Patent ID: 8634720

Claim:
A remote control relay system for wirelessly, remote-controlled devices, the remote control relay system comprising a plurality of optical receivers, wherein a first optical receiver of the plurality of optical receivers receives a first optical signal from a remote control and derives encoded data from the first optical signal; a plurality of optical transmitters each positioned with an optical receiver of the plurality of optical receivers and each configured to generate optical signals; and a central controller coupled to the plurality of optical receivers and the plurality of optical transmitters through a non-optical communication network, wherein the controller is configured to receive encoded data from the first optical receiver, analyze the encoded data to identify a corresponding remote-controlled device, identify one optical transmitter from the plurality of optical transmitters that is positioned with an unobstructed line-of-sight to the corresponding remote-controlled device, route the encoded data to the one identified optical transmitter through the non-optical communication network; and generate a second optical signal only at the one identified optical transmitter, the second optical signal being substantially identical to the first optical signal.