Wireless control system and method in an illumination network

• US 8,314,786 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Issued: 11/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Qian, Xuecheng, Feng, Lei
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERMAN, STEPHEN G
• Application Number:
  US12/808,415
• Publication Number:
  US 20100309176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,428 Days
• Field of Search: 345/204, 345 11- 34
• US Class Current: 345/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 4/00 Combined time-division and frequency-division multiplex systems H04J13/00 takes precedence ; data transmission H04L5/26; telemetry G08C15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission

Abstract

The present invention proposes a wireless control system and method which may be mainly used in illumination networks. The wireless control system and method of the invention distributes data signals to be transmitted at a control terminal in different time slots of different frequencies for transmission, while each node in the system will only receive its corresponding data signal in a predetermined time slot of a predetermined frequency. Thus a high operating rate can be obtained at the control terminal while maintaining the operating rate of the node unchanged. This helps to greatly reduce the cost of the wireless transceiver of each node, thereby correspondingly reducing the cost of the whole system and realizing a high expansibility.

Claims

1. A wireless control system, comprising:

a console, comprising a plurality of central wireless devices respectively operating at different frequencies to transmit data signals of different contents; and

a display device further comprising a plurality of nodes each comprising a terminal wireless device for receiving, at a corresponding frequency, the data signal from a central wireless device corresponding to said frequency, and all the terminal wireless devices corresponding to said frequency respectively operating in different time slots of said frequency,

wherein;

each of the nodes further includes at least one lamp and each node performs a display according to the data signal received by the terminal wireless device thereof;

the data signals of different contents are capable of forming frame data signals of a video or a static image to control a matrix or screen formed by the lamps of the nodes to display the corresponding video or static image;

the console divides the frame data signals into data signals of different contents according to different positions of the lamps of the nodes, and that each divided data signal is transmitted by a predetermined central wireless device in a predetermined time slot of the operating frequency thereof, so that each divided data signal will be received by only one corresponding node; and

the console is configured to vary a data transmission rate of said data signal according to said operating frequency.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal wireless device and the central wireless device are both wireless transceivers.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein amount of the terminal wireless devices is greater than that of the central wireless devices.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the amount of the terminal wireless devices equals to a sum of amounts of time slots at all operating frequencies.

5. The system according to claim 2, wherein the central wireless device is also used to receive feedback signals from the nodes.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the terminal wireless device of the node transmits the feedback signals in a time slot of an idle frame of the system.

7. A wireless control method, which comprises steps of:

(a) dividing a data signal to be transmitted into a plurality of different sub-signals;

(b) grouping said plurality of sub-signals into a plurality of groups wherein each group is to be transmitted at a different frequency from every other group; and

(c) transmitting each sub-signal from a group of sub-signals from said plurality of groups to a different receiving terminal in a different time slot, wherein;

each receiving terminal includes at least one lamp, and each receiving terminal controls the at least one lamp according to the received sub-signal;

the data signal is a frame data signal of a video or a static image to control a matrix or screen formed by the lamps of the receiving terminals to display a corresponding video or static image;

the step (a) includes a sub-step of dividing the frame data signal into a plurality of different sub-signals according to different positions of the lamps of the receiving terminals; and

transmitting the data signal at a data rate according to said frequency of each said group.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein each of the receiving terminals operates in a predetermined time slot of a predetermined frequency, so that each of the receiving terminals receives only one corresponding sub-signal.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising a step of d, receiving feedback signals from different receiving terminals.