Project Manager: Okay , can I um I'm actually gonna use the um it's gonna cause great technical problems over here . I'm actually gonna use the User Interface: F they probably clip to you .
Industrial Designer: Oh yeah , they might be movable .
Marketing: Yeah .
Industrial Designer: Oh yeah , they're all they're not connected to anything on the table , you just leave 'em on and walk around with 'em . Project Manager: Yes , rather than the uh the the traditional in fact , um I won't even go that far . Um something like this shape , you know , sort of something that you can that's sort of a more vertical shape , um that you you sort of hold in your hand , um , well I'm trying to think uh uh uh l uh l such as I mean um something you hold up like that , possibly with a couple of buttons like that , but with the the entire top with the , you know , the uh the infrared or whatever source .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: Uh so that you know , it's flying off in all directions ,
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: so that uh um uh again the n need to look at the the the technicalities of um actually achieving that in terms of whether the , you know , the power requirements of the uh such a source , um you know , compromise the our our need for uh you know , it it being um mm permanently uh you know , available .
Industrial Designer: Project Manager: Uh whether whether different technology um I mean th all all these remotes are presumably infrared , and like they have been for a long time . Uh we we possibly need to be looking at at at something different , um you know , short range , not like the old uh radio remote controls where you'd change next door's telly when you change yours . Um
Industrial Designer: User Interface: Project Manager: but uh uh I think basically i if we're going for i if minimum number of buttons is our priority , then we should , as I say , r know , really bite the bullets and and reduce the buttons to absolute minimum , you know , possibly with backup channel and volume buttons and on off . Um and nothing else . Um so that it can al it could uh almost end up like that , but again , except that um you know the risk of losing it . Um anyway okay um so Kate , wh what are your uh your thoughts on this ?
Industrial Designer: Yes , mm . User Interface: Oh .
Industrial Designer: Which one does this plug into ?
User Interface: Hmm I think it's all there .
Industrial Designer: That one .
User Interface: H
Industrial Designer: I can't did you  could you see it on you screen when it User Interface: Oh yeah .
Industrial Designer: That's not cool . User Interface: That's kind of strange .
Industrial Designer: Oh well . Anyways . Um alright , yeah , so um I'll just do my presentation on the working design uh . Oh there we go . Okay um just at the m yeah the whole sort of method of how the remote control works . Uh the basic function of the remote control is to send messages to another sh system , the the T_V_ or the D_V_D_ player or whatever .
Marketing:  Industrial Designer: Um and it does this uh by well , you need to start off you need an energy source and this energy source will feed into an integrated circuit chip and the circuit chip is the part that actually composes the different messages uh within the remote um which will then be sent to the uh the television , the D_V_D_ to tell that what to do . Um and you need a user interface , which controls the chip and thus the messages and uh the user interface is that's basically just you kn the s sorta design of the actual remote which you hold in your hands and what buttons will be on it . Um Oh shoot . Okay . Uh just general findings . Uh what we need uh technically speaking for the remote control is some sort of energy source , uh some sort of user interface , which I think we've mostly been talking about the user interface and the design of that . Um a circuit chip within that to uh control and send the messages and um a sender and receiver . And um oops . Uh-huh . This is just sort of a little schematic diagram of what we're looking for . Uh this just kinda represents the energy source
Marketing: Hmm .
Industrial Designer: which feeds into the circuit chip uh which maybe then we could have that feed into a switch which would send signals f to um a subcomponent and on to a light bulb between so it'll light up once we start once you start pressing buttons . Um also send signals to the um infrared bulb , which will be the part that actually  what ? Sends signals to the the television . And then you've got your happy little T_V_ watcher there .
User Interface: Industrial Designer: And so my personal preferences I I just think we need sorta big uh energy source that won't die out , uh perhaps some sort of rechargeable battery or a battery dock you could place it in , so it'd constantly be charged , so you wouldn't have to uh be worrying about it running out of batteries and not changing channels for you . Uh a wide range uh sender-receiver , so that you can hit the buttons from basically anywhere in the room , and the channel'll still be changed . Uh also definitely a user-friendly interface um and I think we've all sort of mentioned adding a a locating device on it , so when it does get stuck under the couch cushions , as they inevitably do , you can find them easily . And that's pretty much it .
Project Manager: Okay . Uh it seems seems to me there are a number of fundamental decisions to make before we um Industrial Designer: Mm . Project Manager: I think your point about the the big energy source is uh a very valid one .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: Um I don't suppose we've got any statistics on the the life expectancy of uh remote controls , particularly sort of independent ones . Um given you know , the number of things you buy these days , which you know , have a a a lithium whatever battery in , that's uh , you know never needs replacing .
Industrial Designer: Project Manager: Um perhaps we should have the the disposable remote control , uh um you know , one some sort of typical usage . You know , the the the battery will last know , five , ten years . By which time I mean when all's said and done , the digital television will be taking over in that time scale . Um
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
Project Manager: uh uh p perhaps we should , know , reduce the uh , you know , the sort of moving parts even more by not even having a battery compartment and uh Industrial Designer: Just having one that's guaranteed to last five to ten years ?
Project Manager: Yeah , and if if anybody manages to run it down , we'll we'll give 'em a new one .
Industrial Designer: Oh , cool . Yeah , fair enough .
User Interface: Project Manager: Um it's , you know , it's what it saves in cost and you know there there's a well , it's actually a marketing gimmick . I mean it's hardly a gimmick , it's uh it's totally practical . Uh so I th think you know the idea of a rechargeable one is um uh unless you're really high tech and it sort of just recharges itself if it's n by , you know , magnetic waves or whatever , if if it Marketing: It could have like uh know like a cordless phone in your house it s got like a base that sits there all the time .
Project Manager: Yeah . Industrial Designer: Mm , mm .
Project Manager: Are are people really gonna use it though ? Um .
User Interface: Yeah , people are pro
Marketing: I suppose , yeah .
Industrial Designer: Mm yeah User Interface: I would think that people might forget Project Manager: I I th I think User Interface: I mean people forget to put their cordless phones back on there ,
Marketing: Industrial Designer: Mm-mm .
User Interface: so .
Project Manager: Yeah , it's
Marketing: Yeah . Project Manager: um I mean I know that somei times my my wife goes out in the morning and says oh I should have put the phone on to charge
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: and then then she's had those for so long that if she hasn't worked that out by now . Um .
Industrial Designer: 'Cause I only remember to charge my cell phone uh when battery dies . And that's pretty much User Interface: Yeah .
Marketing: Project Manager: When it yeah , wh when it's died is a problem .
Industrial Designer: yeah . Yeah , when it turns itself off , that's when I plug it in ,
Project Manager: Yeah , yeah , yeah , so uh um
Industrial Designer: yeah . User Interface: Project Manager: what so wh what what do we think about the um the the permanent mm battery ?
Industrial Designer: Yeah , think that's a good idea .
User Interface: No .
Marketing: Uh . That sounds pretty good , yeah .
Project Manager: Is the uh you know , we we we are really going for the ultimate in ex uh external simplicity here .
User Interface: Um .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: Um you know , cut cost within the manufacturing and uh you know , if we have a high tech interior , then then that that sh may well be cost effective .
User Interface: Do they make batteries that last that long ?
Project Manager: I mean th th certainly . Um I can't think of anything off the s top of my head ,
Industrial Designer: They usually have the little light uh source ,
Project Manager: but there are certainly things that you buy . I mean calculators for example .
Industrial Designer: I dunno what the heck they're called ,
User Interface: Yeah , they have that little solar Industrial Designer: the but
Project Manager: Som well some do ,
Industrial Designer: yeah , the little cells that Project Manager: I mean th th but there are battery ones
Industrial Designer: Yeah .
Project Manager: that um are you know , sort of permanently sealed .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: In in fact I'd User Interface: Yeah .
Industrial Designer: Most of them , don't they have sort of a combination of the two , like when there is light , they'll work off the light ,
Project Manager: Yeah ,
Industrial Designer: and if there isn't , they'll kick into this battery ,
Project Manager: uh uh Industrial Designer: so we can maybe do something like that whereas there is a battery , but if there's enough light , then it's using the light , so that it's not actually draining the battery all the time , but you will have the battery there for when you need it .
User Interface: Mm .
Project Manager: Yeah , I I mean th th this needs going t into the technology a bit .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: I mean the the actual time that a remote control is actually operating
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: I would think is i is is probably , you know , no more than minutes in its entire life . Um . Industrial Designer: Oh , it depend if it's uh depends who who's using it , who's just sitting there clicking clicking clicking clicking ,
User Interface: Yeah , some people are Project Manager: If , but I say if if people are getting R_S_I_ from it then uh then uh then then perhaps we're looking at the wrong market
Industrial Designer: yeah . Yeah , then they're clicking a lot , yeah . User Interface: Yeah . Yeah .
Marketing: W
Project Manager: n
Marketing: like like this um this uh market research thing says number of times per hour that it's used , channel selection a hundred and sixty eight
User Interface: Per hour ?
Project Manager: Right .
Marketing: times per hour .
Industrial Designer: Yeah . Yeah .
Marketing: Yeah .
User Interface: Wow . That's a lot . Project Manager: Oh , I must admit I hadn't um I'd I'd missed that . That does sound excessive .
User Interface: Marketing: But then again , if you think it of the amount of , you know amount of use it's like Project Manager: Yeah .
Marketing: That's it's less than a second , um .
Industrial Designer: Yeah . Yeah .
User Interface: Yeah .
Project Manager: Well that's right , and and I I don't I don't even know whether the I don't even know whether the s the signal lasts as long as you actually keep the button pressed ,
Industrial Designer: Mm .
Project Manager: or whether it's just a
Marketing: Yeah .
Project Manager: sorta tenth of a second , no matter how long you press it for , I don't know I don't actually know . Um .
User Interface: Though I think with digital T_V_ , like I know on my cable box , you're not supposed to do that because the channel can't keep up with it if you just press it like that ,
Project Manager: Yeah .
Industrial Designer: Mm .
User Interface: so you're supposed to use the menu and go through the different
Project Manager: Mm-hmm .
Marketing: Mm-hmm .
User Interface: channels that way instead of Project Manager: Mm . Industrial Designer: Project Manager: Right , so I've got a message to say five minutes , I dunno how long ago that appeared . Um 'cause we're we're getting
User Interface: Uh-oh .

Summary: Project Manager expected to have a remote control permanently available. Industrial Designer proposed to have a rechargeable battery or a battery dock, while Project Manager preferred a disposable one. Then Industrial Designer came up with a combination of both solar and conventional batteries.