Remote control signal transfer system

Abstract

A remote control signal transfer system for transferring a remote control signal sent by a remote control toward a controlled apparatus via a transmission medium, the system including: one or more remote control signal reception devices each installed at a separate place; and one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices each installed for a separate one of the one or more controlled apparatuses. Each remote control signal reception devices subjects a remote control signal obtained from a remote control receiving section to sampling, and transmits resultant data to the transmission medium. Each more remote control signal reconstruction devices composes the remote control signals received from any one or more of the remote control signal reception devices via the transmission medium into a single composed signal, and outputs the single composed signal to the corresponding controlled apparatus via a single remote control transmitting section.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a remote control signal transfer system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a functional structure of an apparatus that operates as a remote control signal reception device;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional structure of a device that operates as a remote control signal reconstruction device in the system as illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary operation in a sampling section of a remote control signal reception device;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary operation of a signal composing section of a remote control signal reconstruction device;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a functional structure of a device that operates as a remote control signal reception device in a remote control signal transfer system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a functional structure of a device that operates as a remote control signal reconstruction device in the remote control signal transfer system according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary operation of a command detection section detecting a command based on a sampling result obtained by a sampling section;

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary operation of a signal composing section of the remote control signal reconstruction device;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary operation of a remote control signal reconstruction section of the remote control signal reconstruction device, i.e., an operation of reconstructing a remote control signal from a composed signal;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a remote control signal transfer system according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a remote control signal transfer system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a process performed by a signal composing section of a remote control signal reconstruction device in a remote control signal transfer system according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining a process performed by a signal composing section of a remote control signal reconstruction device in a remote control signal transfer system according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A remote control signal transfer system for transferring a remote control signal sent by a remote control toward a controlled apparatus via a transmission medium, the system comprising: one or more remote control signal reception devices each installed at a separate place from which a user remotely controls one or more controlled apparatuses; andone or more remote control signal reconstruction devices each installed for a separate one of the one or more controlled apparatuses, whereineach of said one or more remote control signal reception devices subjects a remote control signal obtained from a remote control receiving section to sampling, and transmits resultant data to the transmission medium to be eventually delivered to one or more of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices, andeach of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices composes the remote control signals received from any one or more of said one or more remote control signal reception devices via the transmission medium into a single composed signal, and outputs the single composed signal to the corresponding controlled apparatus via a single remote control transmitting section.

2. The remote control signal transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the data transmitted by each of said one or more remote control signal reception devices to the transmission medium is a bit sequence, as it is, that is represented by the remote control signal received, andthe single composed signal transmitted as a remote control signal by each of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices is the bit sequence of the data received via the transmission medium.

3. The remote control signal transfer system according to claim 2, wherein each of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices generates the single composed signal by superimposing the bit sequences represented by the remote control signals received via the transmission medium one upon another.

4. The remote control signal transfer system according to claim 1, wherein each of said one or more remote control signal reception devices converts the remote control signal into command data before transmitting the data to the transmission medium, andeach of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices converts the received command data again into the remote control signal before transmitting the single composed signal toward the controlled apparatus.

5. The remote control signal transfer system according to claim 4, wherein each of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices generates the single composed signal by converting each of a plurality of pieces of said command data into the remote control signal upon receipt, and outputting the resultant remote control signals in sequential order.

6. The remote control signal transfer system according to claim 5, wherein each of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices discards some of the plurality of pieces of received command data as necessary.

7. The remote control signal transfer system according to claim 6, wherein each of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices assigns different priorities to the plurality of pieces of received command data, andthe some of the plurality of pieces of received command data discarded have lowest priorities.

8. The remote control signal transfer system according to claim 4, wherein each of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices converts each of a plurality of pieces of said received command data again into the remote control signal, and transmits the generated single composed signal by superimposing bit sequences represented by the remote control signals one upon another.

9. The remote control signal transfer system according to claim 8, wherein each of said one or more remote control signal reconstruction devices assigns different priorities to the plurality of pieces of received command data, andsuperimposition of the bit sequences is performed such that a bit sequence corresponding to command data with a lower priority is masked with a bit sequence corresponding to command data with a higher priority.

10. A remote control signal reception device that operates in the remote control signal transfer system according to claim 1, the device comprising: a remote control receiving section configured to convert flashing on and off of light of a remote control signal transmitted from a remote control into On/Off of an electrical signal;a sampling section configured to take samples of the On/Off of the electrical signal at a fixed frequency;a command detection section configured to detect a command pattern that corresponds to a command from data of the samples taken by said sampling section;a format conversion section configured to convert the detected command pattern into data in a format that allows the data to be transferred on a network; anda data transmission section configured to transmit the data toward all or some of apparatuses connected to the transmission medium.

11. A remote control signal reconstruction device that operates in the remote control signal transfer system according to claim 1, the device comprising: a data reception section configured to receive a remote control signal transmitted from one or more remote control signal reception devices via the transmission medium;a signal composing section configured to compose two or more pieces of data transmitted in the same time period from the one or more remote control signal reception devices into a single composed piece of data based on a priority determination result in which parts of the data with lower priorities are masked with parts of the data with higher priorities;a remote control signal reconstruction section configured to convert the single composed piece of data into On/Off of an electrical signal; anda remote control transmitting section configured to convert the On/Off of the electrical signal into flashing on and off of light for remote control.

12. A remote control signal reconstruction device that operates in the remote control signal transfer system according to claim 1, the device comprising: a data reception section configured to receive data transmitted from one or more remote control signal reception devices via the transmission medium, the data being a command obtained by conversion of a remote control signal by the one or more remote control signal reception devices;a signal composing section configured to arrange the commands transmitted from the one or more remote control signal reception devices in sequential order to compose the commands into a single command sequence;a command discarding section configured to discard, as necessary, a part of the single command sequence that is detained;a remote control signal reconstruction section configured to convert each of the commands within the single command sequence into On/Off of an electrical signal according to a corresponding signal pattern; anda remote control transmitting section configured to convert the On/Off of the electrical signal into flashing on and off of light for remote control.

13. The remote control signal reconstruction device according to claim 12, wherein, said signal composing section performs a priority determination with respect to the data transmitted from the one or more remote control signal reception devices, and arranges the commands in descending order of priority to generate the single command sequence, andsaid command discarding section discards a part of the single command sequence that is beyond a predetermined reconstructable length.