JPH08214472A - Remote wireless switch device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a remote wireless switch device which is provided with a simple inexpensive transmission-side switch device having a small size and light weight, can improve the S/N of a transmitting-receiving mechanism, can transmit various kinds of information, and can perform complicated control. CONSTITUTION: When arc discharge is generated in a prescribed pattern through the operating section of a transmission-side switch device 100, the discharge is received through an antenna 201, detection circuit 202, and amplifier 203 and digitized by means of an A/D conversion circuit 205. An MPU 206 samples the output of the ADD-converting means 205 and only detects received signals the waveform of which exceeds a preset noise level as a significant receiving waveform and, at the same time, calculates the center of gravity about the time base and amplitude axis of the significant receiving waveform. Then the MPU 26 specifies the position of the peak of the received waveform and analyzes the pattern at the peak position of the waveform and a switch control section 208 decodes the controlling operation to be executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a remote wireless switch device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a remote wireless switch device for controlling various electronic devices such as home electric appliances.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a large number of home electric appliances such as television sets and video tape recorders are equipped with a remote controller. In this type of equipment, communication using infrared rays is used between the remote controller and the main body. A method of performing remote control by performing the operation is often used.

[0003]

However, the remote controller using infrared rays as described above is an infrared ray LE.
Since a control circuit for causing D to emit light and modulating infrared light according to information to be transferred is required, a power source is always required.

Therefore, there is a problem that a running cost of a battery or the like is required and a manufacturing cost of the controller tends to be high.

On the other hand, an arc discharge (spark) type remote switch device has been used for switching the channel of an early television receiver. In this system, if a piezoelectric element or the like is used, a remote controller is used. It has the advantage of not requiring a power supply.

However, the conventional arc discharge type remote switch device is extremely liable to malfunction since then.
Due to its vulnerability to external disturbances, it has gradually become obsolete. Moreover, recently, in addition to noise generated by automobile spark plugs, etc., household appliances and other devices that require a remote controller are often installed in a situation where strong electromagnetic waves are generated from a computer or the like. .

Therefore, in order to utilize the merit of not requiring a power source by using an arc discharge type mechanism for the remote controller of the electronic equipment, it is necessary to take further noise countermeasures.

Moreover, in recent years, there are various items requiring remote control, and it is necessary that various information can be transmitted from the remote controller to the main body.

An object of the present invention is to realize a simple, inexpensive, small and lightweight transmitting side switch device by using an arc discharge type mechanism, improve the S / N ratio of the transmitting / receiving mechanism, and transmit various information to make it complicated. Another object of the present invention is to provide a remote wireless switch device that can perform various controls.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, a piezo element and an operating portion for applying a shock to the piezo element to generate a high voltage,
An electrode that performs arc discharge by the high voltage, a transmitter device that has an outer shell that covers at least the portion where the arc discharge is performed, and an artificial or natural electromagnetic wave existing on the earth among electromagnetic pulses generated by the arc discharge. A detection means configured to extract only a component of a frequency band with less noise, and an output A of the detection means for digitizing the detection means.
The outputs of the D conversion means and the AD conversion means are sampled, and only the reception waveform corresponding to the electromagnetic pulse generated by the arc discharge in which the level of the reception signal exceeds a predetermined noise level is detected as a significant reception waveform. At the same time, the center of gravity is calculated with respect to the time axis and amplitude axis of this significant received waveform, the peak positions of the individual received waveforms are calculated, and the predetermined reception period is determined based on the minimum interval between the peak positions of the individual received waveforms. By adopting a configuration comprising a receiving side device having processing means for decoding a predetermined control operation to be executed by analyzing the pattern of the presence or absence of the peak position of the received waveform in each section.

[0011]

According to the above structure, when arc discharge is generated in a predetermined pattern via the operation unit of the transmission side device, the pattern of the reception waveform of the electromagnetic pulse received by the reception side device is analyzed and the control to be executed is executed. The action can be specified.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of a transmitting side switching device of a remote wireless switching device embodying the present invention. In this embodiment, the transmission side switch device is configured in a ring shape,
For example, the user can put it on his / her finger.
The main part of the main body 100 of the transmission side switching device is made of an insulator 105 such as plastic and has a built-in iron electrode 102 for arc discharge.

The two rod-shaped iron electrodes 102 have a space 10 formed inside the main body where arc discharge is performed between their tips.
They are opposed to each other at a predetermined distance within 1. Space 1
01 is assumed to be filled with air of approximately 1 atm. In this way, the space where the arc discharge is performed is surrounded by the insulator, so that there is no danger that the user gets an electric shock.

On the side opposite to the iron electrode 102, the iron electrode 102
To generate a high voltage that causes an arc discharge in
A piezo element 107 is provided. This piezo element 107
A part of is exposed on the lower surface of the ring.

The terminal of the piezo element 107 is connected to the primary side of the transformer 106 via the conductor wire 14. The secondary side of the transformer 106 is connected to the two iron electrodes 102, respectively. This transformer 106 has a piezoelectric element 107.
The voltage generated by is raised to a voltage at which arc discharge is performed between the two iron electrodes 102, 102.

In the above structure, the exposed portion of the piezo element 107 functions as a user's operation part. When the exposed portion of the piezo element 107 is hit to give a shock, the piezo element 107 generates a voltage. , Transformer 10
The pressure is increased at 6 and applied to the iron electrodes 102 and 102, and arc discharge is performed between the two iron electrodes 102 and 102.

On the other hand, a receiver as shown in FIG. 2 is used to receive the electromagnetic pulse generated by the arc discharge of the transmitter.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 is an antenna for receiving electromagnetic waves generated by arc discharge, and 202 is a detection circuit, which is configured to select a frequency band in which electromagnetic noise is the smallest in the environment in which the device is used. To be done.

That is, the detection circuit 202 is constructed so as to extract, from the electromagnetic pulses generated by the transmission side switching device 100, only the components of the frequency band in which the artificial and natural electromagnetic noise existing on the earth is small. For example, in the case of home appliances, the frequency band with the least domestic noise may be selected. The detection method may be AM.

Reference numeral 203 is an amplifier for amplifying the detected signal to a voltage which can be read by an analog-digital converter,
205 is an analog-digital converter for converting the amplified signal into a digital code.

The output of the analog-digital converter 205 is
It is connected to the bus of the computer system using the MPU 206, and the output waveform of the analog-digital converter 205 is M
The signal is analyzed by the PU 206 and a signal of a target pattern is detected.

The MPU 206 uses a random access memory (RAM) 207 as a work area for analyzing a received signal. The measurement time upper limit, wave number counter, and noise level (FIG. 4), which will be described later, are stored therein. MP described later
The control procedure of U206 is read only memory (ROM) 2
It is stored in 04.

The MPU 206 drives the switch control section 208 to control the controlled device 209 according to the analysis result of the received signal. The controlled device 209 is usually a device such as a video receiver or a television receiver, and the circuit of FIG. 2 may be incorporated in the controlled device 209.

FIG. 3 shows the time variation of the voltage 305 output from the amplifier 203 of FIG. 2 to the analog-digital converter 205. In FIG. 3, the vertical axis 301 represents the voltage,
The horizontal axis 307 indicates time.

When the electromagnetic pulse generated by the arc discharge of the transmitter of FIG. 1 is received, this electromagnetic pulse is detected by the detection circuit 202 and amplified by the amplifier 203.
As a result, the voltage 305 input to the analog-digital converter 205 changes as illustrated.

The analog-digital converter 205 has a voltage of 3
The amplitude value of 05 is converted into a digital value and output. Code 3
Reference numeral 02 indicates a sampling interval (ΔT) at which the MPU 206 in FIG. 2 reads the analog-digital converter 205. The arrows in the figure indicate the output voltage value of the analog-digital converter 205 at each sampling timing.

Here, reference numeral 304 is a voltage value when the MPU 206 first reads the output of the analog-digital converter 205, and 303 is a voltage value 306 when the analog-digital converter is read the second time. It shows the voltage when there is no noise, that is, the noise level.

The circuit of FIG. 2 is initialized when the power is turned on, but at the same time, the noise level 306 is determined, the upper limit of the measurement time is determined, and the wave number counter is cleared to zero.

To determine the noise level, for example, the average value of the voltages measured twice or more is used. MPU2
06 is stored in the determined RAM 207. Also,
As a method of determining the upper limit of the measurement time, a value stored in advance in the ROM 204 is copied to the RAM 207 and stored at this initialization.

FIG. 4 shows the overall flow of the received waveform unsolving process performed by the MPU 206 of the above receiving apparatus.

In step S401 in FIG. 4, the MPU
206 clears the waveform table in the RAM 207 in which the analysis result of the signal waveform received from the switch device on the transmission side is written, and further, in step S402, the current level set in the work area of the RAM 207 used for the waveform analysis processing unit. And the initialization process to clear the current time register is performed.

The register for the current level and the current time stores the information of the level of the sampled reception signal and the reception time, and in the following processing, it stores the measurement values in two consecutive measurements. To
Two are required: one that stores the “previous” measured value and one that stores the “current” measured value.

In step S403, the MPU 206 reads the digitally encoded output of the analog-to-digital converter 205, and in step S404, the RAM 2 is determined at initialization.
The noise level stored in 07 is compared.

In step S404, if the noise level is higher than the voltage measured this time, that is, if no significant signal is received, the voltage value read in step S403 and the time at this time are set to the previous current value. Store in level and current time register, step S405
Proceed to.

In step S405, the time interval (ΔT in FIG. 3) until the next measurement timing is measured by the internal timer of the MPU 206 or a counter by software.

When the next measurement time comes, the process returns from step S405 to S402, and the output of the analog-digital converter is measured again.

That is, the loop of steps S402 to S405 waits for the start of reception of a significant signal exceeding the noise level. When the reception of the significant signal is started, the process moves to the loop of steps S406 to S409.

That is, if the voltage measured this time is larger than the noise level in step S404, the process proceeds to step S406. In step S406, the MPU 206
Is the analog-digital converter 2 as in step S403.
Read the 05 digitally encoded output. Here, the voltage value and the time at this time are stored in the previous current level and current time register.

In step S407, step S403
The center of gravity of the signal waveform read in step S406 and the center of gravity of the waveform read in step S406 are calculated. The calculation of the center of gravity, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 5, is for detecting the peak value of the signal waveform currently being received and its timing.

In step S408, the noise level determined at initialization is compared with the noise level stored in the RAM 207. If the noise level is lower than the voltage measured this time, that is, a significant signal is continuously received. If there is, the process proceeds to step S409.

In step S409, the time (ΔT) until the next measurement time comes is measured by the internal timer of the MPU 206 or the counter by software. When the next measurement time comes, the process returns from step S409 to step S406, and the analog-digital converter output is measured again.

In this way, steps S406 to S4
In the loop of 09, while the significant signal exceeding the noise level is being received, the calculation of the center of gravity described below is repeated.

On the other hand, if the voltage measured this time is smaller than the noise level in step S408, that is, if significant signal reception ends (reception of one mountain in FIG. 3 ends), the process proceeds to step S410.

In step S410, the peak level and the peak position (timing) of the detection voltage of one peak of the received signal stored in the work area of the RAM 207 are copied to the waveform table in the RAM 207 (described later with reference to FIG. 6). ).

In step S411, the upper limit of the measurement time stored in the RAM 207 is compared with the elapsed time measured by the internal timer of the MPU 206 or a counter by software. If the upper limit of the measurement time is not exceeded, the process returns to step S402. The above process is repeated. Step S4
If the upper limit of the measurement time is exceeded in step 11, the process proceeds to step S412. As a result, only the data of the highest level of the voltage waveform from when the noise level is exceeded to when it is buried in the next noise level is acquired, and when the above processing is repeated until the measurement time upper limit is reached, the received waveform pattern Are acquired in a form expressed by a combination of a plurality of peak voltages and times, and are stored in the waveform table. In step S412, the switch control unit 208 controls the switching of the power source and the channel of the controlled device 209 according to the wave number and waveform pattern of the received waveform.
Instruct to finish.

FIG. 5 shows M in step S407.
The calculation example of the center of gravity performed by the PU 206, that is, the processing example of the prediction of the voltage peak position is shown.

In step S501, the MPU 206 stores the voltage read in step S403, the previous current level where the result of the calculation of the center of gravity based on this voltage is stored, and the voltage read in step S406. Compare the current level.

In step S501, if the previous current level is higher than the current current level,
That is, if the signal level being received is falling, the process ends without doing anything, and if the previous current level is lower than the current level, that is, if the signal level being received is rising, the process proceeds to step S502. move on.

In step S502, the previous current time and the midpoint of the current time are calculated and overwritten in the register of the previous current time. In step S503, the previous current level and the midpoint of the current level are calculated and calculated. Overwrite the current level and exit.

The processing of FIG. 5 is performed in steps S406 to S406 of FIG.
This is repeated during the reception of the signal of the significant level in step S407 in step S409. As a result, while the reception signal level is increasing, the previous current level and current time registers are updated by the midpoint (that is, the center of gravity) of the two previous and present measurement values measured in step S406, and the signal begins to fall. And this update will not be done.

Therefore, by the processing of FIGS. 4 and 5, one peak of the received waveform from when the received signal once exceeds the noise level until when it is buried in the noise level is acquired.

FIG. 6 shows M in step S410.
6 shows a process of storing the peak level of one peak of the analyzed voltage waveform and its timing (center of gravity) in the waveform table, which is performed by the PU 206. Step S6 in FIG.
At 01, the MPU 206 copies the time at which the peak voltage stored in the previous current time register occurred to the signal peak position in the waveform table, and then the step S60
In 2, the peak voltage stored in the previous current level register is copied to the signal peak level.

FIG. 7 shows the MPU in step S412.
The command analysis processing performed by 206 is shown.

In the above process, when the user hits the piezo element 107 of the transmitter to generate an electromagnetic pulse, naturally,
Each one of them is received as one peak of the received waveform, but in this embodiment, like the Morse code, the piezo element 1 is received.
The command is assigned a specific pattern represented by the interval at which 07 is tapped, that is, the number of waveforms received, and the peak-to-peak time separation. Therefore, the process of FIG. 7 analyzes the length of the interval of continuous reception electromagnetic pulse of one block.

First, in step S701, the MPU 206
Searches for the smallest time interval from the input waveform table, divides the time into minimum intervals centering on the minimum interval position found in step S702, and divides the measurement time into several sections.

FIG. 8 shows two examples of received patterns. Reference numeral 801 represents the upper limit of measurement time, during which the peaks of the received signal arrive at the timing indicated by the black ellipse circle. There is. Further, reference numeral 803 indicates a section of the minimum time interval, and in the above example, peaks 804 to 80
5 intervals, in the example below, the intervals of peaks 814 to 815 are detected as the sections of the minimum time interval.

In this minimum time interval section, the measurement time upper limit is 8
By dividing up to 01, the equally-spaced sections shown by the short vertical lines in FIG. 8 are formed.

In step S703 of FIG. 7, it is checked for all peaks whether or not there is a signal peak in the next section of each signal peak position, and for those in the next section, the code A and the next B is determined when there is no signal peak in the section. Further, even if there is no signal peak in the next section, the last signal is judged as code A.

In the example of FIG. 8, since there is no signal peak in the section following the signal peak 804, the code is converted to B (8
09). Further, since there is a signal peak in the section next to the signal peaks 804 and 805, the code is converted to A (81
0, 811). Here, the section of the signal peak 805 is
Consider the signal peak 805 to the right.

Further, since there is no signal on the right side of the signal peak 809, but the signal peak is the last signal peak, the code is converted to A (812).

In the lower example of FIG. 8, the positions of the first and last signal peaks are the same, but the minimum time interval is narrower than in the above example, and signal peak 815 is detected as code B (819). . The reason for the conversion shown by 817, 818, and 820 is the same as the above example of FIG.

In step S704, a command table having the same code pattern is searched for, and in step S7.
The controlled device 209 corresponding to the code coincident with 05 is controlled via the switch control unit 208.

FIG. 9 shows a command table used by the MPU 206. Reference numeral 901 is a signal pattern (901 to 906), 908 is a control (909 to 914) which is the name of the data on the right side, and each row is a reference numeral. The control corresponding to is shown.

For example, when the pattern consisting of the code ABA is detected by the processing of FIGS. 7 and 8, the corresponding control can be decoded by searching the table for 905 of FIG. In this case, the code AB
When the control corresponding to the pattern consisting of A is obtained, it can be seen that the control to be executed is the volume UP. The command table of FIG. 9 may be stored in the ROM 204.

According to the above embodiment, the switch device on the transmitting side (FIG. 1) and the switch device on the receiving side (FIG. 2) are combined to form a remote wireless switch device, and the electronic device, particularly the video or television receiver is formed. Can control home appliances such as. The remote wireless switch device described above can be configured and commercialized as a part of these devices.

Further, according to the remote wireless switch device of the above-mentioned embodiment, remote operation can be reliably performed even in a place where a lot of high frequency electromagnetic noise is generated, and the device on the transmitting side has no power source, which is extremely simple and inexpensive to construct, and can be run. It is easy to use without any cost, and it is easy to attach a plurality of transmitting side switching devices to one device without increasing the cost of the product of the entire device to be adopted.

Further, the transmitting side switch device has a shape that can be worn on the body (for example, a ring shape as shown in FIG. 1 or a pendant shape is considered), so that, for example, the whole family can fit it on the finger. It is very advantageous in terms of operability and portability, and in that case, since the originating side switch device can be configured to be extremely small and lightweight, the action range of the user is not limited.

Further, in the transmitting side switching device of the above-mentioned embodiment, the space where the arc discharge is performed is surrounded by the insulator, so that there is no danger that the user gets an electric shock.

Further, according to the remote wireless switch device of the above-mentioned embodiment, the detection method which depends only on the detection output level as used in the conventional arc discharge type device is not adopted, and the switch on the transmission side is not used. Of the electromagnetic pulses generated by the device, among the signals received through the detection circuit configured to extract only the components of the frequency band with little artificial and natural electromagnetic noise existing on the earth, at the time of initialization of the receiving device Only valid received waveforms that exceed the set noise level are sampled, the center of gravity is calculated for the time axis and space (amplitude) axis of the sampled received waveforms, and the peak position of each received waveform is calculated. A code pattern for dividing the reception period based on the minimum interval of the peak position of the waveform and transmitting the pattern of the presence or absence of the reception waveform in each period Since the S / N ratio of the transmission / reception mechanism can be greatly improved, it is possible to generate a strong electromagnetic wave from a computer in addition to noise generated by a spark plug of an automobile. The equipment can be controlled accurately, and by transmitting various information, complicated equipment can be controlled.

[0071]

As is apparent from the above, according to the present invention, a piezo element, an operating portion for giving a shock to the piezo element to generate a high voltage, and an electrode for performing arc discharge by the high voltage. And a transmitter device having an outer shell that covers at least the part where the arc discharge is performed, and only the component of the frequency band in which the artificial and natural electromagnetic noise existing on the earth is small among the electromagnetic pulses generated by the arc discharge. A detection means configured to extract, an AD conversion means for digitizing the output of the detection means, and A
The output of the D conversion means is sampled, and only the reception waveform corresponding to the electromagnetic pulse generated by the arc discharge in which the level of the reception signal exceeds a predetermined noise level is detected as a significant reception waveform, and this significant waveform is detected. The center of gravity is calculated with respect to the time axis and amplitude axis of the received waveform, the peak positions of the individual received waveforms are calculated, and the predetermined reception period is divided based on the obtained minimum intervals of the peak positions of the individual received waveforms. Since the configuration of the receiving side device having the processing means for decoding the predetermined control operation to be executed by analyzing the pattern of the presence or absence of the peak position of the received waveform in the section is adopted, the transmission is simple, inexpensive, small and lightweight. Side switch device can be configured, the S / N ratio of the transmission / reception mechanism can be greatly improved, and various information can be transmitted and duplicated. It is possible to provide a possible and were superior remote wireless switch device Do control. In addition, if the transmitting side device is configured to be worn and used by the user, it is extremely advantageous in terms of operability and portability. In that case, since the transmitting side switch device can be configured to be extremely small and lightweight, user actions There is no limit to the range.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a transmitter device of a remote wireless switch device embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a receiver of a remote wireless switch device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a time change of a voltage of a reception waveform sampled in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of waveform analysis processing of the receiving apparatus of FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing an example of calculation of a center of gravity (prediction of a voltage peak position) in the waveform analysis process of the receiving apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a part of storing a peak position of one peak of the voltage waveform analyzed in the waveform analysis processing of the receiving apparatus of FIG. 2 in a waveform table.

7 is a flow chart diagram showing command analysis processing in the waveform analysis processing of the receiving apparatus of FIG. 2. FIG.

8 is a conceptual diagram showing waveform processing performed by a command analysis processing unit of the receiving device in FIG.

9 is an explanatory diagram showing a command table used in a command analysis processing unit of the receiving device in FIG. 2. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Space 102 Iron Electrode 104 Conductor 106 Transformer 105 Insulator 107 Piezo Element 201 Antenna 202 Detection Circuit 203 Amplifier 204 ROM 205 Analog to Digital Converter 206 MPU 207 RAM 208 Switch Control Section 209 Controlled Equipment

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A piezo element, an operating portion for generating a high voltage by impacting the piezo element, an electrode for arcing with the high voltage, and an outer part for covering at least the portion where the arcing is performed. A transmission side device having a shell, and a detection means configured to extract only a component of a frequency band having a small artificial and natural electromagnetic noise existing on the earth among electromagnetic pulses generated by the arc discharge, and the detection means of the detection means. Only the AD conversion means that digitizes the output and the output of the AD conversion means are sampled, and only the reception waveform corresponding to the electromagnetic pulse generated by the arc discharge in which the level of the reception signal exceeds a predetermined noise level is significant. Of the received waveforms, the center of gravity is calculated on the time axis and amplitude axis of this significant received waveform, and The peak position of each received waveform is obtained, and a predetermined reception period is divided based on the obtained minimum position of the peak position of each received waveform, and the pattern of the presence or absence of the peak position of the received waveform in each section is analyzed. A remote wireless switch device comprising a receiving side device having processing means for decoding a predetermined control operation to be executed thereby. 2. The remote wireless switch device according to claim 1, wherein the transmitter device is configured to be worn and used by a user.