Remote control system for improving target specificity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11875672-B2
Application number	US-202318303625-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2023
Priority date	May 27, 2021
Publication date	Jan 16, 2024
Grant date	Jan 16, 2024

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for a remote control system that improves one or more of directionality, target specificity, signal specificity, and bandwidth. An example embodiment is a remote control system that includes a radiation source configured to generate an infrared radiation projection based on one or more remote control codes to control a device. The remote control system further includes an optical controller configured to adjust one or more parameters associated with the infrared radiation projection before the infrared radiation projection is emitted to the device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A remote control system, comprising:
a processing module configured to receive a signal from a user interface and generate, based on the received signal, one or more remote control codes for controlling a device;
a first radiation source configured to generate an electric and magnetic field (EMF) projection based on one or more remote control codes for controlling a device;
a second radiation source configured to generate a visible radiation projection; and
a controller configured to adjust one or more parameters associated with the EMF projection before the EMF projection is emitted to the device and to adjust one or more parameters associated with the visible radiation projection,
wherein the second radiation source is used for calibrating the controller, and
wherein the controller comprises at least one of:
a collimator configured to adjust convergence or divergence of the EMF projection,
a polarizer configured to adjust a polarization of the EMF projection,
an attenuator configured to adjust an energy of the EMF projection, or
a translator configured to change a frequency or a frequency range associated with the EMF projection.

2. A remote control system, comprising:
a first radiation source configured to generate an infrared radiation projection based on one or more remote control codes to control a device;
a second radiation source configured to generate a visible radiation projection; and
an optical controller configured to adjust one or more parameters associated with the infrared radiation projection before the infrared radiation projection is emitted to the device and to adjust one or more parameters associated with the visible radiation projection before the visible radiation projection is emitted to the device.

3. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the second radiation source is used during a calibration mode of the remote control system for calibrating the optical controller.

4. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the second radiation source comprises an add-on component that is separate from the remote control system and is added to the remote control system.

5. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the optical controller comprises a fixed collimator or an adjustable collimator configured to adjust convergence or divergence of the infrared radiation projection before the infrared radiation projection is emitted to the device.

6. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the optical controller comprises a fixed polarizer or an adjustable polarizer configured to adjust a polarization of the infrared radiation projection before the infrared radiation projection is emitted to the device.

7. The remote control system of claim 6 , wherein the adjustable polarizer comprises a rotating polarizer including a plurality of polarizing elements.

8. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the optical controller comprises an attenuator configured to adjust an energy of the infrared radiation projection before the infrared radiation projection is emitted to the device.

9. The remote control system of claim 8 , wherein the attenuator is configured to adjust a signal power level associated with the infrared radiation projection.

10. The remote control system of claim 8 , wherein the attenuator comprises a neutral density filter.

11. The remote control system of claim 10 , wherein the neutral density filter comprises graduation oriented in a polar manner to allow for selective attenuation by rotation through gradually increased filtering.

12. The remote control system of claim 10 , wherein the neutral density filter comprises a graduated neutral density filter with a linear graduation to allow for selection using a shifting or sliding mechanism.

13. The remote control system of claim 2 , further comprising an electronic attenuator configured to adjust one or more parameters associated with a signal used to generate the infrared radiation projection.

14. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the optical controller comprises at least two of a collimator, a polarizer, and an attenuator.

15. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the radiation source comprises one or more electric and magnetic field (EMF) sources configured to generate an EMF projection comprising the infrared radiation projection.

16. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the optical controller is configured to adjust the one or more parameters associated with the infrared radiation projection such that direction specificity of the remote control system to control the device is increased.

17. The remote control system of claim 2 , wherein the radiation source is part of a remote control device and the optical controller is an add-on device coupled to the remote control device.

18. The remote control system of claim 2 , further comprising:
a processing module configured to receive a signal from a user interface and generate, based on the received signal, the one or more remote control codes for controlling the device.

19. The remote control system of claim 2 , further comprising an electric and magnetic field (EMF)-to-EMF translator configured to receive the infrared radiation projection and generate an EMF signal based on the infrared radiation projection.

20. A system, comprising:
a remote control system, comprising:
a first radiation source configured to generate an infrared radiation projection to control a device;
a second radiation source configured to generate a visible radiation projection; and
an optical controller configured to adjust one or more parameters associated with the infrared radiation projection before the infrared radiation projection is emitted to the device and to adjust one or more parameters associated with the visible radiation projection before the visible radiation projection is emitted to the device,
wherein the one or more parameters associated with the infrared radiation projection comprise one or more of convergence or divergence of the infrared radiation projection, a polarization of the infrared radiation projection, or an energy of the infrared radiation; and

a receiver device located at the device to be controlled, the receiver device configured to receive the infrared radiation projection to generate a control signal for controlling the device.

Assignees

• Roku Inc

Inventors

• Riepling Eric Casten

Classifications

• G08C2201/93

  Remote control using other portable devices, e.g. mobile phone, PDA, laptop · CPC title

• G08C2201/71

  Directional beams · CPC title

• G08C2201/31

  Voice input · CPC title

• G08C23/00

  Non-electrical signal transmission systems, e.g. optical systems · CPC title

• G08C17/02

  using a radio link · CPC title