WO2010070535A1

WO2010070535A1 - Universal remote control system

Info

Publication number: WO2010070535A1
Application number: PCT/IB2009/055582
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lucas G. J. Hellemans
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2008-12-15
Filing date: 2009-12-08
Publication date: 2010-06-24

Abstract

The invention relates to a universal remote control system (100) with a power monitoring device (20) that detects status information (SI) related to the power consumption of an initially unknown appliance (1) to be controlled and that transmits this status information to a remote control (10). During the setup of the remote control (10), at least one test command (TC(i)) is sent to the appliance (1) with different codes, and the resulting reaction of the status information (SI) is observed to detect the instance when a valid code that is understood by the appliance (1) has been used. The remote control can thus automatically adapt to the particular appliance (1).

Description

UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a universal remote control system for remotely controlling an appliance, for example a TV apparatus. Moreover, it relates to a universal remote control and a power monitoring device for such a system, and to a method for setting up a universal remote control with respect to an appliance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The US 6 870 463 B2 discloses a remote control that can transmit macros to an appliance which have been programmed by a user. To adapt said macros to the current status of the appliance, for example the status of already being switched on, the system further comprises a power monitor that detects the power state of the appliance and provides this information to the remote control. When the remote control is designed as a "universal remote control", which by definition can be programmed to use the individual communication codes of different appliances, the setting up of the remote control with respect to a particular appliance has to be done manually. This usually comprises a lengthy procedure that is cumbersome and often too complex for a technically untrained user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Based on this situation it was an object of the present invention to provide means that facilitate the setting up of a universal remote control.

This object is achieved by a universal remote control system according to claim 1, a universal remote control according to claim 8, a power monitoring device according to claim 9, a method according to claim 10, a computer program product according to claim 13, a record carrier according to claim 14, and a transmission procedure according to claim 15.

According to its first aspect, the invention relates to a universal remote control system for remotely controlling an appliance. As the term "universal" indicates, the remote control system shall be able to communicate with appliances of different type that use different (usually proprietary) codes. The system comprises the following components: a) A "power monitoring device" that comprises a detector for detecting status information related to the power consumption of the appliance that shall be controlled and a transmitter for transmitting such status information (to the communication module to be mentioned below). The power consumption of the appliance can for example be detected at the main electrical power supply line of said appliance. In the most simple case, the status information may just be a binary value, indicating for example the states of the appliance of being "switched off" (power consumption below a given limit) or "switched-on" (power consumption above a given limit). b) A universal remote control unit or device, in the following simply called "universal remote control", comprising a communication module for receiving the aforementioned status information that is transmitted by the power monitoring device. The universal remote control further comprises a setup-module that is adapted to transmit at least one test command to the appliance, wherein said test command is transmitted sequentially in different codes corresponding to the codes used by different types of appliances that can principally be controlled. Furthermore, the setup-module is adapted to detect a valid code, i.e. a code which is compatible to ("understood by") the particular appliance that shall currently be controlled, from the received status information which results from the transmissions of the test command.

The universal remote control is typically a handheld device that can be operated by a user via a keypad. Moreover, it should be noted that the term "command" is to be understood in a general sense as any kind of information that is transmitted from the remote control to the appliance, though it will usually be a command in the narrower sense that makes the appliance start or stop some operation.

Finally, the use of different codes for encoding information like commands is well known to a person skilled in the art and needs therefore not be described in detail. The command "power-on" can for example be coded by different binary words, pulses of different length or frequency etc.

The described universal remote control system has first of all the principal advantage of all universal remote controls, i.e. that one single device can be used to control a plurality of the different appliances like a TV apparatus, a DVD player, a tuner, a PC etc. This relieves the user from the need of operating a plurality of different remote controls. Furthermore, the universal remote control system of the invention allows a considerably facilitated, semi-automatic or even fully automatic setup of the universal remote control to a particular appliance that shall be controlled. This is achieved by the setup-module which transmits in a kind of scanning procedure at least one test command in different codes corresponding to different types of appliances. The particular appliance under consideration will understand only one of these codes and then react according to the contents of the test command, for example switch on. This reaction of the appliance to the valid code is automatically detected by the power monitoring device due to a related change in the power consumption of the appliance. The corresponding status information is provided to the universal remote control, allowing the setup-module to automatically determine from the temporal coincidence which code was the valid one. This code can then be stored and used in future to control the appliance under consideration appropriately.

The at least one test command that is transmitted by the setup-module in different codes can in principle be any command belonging to the languages of the appliances that shall be controlled. Preferably, the test command comprises a "power on" command which switches the appliances on, as such a command will usually be available for any kind of appliance and as this command will typically cause a well detectable change in the power consumption of an appliance. It should however be noted that additionally or alternatively other test commands can be used by the setup-module as well.

The power monitoring device may in principle transmit the determined status information via any suited modality to the remote control, for example by electrical signals via a wired connection. Preferably, the transmitter of the power monitoring device and the corresponding communication module of the remote control are however adapted for a wireless communication, thus preserving the usual independence and mobility of a handheld remote control. The wireless communication may particularly use radiofrequency (RF) signals, which allows a communication even if there is no direct line of sight between the communicating entities.

The communication link between the power monitoring device and the remote control may in principal be unidirectional from the power monitoring device to the remote control. Preferably, this link is however bidirectional, allowing the remote control to send information and commands to the power monitoring device, for example for polling status information from it.

The power monitoring device may in general have any design and apply any method that are suited to obtain the required status information about the power consumption of the appliance. It may for example be a module that is firmly integrated into the appliance. Preferably, the power monitoring device is however independent of the appliances so that it is needed only once and can monitor any one of the different appliances that shall be controlled. Such an autonomous power monitoring device might for example contactlessly (e.g. by induction) determine the electrical power flowing through the power supply line of an appliance. Most preferably, the power monitoring device comprises a socket via which electrical power can be provided to an appliance (or any other device with a standard power plug). The power monitoring device can then be used as an interface between for example a wall outlet and an appliance to be controlled, and all power provided to the appliance will flow through the power monitoring device. In this case the power consumption can most readily and accurately be determined for any type of appliance. Moreover, such a power monitoring device can optionally be provided with a (e.g. remotely controlled) power-off switch to increase power economy.

In many cases it will not suffice to determine the valid code of just one single command, but the codes for a plurality of different commands (typically all commands that are used by a particular appliance) must be determined separately. In this situation the setup- module is preferably capable to adapt its schedule of all transmitted test commands depending on the already received status information. If the first test commands indicate for example that the appliance must be a TV apparatus, there is no need to try to determine the codes for commands which are not understood and used by such an apparatus (e.g. "fast forward" or "rewind" commands). The setup-module can thus expedite the setup procedure by selecting only such test commands which are compatible with the already obtained information about the appliance under consideration.

It was already mentioned that the status information may in the most simple case just discriminate two different states, for example "switched-on" and "switched-off. Preferably, the detector of the power monitoring device is however adapted to discriminate at least three states of power consumption of the appliance, thus allowing a finer classification of the operating states of the appliances and their reaction to transmitted commands.

According to a further development of the invention, the universal remote control comprises an "adaptation module" that is capable to adapt commands, which shall be transmitted to the appliance, according to previously received status information about the appliance. The adaptation module is primarily related to the normal operation of the remote control system rather than to a setup procedure, and there are two fundamental differences in its function with respect to that of the setup-module: First, COMMANDS are adapted in dependence on status information (and not the codes of one particular test command, as the appropriate codes are already known in normal operation). Secondly, already available status information is used for adapting commands that shall yet be sent (in the setup procedure, on the contrary, the test commands are sent and the resulting status information is then evaluated). The available status information can for example indicate whether a TV apparatus is already switched on or still switched off. If a user then starts a macro to change to a favorite TV channel, the remote control can first switch the TV apparatus on if the status information indicates that it is currently switched off, or else directly change the channel as desired.

The invention further relates to a universal remote control for a universal remote control system of the kind described above. The universal remote control comprises a communication module for receiving status information from a power monitoring device, said status information being related to the power consumption of an appliance, and a setup- module that is adapted to transmit at least one test command to the appliance in different codes and to determine the valid code from the resulting status information.

Moreover, the invention relates to a power monitoring device for a universal remote control system of the kind described above. The power monitoring device comprises a detector and a transmitter for detecting and transmitting status information related to the power consumption of an appliance.

The universal remote control and the power monitoring device are crucial components of the universal remote control system that can be merchandised as standalone products and therefore require protection of their own.

The invention further relates to a method for setting up a universal remote control with respect to a given appliance, the method comprising the following steps: a) Transmitting at least one test command from the universal remote control to the appliance in different codes. b) Deriving status information related to the power consumption of the appliance. c) Determining a code valid for the appliance from the correlation of transmitted codes and resulting status information.

The method comprises in general form the steps that can be executed with a universal remote control system of the kind described above. Therefore, reference is made to the preceding description for more information on the details, advantages and improvements of that method.

According to a preferred embodiment of the method, the status information is derived in the power supply of the appliance and transmitted to the universal remote control. According to another embodiment, a sequence of test commands in different codes is transmitted according to a schedule that depends on the previously derived status information.

The described method will typically be realized with the help of a computing device, e.g. a microprocessor or an FPGA in the remote control. Accordingly, the present invention further includes a computer program product which provides the functionality of any of the methods according to the present invention when executed on a computing device.

Further, the present invention includes a data carrier, for example a floppy disk, a hard disk, an EPROM, or a compact disc (CD-ROM), which stores the computer product in a machine readable form and which executes at least one of the methods of the invention when the program stored on the data carrier is executed on a computing device. The data carrier may particularly be suited for storing the program of the computing device mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Nowadays, such software is often offered on the Internet or a company Intranet for download, hence the present invention also includes transmitting the computer product according to the present invention over a local or wide area network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter. These embodiments will be described by way of example with the help of the accompanying single drawing in which:

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a universal remote control system according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Setting up a conventional universal remote control (URC) is a cumbersome procedure. If a user wants for example to adapt a URC to a TV apparatus, (s)he has first to switch on the TV apparatus, then go into the URC setup mode and press the power button until the TV powers off. When the TV powers off, the user should immediately release the power button. This procedure can take up to ten minutes and might fail if the user reacts too slow.

In the normal use mode of a remote control, some simplicity can be reached by means of macros. Instead of pressing several buttons to start watching a DVD (e.g. TV power-on, DVD power-on, put TV input to DVD, play DVD), one only has to press one button ("watch DVD") that performs all actions at once. However, macros are prone to false execution, especially because the remote control cannot know whether the appliance is already switched on before the macro is started.

Another problem of many conventional electronic devices is their high power consumption. To deal with this issue, a power plug can be used that can (e.g. remotely controlled) power off all devices connected to it, thus reducing standby power dramatically.

In view of the above issues it is proposed by the present invention to monitor the power consumption of an appliance for achieving a facilitated setup procedure of a corresponding universal remote control, wherein said monitoring can for example be done in a power plug of the aforementioned kind. Thus the power plug and a two-way link between the URC and the power plug can be used to make the URC aware of the status of the appliance connected to the power plug.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates a particular embodiment of the above general concepts. The Figure shows a universal remote control system 100 for controlling different appliances, here represented by a TV apparatus 1. The universal remote control system 100 comprises two main components, namely:

A power monitoring device 20 for determining status information SI about the power consumption of the appliance 1 and for transmitting such status information to a URC. In the shown embodiment, the power monitoring device 20 is realized as a power plug of the kind described above that comprises a socket into which the power supply line 3 of the TV apparatus 1 can be plugged and which can remotely be switched on or off.

The power monitoring device 20 itself is connected to the main (AC) power supply by a line 21, and it comprises a detector 23 through which the electrical power provided to the TV apparatus 1 flows. The detector 23 can therefore readily determine the power consumption P of any connected appliance 1. An exemplary course of the measured power consumption is indicated in the diagram above the power supply line 3.

The power monitoring device 20 further comprises a transmitter 22 for transmitting status information SI determined by the detector 23. The transmitter is preferably adapted for a bidirectional communication with radio frequency (RF) signals.

A universal remote control (URC) 10, which is as usual a handheld device with keys 11 that can be operated by a user to send corresponding commands to an appliance to be controlled.

The remote control 10 comprises a communication module 12 with a receiver for receiving status information SI from the power monitoring device 20 and with a transmitter for transmitting commands TC(i) to the appliance 1. As the communication with the power monitoring device 20 is preferably bidirectional and done by RF signals, while the communication with the appliance 1 is unidirectional and done by infrared (IR) signals, the communication module 12 will comprise different sub-modules which are not separately indicated in the Figure for simplicity.

An important component of the remote control 10 is the setup-module 13 that is indicated as a functional unit in the Figure and connected to the communication module 12. When a user starts a setup procedure to tune or adapt the remote control 10 to a particular appliance, for example the TV apparatus 1, the setup-module 13 starts to send at least one test command TC sequentially in different codes i corresponding to different possible appliances. This is indicated in the diagram on the right hand side of the Figure in which the vertical axis represents the command in different codes, TC(i), in arbitrary units (for example representing different carrier frequencies), while the horizontal axis represents the time t. In the code- scanning operation of the setup-module 13, the used code is changed at time points tl, t2, and t3. When the valid code i that is understood by the particular appliance 1 is reached, the latter will react according to the contents of the test command TC. If the test command is for example a power-on command, the TV apparatus 1 will switch on after reception of the command in the appropriate code, for example the code i = 3 after time t3. The power consumption P of the apparatus 1 will accordingly increase largely at time t3, which is detected by the detector 23 of the power monitoring device 20. The corresponding status information SI is then transmitted from the power monitoring device 20 to the remote control 10, and the setup-module 13 can evaluate this status information and correlate it to the codes i of the transmitted test command TC. Thus it is possible for the setup-module 13 to determine that the code i = 3, which was transmitted after time t3, is the valid one for the TV apparatus 1.

If necessary, the remote control 10 can continue to determine appropriate codes for further commands in a similar manner. Thus the URC 10 can send different commands to the TV apparatus 1 and poll the TV's behavior via the power plug 20 in order to find the exact right codes for the TV (e.g. if there is a huge power drop when changing channels, the URC knows that it is controlling a CRT TV, thus limiting the amount of possibilities left).

It should be noted that the transmission of status information SI from the power monitoring device 20 to the remote control 10 can take place continuously (i.e. with a fixed repetition frequency), only on demand, or only if a change of the status information SI has occurred.

The Figure further indicates an adaptation module 14 of the remote control 10. This adaptation module 14 can be used during normal operation of the remote control 10, i.e. after setup has been accomplished, to adapt transmitted commands according to previously obtained status information SI about the apparatus to be controlled. Before sending out the codes for a macro, the URC 10 can for example poll the power plug 10 to check the status of the appliance(s) connected and adapt the activity macro accordingly. If the TV is for example already on, the "power-on" command for the TV should not be sent anymore (thus avoiding the risk of accidentally switching off the TV with the "power on" command).

In summary, the invention relates to a universal remote control system 100 with a power monitoring device 20 that detects status information SI related to the power consumption of an initially unknown appliance 1 to be controlled and that transmits this status information to a remote control 10. During the setup of the remote control 10, at least one test command TC is sent to the appliance 1 with different codes i, and the resulting reaction of the status information SI is observed to detect the instance when a valid code that is understood by the appliance 1 has been used. The remote control can thus automatically adapt to the particular appliance 1.

Finally it is pointed out that in the present application the term "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, that "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality, and that a single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several means. The invention resides in each and every novel characteristic feature and each and every combination of characteristic features. Moreover, reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting their scope.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A universal remote control system (100) for remotely controlling an appliance (1), comprising: a) a power monitoring device (20) with a detector (23) and a transmitter (22) for detecting and transmitting status information (SI) related to the power consumption of the appliance (1); b) a universal remote control (10) with a communication module (12) for receiving status information (SI) from the power monitoring device and with a setup- module (13) that is adapted to transmit at least one test command (TC(i)) to the appliance (1) in different codes and to determine a valid code from the resulting status information (SI).

2. The universal remote control system (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the test command (TC(i)) comprises a "power-on" command.

3. The universal remote control system (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmitter (22) and the communication module (12) are adapted for a wireless communication.

4. The universal remote control system (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the power monitoring device (20) comprises a socket via which electrical power can be provided to the appliance (1).

5. The universal remote control system (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the setup-module (13) can adapt a schedule of transmitted test commands (TC(i)) depending on the received status information (SI).

6. The universal remote control system (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the detector (23) is adapted to discriminate at least three different states of power consumption of the appliance (1).

7. The universal remote control system (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the universal remote control (10) comprises an adaptation module (14) for adapting commands sent to the appliance (1) according to received status information (SI).

8. A universal remote control (10) for a universal remote control system (100) according to claim 1.

9. A power monitoring device (20) for a universal remote control system (100) according to claim 1.

10. A method for setting up a universal remote control (10) with respect to a given appliance (1), comprising the following steps: a) transmitting at least one test command (TC(i)) from the universal remote control (10) to the appliance (1) in different codes; b) deriving status information (SI) related to the power consumption of the appliance (1); c) determining a valid code from the correlation of the codes used for the transmission of the test command and the resulting status information (SI).

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that the status information (SI) is derived in the power supply of the appliance (1) and transmitted to the universal remote control (10).

12. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that a sequence of test commands (TC(i)) in different codes is transmitted according to a schedule that depends on the derived status information (SI).

13. A computer program product for enabling carrying out a method according to claim 10.

14. A record carrier on which a computer program according to claim 13 is stored.

15. Transmission of the computer program product according to claim 13 over a local or wide area telecommunications network.