Patent ID: 6907029

Claim:
A remote control device for use in a communication coverage area wherein a plurality of remote control devices and remote control receivers may be operating simultaneously, for remotely controlling a remote control receiver operating in said area, the device comprising: input elements for providing electrical control signals; a transmitter; a processing device arranged for receiving the control signals from the input elements and for providing a coded signal to the transmitter, said coded signal being coded with a repeating frame format, wherein each frame comprises a number of data packets each contained in subsequent time slots, and wherein each data packet comprise a time slot identifier identifying the time slot in which the data packet is contained; a receiver connected to the processing device, the processing device being arranged to obtain a time slot identifier from the data packets received by the receiver; and a timing device connected to the processing device, whereby the processing device is arranged to control the timing of the coded signal provided to the transmitter, the processing device being arranged for receiving time slot identifiers from other remote control devices in the area, and for updating a billboard register, indicating presence of activity within a recently passed period of time, of remote control devices associated with each time slot number.