JP2008258887A - Power line carrier communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a power line carrier communication system capable of operating an external device connected to a transmitter from a receiver side by using remote controller auxiliary to the external device. <P>SOLUTION: When the receiver receives a remote control signal, the receiver converts the received remote control signal into a binary signal, samples the binary signal in a predetermined period, generates a serial signal obtained by adding a start bit and a stop bit to sampled sampling data, and transmits the serial signal to the transmitter through a power line. When the transmitter receives the serial signal transmitted from the receiver, the transmitter stores the received serial signal, and outputs a remote control signal corresponding to a binary signal in a one-bit unit of the stored serial signal in a predetermined period. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology of a power line carrier communication system that performs communication between a transmission device and a reception device using a power line as a communication medium.

  Conventionally, there is power line communication (PLC) as a technology for performing communication using a power line as a communication medium. The transmission device and the reception device having the power line carrier communication function can transmit audio signal and video signal content data using a power line installed in the home without wiring a cable or the like.

  When the receiving device and the transmitting device are installed in the same room, the user can operate the external device using a remote control device (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller) that remotely operates the external device connected to the transmitting device. However, when the transmission device and the reception device are installed in separate rooms, the remote control signal transmitted from the remote control even if the user operates the remote control in order to operate the external device from the room where the reception device is installed. It is blocked by the wall of the room and does not reach external equipment installed in another room. In order to solve this problem, a technique for transmitting a remote control signal transmitted from a remote controller to a transmitting apparatus installed in another room from a receiving apparatus via a power line, and operating an external device according to the transmitted remote control signal (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-18558 A

  In the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, the external device connected to the transmission device is operated using the remote control attached to the receiving device, without using the remote control attached to the external device. For this reason, depending on the model of the external device connected to the transmission device, it may not be possible to operate using the remote control attached to the reception device. Therefore, external devices that the user can operate from the receiving device side are limited to devices that are compatible with the system disclosed in Patent Document 1.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and a power line carrier communication system capable of operating an external device connected to a transmission device from the reception device side using a remote controller attached to the external device. It is characterized by providing.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a power line carrier communication system according to the present invention is a power line carrier communication system that performs communication between a transmission device and a reception device using a power line as a communication medium. The reception device is connected to the transmission device. A receiving means for receiving a control signal for controlling the external device, a converting means for converting the control signal received by the receiving means into a binary signal, and a binary signal converted by the converting means. Sampling means for sampling at a predetermined period; generation means for generating a serial signal in which a start bit and a stop bit are added to the sampling data sampled by the sampling means; and the serial signal generated by the generation means via a power line Transmitting means for transmitting to the transmitting device, the transmitting device comprising the receiving device. Communication means for receiving a serial signal transmitted from the communication device and transmitting a content signal to the receiving device; storing the serial signal received by the communication means; and storing the stored serial signal in units of 1 bit in a predetermined cycle. Control means for controlling to output a binary signal and output means for outputting the binary signal output from the control means to an external device.

  In the above power line communication carrier system, the control signal received by the receiving means is an infrared signal, and the predetermined period is a carrier frequency of the infrared signal.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the power line carrier communication system which can operate the external apparatus connected to the transmitter from the receiver side using the remote control attached to the external apparatus can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a power line carrier communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the power line carrier communication system 1 according to the present embodiment, a transmission device 2 and a reception device 2 are installed at an arbitrary place in a home, and these are connected by a power line 4. The receiver 3 is connected to external devices such as a tuner 5a and a CD player 5b. A remote control 6a attached to the tuner 5a and a remote control 6b attached to the CD player 5b are located where the transmission apparatus 2 is installed.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the receiving device 2 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the receiving device 2 of the present embodiment includes a light receiving unit 10, a converting unit 11, a sampling unit 12, a generating unit 13, a control unit 14, a PLC modem 15, and an amplifying unit 16. , An audio output unit 17, a video output unit 18, and a plug 19. The receiving device 2 is connected to the power line 4 by inserting the plug 19 into an outlet (not shown).

  The light receiving unit 10 receives an infrared remote control signal output from the remote controller 6a or the remote controller 6b. The received remote control signal is input to the conversion unit 11. This remote control signal is a control signal for controlling an external device. The conversion unit 11 removes the carrier component of the input remote control signal and converts the remote control signal into a binary signal of high and low. The converted binary signal is input to the sampling unit 12. The sampling unit 12 samples the input binary signal at a predetermined cycle. The sampled sampling data is input to the generation unit 13. In the sampling unit 12, the predetermined cycle for sampling the binary signal is the same frequency as the carrier component of the infrared remote control signal received by the light receiving unit 10, and is, for example, 38 kHz.

  The generation unit 13 generates a serial signal to which a start bit and a stop bit are added every 8 bits in the input sampling data. The generated 8-bit serial signal is input to the control unit 14. The control unit 14 inputs the input 8-bit serial signal to the PLC modem 15. In addition, the control unit 14 controls the receiving device 2 of this embodiment in an integrated manner. The PLC modem 15 modulates the input serial signal into a signal that can be superimposed on the AC power supply, and superimposes it on the modulated AC power supply. The serial signal superimposed on the AC power supply is transmitted to the transmission device 3 through the plug 19 using the power line 4 as a communication medium.

  Further, the PLC modem 15 separates the audio signal and video signal transmitted from the transmission device 3 using the power line as a communication medium from the AC power source and demodulates the audio signal and the video signal. The demodulated audio signal and video signal are input to the control unit 14. The audio signal input to the control unit 14 is input to the amplification unit 16. The amplifying unit 16 amplifies the input audio signal. The amplified audio signal is output from a speaker system connected to the audio output unit 17. The video signal input to the control unit 14 is input to the video output unit 18 and output from a display connected to the video output unit 17.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the transmission device 3 according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the transmission device 3 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a content input unit 20, a PLC modem 21, a control unit 22, a buffer 23, an infrared LED 24, and a plug 25. The transmitter 3 is connected to the power line 4 by inserting a plug 25 into an outlet (not shown).

  The content input unit 20 inputs an audio signal or a video signal from an external device of the connected tuner 5a or CD player 5b. The input audio signal and video signal are input to the PLC modem 21. The PLC modem 21 modulates an input audio signal or video signal into a signal that can be superimposed on an AC power source, and superimposes the signal on the modulated AC power source. The audio signal and video signal superimposed on the AC power supply are transmitted to the receiving device 2 through the plug 25 using the power line 4 as a communication medium. Further, the PLC modem 21 separates the serial signal transmitted from the receiving device 2 using the power line as a communication medium from the AC power source and demodulates the serial signal. The demodulated 8-bit serial signal is input to the control unit 22.

  The control unit 22 stores the input 8-bit serial signal in the buffer 23. Then, an 8-bit serial signal is read from the buffer 23 in 1-bit units at a predetermined cycle, and a high or low binary signal corresponding to the read signal is output to the infrared LED 24. Here, if the predetermined cycle for reading out the 8-bit serial signal from the buffer 23 in units of 1 bit is set to the same frequency (for example, 38 kHz) as the carrier component of the infrared remote control signal described above, 2 output from the control unit 22. The value signal is a remote control signal (including a carrier component) received by the light receiving unit 10 of the receiving device 2. The infrared LED 24 outputs an infrared remote control signal corresponding to a binary signal input from the control unit 22, that is, a remote control signal including a carrier component.

  In the power line carrier communication system 1 of the above-described embodiment, an operation in which the user operates an external device connected from the receiving device 2 to the transmitting device 3 will be described.

  When the user selects a channel received by the tuner 5a using the remote controller 6a attached to the tuner 5a at the place where the receiving device 2 is installed, for example, the infrared remote control signal of the channel selected from the remote controller 6a is received. Is output. When the light receiving unit 10 provided in the receiving device 2 receives the infrared remote control signal, the conversion unit 11, the sampling unit 12, and the generation unit 13 generate an 8-bit serial signal. The receiving device 2 transmits the generated 8-bit serial signal from the PLC modem 15 to the transmitting device 3 using the power line 4 as a communication medium.

  The transmission device 3 stores the 8-bit serial signal received and demodulated from the reception device 2 in the buffer 23. The control unit 22 provided in the transmission device 3 reads an 8-bit serial signal in units of 1 bit at the same frequency as the carrier component of the infrared remote control signal described from the buffer 23. Thereby, the infrared LED 24 outputs the infrared remote control signal of the channel selected by the user using the remote control 6a. When receiving the infrared remote control signal, the tuner 5a connected to the transmission device 3 performs an operation of receiving the channel selected by the user.

  As described above, the power line carrier communication system 1 according to the present embodiment does not convert the remote control signal for operating the external device connected to the transmission device 3 received by the reception device 2 into another signal via the power line. It can be transmitted to the transmission device 3. For this reason, various types of external devices can be connected to the transmission apparatus 1 without limiting the connectable external devices.

  In the power line carrier communication system of the present embodiment, since the uplink for transmitting data (8-bit serial signal) from the receiver 2 to the transmitter 3 can be set to a communication speed of about 38 kbps, the transmitter 3 A wide band of a downlink for transmitting data (audio signal or video signal) can be allocated to the receiving apparatus 2.

The figure which shows the structure of the power line carrier communication system which is one Example of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the receiver of a present Example. The block diagram which shows the structure of the transmitter of a present Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Power line carrier communication system, 2 ... Reception apparatus, 3 ... Transmission apparatus, 4 ... Power line, 5a ... Tuner, 5b ... CD player, 6a ... Remote control, 6b ... Remote control, 10 ... Light-receiving part, 11 ... Conversion part, 12 ... Sampling unit, 13 ... generating unit, 14 ... control unit, 15 ... PLC modem, 16 ... amplifying unit, 17 ... audio output unit, 18 ... video output unit, 19 ... plug, 20 ... content input unit, 21 ... PLC modem, 22 ... Control unit, 23 ... Buffer, 24 ... Infrared LED, 25 ... Plug

Claims (2)

In a power line carrier communication system that performs communication between a transmission device and a reception device using a power line as a communication medium,
The receiving device is:
Receiving means for receiving a control signal for controlling an external device connected to the transmitting device;
Conversion means for converting the control signal received by the receiving means into a binary signal;
Sampling means for sampling the binary signal converted by the conversion means at a predetermined period;
Generating means for generating a serial signal obtained by adding a start bit and a stop bit to the sampling data sampled by the sampling means;
Transmission means for transmitting the serial signal generated by the generation means to the transmission device via a power line,
The transmitting device receives a serial signal transmitted from the receiving device, and transmits a content signal to the receiving device;
Control means for storing the serial signal received by the communication means, and controlling the stored serial signal to output a binary signal in units of 1 bit in a predetermined cycle;
An output means for outputting a binary signal output from the control means to an external device. In the power line carrier communication system according to claim 1,
A control signal received by the receiving means is an infrared signal, and the predetermined period is a carrier frequency of the infrared signal.

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