Apparatuses interconnected for the communication of control messages

• US 5,659,373 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 08/19/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: D2B Systems Co. Ltd. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: D2B Systems Co. Ltd. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Hoekstra, Jelle
• Primary Examiner(s): Peng, John K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Murrell, Jeffrey S.
• Application Number:
  US08/488,321
• Time in Patent Office: 804 Days
• Field of Search: 348/474, 348/734, 348/706, 348/552, 348/725, 348/732, 455/6.3, 455/4.1
• US Class Current: 348/734
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/202 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/205 with control bus for exchanging commands between units

Abstract

Apparatuses (1,2,3) of an audio/video system convey user commands to one another via a serial control bus (4). The user commands convey key activations on a remote handset (18a), whose keys include both "normal" keys such as "mute/unmute", and "repeat" keys such as "volume up" and "volume down". To convey a repeat key activation, a first control means (12) within one apparatus addresses a key activation message to a second control means (32) within another apparatus. The second control means (32) synthesises locally a repetitive series of user commands, until a key release message is received. The need for repetitive user command messages to be sent via the control bus is thereby eliminated, and the frequency of repetition can be defined locally to give consistent response to user commands. The second control means (32) can also implement a de-bouncing function, disregarding duplicate user command messages sent by a third apparatus (2) which also responds to the handset (18a).

Claims

1. A first apparatus for use in a system for communicating control messages between said first apparatus and a second apparatus by means of a serial channel, said first apparatus comprising:

user input means defining a plurality of keys including normal keys for which each activation implies a single user command and repeat keys for which a prolonged activation implies a repetitive series of user commands for the duration of the activation; and

first control means responsive to the user commands for identifying a user command to be processed in said second apparatus, said first control means including means for generating a control message to convey said user command to said second apparatus;

wherein to convey the prolonged activation of a repeat key the first control means generates a first ("activation") control message conveying the user activation of the repeat key, followed by a second ("release") message in response to the user'"'"'s eventual release of the repeat key, the second apparatus being responsive to the activation message for a repeat key to synthesize within the second apparatus the repetition of user commands in controlling the second apparatus until receipt of the release message.

2. An apparatus having an interface for the communication of control messages to a further apparatus by means of a serial data channel, the apparatus comprising:

user input means defining a plurality of keys for activation by a user, the defined keys including "normal" keys for which a single user command is inferred from each activation of any duration, and "repeat" keys for which a repetitive series of user commands is inferred from a prolonged user activation of the key until user release of the key; and

control means, responsive to the inferred user commands, including means for identifying a user command which requires to be processed within the further apparatus connected to the serial data channel and means for, in a first mode, generating a control message conveying the inferred user command to the further apparatus via the serial data channel, wherein, to convey the prolonged activation of a repeat key, a first ("activation") message is generated in response to the activation of the key, followed by a second ("release") message in response to the user'"'"'s eventual release of the key, and wherein the control means operates to generate a message conveying a new activation of a key when the activation message, but not yet the release message has been generated for one of the repeat keys whereby the new activation message in a second mode forms an implicit release message.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further including a generic message being defined for a group of repeat keys and there being a maximum of one repeat key activation for said group at any predetermined time.

4. An apparatus having an interface for communicating with another apparatus via a serial data channel, said apparatus comprising at least one functional element and control means for receiving control messages from said another apparatus whereby a subset of said messages conveying user activation of a key defined by said another apparatus, the control means operating to process messages of said subset to a control operation of the functional element in accordance with a user'"'"'s wishes inferred therefrom;

the subset of control messages conveying key activations are subdivided into "normal" and "repeat" key activation messages and in that from the normal key activation message the control means infers a single function control operation, while from the repeat key activation message the control means infers a repetitive series of function control operation until a release key message is received via the data channel, and from a generic release key message the control means infers the release of any repeat key for which an activation message has been received from the same source.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the control means infers from a new key activation message received from any source the release of any repeat key for which an activation message, other than a release message, has been received.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the control means includes means for determining when a message conveying a user command from one apparatus originates from the same user key activation as a message received earlier from another apparatus, and if so disregarding the later received message.