Patent Application
20050228508
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a machine horse control system and, in particular, to a wireless machine horse control system.
2. Related Art
Wildlife photography is an important means for studying wildlife, providing researchers with records and observation from various perspectives. In order to avoid close encounter to frighten or interfere the life of wild animals, one usually take pictures from a far distance.
When human beings take pictures from a short distance or observe birds, it is impossible to have some extent of influence on their behaviors and habits. If we can adopt an appropriate method, such interference of picture taking can be reduced to minimum.
In view of the foregoing, a device called the machine horse is invented. In the prior art, one uses a PC104 controller loaded with an operating system (OS) to control the motion of the machine horse via a control system and a microprocessor chip. The machine horse can be installed with a video camera, a recorder or a photo camera to record the activities of a target without interfering it.
However, the PC104 controller stores all control-related software. This requires the user of a more expensive chip. Therefore, the cost of the whole system is higher.
A primary objective of the invention is to provide a machine horse control system. It solves the problems in the prior art by utilizing the diskless power on technique.
To achieve the above objective, the disclosed machine horse control system contains an OS unit, which completes the power on procedure via a network interface and receives a control command via another network interface; a central control unit, which is connected to the OS unit via a connection module for receiving the control command; and a controlled object, which is connected to the central controlling unit for executing an operation corresponding to the control command.
In accord with the objective, the invention further provides a machine horse system control method. The method includes the steps of: (a) providing an OS for an OS unit; (b) connecting the OS unit to a server via a network in order to perform a system power on procedure; (c) updating drivers in the OS to complete a power on procedure; (d) the OS unit's connecting to a control server via a wireless network interface to receive a control command from the control server; and (e) controlling the motion of the controlled object after the OS unit receives the control command.
The disclosed method further includes the steps of: (f) collecting data surrounding the controlled object; (g) transmitting the obtained data to the control server via the wireless network interface; (h) adjusting the control command according to the returned data; and (i) transmitting an adjusted control command to the OS unit.
The disclosed OS unit can perform a wireless power on procedure via a network. Therefore, there is no need to store a huge OS in the machine horse control system, thereby reducing the system cost.
In comparison with the prior art, the invention uses IP and wireless network control to obtain data. The power on kernel and relevant settings in PC104 are updated in a diskless power on fashion.
The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
With reference to
An embodiment of the controlled object 300 is a machine horse, a robot that looks like a horse. Other objects that receive the control commands from the central controlling unit 200 can also be the controlled objects.
The OS unit 100 has a main control module 110. The main control module 110 is connected with a network interface 120 and a connection module 130. The whole system can be connected to the Internet and a server 400 via a network interface 120. The OS unit 100 uses a PC 104 control board.
The control module 110 is a disk on module (DOM). The server 400 is a DRBL server, which is a diskless power on server. The kernel of the OS uses the Linux system. The machine horse control system is turned on via the connection with the diskless power on server.
The main control module 110 is selectively controlled with the connection module. For example, the connection module 140 is connected to the wireless network interface 500 and the camera 600. The connection module 140 and the connection module 150 can be connected to buses (e.g. IEEE1394) that link the system to other peripheral devices using a universal serial bus (USB) interface.
Through the connection with the wireless network interface 500, the system can be connected to a control server 800 in a wireless way via a bridge 700. Using the wireless networking method, the user can enter a command at the control server 800 and send it to the machine horse at a distance via the wireless network, thereby controlling the machine horse.
The central controlling unit 200 has a microprocessor 210, which connects to the control module 220 and the connection module 230. It also includes a power module 240 to provide the necessary power to the microprocessor 210, the control module 220, and the connection module 230.
The control module 220 is connected to the controlled object 300 for outputting a control command for the controlled object 300 to perform a corresponding operation.
The connection module 130 and the connection module 230 are connected using a connecting wire. The command signal output from the main control module 110 can therefore be sent to the microprocessor via the connection module 230. The connection module 130 and the connection module 230 can use an RS232 interface or other interfaces with the function of transmitting data.
With reference to
The OS unit is then connected to a server via a network to perform a system power on procedure (step S200). Such a connection can be either wired or wireless. The server is the above-mentioned DRBL server. Drivers (e.g. those for network cards, cameras, etc) in the OS are updated to complete the power on procedure (step S300).
Once the power on procedure is completed, the method starts system operations. The OS in the main control module 110 is connected to the control server 800 via the wireless network interface 500 and the bridge 700. The disclosed machine horse system then controls a distant system through a wireless network.
In this case, the user enters a control command at the control server. The control command is transmitted over the bridge 700, and the OS unit receives the control command from the control server 800 via the wireless network (step S400).
After the OS unit 100 receives the control command, it is passed to the central controlling unit 200. The microprocessor 210 sends the control command to the control module 220 to control the motion of the controlled object 300 (step S500).
Once the controlled object, the machine horse, receives the control command, it starts to collect data (e.g. using a video camera to record the target's activities) in the surrounding environment (step S600). After obtaining the data, the main control module 110 returns them to the control server via the wireless network interface (step S700). The user can thus observe the target's activities. And the user may adjust the control command according to the returned data (step S800). Finally, the control server transmits a new control command to the OS unit via the wireless network (step S900).
We further explain the details on how to prepare the main control module in the following paragraphs.
The OS in the main control module 110 is a Linux system. One can use the utility Emdebian to make a Linux subsystem and install related drivers (e.g. drivers for chips in the wireless network cards, drivers supporting real-time image transfer, or remote login programs for command management) therein. In order to include the control program, one has to install the utility uclibc for controlling the program.
Once the subsystem is completed, the DOM is updated via the network and the server 400. The server 400 is a DRBL host.
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The machine horse control system disclosed herein uses a diskless power on means. The OS unit 100 supports a PXE network power on procedure. After it is turned on, a root directory along with all settings files are mounted from the server 400.
Certain variations would be apparent to those skilled in the art, which variations are considered within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention.
