Remote-control signal receiver

• US 20020151362A1
• Filed: 11/09/2001
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Hoshino, Masanori, Hamada, Koji
• Granted Patent: US 6,761,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0231 Cordless keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence

Abstract

The photo-receiving unit stores the commands sent from the remote controller into a buffer memory, the main unit of the entertainment device incorporates the stored commands at regular intervals such as once in every vertical synchronization period, and the individual portions of the main unit or the peripheral devices connected to the main device are controlled based on the incorporated command, whereby the user can operate the main unit or peripheral devices with a sense of using a remote controller.

Claims

1. A remote-control signal receiver for an entertainment device having at least a video game execution function, comprising:

a connection means for assisting connection to a main unit of the entertainment device;

a reception means for receiving a remote-control signal sent from a remote-control means; and

a signal processing means for supplying the remote-control signal received by the reception means to the main unit of the entertainment device.

2. The remote-control signal receiver according to claim 1, wherein the connection means is connected to the main unit of the entertainment device through a controller connection terminal provided on the main unit.

3. The remote-control signal receiver according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the reception means receives infrared signal sent from the remote-control means as the remote-control signal.

4. The remote-control signal receiver according to claim 1, wherein

the remote-control means sends a plurality of identical operational commands as the remote-control signal each time the remote-control means is operated;

and

the signal processing means comprises;

a first agreement detection means for detecting an agreement of at least two commands from the plurality of identical operational commands sent for each operation of the remote-control means;

a retention means for retaining commands as reception successful commands if agreement of at least two of which was detected by the first agreement detection means, or as reception failed commands if agreement of at least two of which was not detected by the first agreement detection means;

a second agreement detection means for serially detecting agreement of at least two reception successful commands from the reception successful commands and reception failed commands retained by the retention means; and

an output means for continuously outputting, when agreement of at least two reception successful commands was detected by the second agreement detection means, the identical operational command corresponds to the agreement-detected reception successful commands over a predetermined time period.

5. The remote-control signal receiver according to claim 1, further comprising:

a storage means for storing a plurality of format information of the remote-control signal;

an analytical means for analyzing, based on a plurality of format information stored in the storage means, a format of the remote-control signal received by the reception means; and

a format conversion means for converting, based on the analytical result obtained by the analytical means, the format of the remote-control signal received by the reception means into a format supportable by the main unit of the entertainment device.

6. The remote-control signal receiver according to claim 5 further comprising a compression means for culling the remote-control signal received by the reception means to thereby compress the information volume of such remote-control signal.

7. A method for remote-control signal comprising the steps of:

receiving a remote-control signal from a remote-control means which continuously sends a plurality of identical operational commands as such remote-control signal each time an operational button provided thereon is operated;

detecting an agreement of at least two commands from a plurality of commands of the remote-control signal;

retaining commands, for which the agreement among at least the two was detected, as reception successful commands, and commands, for which the agreement among at least the two was not detected, as reception failed commands;

serially detecting an agreement of at least two reception successful commands from the reception successful commands and reception failed commands being retained; and

continuously outputting, when the agreement of at least two reception successful commands was detected, the identical operational command correspond to the agreement-detected reception successful commands over a predetermined time period.

8. The method according to claim 7 further comprising the steps of:

analyzing a format of the received remote-control signal based on a plurality of format information stored in a storage means; and

converting the format of the received remote-control signal into a format supportable by a device to which such remote-control signal is supplied, and supplying thereto such remote-control signal.

9. The method according to claim 8 further comprising a step of culling the received remote-control signal to thereby compress the information volume of the received commands.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having recorded therein an information processing program for remote-control signal to be executed on a computer, wherein the information processing program comprises the steps of:

receiving remote-control signal from a remote-control means which continuously sends a plurality of identical operational commands as the remote-control signal each time an operational button is operated;

detecting agreement of at least two commands from a plurality of commands of the remote-control signal;

retaining commands, for which the agreement among at least the two was detected, as reception successful commands, and commands, for which the agreement among at least the two was not detected, as reception failed commands;

serially detecting agreement of at least two reception successful commands from the reception successful commands and reception failed commands being retained; and

continuously outputting, when agreement of at least two reception successful commands was detected, the identical operational command correspond to the agreement-detected reception successful commands over a predetermined time period.

11. An information processing program for remote-control signal receiver comprising the steps of:

receiving remote-control signal from a remote-control means which continuously sends a plurality of identical operational commands as remote-control signal each time an operational button provided thereon is operated;

detecting an agreement of at least two commands from a plurality of commands of the remote-control signal;

retaining commands, for which the agreement among at least the two was detected, as reception successful commands, and commands, for which the agreement among at least the two was not detected, as reception failed commands;

serially detecting an agreement of at least two reception successful commands from the reception successful commands and reception failed commands being retained; and

continuously outputting, when the agreement of at least two reception successful commands was detected, the identical operational command correspond to the agreement-detected reception successful commands over a predetermined time period.

12. A remote-control device comprising:

a game operational portion having provided therein buttons for playing video games;

a multi-media operational portion having provided therein buttons for effecting at least reproduction of multi-media information stored in a storage medium; and

a send portion for sending a remote-control signal corresponded to the button operation using the game operational portion or multi-media operational portion.