WO2022231468A1

WO2022231468A1 - Remote control console

Info

Publication number: WO2022231468A1
Application number: PCT/RU2022/000115
Authority: WO
Inventors: Валерий Филиппович ИВАНОВ
Original assignee: Валерий Филиппович ИВАНОВ
Priority date: 2021-04-27
Filing date: 2022-04-15
Publication date: 2022-11-03
Also published as: RU2764675C1

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of electronics, and more particularly to means for remotely controlling electronic household appliances. A remote control console (1) comprises a microphone (18), a memory (13) and, connected to said memory, a unit (12) for generating encoded signals that provide for the remote control of the level of sound radiation (5) issuing from an electronic appliance controlled by the console (1). In addition, the console comprises a unit (16) for determining the parameters of the sound radiation (5) and, connected thereto, a unit (17) for generating a sound deactivation signal, which provides for the automatic generation of a signal for adjusting the level of sound radiation once predetermined sound radiation parameters have been selected therein by means of an activation/deactivation unit (27). The advantage of the present invention lies in improving the performance of remote control consoles for electronic appliances, which are intended to regulate or deactivate sound accompanying information transmitted by said appliances.

Description

REMOTE POOLS

Technical field

The invention relates to the field of electronics, namely to means for remote control of household electronic devices.

Prior Art

Currently, most modern electronic devices (TVs, radios, music centers) intended for use at home have special remote controls that allow you to control the most important functions of these devices from a distance. One of them - mute - is mainly used to prevent listening to repetitive advertising.

From the prior art, many variants of remote controls are known, differing from each other in various improvements. One of them is described in US Pat. No. 5,847,305 and has the entire set of features that are characteristic of almost all such devices.

However, the latest versions of remotes often contain additional functions that are not related to the control of electronic devices. One of such analogs is described in US patent N° 8519820 and is made in the form of a smartphone with a function that allows, in particular, to save the settings of an electronic device controlled by a remote control for audio content previously transmitted by it.

This analog is a prototype of the claimed invention and is a remote control containing a microphone, a memory and an associated unit for generating coded signals that provide remote control of the level of sound radiation coming out of the electronic device controlled by the remote control.

The disadvantage of this, as well as other known remotes, is the need to manually turn off the sound on electronic devices. This is in some cases extremely inconvenient for their users, because in order to turn off the annoying sound coming from, for example, frequently repeated commercials, they have to first find the remote control itself, and then the mute button.

In accordance with the above, the purpose of the present invention is to provide such a remote control, which does not have the above disadvantage. Disclosure of invention

The problem to which the invention is directed is the creation of a remote control with automatic shutdown of repetitive sound.

The problem is solved due to the fact that the remote control containing a microphone, a memory and an associated block for generating coded signals that provide remote control of the level of sound radiation coming out of the electronic device controlled by the remote control, additionally contains a block for determining the parameters sound radiation and the associated block for generating a mute signal, which provides automatic generation of a signal of a change in the level of sound radiation after selection in it by means of an on/off block of predetermined parameters of sound radiation and their comparison with the parameters of sound radiation present on the the output of the parameter determination unit, wherein the microphone is connected to the input of the parameter determination unit, and the mute signal generation unit is connected to the memory, the on/off unit, and the coded signal generation unit.

The technical result of the invention consists in the technical property of the remote control, which ensures the automatic switching off of the repetitive sound on the controlled electronic device.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description as well as from claims 1-10 of the claims.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 depicts a general view of the remote control and the TV controlled by it; fig. 2 shows a first version of the remote control circuit; fig. 3 shows a second version of the remote control circuit; fig. 4 is a diagram of the operation of the remote control.

Best Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

In describing the best embodiments of the present invention, and also for the convenience of its further consideration, all abbreviations in brackets after one or more words will refer to their initial letters.

In FIG. 1 shows the main means included in the system using remote control elements. Remote Controlled control (RC) 1 electronic device is made in the form of a TV 2, having an infrared receiver 3 and an electro-acoustic converter 4. The latter creates sound radiation 5, which is received by the remote control 1 using a microphone located outside or inside the case 6. The latter also has a special compartment for installation of a battery, consisting, as a rule, of two batteries. The encoded stream 7 of infrared radiation (IR radiation) is created by an emitter mounted on the front wall of the housing 6. Of the other elements of the remote control 1 shown in FIG. 1, it should be noted the "Auto mute" button 8, the LED 9 for enabling the "Auto mute" mode and the main keyboard (OK) 10, consisting of function buttons responsible for various TV settings 2. To the general settings relating to all electronic devices with an electro-acoustic transducer 4, we can include turning off the sound, for example, during repetitive advertising. These are radios, smartphones, and tablet computers. And instead of infrared radiation, any other type of electromagnetic radiation that underlies such well-known wireless communication formats (protocols), such as protocols with the marketing names "Bluetooth" and "Wi-Fi", can be used.

In FIG. Figure 2 shows the first version of the scheme of remote control 1 using infrared radiation. In this scheme, the number 11 indicates the emitter (FROM L) of infrared radiation connected to the coded signal generation unit (BFS) 12 associated with the memory 13 or having this memory in its composition. This fact in Fig. 2 is marked as a rectangle outlined by a dotted line. In almost all remote control units 1, an infrared LED (IR LED) is used as an emitter 11. The transmission of coded signals is carried out by its radiation with the appropriate modulation frequency. Open contacts 14 and 15 connected to BFKS 12 are connected to the buttons of the main keyboard 10. In this case, open contacts 15 are connected to the standard mute button. Each time the contacts 15 are closed, either the sound emission 5 (sound) is turned off or it is turned on (if the sound was turned off). To recognize the set of commands coming from the remote control 1, various protocols for encoding the transmitted data are used. The first RS5 protocol, which supported 2048 commands, was developed by Philips and is currently used in many televisions. At the heart of BFKS 12, as a rule, a specialized microprocessor (specialized microcircuit) is used, which includes all the elements elements that provide the formation of coded signals intended to control the TV 2. The main ones include the control device, keyboard decoder, shift registers, memory. One of the first SAA3010 chips supporting the RS5 protocol was also released by Philips. When the remote control buttons are pressed, the corresponding contacts 14, 15 are closed, after which the transmitter microcircuit is activated and generates a sequence of pulses that are filled with a periodic signal with a frequency of 36 kHz. Included in the ISL 11 LED converts these signals into IR - radiation. The emitted signal is received by the infrared radiation receiver 3 and converts it into electrical impulses, which, after amplification, demodulation and decoding, are converted into the corresponding executive command. Thus, when the contacts 15 are closed, the flow 5 of sound radiation stops. Of the additional elements that make up the essence of this invention, we can note the block for determining the parameters (BOP) 16 of sound radiation and the block for generating the sound mute signal (BPSOS) 17. The block 16 for determining the parameters calculates the parameters p(i) (i = 1, 2, ...) sound radiation 5 after it was received by microphone 18 and converted in an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 19. The parameters are calculated for short fragments (frames) sequentially selected in BOP 16 from the current audio message, and due to the temporary overlap of frames its accuracy can be improved. The parameters p(i) are, as a rule, well-known characteristics of sound (Fourier coefficients, cosine Fourier transform coefficients, spectrum non-uniformity, coefficients of linear prediction coding, etc.) and are chosen from the point of view of their invariance to signal distortions and - the ability to quickly compare short fragments on the basis of their similarity. The duration t (t > 0) of the short fragment is determined in advance in BOP 16 and may be within a few seconds. It can be noted that at present there are quite a few ways to use the p(i) parameters to identify short fragments and compare them with each other. One of them is to create a so-called digital fingerprint (or acoustic digital fingerprint) in BOP 16, which makes it possible to identify a short fragment solely by its acoustic parameters. An acoustic digital imprint is a representation of an audio signal as a set of parameters that describe its physical properties. As an example of the implementation of such a method, you can bring the "MusicID" technology developed by the employees of the "Gracenote" company. Currently, this solution under various names is used in the products of a number of manufacturers of electronic equipment. In particular, a number of models of Sony Ericsson mobile phones have a function of access to the proprietary service "TrackID", which allows you to determine the name of a piece of music by a small fragment of the recording. In the author's opinion, the simplest parameter characterizing an audio signal in the form of a short audio fragment is its spectrogram, which shows the dependence of the spectral power density of the signal on time. The most common representation of a spectrogram is a two-dimensional diagram: the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents frequency; the third measurement, indicating the amplitude at a certain frequency, is represented by the intensity or color of each point in the image. At present, the calculation and comparison of spectrograms using the fast Fourier transform is a standard task. Moreover, specialized digital signal processors (DSPs) have been created, the architecture of which is fully optimized for any task related to real-time processing, in particular, an audio signal. On one of these DSPs of the DSP56000 type from Motorola, BOP 16 and BPSOS 17 can be implemented. The latter consists of a controlled key (K) 20 and a comparison unit (BS) 21. Moreover, the input of the key 20 and the first input of BS 21 are connected to the output of the BOP 16 by means of a bit bus (RS) 22, and the output of the key 20 and the second input of the BS 21 are connected through the RS 23 and RS 24 to the memory outputs 13, operating respectively in the write mode and in the read mode. These modes are controlled via the communication line (LAN) 25 from the control unit included in the BFKS 12. The control input of the key 20 via LAN 26 is connected to the on/off unit (BVO) 27, designed to generate an on or off signal at its output , which ensures the creation and storage in memory of 13 parameters of audio fragments excluded from future listening and selected in BOP 16 from the current audio message. The connection between the BFKS 12 and the BPSOS 17 is carried out by means of the key 33. It may be noted that, in order to simplify the diagram, some auxiliary connections are not shown on it. For example, in the process of storing in memory 13 parameters of audio fragments allocated in BOP 16, not only LAN 25, but also other communication lines connecting BFKS 12 with the output of BVO 27 can be used. It can also be noted that a detailed description of such elements as a microphone 18, ADC 19, K 20, BS 21, used to compare the parameters of audio fragments, is presented in the description to the patent RU N° 2230375 under the title "Speaker recognition method and device for its implementation". The on or off signal is formed at the output of BVO 27 after the corresponding external influence from the user of TV 2. If the user uses button 8 for this, then BVO 27 is performed in the form of an open contact 28 associated with it, connected to a pressure sensor made in in the form of a T-trigger 29. The latter changes its logical state to the opposite for each active signal at the information input, i.e. each time you press the button 8 on the control input of the key 20, either a logical zero or a logical one appears in turn. At the same time, in the initial position, there is a logical zero at the inverse output of T-flip-flop 29, which is transmitted via LAN 26 to the control input of key 20. As a result, key 20 is closed, and LED 9 is turned off due to almost zero voltage at the output inverter 30. Thus, in the process of writing an unwanted sound fragment to memory 13, LED 9 lights up, which is a convenient indicator of the activation of this mode. The formation of a signal to turn on or turn off can also be carried out after sound or infrared (light) exposure from the user of the electronic device. In the first case, BVO 27 must be made in the form of a sound radiation receiver, consistent with BFSOS 17, and in the second case, in the form of an infrared or light radiation receiver, also consistent with BFSOS 17. If a sound radiation receiver is used as BVO 27, then the signal for memorization of a sound fragment unnecessary to the user can be given by an appropriate voice command, for example, in the form of the spoken word "Pass". To exclude false alarms from other sounds, a speech signal recognition unit can be installed in BVO 27. If a receiver of infrared or light radiation is used as BVO 27, then a signal to memorize a sound fragment that is unnecessary for the user can be given by turning on the second remote control from any electronic device. Recognition of the signal from the second console can be carried out by placing in BVO 27 a simple band-pass filter with a central frequency equal to the modulation frequency transmitted from the second console (from any device with a remote control panel) pulses. The output of the BS 21 is connected via LAN 31 to the input of the timer 32 and to the control input of the key 33, and the control input of the key 34 is connected to the output of the timer 32. The latter is intended for counting the time after the automatic switching off of the sound radiation of the electronic device in order to transfer it to its initial state. After the time t* (t* > 0) pre-set in timer 32 has elapsed, a pulse appears at its output, which closes contacts 15 by means of key 34 and thereby transfers TV 2 to its initial state associated with the restoration of sound radiation 5. Selecting the time value t* is made from the average time of occurrence of unwanted sound radiation 5. In the case of advertising, this is the average time of its sound after it appears on the TV screen 2. If an unwanted sound appears before time t*, it will immediately turn off due to re-formation BFSOS 17 mute signal.

In FIG. Figure 3 shows a diagram of the remote control 1, in which the artificial intelligence tool (AI) 35 connected to the BFS 12 via LAN 36 and the control input of the key

37, performs functions not only in determining the time t*. but also to improve the accuracy of the BPSOS 17. In order to simplify the scheme, the figure does not show the BVO 27. To implement the last task, the SII 35 should also be connected with the output of the BOP 16. In this case, the SII 35 provides the creation in the BFKS 12 of the command to change the level of sound radiation (or its shutdown) coming out of the electronic device controlled by the remote control. The artificial intelligence means 35 is for using artificial intelligence (AI) technology in deciding whether to mute or change the volume. The latter is ensured by connecting an additional controlled key to the corresponding button 14. The button 14 is used to adjust the sound volume by forming a rectangular pulse in the SII 35, which opens an additional key for a certain time in it. In the general case, the structure of the AI used for the two-alternative choice of the correct decision (in our case, the decision to turn off the sound) includes four main blocks - a database (DB)

38, a neural network (NN) 39, a one-threshold solver (RU) 40, and an intelligent interface (ITI) 41 that allows the user to enter new information into the database 38 after the next mute. In some embodiments, DB 38 can be stored in memory 13. Voltage U (U > 0) is removed from the output of NS 39, which is compared with the threshold level of RU 40. The latter has a threshold level U* (U* > 0) and when U > U* generates a signal S(t), for example, in the form of a rectangular pulse that opens the key 37 and thereby turns off the sound of the TV 2. The implementation of the SII 35 may have different options. AT In one of them, the SIS 35 can be represented as a separate processor for neural network calculations, and in the other, it can continuously send data to the "cloud" with the neural network in it. As an example of a separate module, we can bring the Kirin 980 processor from Huawei, which is specially designed to work with machine learning. Learning algorithms for a neural network come with and without a "teacher". With the "teacher", which is the user of the TV set 2, the neural network 39 is provided with some selection of training examples, for example, in the form of mute already performed (in automatic mode) positively assessed by the "teacher". The evaluation is entered last by means of an input device (for example, by means of pre-selected buttons of the main keyboard 10) connected to the MI 35. The criterion for the "correct answer" is the evaluation of the user by the electronic device. On its basis, after the above comparison, the weight coefficients of the input data received after the sound is turned off are calculated. In the process of operation, the input data received via RSh 22 in the form of sets of parameters p(i), multiplied in SII 35 by their weight coefficients, are fed to the input of NS 39, where, after summation, they are compared in RU 40 with the sums of the corresponding sets of known data , read from database 38 and received a positive assessment from the user of TV 2. If the threshold level U* of even one "correct" set is exceeded, the mute signal from TV 2 is removed from the output of RU 40. When using AI to select a decision to turn on the sound (after it automatic switch-off) ISS 35 should be connected to BFKS 12, output of BOP 16, as well as to BFSOS 17 and the mute button included in the main keyboard 10. In this case, the input data should be presented in the form j (j = 1, 2, ...) sets of parameters p _j (i) and associated time intervals T(j) multiplied by their weight coefficients. The time intervals T(j) between the automatic turning off of the sound and its turning on are determined in the SII 35 after the turn-on signal arrives at it either via LAN 31 or from the main keyboard 10. When the sound is automatically turned on (by a positively assessed user), the weight coefficients will be increase, and with manual - decrease. It can be seen that during the operation of TV 2, due to the training of NS 39 by the "teacher" (user of TV 2), the accuracy of determining the time of automatic sound activation will increase. It can be noted here that, shown in Fig. 2 and FIG. 3 circuits BOP 16, BFSOS 17, ADC 19 and BVO 27 are made on the hardware level and can be used as the basis for the development of specialized integrated circuits intended for use only in remote control 1. As a result, it becomes not only more reliable, but also cheaper. But, if the operation algorithms of these blocks are implemented by software, then the special program (SP) used for this must be stored in memory 13. If a smartphone or tablet computer is used as a remote control, then a special program must be placed in their internal memory .

In FIG. Figure 4 shows the operation algorithm of the remote control 1. The practical implementation of this algorithm is carried out using standard and special software stored in memory 13 or in the memory of a smartphone used as a remote control. After performing step 42 for transmitting sound radiation 5 from TV 2, as well as step 43 for receiving it by microphone 18, converting it to ADC 19 and forming parameters in BOP 16, they are transmitted via RSH 22 to the input of key 20 and the first input BS 21. If parameters p(i) are not stored in memory 13 ("No" in condition 44), then action 43 continues. In this case, all further user operations to control TV 2 are carried out using the buttons of the main keyboard 10. the user decided to exclude the current sound fragment from future listening, then the recording of its parameters p(i) into memory 13 is carried out by pressing button 8 twice. In this case, after the first press, the key 20 opens and the recording begins, and after the second press, it ends. After that, the parameters of the unwanted sound fragment appear in the memory. If a sound fragment in the form of, for example, an advertising insert, has a short duration (of the order of 5...10 s), then the division in BOP 16 of this fragment into shorter sound fragments is not performed. If the parameters of the fragments are recorded in memory 13 ("Yes" in condition 44), then action 45 is performed to compare them in BS 21 with the parameters of the current fragments coming via RSH 22 from BOP 16. If the parameters match with a given degree - new accuracy ("Yes" in condition 46) at least two sound fragments (current and stored in memory) in BFSOS 17 generate a signal that enters the control input of the key 33. As a result, it opens, closes contacts 15 and in BFSOS 12 a signal is generated that turns off the sound of the electronic device (step 47). It can be noted that the comparison process (action 45) occurs after synchronous receipt of a read pulse via LAN 25 to the control input of memory 13, and an enabling pulse to the control input of BS 21. Industrial Applicability

The invention can be used in the electronics industry in the manufacture of remote control devices for such household electronic devices as televisions, car and stationary radios, tablet computers, smartphones. The advantage of this invention is to improve the performance of those remote controls for electronic devices that are designed to control or mute the sound that accompanies the information they transmit. Especially great effect from the application of this invention can be obtained from those remote controls that are used in the mode of frequent muting of the sound coming from repetitive commercials or unwanted repetitive sound.

Claims

CLAIM

1. Remote control panel (1) containing a microphone (18), a memory (13) and a block (12) associated with it for generating coded signals that provide remote control of the level of sound radiation (5) coming out of the controlled by the remote control (1) electronic device, characterized in that it contains a block (16) for determining the parameters of sound radiation and an associated block (17) for generating a mute signal, which ensures automatic generation of a signal for changing the level of sound radiation (5) after it is isolated by means of a block (27 ) enabling/disabling predetermined parameters of sound radiation (5) and comparing them with the parameters of sound radiation present at the output of the block (16) for determining the parameters, while the microphone (18) is connected to the input of the block (16) for determining the parameters, and the block (17) for generating the mute signal - with the memory (13), the block (27) on/off and with the block (12) for generating coded signals.

2. The remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that the block (17) for generating a mute signal contains a comparison block (21) and a connecting block (16) for determining parameters and a memory (13) electronic key (20), and the first input of the comparison block (21) is connected to the output of the block (16) for determining the parameters, and the second - to the memory (13), while the output of the comparison block (21) is connected to the block (12) for generating coded signals, and the control input of the electronic the key (20) is connected to the on/off block (27).

3. Remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that it is made in the form of a smartphone or tablet computer.

4. The remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that the block (27) on/off is made in the form of a receiver of sound radiation, coordinated with the block (17) for generating the mute signal

5. The remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that the on/off unit (27) is made in the form of one or more buttons connected to a pressure sensor, coordinated with the mute signal generation unit (17).

6. The remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that it contains a timer (32) associated with (17) the block for generating the mute signal and the block (12) for generating coded signals, designed to count the time after automatic switching off of sound radiation from the electronic device in order to restore it to its original state.

7. Remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that the block (17) for generating the mute signal is included in the block (12) for generating coded signals.

8. The remote control according to claim 1, characterized in that the on/off unit (27) is made in the form of an infrared or light radiation receiver, coordinated with the unit (17) for generating a mute signal.

9. Remote according to one of paragraphs. 1-8, characterized in that it contains an artificial intelligence tool (35) associated with the block (12) for generating coded signals, as well as with the output of the block (16) for determining parameters, and ensuring the creation in block (12) for generating coded signals commands to turn off sound radiation or change the level of sound radiation coming out of the electronic device controlled by the remote control.

10. Remote according to one of paragraphs. 1-8, characterized in that it contains an artificial intelligence tool (35) associated with the block (12) for generating coded signals, the output of the block (16) for determining parameters, the block (17) for generating a mute signal, and also with a button to turn on the sound, and ensuring the creation in the block (12) of generating coded signals of a command to change the level of sound radiation (5) coming out of the electronic device controlled by the remote control.