Patent Publication Number: US-2015070141-A1

Title: Wireless control system and method of setting the control system

Description:
The current application claims a foreign priority to the patent application of Taiwan No. 102132817 filed on Sep. 11, 2013. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present invention relates generally to a control system, and more particular to a wireless control system, and a method of setting the control system. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     As the development of technology, there are various electric appliances in ordinary homes, such as gas stove, electrical water heater, fan, and so on. There usually is a control device on an electric appliance for manual control of the electric appliance. However, people have to approach the electric appliance to operate the control device. it is very inconvenient for a person who wants to control an electric appliance which is far away, such as an outdoor water heater. 
     To improve above drawback, a remote control, which is equipped with radio frequency (RF) module to generate RF signals, is provided for control of a specific electric appliance, so that people may control the electric appliances with the specified remote controls. 
     The remote control provides an easy way of controlling the electric appliance, however, we have more and more remote controls at home as we get more electric appliances. So, we spend longer time in finding the remote control than the time we walk to the electric appliance and operate the control device on it. Besides, as the development of wireless network, most of ordinary homes have Wi-Fi networks. It will be very convenient if the electric appliances at home could be controlled through the Wi-Fi network. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a wireless control system and a method of setting the control system, which converts Wi-Fi signals into RF signals to control a plurality of electric elements of an electric appliance at the same time. 
     The present invention provides a wireless control system for controlling a plurality of electric elements, including a control signal generator for transmitting a Wi-Fi control signal; at least a converting device receiving the Wi-Fi control signal from the control signal generator, and converting the Wi-Fi control signal into a radio frequency control signal; and a plurality of controlling devices, which are connected to the electric elements respectively, each having a radio frequency transceiver and a controller, wherein the radio frequency transceivers receive the radio frequency control signal from the converting device and send the radio frequency control signal to the controllers, and then the controllers respectively control the electric elements according to the radio frequency control signal. 
     In an embodiment, the control signal generator includes an electronic device and a wireless access point, both of which are connected to a network; the electronic device generates a control signal and transmits the control signal to the wireless access point through the network; the wireless access point converts the control signal into the Wi-Fi control signal, and then transmits the Wi-Fi control signal to the converting device. 
     In an embodiment, the converting device includes a Wi-Fi module, a multiplexing module, and a radio frequency module; the Wi-Fi module receives the Wi-Fi control signal from the control signal generator and sends the Wi-Fi control signal to the multiplexing module; the multiplexing module converts the Wi-Fi control signal into the radio frequency control signal; and the radio frequency module transmits the radio frequency control signal to the radio frequency transceivers of the controlling devices. 
     The present invention further provides a method of setting a wireless control system, which includes the following steps: 
     A. Connect the electronic device to the converting device; 
     B. Transmit a connection data from the electronic device to the converting device, and save the connection data in the converting device; 
     C. Connect the converting device to the wireless access point through Wi-Fi according to the connection data; and 
     D. Disconnect the electronic device to the converting device, and keep a connection between the converting device and the wireless access point. 
     In an embodiment, the method further includes the step of connecting the electronic device to the wireless access point after the step D. 
     With such design, it may convert the Wi-Fi signals into the RF signals to control a plurality of the electric elements at the same time. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which 
         FIG. 1  is a sketch diagram of the wireless control system of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is block diagram of the controlling device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the converting device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , a wireless control system of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is adapted to monitor and control a plurality of electric elements  11 - 15  of an electric appliance, including a plurality of controlling devices  16 , a control signal generator  20 , and a converting device  30 . 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the electric appliance is a fireplace, and the electric elements of the electric appliance include a solenoid valve  11 , a blower  12 , and three sensors  13 - 15 . The solenoid valve  11  is mounted in a gas pipe  100 , which supplies gas with burners  110  of the fireplace. The solenoid valve  11  works according to an electric signal to turn the solenoid valve  11  on/off, or to adjust a gas flow through the solenoid valve  11 . In an embodiment, the solenoid valve  11  uses the solenoid valve taught in U.S. patent 2009/0206291A1, which is a ratio solenoid valve to be controlled by a voltage of the electric signal. In practice, any solenoid valve which is controlled by electric signals should be applied in the present invention. The blower  12  supplies air flow to the burners  110 . The sensor  13  is provided on the gas pipe  100  between the burners  110  and the solenoid valve  11 , the sensor  14  is beside the burners  110 , and the sensor  15  is on the blower  12 . The sensors  13 - 15  respectively sense a gas flow in the gas pipe  100 , a temperature of the burners  110 , and a speed of a motor of the blower  12 . 
     The controlling devices  16  are connected to the electric elements  11 - 15  respectively, each of which has a radio frequency (RF) transceiver  161  and a controller  162 . The RF transceiver  161  transmits and receives RF signals, and the controller  162  controls the corresponding electric element according to the RF signals received by the RF transceiver  161 . 
     The control signal generator  20  includes a wireless access point (wireless AP)  22  and a smart phone  24 . The wireless AP  22  connects to a network, such as Internet, and the smart phone  24  connects to the wireless AP  22  through Wi-Fi. A specific application is installed in the smart phone  24  for user to input commands, which control the electric elements  11 - 15  for specific actions, such as turn on/off or adjust the electric elements  11 - 15 . The smart phone  24  may be replaced by any electronic device, such as desktop, laptop, tablet, or PDA, which may code and package the commands into control signals, and the control signals will be sent to the electric appliance eventually by wireless transmission. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , the converting device  30  includes a Wi-Fi module  32 , a multiplexing module  34 , and a radio frequency (RF) module  36  in serial connection. The Wi-Fi module  32  transmits and receives Wi-Fi signals, the multiplexing module  34  converts the Wi-Fi signals from the Wi-Fi module  32  into RF signals, and RF module  36  transmits the RF signals out. 
     A user has to set the wireless control system before use the smart phone  24  to control the electrical devices  11 - 15 . First, the user has to operate the smart phone  24  to connect the smart phone  24  to the Wi-Fi module  32  of the converting device  30  through Wi-Fi Direct, and then send a connection data, such as Service Set Identifier (SSID) and key, to the Wi-Fi module  32  of the converting device  30 , and save the connection data in the Wi-Fi module  32 . The connection data is pre-stored in the application installed in the smart phone  24 , or it may be inputted by the user. Next, the Wi-Fi module  32  of the converting device  30  will connect to the specified wireless AP  22  through Wi-Fi according to the connection data, and then disconnect to the smart phone  24 . Now, a connection is kept between the converting device  30  and the wireless AP  22  only. Next, the user operates the smart phone  24  again to connect the smart phone  24  to the wireless AP  22  through Wi-Fi, and the setting process is completed. It is noted that the smart phone  24  may connect to the wireless AP  22  through a wire. 
     After that, the user may inputs a command through the smart phone  24 , and then the smart phone  24  converts it into a Wi-Fi control signal and sends the Wi-Fi control signal to the wireless AP  22  through Wi-Fi. Next, the wireless AP  22  transfers the Wi-Fi control signal to the Wi-Fi module  32  of the converting device  30 . The multiplexing module  34  receives the Wi-Fi control signal from the Wi-Fi module  32 , and converts it into a RF control signal. Next, the RF control signal is sent to the RF transceivers  161  of the electric elements  11 - 15  through the RF module  36 , and then the controllers  162  will control the electric elements  11 - 15  according to the RF control signal. When the smart phone  24  is used to control the electric elements  11 - 15 , it may connect to Internet at the same time. 
     With the wireless control system of the present invention, the user may control the electric elements  11 - 15  anywhere as long as the smart phone  24  can connect to Internet. The smart phone  24  transmits the wireless AP  22  the control signal through Internet, and then the wireless AP  22  converts the control signal into a Wi-Fi control signal and sends the Wi-Fi control signal to the converting device  30  to control the electric elements  11 - 15 . 
     User may monitor the electric elements  11 - 15  through the wireless control system of the present invention as well. For example, the sensing results of the sensors  13 - 15  are sent to the RF module  36  of the converting device  30 , by the control of the controllers  162 , through the RF transceivers  161  respectively, and then are converted into Wi-Fi data signals by the multiplexing module  34 . Next, the Wi-Fi data signals are sent to the wireless AP  22  through the Wi-Fi module  32 , and then the wireless AP  22  sends the Wi-Fi data signals to the smart phone  24  through Internet. As a result, the smart phone may show the data of the electric elements  11 - 15  to get the information of the electric appliance. 
     Except for the smart phone  24 , any electronic device which may connect to the wireless AP  22  or the converting device  30  through Wi-Fi may be applied in the present invention. For example, a desktop (not shown) may connect to the wireless AP  22  or the converting device  30  through an RJ-45 interface. 
     It may provide a plurality of the converting devices  30  in the system. Each converting device  30  is in connection with some of the electric elements respectively that may reduce the delay in signal transmission when there are too many electric elements in control. 
     It must be pointed out that the embodiments described above are only some preferred embodiments of the present invention. All equivalent structures which employ the concepts disclosed in this specification and the appended claims should fall within the scope of the present invention.