Universal Appliance Controller Signal Translation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing remote control systems for appliances require specific designs for each appliance type, leading to increased costs and the risk of misplacement, as they are often small and easily lost, limiting their availability when needed.
Innovation Solution
An appliance can wirelessly receive control instructions from a transmitter intended for a different appliance class, converting these instructions into usable commands without a learning mode, allowing any remote control to be used with various appliances, thus eliminating the need for specific remote controls and reducing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a specific remote control is provided for each appliance, then the control function is reliable and dedicated, but the cost increases and packaging requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The appliance controller is designed to receive and process control signals from multiple different remote controls and transmitter types. The system includes a signal reception module that can decode various signal formats and a translation module that converts different control protocols into appliance-specific commands, enabling one controller to work with multiple remote controls without requiring separate dedicated controls for each appliance.
2Reliability
If a specific remote control is provided for each appliance, then the control is dedicated and reliable, but the cost of the appliance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller is designed with universal signal reception capabilities that can handle multiple remote control types and protocols. This eliminates the need to manufacture separate dedicated remote controls for each appliance, reducing component costs and assembly complexity while maintaining reliable control functionality through sophisticated signal translation and processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically identifies and adapts to different remote control signal types without requiring manual programming or learning modes. The controller self-configures by detecting the signal format and automatically translates it into the appropriate appliance commands, eliminating the need for users to perform setup procedures and reducing manufacturing complexity.
3Ease of operation
If a hand-held transmitter is made small for portability, then it is convenient to carry, but it becomes easily misplaced and unavailable when needed
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the functionality of multiple remote controls into a single universal controller that can receive signals from various transmitter types. This consolidation reduces the number of separate small transmitters the user must carry and manage, while the universal controller maintains the portability advantage by being a single compact device that replaces multiple dedicated controls.
4Adaptability or versatility
If a universal remote control system is implemented, then any remote control can be used with the appliance, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary signal translation layer between the diverse remote control transmitters and the appliance controller. The translation module acts as a mediator that receives various control signal formats, decodes them according to their specific protocols, and converts them into a unified internal command format that the appliance can execute, thereby achieving universality without exposing the complexity to the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller dynamically changes its signal reception parameters to adapt to different remote control protocols. By detecting the signal characteristics and adjusting its decoding parameters accordingly, the system can handle multiple signal formats without requiring separate dedicated receivers for each protocol type, managing complexity through dynamic parameter adjustment rather than static multiple receivers.
Data Source
AI summary
An appliance wirelessly receives any of a plurality of different signals that comprise control instructions from a transmitter for a second appliance other than the appliance and of a different class of appliance. The appliance then provides, in the absence of learning, any of a plurality of different control instructions to be used by the appliance as a function of that received signal. By one approach those wirelessly-received control instructions relate to controllable functions for the second appliance. Pursuant to these teachings, the receiving appliance effectively converts a received control instruction that relates to one kind of functionality for a given kind of appliance into a control instruction that relates to a different kind of functionality and that is usable by a different kind of appliance.