AV APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20100045878A1
• Filed: 04/28/2009
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Sato, Shojiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,952,649 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/734
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/50 Receiving or transmitting feedback, e.g. replies, status updates, acknowledgements, from the controlled devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42221 Transmission circuitry, e.g. infrared [IR] or radio frequency [RF]

Abstract

According to one embodiment, an AV apparatus is set in an infrared/radio receiving mode, where operation information received by an infrared ray receiving module for receiving operation information transmitted using infrared rays and operation information received by a radio wave receiving module for receiving operation information transmitted using radio waves are accepted, and when operation information is received by the one reception module within a previously set predetermined time from the reception of the operation information by the other receiving module, only the operation information received by the infrared ray receiving module is accepted.

Claims

1. An audio-visual (AV) apparatus comprising:

an infrared ray receiver configured to receive a command using infrared rays;

a radio wave receiver configured to receive the command using radio waves;

a controller configured to accept the command received by at least one of the infrared ray receiver and the radio wave receiver and to control a plurality of modules to a state of corresponding to the command; and

a reception controller configured to control the controller to accept the command received by the infrared ray receiver when the command is received by one of the infrared ray receiver and the radio wave receiver within a previously set predetermined time from the reception of the command by the other of the infrared ray receiver and the radio wave receiver while the AV apparatus is set in an infrared and radio combination mode in which the command received by the infrared ray receiver and the command received by the radio wave receiver are both accepted.

2. The AV apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a notification module configured to notify by controlling the reception controller that the command received by the infrared ray receiver is accepted and that the command received by the radio wave receiver is not accepted.

3. The AV apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit a response signal via radio waves, the response signal notifying by controlling the reception controller that the command received by the infrared ray receiver is accepted, and the command received by the radio wave receiver is not accepted.

4. The AV apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reception controller is configured to control the controller in such a manner that the command received by the infrared ray receiver is accepted when the command is received by one of the infrared ray receiver and the radio wave receiver within a previously set predetermined time from the reception of the command by the other of the infrared ray receiver and the radio wave receiver and further when the contents of the commands received by the infrared ray receiver and the radio wave receiver are different.

5. The AV apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a remote controller comprising an infrared ray transmitter configured to transmit the command by using infrared rays and a radio wave transmitter configured to transmit the command by using radio waves, the remote controller being configured to an infrared and radio combination mode where the command is transmitted by the infrared ray transmitter and the radio wave transmitter,

wherein the reception controller is configured to set the previously set predetermined time in such a manner that the previously set predetermined time corresponds to a time difference between a first time of receiving the command by the infrared ray receiver and a second time of receiving the command by the radio wave receiver when the remote controller in the combination mode simultaneously transmits the command from both the infrared ray transmitter and the radio wave transmitter.

6. The AV apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a first switch module configured to cancel a radio wave mode in which the AV apparatus is configured to accept a command only received by the radio wave receiver, based on a predetermined command received by the infrared ray receiver when the AV apparatus is in the radio wave mode.

7. The AV apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first switch module is configured to display a guidance of switching off the radio wave mode with the predetermined command of infrared rays when a command is received by the infrared ray receiver when the AV apparatus is in the radio wave mode.

8. The AV apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a second switch module configured to cancel an infrared ray mode in which the AV apparatus is configured to accept a command only received by the infrared ray receiver, based on a predetermined command received by the radio wave receiver when the AV apparatus is in the infrared ray mode.

9. The AV apparatus of claim 8, wherein the second switch module is configured to display a guidance of switching off the infrared ray mode with the predetermined command of radio waves when a command is received by the radio wave receiver when the AV apparatus is in the infrared ray mode.

10. A method for controlling an audio-visual (AV) apparatus, comprising:

receiving a command via infrared rays and a command via radio waves; and

controlling the AV apparatus corresponding to the command via at least one of infrared rays and radio waves,

wherein the AV apparatus is configured to accept the command via infrared rays when a command from one of the infrared rays and the radio waves is received within a previously set predetermined time from the reception of the command from the other of the infrared rays and the radio waves, when the AV apparatus is in an infrared and radio combination mode in which the commands via the infrared rays and the radio waves are both accepted.