Patent Description:
Electronic devices, such as televisions and radios, may be controlled by remote control units. These remote-control units may be universal in the sense that they are able to control a plurality of different electronic devices instead of being suited exclusively for controlling a single type of electronic device. However, since these remote-control units are universal, it is important to select a specific electronic device among a plurality of candidate electronic devices, before the remote-control units can be used. This selection should be performed in accordance with the intention of the user.

<CIT> describes a communication device and an electronic device having the same. A communication device according to an embodiment comprises: first to third antennas arranged to be spaced different distances from each other; first to third transceiving units; and a processor for controlling the first to third transceiving units, wherein the processor calculates a first phase difference on the basis of a difference between a first reception signal received by the first antenna and a second reception signal received by the second antenna, calculates a second phase difference on the basis of a difference between the first reception signal received by the first antenna and a third reception signal received by the third antenna, and calculates location information of an external communication device on the basis of the first phase difference and the second phase difference.

<CIT> describes a control object and a method for controlling a plurality of pieces of equipment. The method includes determining, with the control object, a piece of equipment to be controlled from the plurality of pieces of equipment based on a user pointing the control object at the piece of equipment to be controlled, adapting, with the control object, a control interface of the control object as a function of the piece of equipment to be controlled, receiving, through the control interface of the control object, at least one command from the user to control the piece of equipment to be controlled, generating, with the control object, control data configured to control the piece of equipment to be controlled based on the at least one command received from the user, and controlling the piece of equipment to be controlled by transmitting the control data with the control object.

<CIT> describes a method of configuring an audio system comprising one or more speaker units, which comprises: transmitting radio signals from at least a first location indicating a first speaker unit position, and from a second location indicating a second speaker unit position or a user position; receiving the signals at an antenna of the audio system; calculating an angle of arrival of the signals at the antenna; calculating the relative positions of the first and second locations based at least partially on the angle of arrival; and configuring the audio system based on the relative positions of the first and second locations.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, a control system is provided for controlling electronic devices, as defined in claim <NUM>.

In one or more embodiments, the processing unit is configured to select, as said specific electronic device, the electronic device from which the ultra-wideband signal having the smallest angle of arrival is received.

In one or more embodiments, the control system further comprises an inertial measurement unit, wherein the processing unit is further configured to select said specific electronic device using said angle of arrival as well as measurement data provided by the inertial measurement unit.

In one or more embodiments, the further communication comprises transmitting one or more functional commands to the selected specific electronic device.

In one or more embodiments, the electronic devices comprise a plurality of ultra-wideband antennas.

In one or more embodiments, the number of ultra-wideband antennas is three.

In one or more embodiments, the electronic devices comprise a localization unit, wherein said localization unit is configured to determine a relative position of the electronic devices with regard to the ultra-wideband communication unit using the ultra-wideband antennas.

In one or more embodiments, the predefined correlation is represented by the equation δ + <NUM>° = ε, wherein δ represents the first vertical angle and ε represents the second vertical angle.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present disclosure, a control method for controlling electronic devices is conceived, as defined in claim <NUM>.

In one or more embodiments, the processing unit selects, as said specific electronic device, the electronic device from which the ultra-wideband signal having the smallest angle of arrival is received.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program is provided, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a control system for controlling electronic devices, cause said control system to carry out a method of the kind set forth.

Electronic devices, such as televisions, radios and game consoles, may be controlled by remote control units. These remote-control units may be universal in the sense that they are able to control a plurality of different electronic devices instead of being suited exclusively for controlling a single type of electronic device. However, since these remote-control units are universal, it is important to select a specific electronic device among a plurality of candidate electronic devices, before the remote-control units can be used. This selection should be performed in accordance with the intention of the user.

In particular, many consumer electronic devices require the knowledge of their associated remote-control unit or gaming pad in order to translate a user movement in a three-dimensional space into actual commands in the console or consumer electronic device. Furthermore, while universal remote-control units are widely used, they have the limitation that a targeted device - i.e., a device that the user intends to control by means of the remote-control unit - should be selected before it can be controlled. Although remote control units typically contain an inertial measurement unit (IMU), such an IMU does not provide enough information to determine the position of the remote-control units. As a result, it may be difficult to perform a correct selection of a targeted device.

<FIG> shows an example of orientation sensing <NUM>. Many remote-control units, for example for smart televisions, contain an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for offering a better user experience of controlling the targeted device. A typical IMU contains three sensors: an angular rate sensor, a magnetometer and an accelerometer. The angular rate sensor is configured to track rotatory movements. The magnetometer measures the direction of the magnetic field, which provides an absolute orientation with regard to the magnetic field of the earth. The accelerometer is used for tracking linear accelerations. <FIG> shows a remote-control unit <NUM> that contains such an IMU (not shown), which is measuring its orientation with the magnetic field as a reference. A drawback of the IMU is that it cannot be used for an accurate position determination of the remote-control unit, because of the drift of the linear acceleration sensor (i.e., the accelerometer).

<FIG> shows an example of a control system <NUM>. The system comprises a remote-control unit which is universal in the sense that it is able to control different types of electronic devices. In the present example, the remote-control unit is able to control at least a television <NUM> and a radio <NUM>. Furthermore, the remote-control unit may be held by a user at different positions <NUM>, <NUM>. These positions reflect the intention of the user to select a specific electronic device for further communication. For example, at the first position <NUM> the user intends to control the television <NUM>, while at the second location <NUM> the user intends to control the radio <NUM>. As mentioned above, it may be difficult to perform a correct selection of a targeted device, i.e. to perform a selection which is in accordance with with the intention of the user.

In particular, in the system <NUM> a single remote-control unit may be used for controlling the television <NUM> and the radio <NUM>. The device <NUM>, <NUM> that is selected by the remote-control unit should be the device the remote points at. In <FIG>, the remote-control unit at "Remote position <NUM>" <NUM> points at the television <NUM> and the remote-control unit at "Remote position <NUM>" <NUM> points at the radio <NUM>. However, the remote-control unit has the same orientation with regard to the magnetic field in both positions <NUM>, <NUM>. As a result, no accurate position determination can be performed using the IMU, and as a consequence, the targeted device <NUM>, <NUM> might not be selected correctly. Furthermore, a position determination based on a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) would also not give a satisfactory result, because an RSSI-based distance measurement has an accuracy of about <NUM> meters, which is not sufficient to determine the position of the remote-control unit accurately enough for enabling a correct selection of a targeted device <NUM>, <NUM>. Now a control system and a corresponding control method will be discussed, which facilitate a correct selection of a targeted device.

<FIG> shows an illustrative embodiment of a control system <NUM>. The control system <NUM> comprises an ultra-wideband (UWB) communication unit <NUM> and a processing unit <NUM> which are operatively coupled to each other. The UWB communication unit <NUM> is configured to receive UWB signals from electronic devices (not shown). The processing unit <NUM> is configured to select a specific electronic device among the electronic devices for further communication. Furthermore, the processing unit <NUM> is configured to select the specific electronic device using an angle of arrival of the UWB signals received from the electronic devices. In this way, a correct selection of a targeted device is facilitated.

<FIG> shows an illustrative embodiment of a control method <NUM> for controlling electronic devices. The control method <NUM> comprises the following steps: at <NUM>, receiving, by a UWB communication unit, ultra-wideband signals from electronic devices, and at <NUM>, selecting, by a processing unit, a specific electronic device among said electronic devices for further communication, wherein the processing unit selects said specific electronic device using an angle of arrival of the ultra-wideband signals received from the electronic devices. As mentioned above, in this way, a correct selection of a targeted device is facilitated.

In one or more embodiments, the processing unit is configured to select, as the specific electronic device, the electronic device from which the ultra-wideband signal having the smallest angle of arrival is received. This results in a practical and effective implementation of the selection of a targeted device. In one or more embodiments, the control system further comprises an inertial measurement unit, and the processing unit is further configured to select the specific electronic device using the angle of arrival as well as measurement data provided by the inertial measurement unit (IMU). By combining the data of the IMU with the angle of arrival measurement, the probability that a targeted device is correctly selected is further increased. The control system may be integrated in a remote-control unit, for example. In one or more embodiments, the further communication comprises transmitting one or more functional commands to the selected specific electronic device. Thus, after the selection the control system may be used to control the functionality of the selected electronic device.

<FIG> shows another illustrative embodiment of a control system <NUM>. The system <NUM> comprises a remote-control unit <NUM> which is configured to control a first electronic device <NUM> (a television) and a second electronic device <NUM> (a radio). Before either one of the electronic devices <NUM>, <NUM> can be controlled, the targeted electronic device should be selected. In this embodiment, the electronic device <NUM>, <NUM> is selected which has transmitted an ultra-wideband signal that is received with the smallest angle of arrival by the remote-control unit <NUM>. Thus, if the angle γ is smaller than the angle β, then the first electronic device <NUM> is selected, and if the angle β is smaller than the angle γ, then the second electronic device <NUM> is selected.

<FIG> shows a remote-control unit <NUM> that contains a UWB interface. Using this UWB interface, the remote-control unit <NUM> measures the angle of arrival of the UWB signals that are emitted by the first electronic device <NUM> and the second electronic device <NUM>. The signal emitted by the first electronic device <NUM> is received from the angle γ and the signal emitted by the second electronic device <NUM> is received from the angle β. Since users will usually point at a dedicated device with the remote-control unit <NUM>, the ambiguity can be neglected because the smallest angle determines the selected device. In the scenario shown in <FIG>, the remote-control unit <NUM> can be moved and the angles will change according to the movement because the angles of the received signals are measured instead of the orientation of the remote-control unit <NUM>. This means that a two-dimensional device selection can be performed using the UWB interface. For selecting a targeted device in three-dimensional space, the measurement data of an inertial measurement unit can be combined with the UWB measurement data. In that case, the first electronic device <NUM> may be placed above the second electronic device <NUM>, but have the same x- and y-coordinates, such that the angle γ is substantially equal to β.

<FIG> shows an example of a control system <NUM>. The system <NUM> comprises a remote-control unit <NUM>, a first electronic device <NUM> and a second electronic device <NUM>. In this example, the first electronic device <NUM> (television) is placed above the second electronic device <NUM> (radio). The remote-control unit <NUM> points at the first electronic device <NUM> (television). The orientation of the remote-control unit <NUM> is measured by an inertial measurement unit (not shown) integrated into the remote-control unit <NUM>. In this example, the angle of arrival measured by the UWB interface of the remote-control unit <NUM> is substantially the same for the first electronic device <NUM> and the second electronic device <NUM>, because they have the same x- and y-coordinates. Thus, in this example, using only the IMU measurement data and the angle of arrivals the position of the remote-control unit <NUM> cannot accurately be determined. As a result, the selection of the targeted device may not be correct. Therefore, in one or more embodiments, the electronic devices <NUM>, <NUM> comprise a plurality of ultra-wideband antennas. Thereby, a correct selection of a targeted device is also facilitated if the position of the electronic devices only differs in the z-direction. In a practical and effective implementation, the number of ultra-wideband antennas is three. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, the electronic devices <NUM>, <NUM> comprise a localization unit (not shown), which is configured to determine a relative position of the electronic devices with regard to the ultra-wideband communication unit using the ultra-wideband antennas. In this way, the position of the remote-control unit <NUM> relative to the first electronic device <NUM> and the second electronic device <NUM> can easily be determined.

<FIG> shows an illustrative embodiment of an electronic device <NUM>. The electronic devices comprises a plurality of UWB antennas <NUM>. In particular, the electronic device <NUM> (television) contains three UWB antennas, which have known positions. Because of the known positions of the antennas two incoming angles can be measured, for example the vertical and the horizontal angle. Thus, by combining the angle of arrival measurements around these two axes with a UWB distance measurement, the relative position of the remote-control unit with regard to the electronic device <NUM> can be determined. It is noted that the positions of the antennas <NUM> are only examples. In principle, all antenna positions that enable the system to calculate the signal angles around two axes can be chosen. Furthermore, it is noted that the distances between the antennas may have an impact on the measurement accuracy and also on the measurement ambiguity. The example shown in <FIG> is a relatively simple arrangement, comprising a vertical and a horizontal antenna pair with a distance of λ/<NUM> between the antennas, wherein λ represents the wavelength of the antennas.

<FIG> shows a control system <NUM>. In one or more embodiments, the processing unit is configured to determine a first vertical angle, which is a vertical angle of arrival of a UWB signal transmitted by the UWB communication unit to the electronic devices, and the electronic devices are configured to determine a second vertical angle, which is a vertical angle of arrival of the same UWB signal as it is received by the electronic devices. This further facilitates the correct selection of a targeted device. In a practical and effective implementation, the processing unit is configured to select the specific electronic device if the first vertical angle has a predefined correlation with the second vertical angle. In a further practical implementation, the predefined correlation is represented by the equation δ + <NUM>° = ε, wherein δ represents the first vertical angle and ε represents the second vertical angle.

The control system <NUM> shown in <FIG> comprises a remote-control unit <NUM> which is configured to control a first electronic device <NUM> (television) and a second electronic device <NUM> (radio). In particular, <FIG> shows that the television <NUM> measures the vertical angle of the incoming signal that was emitted by the remote-control unit <NUM>. By combining the orientation data of the IMU of the remote-control unit <NUM> with the measured angle of arrival and time of flight at the side of the television <NUM>, the direction in which the remote-control unit <NUM> points can be determined. In the shown example the angle ε is measured by the television <NUM>; this angle determines the vertical angle of the incoming signal. The angle δ is measured by the remote-control unit <NUM> and determines the vertical orientation of the remote-control unit <NUM> relative to the magnetic and gravitational field. The angles δ and ε can be combined to determine whether or not the remote-control unit <NUM> points at the television <NUM>. For example, if the measured angle ε is about <NUM>°, the angle δ should be about <NUM>° if the remote-control unit <NUM> points at the television <NUM>. In other words, this embodiment corresponds to the above-mentioned practical implementation, in which the angles ε and δ should correlate in the following manner if the remote-control unit <NUM> points at the television <NUM>: δ + <NUM>° = ε. It is noted that a certain measurement tolerance should be considered. However, if said angles ε and δ are within predefined tolerance borders, the probability that the remote-control unit <NUM> points at the television <NUM> is high. The horizontal angles can be compared in an analogous way. The horizontal and vertical angle measurements can be performed simultaneously using three receiver units. Alternatively, two subsequent measurements may be performed using, for example, two receiver units and an antenna switch.

It is noted that the remote-control unit <NUM> does not need to perform an angle of arrival measurement if the television <NUM> contains three antennas. If the remote-control unit <NUM> has a horizontally orientated antenna pair only the vertical pair of the antenna is needed on the television's side in order to determine the pointing direction. However, by using a vertical antenna pair in the television <NUM> and a horizontal antenna pair in the remote-control unit <NUM> the redundancy will be lost. As a result, the measurement accuracy may decrease if the remote-control unit's antenna axis is moved in such a way that the television's and remote-control unit's antenna axes are no longer orthogonal. Only one device with three antennas may be needed, because this device can measure the position of all the other devices in the room. This position can be used for calculating the incoming angles from the remote-control unit <NUM> to all the other devices. The decision on which device should react on the remote signal should be made by the remote-control unit <NUM> if the controlled devices, for example the television <NUM> and the radio <NUM>, do not communicate with each other. If each device takes a decision autonomously, unwanted behavior may be the result, because each device may take different and inconsistent actions. If all the devices communicate with each other, the decision can be made by a central controlling device which could be either one of the controlled devices <NUM>, <NUM> or the remote-control unit <NUM> itself. The transmission of the data can be carried out either by the UWB interface or another, out-of-band communication channel, which may be supported by the devices. Using an out-of-band communication channel may result in less communication on the UWB channel, which will result in a higher channel capacity on the UWB side. Using this system, a three-dimensional line-of-sight signal can be estimated by using a three-antenna system, which tracks the position of an emitter by combining angle-of-arrival and time-of-flight measurements, and the direction of the signal can be estimated by combining the determined position with the orientation data of the remote-control unit <NUM>. Furthermore, an advantage of an UWB-based system is that the remote-control unit <NUM> does not need a direct line of sight with the controlled devices <NUM>, <NUM>, because the RF signal can be still received through interposed objects.

The systems and methods described herein may at least partially be embodied by a computer program or a plurality of computer programs, which may exist in a variety of forms both active and inactive in a single computer system or across multiple computer systems. For example, they may exist as software program(s) comprised of program instructions in source code, object code, executable code or other formats for performing some of the steps. Any of the above may be embodied on a computer-readable medium, which may include storage devices and signals, in compressed or uncompressed form.

Claim 1:
A control system (<NUM>) for controlling electronic devices, the control system (<NUM>) comprising said electronic devices and the following components integrated into a remote-control unit:
an ultra-wideband communication unit (<NUM>) configured to receive ultra-wideband signals from the electronic devices; and
a processing unit (<NUM>) configured to select a specific electronic device among said electronic devices for further communication;
wherein the processing unit (<NUM>) is configured to select said specific electronic device using an angle of arrival of the ultra-wideband signals received from the electronic devices;
characterized in that the processing unit (<NUM>) is further configured to determine a first vertical angle, being a vertical angle of arrival of an ultra-wideband signal transmitted by the ultra-wideband communication unit (<NUM>) to the electronic devices, and wherein the electronic devices are configured to determine a second vertical angle, being a vertical angle of arrival of said ultra-wideband signal as received by the electronic devices;
wherein the processing unit (<NUM>) is further configured to select the specific electronic device if the first vertical angle has a predefined correlation with the second vertical angle.