amplifier B adapted to be connected to said optical sensor A and to said microprocessor C capable of making the amplitude of the electrical signals suitable for being interpreted by said microprocessor C.

Amplifier B should preferably be equipped with an automatic gain control to make signal variations less affected by external disturbances due to ambient brightness and to better adapt the device to the brightness differences of individual users' monitors.

It is further preferable that said amplifier B is equipped with a gain control commanded by a feedback signal coming from the microprocessor C and that the remote control further comprises a Schmitt trigger F which, connected to the amplifier B and to the microprocessor C, is adapted to square the waveform output from amplifier B before it reaches said microprocessor (fig. 3).

The use of such an amplifier allows automatic calibration of the amplifier itself by adapting the system to all the variables involved: ambient brightness, monitor brightness and contrast, any disturbances, etc.

Calibration can be contemplated by the communication protocol by providing an initial signal pattern agreed precisely to allow microprocessor C to correct the gain of amplifier B until the initial pattern is received correctly.

Microprocessor C has been implemented with a digital circuit capable of demodulating the serial signal arriving from the computer monitor.

Typically, this digital circuit consists of a firmware that can be inserted inside the microprocessor of the remote control that you want to configure / program / update.

The microprocessor C will decode the data according to a predetermined serial protocol at the agreed speed. This technique is common in communication firmware. Once the data has been decoded, the firmware will make the intended use within the portable device itself managed by its microprocessor.

In the practical application of the invention, it must be taken into account that the maximum speed cannot be very high in order not to incur the dynamics limits of the system, such as: reaction time of the monitor to light variations, reaction time of the optical reception sensor , time required for the protocol to guarantee data integrity in the event of impulsive disturbances.

However, it is always possible to improve the speed performance of the system by using protocols that are able to transmit more information for the same amount of time by compressing the data.

It is also necessary to keep in mind the limit of the mono-directionality of the data which can cause problems in case of errors in the communication not guaranteeing the quality of the transmission. Also in this case, it is possible to improve this performance by using a protocol with parity checks rather than security checks so-called checksum, more or less complex, which discard the received data in case of error and ask the user to repeat the update. or of the set-up in progress, for example with light signals (LED or other) emitted by the product itself.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE OPERATION

The description below will be made in relation to the case of a configuration of a portable electronic device such as a universal remote control for LCD or plasma television.

Once the model has been selected on the website and given the confirmation command for that model, the user requests the download of a software that selects the alphanumeric codes relating to the desired model from those present in the database.

The download of this software takes place in the temporary files of the user's computer.

The full-size image of the universal remote control appears on the computer monitor with instructions that guide the user to position the remote control on that image. In this way, the photo resistance of the remote control is correctly hit by the impulsive light emitted by the image visible on the monitor.

A preferred solution adopted in the first embodiment that is described provides that the photo resistance is mounted inside the remote control under the battery compartment.

This advantageously allows you to use the invention by simply removing the battery compartment cover from the remote control before the configuration phase without making additional openings on the remote control casing itself.

At this point, the user can activate the software by pressing a special button highlighted on the web page and activate the update procedure on the remote control using an uncommon predefined sequence, for example by simultaneously pressing two preset buttons on the remote control.

Then follow a first phase of synchronization, a second phase of calibration and a third phase of data transfer from the monitor to the remote control in the following ways:

1. The computer sends a synchronization pattern for 5 seconds as alternations of White and Black, each of which preferably lasting 40ms, at the maximum speed that the system can accept due to its physical limits (monitor response, reaction speed of the photo resistance etc.); said pattern being received from the photo resistance A, amplified by amplifier B and squared by the Schmitt F trigger.

The output signal from the F trigger may not be a square wave with the right amplitude and with the period of 40ms, as expected, as the parameters involved may not be suitable (brightness and contrast of the monitor, influence of ambient light etc.).

2. The automatic system calibration phase therefore follows. In fact, the signal from the trigger F will also arrive at the microprocessor C to which the functions of the remote control are entrusted, which will be read by a port at digital level.

The firmware is able, by reading the duration of the signal sent by the computer, to self-adjust the gain of amplifier B through two serial wires (data-clock) placed on the reaction of amplifier B, and connected to a chip whose resistance variable represents the reaction resistance of amplifier B with variable gain, bringing the signal to the port of the 40 ms square wave microprocessor C, thus faithfully reproducing the signal sent by the computer.

In the example shown it must be taken into account that the dynamics of the adjustable amplifier must compensate for the loss of efficiency of the photo resistor used and the different conditions of brightness and contrast adjustment of the monitor and that the variable resistance chip must have at least 64 steps of adjustment to achieve optimal calibration. Within the 5 seconds in which the computer sends the calibration pattern, the remote control must identify the right amplifier gain to have the correct data at the microprocessor port; in the example a common successive approximation algorithm was used to identify the suitable amplification range and then a finer adjustment to center the gain. This greatly reduces the calibration time by improving the efficiency of the system. After 5 seconds and after calibration, the computer transmits a white pulse (250 ms) and a black pulse (250 ms) to give the remote control the end of synchronization signal and the start of data transmission.

3. The data transfer phase then begins.

In the example described, in order to make communication efficient in terms of time and safety against light disturbances that may occur during communication, the following proprietary protocol has been studied:

to. Send a byte indicating the total number of bytes to be transferred. This is for a final check if the received bytes correspond to those expected. Otherwise, a light signal from an LED on the remote control will indicate to the user that the procedure has not been completed correctly and must therefore be repeated. b. Sequence sending of all data byte by byte.

Ex .:

number of bytes to transfer:

96dec 01 10 00 00 bin 60 hex Data:

05dec 00 00 01 01 bin 05hex 12dec 00 00 11 00 bin 0Chex

Last useful byte:

186dec 10 11 10 10 bin BAhex · Transmission of a white-black pulse lasting 600 ms (white 300ms - black 300ms) to close the communication.

The modulation technique used in this example is the following (fig. 4):

· The byte to be transmitted is divided into pairs of two bits at a time. This allows information to be compressed while maintaining long transmission times and thus ensuring that the receiver is able to discriminate pulses of longer duration than disturbances that, in a system like this, may occur during transmission. In this way, the firmware can more easily discard or ignore any disturbances present and ensure data integrity.

· By measuring the times of the incoming impulses, the receiver is able to reconstruct the sequence of transmitted bits. Once the received data has been reconstructed, the remote control microprocessor will memorize them in the internal flash memory and will use them as the codes to be transmitted each time a functional key on the remote control is pushed, thus obtaining the desired result.

According to a second embodiment of the present invention it is possible to increase both the speed and the efficiency of the data transfer in terms of errors in the transfer itself.

The improvement consists in making the communication two channels or with a protocol like the previous one to halve the transmission times or to use a data-clock serial communication protocol.

In this case, the monitor transmits two different signals in the form of light pulses, a data signal and a clock signal (shown in fig. 6), each of which is transmitted from a specific area that appears on the website (as seen in fig. 5). In order to receive both signals, the remote control is equipped with two brightness sensors A and A 'each of which is able to receive one of said two signals (fig. 7).

Each signal, once received by a corresponding brightness sensor A and A ', is amplified by a respective amplifier B, B' as well as squared by a respective threshold trigger F, F 'before both signals are processed by the microprocessor C of the remote controller.

In this way, the data-clock serial communication is synchronous.

In fact, the first area emits light pulses relating to data transmission by modulating the light (light-dark) according to the bits to be transmitted (bit = 0 - bit = 1), while the second area emits light pulses in correspondence with a signal clock synchronous to data.

As can be seen in Figure 6, at each edge of the clock (rising or falling), the data has already been set up and is stable to be read by the receiver.

In the example described, the microprocessor C, which has the function of the receiver inside the remote control to be updated, reads the edges of the clock pulses, for example as an interrupt, and at each edge it reads the status of the line of the data thus reconstructing the sequence of the transmitted bits and therefore of the received data.

This method offers the following advantages:

- Immunity from variations in transmission speed that could occur differently from computer to computer depending on the performance of the machine, the software installed or the operating system;

- certainty of reading the data correctly because they are generated synchronously between data and clock and read by the receiver in correspondence with an edge that indicates with certainty the correct presence of the data;

- possibility of obtaining the maximum transmission speed (about 40ms per bit) which limits the response of the light sensor and the update time of the monitor which in this example does not suffer from any variations. In fact, with this method, not having to measure the duration of the pulses to discriminate the bits of value "0" from those of value "1", there is no risk of compromising the integrity of the data if, during transmission, a variation in the times of the bits transmitted for any disturbance. At the limit, a momentary variation of the transmission speed may occur.

However, there is an initial synchronization phase in which the transmitter emits a sequence of equal bytes, a start word, the number of bytes to be transmitted and therefore the actual data:

Ex .:

Synchronization pattern:

85dec 01 01 01 01 bin 55hex 85dec 01 01 01 01 bin 55hex 85dec 01 01 01 01 bin 55hex Start byte:

51dec 00 11 00 11 bin 33hex number of bytes to be transmitted:

96dec 01 10 00 00 bin 60hex Data: 05dec 00 00 01 01 bin 05hex 12dec 00 00 11 00 bin 0Chex

Last useful byte

186dec 10 11 10 10 bin BAhex At the end of the correct transmission, the receiver can check and then accept the data, if the number of data received coincides with the number of bytes to be transmitted declared at the head of the protocol. To conclude, as can be understood, the invention that is described reduces the costs that currently must be incurred for the production and operation of upgradeable portable electronic devices, due to the necessary use of additional components for connection to a computer for the transfer. data, whether using bluetooth <®> connections, Wi-Fi, etc., or physical connections that include connection cables and hardware interfaces. Therefore, with a minimum increase in the cost of the product, data transfer can be achieved. Therefore, a first advantage of this invention is to be able to configure / program / update such electronic devices in a simple way and with a considerably reduced cost.

A second significant advantage is given by the simplicity of the procedure that allows anyone, even from home, to update their portable device using their computer connected to the internet.

Claims (14)

CLAIMS 1. Apparatus for wirelessly transferring data relating to alphanumeric codes or strings of data from a computer equipped with a monitor for configuring / programming / updating a portable electronic device characterized in that said computer is equipped with means for transforming said alphanumeric codes into pulses light emitted by at least a specific area of said monitor, and that said portable device is equipped with means for retransforming said light pulses into alphanumeric codes to carry out said configuration / programming / updating. 2. Apparatus according to the preceding claim characterized in that said means suitable for transforming said alphanumeric codes into light pulses comprise a resident software or one that can be downloaded from the Internet. 3. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that the means for retransforming said light pulses into alphanumeric codes to carry out the configuration / programming / updating of said portable electronic device comprise at least one brightness transducer (A, A ') to be positioned so such that it receives the light pulses coming from the monitor. 4. Apparatus according to the previous claim characterized by the fact that in correspondence of each brightness transducer there is a respective opening on the portable electronic device to allow said brightness transducer (A, A ') to receive the light pulses emitted by the monitor. 5. Apparatus according to claim 3 characterized in that said brightness transducer (A) can be positioned in the battery compartment of the electronic device. 6. Apparatus according to claim 4 characterized in that the portable electronic device further comprises an amplifier (B) to amplify the output signal to the brightness transducer (A, A ') and a microprocessor (C) for signal processing amplified by said amplifier; said microprocessor (C) being equipped or implemented by a digital circuit suitable for demodulating the signal coming from the monitor, such as for example a firmware. 7. Apparatus according to the preceding claim characterized in that said amplifier (B) is equipped with an automatic gain control, preferably by means of a variable resistor. 8. Apparatus according to the preceding claim characterized in that said variable resistor is driven by said microprocessor (C). 9. Apparatus according to one of claims 6 onwards characterized by the fact that said portable electronic device further comprises a Schmitt trigger (F) suitable for squaring the waveform output from the amplifier (B); said trigger (F) being connected to said amplifier (B) and to said microprocessor (C). 10. Apparatus according to claim 7 above characterized in that it provides for the use of a special communication protocol that minimizes disturbances; said protocol providing an agreed initial signal pattern to be sent to the electronic device to allow the microprocessor (C) to correct the gain of the amplifier (B) until the initial pattern is received correctly. 11. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterized by the fact that on the website there are two distinct adjacent areas suitable for transmitting two different signals, data-clock, in the form of light pulses, and that said electronic device is equipped with two distinct brightness sensors suitable for to receive said two different signals, thus obtaining that the data-clock serial communication is synchronous. 12. Apparatus according to the preceding claim characterized by the fact that the first area emits light pulses relating to data transmission, modulating the light (light-dark) according to the bits to be transmitted (bit = 0-bit = 1), while the second area emits light pulses in correspondence with a data synchronous clock signal; at each edge of the clock (rising or falling), the data having already been set up and stable to be read by the microprocessor. 13. Apparatus according to the preceding claim characterized in that the microprocessor (C) is able to read the edges of the clock pulses, and at each edge it reads the state of the data line, thus reconstructing the sequence of the transmitted bits and therefore of the received data; said microprocessor having the function of a receiver inside the electronic device to be updated. 14. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims characterized in that said portable electronic device to be configured / programmed / updated is a television remote control.