Abstract:
A system for remote control includes a user device configured to run an application that receives a user input; a remote device including a controller and a controlled device; and a computing cloud being connected to the user device and the remote device through the Internet and configured to convert the user input received at the user device to a command. The controller is configured to receive and execute the command and thereby control the controlled device accordingly. The application is a non-customized application. The controlled device includes a plurality of cascadable LED cubes.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/606,953 filed on Mar. 5, 2012; the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE PATENT APPLICATION 
     The present patent application generally relates to remote control technologies and more specifically to a system for remote control through a computing cloud. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Remote control of devices at home with a mobile device has been realized in recent years. Typically, there are two mechanisms to achieve it. One is to use a specifically customized application to talk to a computing cloud and the cloud talks to a home controller so as to control the home devices. Another is to use off-the-shelf applications to talk to the home controller and the home controller talks to the home devices. However, it is often desired to have a safer, cheaper, and more convenient system to realize the remote control. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present patent application is directed to a system for remote control. In one aspect, the system includes a user device configured to run an application that receives a user input; a remote device including a controller and a controlled device; and a computing cloud being connected to the user device and the remote device through the Internet and configured to convert the user input received at the user device to a command. The controller is configured to receive and execute the command and thereby control the controlled device accordingly. The application is a non-customized application. The controlled device includes a plurality of cascadable LED cubes. 
     The computing cloud may include a database configured for storing the user&#39;s configuration of the controlled device. The computing cloud may further include a computing service configured for generating the command and transmitting the command to the controller. The computing cloud may further include a set of configuration tools configured for allowing the user to configure the behavior of the controlled device in occurrence of an event. 
     The remote device may further include a gateway configured to enable the communication between the controller and the computing cloud. The controller may include a global master controller being connected to the gateway and a plurality of local master controllers being connected to the global master controller. A cascadable LED cube may be connected to each local master controller, the LED cube including a slave controller and a LED matrix attached to the slave controller. 
     The LED matrix may include a plurality of LED nodes, each LED node including a LED chip and a LED capsule. The LED capsule may be a housing that accommodates the LED chip. The LED capsule may include a left capsule and a right capsule. The LED capsule may be integrated with the LED chip through a molding process. 
     The left capsule may include a first mechanical feature for making a z-axis connection, a second mechanical feature for holding LED leads, a third mechanical feature for holding the right and left capsules together, and a fourth mechanical feature for making a x or y axis connection. 
     The right capsule may include a first mechanical feature for making a z-axis connection, an electrical connection area, a second mechanical feature for holding LED leads, a third mechanical feature for holding the right and left capsules together, and a fourth mechanical feature for making a x or y axis connection. 
     The slave controller may be configured to take command from the local master controller and thereby control the LED matrix. The slave controller may contain a unique physical ID and at least one logical ID, the logical ID being dynamically assigned during an initialization process. 
     The slave controller may include a current sensor. The slave controller may be configured to determine the configuration of the LED matrix by the readings of the current sensor during an individual LED scanning routine. 
     The slave controller may further include a neighbor explorer IO configured to indicate the presence of the slave controller and to detect the presence of neighboring controllers. 
     The system may further include a plurality of additional remote devices. All the remote devices are synchronized with a common clock, and the GPS information of all the remote devices are sent to computing cloud. The slave controller and the LED matrix may be shaped into models of atoms and bonds. 
     In another aspect, the present patent application provides a system for remote control including a user device configured to run an application that receives an input; a remote device including a controller and a controlled device; and a computing cloud being connected to the user device and the remote device through the Internet and configured to convert the user input received at the user device to a command. The controller is configured to receive and execute the command and thereby control the controlled device accordingly. The application is a non-customized application. 
     The computing cloud may include a database that stores the protocol for the controller to control the controlled device and the input may be given by a user or a sensor. 
     In yet another aspect, the present patent application provides a system for remote control including a user device configured to run an application that receives a user input; a remote device including a controller and a controlled device; and a computing cloud being connected to the user device and the remote device through the Internet and configured to convert the user input received at the user device to a command. The controller is configured to receive and execute the command and thereby control the controlled device accordingly. The application is a non-customized application. The controlled device is a sensor. 
     The controller may be configured to send the data output of the sensor to the computing cloud. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a system for remotely controlling a cascadable LED cube according to an embodiment of the present patent application. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates the cloud in the system depicted in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  illustrates the home device unit  103  in the system depicted in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4A  is a perspective view of a slave cCube as depicted in  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 4B  is a perspective view of a cCube array that includes a plurality of cCubes. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates the components of the slave cCube depicted in  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 6  illustrates the structure of a LED matrix. 
         FIG. 7A  is a perspective view of a LED node. 
         FIG. 7B  is a perspective view of a plurality of LED nodes being connected. 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective and partial magnified view of the LED capsule. 
         FIG. 9A  is a front view of the left capsule depicted in  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 9B  is a perspective view of the left capsule depicted in  FIG. 9A . 
         FIG. 10A  is a front view of the right capsule depicted in  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 10B  is a perspective view of the right capsule depicted in  FIG. 10A . 
         FIG. 11  illustrates the structure of the slave controller depicted in  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 12  illustrates the working of the slave controller in exploring the neighbor configuration. 
         FIG. 13  illustrates a giant cCube according to another embodiment of the present patent application. 
         FIG. 14  illustrates an exemplary molecular model set. 
         FIG. 15  illustrates an interactive molecular model set according to another embodiment of the present patent application. 
         FIG. 16  illustrates the structure of an atom in the interactive molecular model set depicted in  FIG. 15 . 
         FIG. 17  illustrates the structure of a bond in the interactive molecular model set depicted in  FIG. 15 . 
         FIG. 18  illustrates a remote control system according to another embodiment of the present patent application. 
         FIG. 19  illustrates a universal sensor system according to another embodiment of the present patent application. 
         FIG. 20  illustrates a universal home automation system according to another embodiment of the present patent application. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to a preferred embodiment of the system for remote control disclosed in the present patent application, examples of which are also provided in the following description. Exemplary embodiments of the system for remote control disclosed in the present patent application are described in detail, although it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that some features that are not particularly important to an understanding of the system for remote control may not be shown for the sake of clarity. 
     Furthermore, it should be understood that the system for remote control disclosed in the present patent application is not limited to the precise embodiments described below and that various changes and modifications thereof may be effected by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the protection. For example, elements and/or features of different illustrative embodiments may be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other within the scope of this disclosure. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a system for remotely controlling a cascadable LED cube according to an embodiment of the present patent application. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the system includes applications  101  running at a user device such as a PC, a smartphone, a tablet, and so on, a computing cloud  102 , a home device unit  103  and third party cloud services and applications  104 . The home device unit (also referred to as the “remote device”)  103  includes a home gateway, a cCube controller, and a cCube (a cascadable LED cube which will be described in more detail hereafter). The cloud  102  is a computing service connected to the Internet and configured to convert the user&#39;s input from various communication platforms to control the cCube via the home gateway. The home gateway is an Internet connected device installed at home, which is configured to send and receive messages from the cloud  102  as well as to control the cCube attached to it via the cCube controller. The cCube controller is configured to take command from the home gateway to control the cCube. The 3rd party cloud service is a computing service that already exists in the market, which enables the user to communicate with other users. 
     In this embodiment, instead of using a specifically customized user application, the system is configured to interface to the most popular communication platforms available such as Skype, Twitter, MSN, Email, and etc. Since there are no perfect applications that can meet everyone&#39;s need, the best application is the user&#39;s most favorite application. Hence in this embodiment, the user does not need to learn how to use another specifically customized application to operate the system. 
     In another embodiment, the system may also include dedicated applications, which can be a web based application or a native application running at the user&#39;s device. These dedicated applications are for the user to do more complicated configurations of the behavior of the cCube. 
     The cloud  102 , as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , is a computing service connected to the Internet, which takes the user&#39;s input and then control the cCube installed at home. The cloud  102  includes a set of configuration tools  201  that allows the user to configure the behavior of the cCube in occurrence of an event, an interface  202  that accepts the command from the user via any popular communication platform, such as Skype, Twitter, Email, MSN and etc., a database  203  that stores the user&#39;s configuration with respected to his cCube installed at home, and a computing service  204  configured to generate a command based on the user&#39;s input and transmit the command to the cCube controller (which will be described in detail hereafter) via a predefined protocol so as to control the cCube. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates the home device unit  103  in the system depicted in  FIG. 1 . Referring to  FIG. 3 , the home gateway  301  is configured to enable the communication between the cCube controller (also referred to as the global master controller)  302  and the cloud  102 . The cCube controller  302  is configured to execute the low level commands to control the cCube  303 . The cCube  303  is a cascadable LED cube, which includes an array of LED cubes. 
       FIG. 4A  is a perspective view of a slave cCube as depicted in  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 4B  is a perspective view of a cCube array that includes a plurality of cCubes. Referring to  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4A  and  FIG. 4B , the slave cCube  303  is a slave device that is connected to the local master controller (LocalMaster  304  in  FIG. 3 ). The slave cCube  303  can be cascaded to form a bigger cCube array. In other words, the cCube array is formed by a plurality of 3D LED cubes being cascaded. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates the components of the slave cCube depicted in  FIG. 3 . The Slave cCube is the basic building block for the cCube array. Referring to  FIG. 5 , the slave cCube  303  includes a 3D LED matrix  501  constructed in a matrix structure, a driver PCBA (controller)  502  which controls the individual ON/OFF of each LED in the matrix; and a communication module (not shown in  FIG. 5 ), which is connected to the local master controller  304  and configured for sending and receiving messages/configurations from the cloud  102  (in  FIG. 3 ). The LED matrix  501  is formed by an array of LED chips and LED capsules. The slave controller  502  is configured to take command from a master controller to control the individual On/Off of each LED node within the local LED matrix. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates the structure of a LED matrix. Referring to  FIG. 6 , The LED matrix is a 3D matrix (x, y, z). (x,y) forms the base matrix. z is the number of layers. In this embodiment, the matrix is 4×4×4. The matrix can grow by installing more layers of LEDs on the z-axis or cascading additional LED matrixes at the x or the y directions. The 4×4 base matrix can be reduced by uninstalling the appropriate LEDs to form any 2D matrix from 1×1 to 4×4. So a system of arbitrary (x by y by z) matrix can be constructed by multiple base LED matrixes. 
     The basic element to form the LED matrix  501  is the LED node.  FIG. 7A  is a perspective view of a LED node.  FIG. 7B  is a perspective view of a plurality of LED nodes being connected. Referring to  FIG. 7A  and  FIG. 7B , each LED node  701  is formed by a LED chip  702  and a LED capsule  703 . The LED capsule  703  encapsulates the LED chip  702  into a module and provides mechanical and electrical features for the LED node  701  in x, y, and z directions, which enables constructing the LED cube without soldering. 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective and partial magnified view of the LED capsule. Referring to  FIG. 8 , the LED capsule  703  is a transparent or semi-transparent housing that accommodates the LED chip. The LED capsule  703  includes a left capsule  801  and a right capsule  802 . 
       FIG. 9A  is a front view of the left capsule depicted in  FIG. 8 .  FIG. 9B  is a perspective view of the left capsule depicted in  FIG. 9A . Referring to  FIG. 9A  and  FIG. 9B , the left capsule includes a first mechanical feature  901  for making the z-axis connection, a second mechanical feature  902  for holding the LED leads, a third mechanical feature  903  for holding the right and left capsules together, and a fourth mechanical feature  904  for making the x or y axis connection. 
       FIG. 10A  is a front view of the right capsule depicted in  FIG. 8 .  FIG. 10B  is a perspective view of the right capsule depicted in  FIG. 10A . Referring to  FIG. 10A  and  FIG. 10B , the right capsule includes a first mechanical feature  1001  for making the z-axis connection, an electrical connection area  1002 , a second mechanical feature  1003  for holding the LED leads, a third mechanical feature  1004  for holding the right and left capsules together, and a fourth mechanical feature  1005  for making the x or y axis connection. 
     It is understood that in another embodiment, the LED node, which includes the LED chip, the left capsule, and the right capsule, can also be made directly through a molding process. In other words, the LED capsule is integrated with the LED chip through a molding process. 
       FIG. 11  illustrates the structure of the slave controller  502  depicted in  FIG. 5 . The salve controller is integrated to a controller board  1102 , which is a PCBA (PCB with micro-controller and LED driver). The controller board  1102  is configured to take command from the master controller  1101  (the local master controller  304  in  FIG. 5 ) to control the individual On/Off of each LED node within the local LED matrix  1103 . The controller board  1102  contains a unique physical ID  1105  which is given in the factory and one or multiple logical IDs  1105 , which are dynamically assigned during the initialization process, so that the master controller  1101  can deliver whatever LED patterns to the dedicated slave controller based on the physical ID or logical ID. 
     Since the LEDs attached to the slave controller can be individually turned on and off, by the readings of the current sensor  1104  during an individual LED scanning routine, the slave controller is configured to determine the configuration of the attached LED matrix. The controller board  1102  further includes a Neighbor Explorer IO configured to indicate the presence of the slave controller and to detect the presence of neighboring controllers, which will be described in more detail hereafter. 
       FIG. 12  illustrates the working of the slave controller in exploring the neighbor configuration. Referring to  FIG. 12 , assuming each controller PCB has four interfaces connected with its neighbor controllers and each interface has one electrical connection connected to the master controller  1201 . The exploring process includes:
     Step 1: the master controller  1201  sending a command to all slave controllers to configure the Neighbor Explorer IO to INPUT with weak pull up;   Step 2: setting the master controller&#39;s Neighbor Explorer IO 1 to OUTPUT LOW;   Step 3: sending a command to ALL slave controllers to send their physical IDs to the master controller  1201  if the slave controller detects the Neighbor Explorer IO as LOW;   Step 4: repeating the steps 2 to 3 with Neighbor Explorer IO 2, 3, and 4;   Step 5: repeating the steps 2 to 4 with the Detected Neighbor Controller until all the neighbor controllers have been found.   

     This Neighbor Exploring Scheme can be applied on any number of interfaces. N interfaces need N IO pins connected to the master controller. 
       FIG. 13  illustrates a giant cCube according to another embodiment of the present patent application. Assuming all the cCubes are synchronized with a common clock (using the network time protocol) and each cCube has the GPS information sent to the Cloud. The Cloud knows the exact location of each cCube, and then the Cloud can link all the neighbor cCube together to form a giant cCube and display any given pattern on this giant cCube. 
     Molecular model set is a very common educational tool and toy for showing simple, as well as complex molecular structures.  FIG. 14  illustrates an exemplary molecular model set. Referring to  FIG. 14 , the molecular model set includes atoms  1401  and bonds  1402  between the atoms  1401 . 
       FIG. 15  illustrates an interactive molecular model set according to another embodiment of the present patent application. Referring to  FIG. 15 , in this model, each atom  1501  is an aforementioned LED with a slave controller in an atom appearance. Each bond  1502  is an aforementioned LED with a slave controller in a bond appearance. The master controller  1503  is configured to scan the connections between the bonds and the atoms and control the LEDs in the atoms and the bonds. The master controller  1503  can be a self-contained device with a user interface and a display. The master controller  1503  can also be connected to a PC or the Cloud with the applications running on the PC or a mobile device, which controls the model and interacts with the user. 
       FIG. 16  illustrates the structure of an atom in the interactive molecular model set depicted in  FIG. 15 . Referring to  FIG. 16 , the atom includes an upper capsule  1601 , a lower capsule  1602 , a controller PCBA  1603 , and a bond interface  1604 . The atom can have one or multiple bond interfaces. In this embodiment, the atom has 6 bond interfaces. Two kinds of atoms may exist in this system: active atoms which have micro-controllers and LEDs so that the user can input to the controller PCBA; and passive atoms which only provide electrical and mechanical connections to the bonds. 
       FIG. 17  illustrates the structure of a bond in the interactive molecular model set depicted in  FIG. 15 . Referring to  FIG. 17 , the bond includes an upper capsule  1701 , a lower Capsule  1702 , a controller PCBA  1703 , and an atom interface  1704 . The bond can have one or multiple atom interfaces. In this embodiment, the bond has 2 atom interfaces. Two kinds of bonds may exist in the system: active bonds which have micro-controllers and LEDs so that the user can input to the Controller PCBA; and passive bonds which only provide electrical and mechanical connections to the atoms. 
       FIG. 18  illustrates a remote control system according to another embodiment of the present patent application. Referring to  FIG. 18 , the user input is the command of the users  1801  entering the cloud  1802  via the user&#39;s favorite communication platform. The cloud  1802  interprets the command, looks up the protocol from the database (included in the cloud) and sends the control protocol to the remote control device  1803 . The remote control device  1803  is a device attached to a master device, which generates the physical communication signal to control the remotely controlled device  1804 . The remotely controlled device at home can be TV, entertainment systems, lightings and etc. 
       FIG. 19  illustrates a universal sensor system according to another embodiment of the present patent application. Referring to  FIG. 19 , the user input is the command of the users  1901  entering the cloud  1902  via the user&#39;s favorite communication platform to extract the sensor information. The cloud  1902  reads the sensor data and stores it into the database. It also interprets the query command from the users  1901  and returns the requested sensor data. The sensor receiver  1903  is a device attached to a master device, which collects the sensor information via the physical communication protocol and sends the data output of the sensors  1904  to the computing cloud  1902 . The sensor  1904  is any wireless/wired device that measures a measurable attribute and converts it into a signal that can be read by the sensor receiver  1903 . Examples of the sensor include temperature sensors, CCD cameras, electrical meters, water meters, and etc. It is understood that the sensor receiver  1903  can also be configured as a controller to control the sensors  1904  based on the inputs from the users  1901 , which are converted to commands by the computing cloud  1902 . 
       FIG. 20  illustrates a universal home automation system according to another embodiment of the present patent application. Referring to  FIG. 20 , in this system, the inputs  2001  can be given by users, sensors, and events. The cloud  2002  is configured to take the inputs, process them according to a behavior model, and then generate a command to the outputs  2003 . The outputs  2003  go to the remotely controlled device or communication channels that can reach the users. 
     In above embodiments, the systems can use off-the-shelf applications to control the home device and do not need to have a computer running at home. The protocol between the home controller and the cloud is fixed, which makes the home controller easy and cheap to implement. The cloud provides the user interface instead of the home controller so that adding new interfaces only involve changing the cloud service. The cloud can feed any predefined information to the home controller so that all the intelligence resides at the cloud. 
     While the present patent application has been shown and described with particular references to a number of embodiments thereof, it should be noted that various other changes or modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.