TWI493512B - The universal remote control module used in smart phone and its operation method - Google Patents

Description

Universal remote control module for smart phone and operation method thereof

The invention relates to a universal remote control module and an operation method thereof, in particular to a universal remote control module capable of downloading a remote control code by a server connected through a network according to the operation of the smart mobile phone and an operation method thereof .

The invention of remote control equipment has brought great convenience to human beings. Many home appliances, audio-visual and information devices in life, such as TV, air-conditioning, video recorders, computers, CDs, DVDs, digital cameras/cameras, projectors, electric screens, etc., can be operated remotely. At present, the remote control device takes the infrared remote control as the mainstream, and its main principle is to control the blinking frequency of the light-emitting diode on the remote controller to transmit the encoded infrared signal, and after receiving the infrared signal and decoding it, the electronic device to be remotely controlled, according to Execute specific operational instructions. However, because the encoding methods of the remote control devices used by different users are different, the user must use different remote controllers when operating different devices, and once the remote controller is lost, it is not necessary to re-purchase a compatible remote controller. In view of this, a universal remote controller has recently been developed, and remote control operations of a plurality of different remote control devices can be set and switched. However, when the conventional universal remote controller is set, it is necessary to consult and input the code of the remote control code compatible with the device to be remotely controlled, or perform a very cumbersome wireless signal acquisition and learning program, and the remote controller itself still needs extra Purchase settings.

After the popularity of smart phones, there are also applications that use smart phones to remotely operate electronic devices, but for a few specific devices, in mobile applications. The method of pre-storing the remote control code of the device is performed. The reason may be that the short-range wireless communication of the smart phone is mainly based on Bluetooth, so even if the mobile phone application is installed, most of the infrared remote control devices cannot be remotely controlled. In addition, the remote control application of the smart phone has not yet implemented a universal remote control that can remotely control most of the remote control devices on the market.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for allowing a smart phone to remotely control most of the current wireless remote control devices. The utility model provides a universal remote control module for a smart phone, which can download a specific remote control code from a server through a smart phone, and then use the specific remote control code to remotely operate a specific remote control device. The universal remote control module comprises: a wireless signal transceiver for wireless signal exchange with a specific remote control device; a control processing device connected to the wireless signal transceiver for receiving and processing a specific remote control code from the smart phone, and Controlling the wireless signal transceiver to send a wireless signal to a specific remote control device according to a specific remote control code, remotely operating the remote control device, and connecting the interface to the control processing device for connecting to the smart phone to receive the specific remote control code and transmitting to the Control the processing device.

The 10,000 remote control module also includes a separate housing that is separate from the smart phone and can be easily integrated or separated from the mobile phone. The wireless signal transceiver can use one of infrared transceivers, radio frequency (RF) transceivers or Bluetooth modules, or two or all of them to be compatible with most remote control devices.

The operation method of the universal remote control module of the present invention generally has the following steps: storing a specific remote control code on the server; installing a remote control application on the smart phone; capturing a specific remote control code from the server; and using a universal remote control The module transmits a specific remote control code to a specific remote control device.

The specific remote control code can be stored in the remote control code database built on the server, and the method of capturing is to pre-set and store the code conforming to the remote control protocol of the specific remote control device, so as to be remotely controlled according to the preset code during remote operation. The specific remote control code is retrieved from the code database.

The capture of a specific remote control code can be triggered by the operation of the remote control device by the remote control application, or the entire configuration file can be pre-transmitted to the smart phone after the remote control application and the server transmit the connection. In response to the operation on the mobile phone, it is transmitted to a specific remote control device through the universal remote control module to drive this specific operation.

The server can pre-register the identification code and the verification code, and store the identification code and the verification code in the smart phone, then set the code of the electronic device remote control agreement, and associate the code of the remote control device in the database to The identification code and the verification code, when the universal remote control module is used, the identification code and the verification code can be transmitted from the smart phone to the server for verification, so that the preset code is used for the remote control code data. A specific remote control code is retrieved from the library.

1‧‧‧Smart mobile phone

11‧‧‧Remote app

2‧‧‧ million remote control module

21‧‧‧Wireless Signal Transceiver

22‧‧‧Control processing device

23‧‧‧Connection interface

23’‧‧‧Internet connection interface

24‧‧‧Independent enclosure

3‧‧‧Server

31‧‧‧Remote code database

4‧‧‧Remote control equipment

41‧‧‧Wireless Signal Transceiver

5‧‧‧Network

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of a universal remote control module for a smart phone according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of an embodiment of a universal remote control module for a smart phone according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing another embodiment of a universal remote control module for a smart phone according to the present invention.

The universal remote control module 2 shown in FIG. 1 is controlled by a wireless signal transceiver 21 The processing device 22, the connection interface 23, and the separate housing 24 are comprised. The universal remote control module 2 can connect to the network 5 through the smart phone 1 and use WIFI, etc., and download a specific remote control code from the server 3 connected to the network 5, and then use the specific remote control code to the specific remote control device. 4 Remote operation. The remote control device 4 has a wireless signal transceiver 41 compatible with the wireless signal transceiver 21 for wireless signal exchange therebetween. The control processing device 22 is electrically connected to the wireless signal transceiver 21 to receive and process the specific remote control code from the smart phone 1, and controls the wireless signal transceiver 21 to send the wireless signal to the remote control device 4 according to the specific remote control code to complete the remote control operation. The action of device 4. The connection interface 23 is mounted on a separate housing 24 that is internally electrically coupled to the control processing device 22 for connection to the smartphone 1 for receiving a particular remote control code and for transmission to the control processing device 22. The connection interface 23 can use the most common interface conforming to the universal serial bus (USB) specification, or other interfaces with similar functions. Network 5 is generally the Internet, and Server 3 is a cloud server.

The universal remote control module 2 also includes a separate outer casing 24 separated from the smart phone 1 for accommodating the wireless signal transceiver 21, the control processing device 22 and the connection interface 23 to form an easy installation with the smart phone 1 and Separate independent modules. The wireless signal transceiver 21 can be an infrared transceiver, which is compatible with the current mainstream specifications of the remote control appliance. Of course, other similar functions of the wireless communication component, such as a radio frequency transceiver or a Bluetooth module, can also be used. In order to be compatible with more remote control devices, it is also possible to install more than two types of wireless communication components at the same time, such as installing an infrared transceiver, a radio frequency transceiver or a Bluetooth module at the same time, or two or more of them. The other types of wireless communication components and the like are transmitted to the appropriate wireless communication component by the control processing device 22 according to the type of the remote control code received.

A remote control code database 31 is built in the server 3 to store various universal or specially developed remote control protocol encoded data, including the remote control protocol used by the remote control device 4. A set of remote control codes and codes that are indexed by this set of remote control codes. The smart phone 1 has a remote control application 11 installed for remote data setting and processing, and a remote operation interface. Before using the smart phone 1 to operate the remote control device 4, the identification code and the verification code, such as the user account and password, may be pre-registered with the server 3, and the identification code and the verification code may be stored in the smart phone 1. After the server 3 is logged in using the identification code and the verification code, the code representing the remote control protocol used by the remote control device 4 can be further selected according to the type, brand, model, etc. of the remote control device 4, and the identification code and the verification code are set. The data is stored and stored in the server 3. The use of the identification code and the verification code, and the selection of the code representing the remote control protocol used by the remote control device 4, may be performed in the remote control application 11 or may be connected to the web page of the server 3 via other information devices. If more than one remote control device is to be remotely controlled, the configuration file of each remote control device code may be pre-stored on the server 3, and then the remote control application 11 selects the device for remote operation when a certain device is to be operated.

Referring to Figure 2, the remote control application 11 and the server 3 operate in a master-slave architecture, so both of them need to start communication such as Windows Sockets at the beginning of operation. After the interface, the server 3 enters the listening state and waits for the service request proposed by the remote controller application 11. To perform remote control operation, first connect the universal remote control module 2 to the smart phone 1 and start the remote control application 11, and then transmit the identification code and the verification code from the smart phone 1 to the server 3 for verification. Establish a connection between the two parties. After the connection is established, the specific remote control code can be retrieved from the remote control code database 31 and transmitted to the smart phone 1 using a preset code. After the remote control code is transmitted, the communication interface of both parties can be closed. Then, the specific remote control code taken out by the universal remote control module 2 is transmitted to the remote control device 4 to remotely control it.

The remote control code may be a specific code for a specific remote control action of the remote control device 4, such as power on or off, play, forward, backward, volume or air volume control, Switching of operating modes...etc. When the remote control code is extracted from the remote control code database 31, it may be a remote control code that only captures a specific operation, or the entire key configuration package compatible with the remote control protocol used by the remote control device 4 is transmitted to the wisdom. The mobile phone 1 then uses the remote control application 11 to select the remote control code corresponding to the operation to be performed. In the method of directly capturing a specific operation remote control code, the step of transmitting a specific remote control code from the server 3 to the remote control application is triggered by an operation action of the remote control device 11 on the remote control device 4 (for example, pressing The virtual "play" button on the smart phone 1 screen, and the remote control code of the specific operation is transmitted from the server 3 to the smart phone 1, and immediately transmitted to the remote control device 4 through the universal remote control module 2, To drive this operation. When the remote control code is directly transmitted to the remote control device 4 after being captured from the cloud, the remote control code is not required to be stored, so the universal remote control module 2 does not need to be provided with a memory device, which can save costs. If the remote control code is transmitted in the configuration package mode, it can be temporarily stored in the smart phone 1 and deleted after the remote control operation is completed.

Figure 3 shows another embodiment of the invention. Unlike the previous embodiment, the connection interface 23 originally used to connect to the smartphone 1 is replaced by an internet connection interface 23' connectable to the network 5. The way to connect to the network 5 is the same as that of the smart phone 1, and WIFI or other appropriate networking methods can be used. When the remote controller application 11 requests the remote operation of the server 3, the remote control code extracted from the configuration file of the remote control device code in the remote control code database 31 is not transmitted back to the smart phone 1, but It is directly transmitted to the universal remote control module 2 via the network 5, received by the internet connection interface 23', and then transmitted to the remote control device 4. Due to this change, the universal remote control module 2 is no longer necessary to be connected to the smart phone 1 during use, but can be separately placed separately. For example, the room can be opened in a room different from the user's location, and the air conditioner can be turned on by remote control to lower the temperature of the room before the user enters the room. In order to make the remote control code In response to the request of the remote controller application 11, the remote control code is transmitted from the server 3 to the universal remote control module 2, and the connection data of the server 3 and the universal remote control module 2 can be stored in the server 3, and set. It is associated with the identification code and verification code registered by the remote control application 11 .

In summary, the present invention provides a universal remote control module with low cost, easy installation and easy to use, so that the user does not need to additionally purchase a high-priced universal remote control module, and can be targeted at the market. Most remote electronic devices use a smart phone for remote control. In addition, when using the universal remote control module, the remote control code required for downloading from the server is not only easy to expand and modify the setting range of the remote control device, but also saves the universal remote control module itself. The setting of the memory device and the trouble that the phone memory is occupied by the remote control code. The detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and the equivalents of the embodiments of the present invention should be included in the present invention. In the scope of the invention patent.

1‧‧‧Smart mobile phone

11‧‧‧Remote app

2‧‧‧ million remote control module

21‧‧‧Wireless Signal Transceiver

22‧‧‧Control processing device

23‧‧‧Connection interface

24‧‧‧Independent enclosure

3‧‧‧Server

31‧‧‧Remote code database

4‧‧‧Remote control equipment

41‧‧‧Wireless Signal Transceiver

5‧‧‧Network

Claims (9)

A universal remote control module for a smart phone, which can download a specific remote control code from a remote control code database of a server of a network through a smart phone, and then use the specific remote control code for a specific remote control device For remote operation, the universal remote control module includes: a connection interface for receiving the specific remote control code from the network; a wireless signal transceiver for wireless signal exchange with the specific remote control device; and a The control processing device is electrically connected to the connection interface and the wireless signal transceiver, and is configured to control the wireless signal transceiver to send a wireless signal to the specific remote control device according to the specific remote control code to remotely operate the specific remote control device. The universal remote control module of claim 1 further includes a separate housing separate from the smart phone for accommodating the wireless signal transceiver, the control processing device and the connection interface. The universal remote control module of claim 2, wherein the wireless signal transceiver is at least one of an infrared transceiver, a radio frequency transceiver, and a Bluetooth module. The universal remote control module of claim 1, wherein the connection interface is connectable to the smart phone to receive the specific remote control code transmitted from a server connected to the network from the smart phone. The universal remote control module of claim 2, wherein the connection interface is an internet connection interface to directly receive the specific remote control code transmitted by a server from the network. 4, 5, the universal remote control module, wherein the network is an internet network. A method for operating a universal remote control module as claimed in claim 1, comprising the steps of: storing a specific remote control code on a server connected to the network; installing a remote control application on the smart phone; as well as In response to the request from the remote control application, the specific remote control code is retrieved from the server, and the specific remote control code is transmitted to the specific remote control device through the universal remote control module. The method of claim 7, wherein the specific remote control code is stored in a remote control code database built on the server, and the method for extracting the specific remote control code from the server includes: The following steps: pre-setting and storing one of the remote control codes representing the remote control protocol compatible with the particular remote control device; and extracting the specific remote control code from the remote control code database according to the code. The operation method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of: registering an identification code and a verification code in advance with the server, and storing the identification code and the verification code in the smart phone; And when the step of storing the code is executed, the code is associated with the identification code and the verification code; and when the universal remote control module is used, the identification code and the verification code are transmitted from the smart phone to the The server checks the specific remote control code in the remote code database according to the code.