Abstract:
A hand-held remote control which can be configured to communicate command codes to one or more home appliances of different makes, models, and manufacturers and a relay unit that can communicate with the remote control. The relay unit has a button that corresponds to a key on the remote control. When the button on the relay unit is activated, the relay unit signals the remote control. In response to the receipt of the signal indicating activation of the button or in response to activation of the key on the remote control, the remote control communicates to one or more of the home appliances those command codes that have been mapped to the key. Command codes are communicated to the home appliances using native communication protocols.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to remote controls and, more particularly, relates to a system and method for using a remote control to control home appliances. 
     It is known in the art to use remote controls to control the operation of home appliances. Furthermore, it is known in the art to provide remote controls with macro command capabilities whereby one or more user selected control commands can be transmitted to one or more home appliances in response to activation of a single remote control key. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,751 to Darbee, et al., issued on Sep. 28, 1999 and entitled “Universal Remote Control Device,” discloses a remote control with programming that allows a user to define a sequence of operations that the remote control will perform in response to activation of a macro key on the remote control. The user defines the sequence of operations by placing the remote control into a macro definition mode and, thereafter, activating one or more keys on the remote control. When the macro key is subsequently activated, the remote control will perform the operations that have been assigned to the one or more keys that were activated during the macro definition mode. The operations performed by the remote control in response to activation of the macro key can include sending control commands to one or more home appliances for the purpose of controlling the operation of the home appliance(s). 
     It is also known in the art to use macro commands to control the operation of home appliances within an integrated control network. For example, the “Smart” line of products offered by General Electric provides a system for integrating existing home appliances, such as audio/video, heating and cooling, security, lighting, and other voltage products, into a control network. The integrated control network can be programmed to include “house macros” that allows multiple control commands to be issued to one or more home appliances attached to the network. The “house macro” control commands are issued to the home appliances in response to the activation of “smart switches” that are connected to the integrated control network. 
     To communicate control commands within the integrated control network, all of the products connected to the integrated control network must be capable of responding to and/or transmitting messages using the CEBus protocol. The CEBus protocol is the underlying protocol for the messages that are routed throughout the integrated control network. Message routing is performed by a system manager that has no direct physical connection to the home appliances. Rather, the system manager sends CEBus protocol messages to the home appliances over standard powerlines. Within the system manager is stored the programming for the system level functions (i.e., house macros, light scenes, master clock, etc.) that determine which control commands are transmitted to the home appliances residing on the network. 
     While integrated control networks do work for their intended purpose, they do suffer disadvantages. For example, the “Smart” line, integrated control network requires the use of “controllers” which respond to the CEBus messages to control the operation of home appliances that do not directly support CEBus protocol messaging. To this end, the home appliances are further required to be hard-wired to the “controllers.” Accordingly, since control of conventional home appliances can only be accomplished through the use of specialized devices and intricate hard-wiring, integrated control networks are not a practical solution to home control for those consumers that are cost conscious and/or not technically savvy. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To overcome these problems, the subject invention is directed to improved system and method for controlling home appliances. Generally, the system includes a hand-held remote control which can be configured to communicate command codes to one or more home appliances of different makes, models, and manufacturers and a relay unit that can communicate with the remote control. The relay unit has a button that corresponds to a key on the remote control. When the button on the relay unit is activated, the relay unit signals the remote control. In response to the receipt of the signal indicating activation of the button or in response to activation of the key on the remote control, the remote control communicates to one or more of the home appliances those command codes that have been mapped to the key. Command codes are communicated to the home appliances using native communication protocols. 
     A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, properties and relationships of the invention will be obtained from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings which set forth an illustrative embodiment and which are indicative of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to a preferred embodiment shown in the following drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system including relay units in communication with a remote control having command codes for use in controlling the operation of home appliances; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the relay units of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary signal format for use in communicating with the remote control of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the remote control of FIG. 1; and 
     FIGS. 5-7 illustrate flow chart diagrams of an exemplary method for controlling the operation of home appliances. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Turning now to the figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements, there is illustrated a system and method for controlling the operation of one or more home appliances. The system includes a remote control  10  and relay units  12  that include one or more buttons  14  as illustrated in FIG.  1 . Each of the buttons  14  corresponds to one of the command keys on the remote control  10 . While the command key can be a simple key such as “MUTE,” it is preferred that the command key be a user definable macro key  16 . As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, activation of a button  14  on a relay unit  12  will cause the remote control  10  to perform the operations that have been assigned to the key that corresponds to the activated button  14 . These operation will typically include the transmitting of one or more command codes to one or more home appliances for the purpose of controlling the operation of the home appliance(s). 
     For commanding the operation of the home appliance(s), the remote control  10 , illustrated in FIG. 4, is adapted to transmit command codes to remotely controllable home appliances. To this end, the remote control  10  includes a microprocessor  20  that is in communication with a memory  22 , a keypad  24 , and an infrared (“IR”) transmitter  26 . The keypad  24 , comprised of a plurality of keys, is coupled to the microprocessor  20  for, among other things, allowing the user to command the operation of the remote control  10 . The keypad keys include number keys, function keys, mode keys, and macro keys  16 . While described in the context of physical keys on the remote control  10 , the keypad  24  can be implemented virtually using touch screens or the like. 
     To control the operation of the remote control  10  itself, the memory  22  includes executable instructions that are intended to command the operation of the microprocessor  20 . The executable instructions allow the microprocessor  20  to control the various electronic components within the remote control  10 , e.g., to control power, to cause the transmission of command codes, etc. It will be appreciated that the memory  22  may be comprised of any type of computer-readable media, such as ROM, RAM, SRAM, FLASH, EEPROM, or the like. Preferably the memory  22  comprises non-volatile forms of memory such as ROM, Flash, or battery-backed SRAM such that programmed and user entered data is not required to be reloaded after battery changes. Furthermore, the memory  22  may take the form of a chip, a smart card, a hard disk, a magnetic disk, and/or an optical disk. 
     For communicating with different types of home appliances from different manufacturers, the memory  22  also includes a command code library. The command code library is comprised of a plurality of command codes that may be transmitted from the remote control  10  directly to a home appliance to control the operation of the home appliance (e.g., to cause a TV to mute, to change a CD track, etc.). In connection with the stored command codes, the memory  22  includes instructions and data which the microprocessor  20  uses to cause the IR transmitter  26  to transmit the command codes in a format that is recognized by identifiable home appliances. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,810, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, a user may enter data into the remote control  10  that serves to identify home appliances by type and manufacturer such that the remote control  10  is adapted to transmit the appropriate command codes in the appropriate format for such identified home appliances. Alternatively, a user may “teach” the remote control the codes of another unit as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,848 to Ehlers issued Dec. 2, 1986 which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Combinations of these two techniques are also possible. 
     For commanding the remote control to perform an operation in accordance with the executable instructions, the user may activate one or more keys on the keypad  24 . In this regard, certain of the keys are mapped to certain of the executable instructions stored within the memory  24 . The executable instructions may cause the remote control  10  to transmit command codes to one or more home appliances in accordance with the data the user has entered to setup the remote control or has taught the remote control  10  in response to activation of a key. Home appliances that are especially adapted for remote control include TVs, VCRs, DVD players, thermostats, fans, entry systems, computers, etc. The executable instructions can also be used to perform local operations on the remote control itself in response to activation of a key. Examples of local operation include favorite key setup, macro key setup, etc. 
     To perform macro key setup in accordance with the local operations of the remote control  10 , the remote control  10  includes executable instructions that are used to place the remote control  10  into a macro entry definition mode. Again, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,751 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, the macro entry definition mode allows a user to define a sequence of operations that the remote control will perform in response to activation of a selected one of the macro keys  16 . To this end, once the user has placed the remote control  10  in the macro entry definition mode, the user defines a sequence of operations and identifies the macro key  16  to which the sequence of operations are to be assigned. The sequence of operations may be defined by activating one or more command/function keys on the remote control  10 . When the macro key  16  that was the subject of the macro entry definition mode is subsequently activated, the remote control  10  will perform the operations that have been defined for the macro key  16 . 
     For further commanding the remote control  10  to perform an operation in accordance with the executable instructions, the remote control  10  is adapted to respond to command signals that are transmitted to the remote control  10  by the relay units  12 . To receive the command signals, the remote control  10  includes a radio frequency (“RF”) receiver  28  which is in communication with the microprocessor  20  by way of data lines  30  and interrupt line  32 . The RF receiver  28  includes an RF antenna  34 , a wireless signal receiver circuit  36 , a control circuit  38 , and a wakeup timer  40 . Since the operation of the RF receiver  28  is described in detail in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,638,050 and 5,686,891, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, it will not be described herein for the sake of brevity. 
     To transmit the command signals to the remote control  10 , which command signals are sent in response to activation of a button  14  on the relay units  12 , the relay units  12  include an RF transmitter  42  as illustrated in FIG.  2 . The RF transmitter  42  includes a modulation oscillator circuit  44 , a signal voltage regulator circuit  46  and an RF oscillator circuit  48  as well as a RF antenna. The RF transmitter  42  is under the control of a microcontroller  50  which is in communication with the button(s)  14 . The microcontroller  50  also includes a memory having the instructions and data necessary to allow the RF transmitter  42  to communicate the command signals to the remote control  10 . Since the operation of the RF transmitter  42  is also described in detail in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,638,050 and 5,686,891, it will not be described herein for the sake of brevity. 
     For communicating the command signals to the remote control  10 , the relay units  12  preferably use a “Manchester” bit encoding schema. The “Manchester” encoding schema is preferred since a carrier signal is present for each bit of data transmitted, i.e., without regard to whether the bit has a value of “0” or “1.” Thus, use of the “Manchester” encoding schema ensures that there is never a period of longer than some predetermined time during the transmission that a carrier signal is not present. By way of example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the longest time period that could occur without a carrier during signal transmission would be 40 mS when the bit codes “0” followed by “1” are transmitted. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the use of the “Manchester” encoding schema is particularly useful as it allows the remote control  10  to wake up periodically to check for a command signal transmission from the relay units  12 . 
     Since the “Manchester” bit encoding schema also guarantees that there is never any period longer than a predetermined time during the signal transmission that a bit signal is present, a burst of carrier which is longer than the predetermined time can be used as a transmission preamble. Again, by way of example and as illustrated in FIG. 3, the longest time period that could occur with a bit signal transmission would be 40 mS when the bit codes “1” followed by “0” are transmitted. Thus, a burst of carrier for longer than 40 mS (e.g., 140 mS) can be used to unambiguously flag to the remote control  10  the start of each data frame that is being transmitted from a relay unit  12 . 
     To inform the remote control  10  which button  14  was activated, the command signal transmitted to the remote control  10  from the relay unit  12  preferably includes a 4 bit address. In this regard, each of the buttons  14  will have a unique address associated therewith. In the embodiment shown this address comprises two bits of button number information (i.e. up to four distinct buttons) and two bits of “system” code (i.e. up to four distinct systems). The purpose of the “system” code is to permit the co-existence of multiple remote controls which are within RF range of one another—for example in adjacent homes or offices, or even several independent units in the same home. The address can be preset or could be configured by the user by way of jumpers or switches  52  as illustrated in FIG.  2 . It will be appreciated that while a 4-bit address is used in the embodiment shown, in the event more than four buttons or more than four system codes are required the number of bits in the address can easily be extended as appropriate. 
     For causing the remote control to perform an operation in response to the receipt of a command signal transmitted by the relay units  12 , the remote control  10  includes programming that examines the 4-bit addresses received and, if the system code portion matches the value assigned to the remote, maps the button number portion of the address to selected operations of the remote control  10 . In the preferred embodiment, the addresses are mapped to the operation(s) that have been defined to the macro keys  16 . Accordingly, upon receipt of a command signal, the remote control will perform the operation(s) that were defined for the macro key  16  that corresponds to the address in the signal transmitted. These operations can include the transmission of one or more command codes from the remote control  10  to one or more of the home appliances. 
     By way of further example, with reference to FIGS. 5-7, when a button  14  is activated on one of the relay units  12 , the relay unit  12  transmits to the remote control  10  a five second long command signal. The command signal contains ten identical frames each of which includes address data comprising a system code and the identity of the button  14  that was activated, e.g., “1” when button “1” is activated. Each data frame also includes a preamble burst which enables the RF receiver  28  to synchronize with the command signal transmission. 
     To detect the transmission of a command signal, the RF receiver  28  is caused to wake up once every four seconds. The four second time frame is used as it allows at least one complete frame of data to be received no matter where in the transmission cycle the RF receiver  28  awakes. When the RF receiver  28  wakes up, if a command signal is not detected within 50 mS the remote control  10  goes back to sleep and waits for the next wake up interrupt. If, however, the RF receiver  28  detects the transmission of the command signal, the RF receiver  28  begins to monitor for an RF carrier signal of longer than 45 mS which indicates the presence of the preamble. 
     If the RF carrier signal currently being monitored goes away in less than 45 mS, the RF receiver  28  assumes that the signal was a data pulse (i.e., an address bit) and the RF receiver  28  continues to monitor for a new RF carrier signal which is expected within 50 mS. When an RF carrier signal of longer than 45 mS is detected, then a preamble burst is present and the RF receiver  28  synchronizes itself to the end of the preamble burst. If no preamble burst is detected within 500 mS, or if at any time there is a 50 mS gap with no RF activity, an error condition is determined to be present within the system. 
     Once the RF receiver  28  is synchronized with the command signal, the RF receiver decodes the address data and the error check data embedded within the command signal. If the address data is successfully decoded and no error condition exists, the address data is latched to the data lines  30  and an interrupt signal is sent to the microprocessor  20  on interrupt line  32 . Upon receiving an interrupt signal, the microprocessor  20  responds according to whether the interrupt was generated as a result of activation of a key on the keypad  24  or as a result of signal reception by the RF receiver  28 . 
     If the interrupt was generated in response to activation of a key, the microprocessor  20  causes the remote control  10  to perform the operation(s) that have been mapped/assigned to the activated key. If, however, the interrupt was generated by the RF receiver  28 , the microprocessor  20  reads the address information from the data line  30 . If the system code portion of the address matches that of the remote control, the microprocessor  20  uses the button number information from the address to cause the remote control  10  to perform the operation(s) that have been mapped/assigned to the address in the received command signal. In the preferred embodiment, since the addresses are mapped to the operation(s) that have been defined for the macro keys  16 , the microprocessor  20  will cause the remote control  10  to perform the same operation(s) as if the macro key  16  corresponding to the address was directly activated. In this example, the remote control  10  would perform the operation(s) that were assigned to macro key “1.” 
     For the convenience of the user, the relay units  12  are particularly adapted to be carried on a key chain and or attached to a wall. In this manner, the user can communicate with the remote control  10  to control the operation of home appliances at various locations within the household. For attachment to a key chain, the relay units  12  can include an optional key ring connector  60 . For removable attachment to a wall, the relay units  12  can include a “velcro” strip  62  that is adapted to engage a fabric strip that is adhered to the wall. The relay units  12  can also include flanges with openings by which the relay units  12  can be mounted to the wall using fasteners such as nails or screws. 
     Furthermore, correspondence between the buttons  14  on the relay units  12  and the keys of the remote control  10  can be indicated to the user by way of labels that are placed on the buttons  14  and the keys (e.g., labels “1” through “4”). The labels can be preprinted on the buttons and/or keys. Alternately, printed labels can be adhered to the relay units  12  and/or the remote control  10 . It will also be appreciated that, while described in the context of physical keys on the relay unit  12 , the buttons  14  can be implemented virtually using touch screens or the like. Similarly, while the relay units are described in the context of self-contained devices, it will be appreciated that these may also be built into other items from which access to pre-defined home appliance functions is desired, for example a cordless telephone handset, a nightstand, an alarm clock, etc. 
     To command the operation of home appliances when the user is away from the household, the relay units  12  can be equipped with simple timers such as kitchen timers. In this regard, the user can program a count down time or time of day at which time the command signal will be transmitted to the remote control  10 . For this purpose, the relay unit will include a timer display  64  and buttons  66  for programming the timer and for informing the relay unit  12  which address is to be included in a transmitted command signal, i.e., if more than one button  14  and/or address is supported by the relay unit  12 . 
     As will be appreciated from the foregoing description, the subject system and method for controlling home appliances has the advantage of providing a low cost solution to home appliance control. Specifically, the subject system and method does not require the use of specialized communications modules that need to be hardwired to conventional home appliances. This desirable result arises from the use of the remote control  10  which is adapted to communicate with the home appliances through free space using signal formats that conventional home appliances already recognize. 
     While specific embodiments of the invention have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. For example, it will be appreciated that a single processor can be used to control the operations of the remote control  10  including all of the functions associated with the RF receiver  28 . Accordingly, the particular arrangement disclosed is meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.