Remote Control Devices and Methods

• US 20100171636A1
• Filed: 10/20/2009
• Published: 07/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hong Kong Applied Science And Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hong Kong Applied Science And Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Lam, Tak Wing, Lee, Ka Yuk, Shan, Qing, Liou, Yeaun Jan
• Granted Patent: US 8,441,388 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825.690
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/32 Remote control based on movements, attitude of remote control device
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared

Abstract

A remote control device comprising a motion detector consisting of a single accelerometer, means for receiving data from the motion detector and mapping the received motion detector data to at least one user instruction, and means for transmitting a signal indicative of the at least one user instruction.

Claims

1. A remote control device comprising:

a motion detector consisting of a single accelerometer;

means for receiving data from the motion detector and mapping the received motion detector data to at least one user instruction; and

means for transmitting a signal indicative of the at least one user instruction.

2. The remote control device of claim 1 in which the accelerometer includes an item selected from the list consisting of:

a two-dimensional (2-D) accelerometer and a three-dimensional (3-D) accelerometer.

3. The remote control device of claim 1 in which the at least one user instruction comprises one or more of a tilt-based pointing, a tilt-based command, a movement-based command, and a shake-based command.

4. The remote control device of claim 3 in which algorithms implementing the tilt-based pointing, the tilt-based command, the movement-based command, and the shake-based command are nm concurrently.

5. The remote control device of claim 3 further comprising:

means for assigning magnitudes to each of the algorithms to cause the tilt-based command to be triggered before the movement-based command and to cause the movement-based command to be triggered before the shake command.

6. The remote control device of claim 1 in which the means for transmitting a signal comprise:

means for transmitting an infrared signal in the NEC protocol.

7. The remote control device of claim 1 in which transmitting means comprise low-bandwidth transmitting means.

8. The remote control device of claim 1 in which the data received from the accelerometer comprises raw data.

9. The remote control device of claim 8 in which the means for receiving data comprise:

a zero-delay average filter smoothing the raw data.

10. The remote control device of claim 8 in which the means for receiving data comprise:

a zero-well filter reducing noisy fluctuation in the raw data.

11. The remote control device of claim 8 in which the means for receiving data comprise:

a low clipping filter reducing abrupt change in the raw data.

12. The remote control device of claim 8 in which the means for receiving data comprise:

a high clipping filter identifying at least one dominant change in the raw data.

13. The remote control device of claim 1 in which the receiving and mapping means receive raw data from the accelerometer, detect a tilt of the accelerometer and map the tilt to a two-dimensional screen.

14. The remote control device of claim 13 further comprising:

a user interface device in communication with the receiving and mapping means, the user interface device indicating a tilt-based pointing command.

15. The remote control device of claim 13 in which the receiving and mapping means performs at least one of the following functions:

mapping fewer than three dimensions of the tilt;

mapping three dimensions of the tilt;

implementing the mapping as a table look-up; and

including a scaling factor during the mapping, the scaling factor associated with a resolution of a host device.

16. The remote control device of claim 13 in which the receiving and mapping means detect the tilt by discerning that the tilt exceeds at least one threshold.

17. The remote control device of claim 1 in which the receiving and mapping means detect translational movement of the accelerometer and map the translational movement to the at least one user instruction.

18. The remote control device of claim 17 in which detecting the translational movement comprises detecting increasing acceleration in a direction followed by decreasing acceleration in the direction.

19. The remote control device of claim 17 in which the receiving and mapping means wait for a time period after detecting the translational before advancing a subsequent movement detection algorithm.

20. The remote control device of claim 1, in which the receiving and mapping means detect a shaking of the accelerometer and map the shaking to the at least one user instruction.

21. The remote control device of claim 20, in which the receiving and mapping means detect a shaking by discerning that a rate of change of acceleration exceeds at least one threshold.

22. A method performed by a remote control device with a motion sensing unit, the motion sensing unit consisting of a single accelerometer, the method comprising:

receiving raw data from the single accelerometer;

filtering the raw data by a filtering unit to produce processed accelerometer data;

using at least one algorithm to associate the processed accelerometer data with an instruction for operation of an entertainment unit; and

transmitting the instruction to the entertainment unit.

23. The method of claim 22, in which filtering the raw data comprises:

averaging the raw data using an averaging filter that provides an output after receiving a single sample of the raw data.

24. The method of claim 22, in which filtering the raw data comprises:

using a zero-well filter that comprises a high threshold and a low threshold to zero-out samples of the raw data that are between the high and low thresholds and to decrease a magnitude of other samples of the raw data that are outside of the high and low thresholds.

25. The method of claim 22, in which filtering the raw data comprises:

passing the raw data through a high-clip filter and a low-clip filter.

26. The method of claim 22, in which using at least one algorithm to associate the processed accelerometer data with the instruction comprises:

measuring rate of change of acceleration to trigger a movement-based command.

27. The method of claim 22, in which using at least one algorithm to associate the processed accelerometer data with the instruction comprises:

measuring rate of change of acceleration to trigger a shaking-based command.

28. A remote control device comprising:

a motion detector consisting of a single accelerometer;

means for receiving data from the motion detector and processing the data using one or more filters to produce filtered data; and

means for transmitting a signal that includes the filtered data.

29. The remote control device of claim 28 in which transmitting means comprise high-bandwidth transmitting means.

30. A method performed by a remote control device with a motion sensing unit, the motion sensing unit consisting of a single accelerometer, the method comprising:

receiving raw data from the single accelerometer;

filtering the raw data by a filtering unit to produce processed accelerometer data; and

transmitting the processed accelerometer data to the entertainment unit.