Patent Application
20160119741
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to remote control, and more particularly to a remote control system which has a converter capable of converting WiFi signals into Bluetooth signals.
2. Description of Related Art
Bluetooth technology is commonly applied in electric appliances nowadays, whereby a user is able to control an electric appliance with an electronic device which has Bluetooth communication capability. More specifically, the conventional way to control wirelessly via Bluetooth communication technology includes providing a Bluetooth controller in an electric appliance, and sending Bluetooth signals which contain control commands to the Bluetooth controller with an electronic device (e.g., a smartphone). In this way, the electric appliance can be controlled accordingly. Obviously, it is convenient to control such electric appliances.
However, the coverage of Bluetooth communication is quite small; for example, an electric appliance located farther than 10 meters would not be able to be controlled via Bluetooth. What's more, Bluetooth signals would be greatly attenuated if an electric appliance and its corresponding electronic device are separated by a wall, and in such cases, the performance of controlling would be severely affected. Therefore, the usage of Bluetooth communication technology is still limited in the foregoing field.
In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a remote control system, which is able to convert WiFi signals of wider coverage into Bluetooth signals to control electric appliances with a Bluetooth controller.
The present invention provides a remote control system, which includes a control signal source, a signal converter, and a first electric appliance. The control signal source generates and sends out WiFi signals. The signal converter includes a WiFi transceiver, a converting module electrically connected to the WiFi transceiver, and a Bluetooth transceiver electrically connected to the converting module, wherein the WiFi transceiver receives the WiFi signals from the control signal source, and the converting module converts the WiFi signals into corresponding Bluetooth signals to be sent out by the Bluetooth transceiver. The first electric appliance includes a Bluetooth transceiving circuit and a first control circuit electrically connected to the Bluetooth transceiving circuit, wherein the Bluetooth transceiving circuit receives the Bluetooth signals from the Bluetooth transceiver, and the first control circuit controls the first electric appliance to perform functions according to the received Bluetooth signals.
The present invention also provides a signal converter, which includes a WiFi signal transceiver, a converting module, and a Bluetooth transceiver. The WiFi signal transceiver receives WiFi signals. The converting module is electrically connected to the WiFi transceiver, wherein the converting module converts the WiFi signals into corresponding Bluetooth signals to be sent out. The Bluetooth transceiver is electrically connected to the converting module, wherein the Bluetooth transceiver transmits the Bluetooth signals to a first electric appliance.
With the remote control system and the signal converter, WiFi signals can be converted into Bluetooth signals first and then transmitted to a corresponding electric appliance which is located at a farther distance.
The present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which
As shown in
In the first preferred embodiment, the control signal source is a smartphone 10, which is installed with an application for users to input control commands (e.g., turning on/off) to control the electric appliances, wherein the application encapsulates the inputted control commands into WiFi signals to be sent out. In practice, the control signal source can be, of course, a computer or other devices which are capable of sending out WiFi signals.
The first electric appliance is a stereo set 30, the second electric appliance is an air conditioner 40, and the third electric appliance is a TV 50, wherein the stereo set 30 can be controlled via Bluetooth, while the air conditioner 40 and the TV 50 can be respectively controlled via RF (radio frequency) and IR (infrared) signals.
As shown in
The WiFi transceiver 22 receives WiFi signals sent from the smartphone 10. The converting module 24 is electrically connected to the WiFi transceiver 22, while the memory 25 is electrically connected to the converting module 24, wherein the memory 25 is stored with a plurality of ID codes which respectively corresponds to each electric appliance. In addition, the memory 25 is also stored with a plurality of classification codes of signals, including Bluetooth, RF, IR, etc., which are receivable by each electric appliance.
The WiFi transceiver 22 transmits the received WiFi signals to the converting module 24, wherein the converting module 24 reads data in the memory 25 as a reference, and the WiFi signals are then accordingly converted into Bluetooth signals, RF signals, or IR signals to be sent out.
The Bluetooth transceiver 26, the RF transceiver 27, and the IR transmitter 28 are electrically connected to the converting module 24, respectively, and they respectively transmit the Bluetooth signals, the RF signals, and the IR signals provided by the converting module 24 to the corresponding electric appliance.
As shown in
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To correspondingly convert the received WiFi signals which contain the control commands into the Bluetooth signals, the RF signals, or the IR signals with the signal converter 20, the remote control system 100 is set up to control each of the electric appliances in the following way.
First, the Bluetooth transceiving circuit 322 of the stereo set 30 transmits the Bluetooth signals which contain all kinds of control information, such as turning on/off, and the corresponding ID code of the stereo set 30 to the Bluetooth transceiver 26 of the signal converter 20. After receiving and recording the Bluetooth signals, the Bluetooth transceiver 26 stores the ID codes contained in the Bluetooth signals into the memory 25 through the converting module 24.
After that, the converting module 24 stores the classification code of the received signals (i.e., Bluetooth signals) into the memory 25, and establishes a connection between the classification code and the ID code contained in the received Bluetooth signals. Finally, the converting module 24 encapsulates the ID code and the control information into WiFi signals, which are then transmitted to the smartphone 10 through the WiFi transceiver 22.
And then, all kinds of the control information of the stereo set 30, such as turning on/off, are shown on a display of the smartphone 10 for a user to select therefrom. Once selected, the smartphone 10 encapsulates the corresponding control command and the ID code of the stereo set 30 into WiFi signals to be sent out. Furthermore, after the WiFi transceiver 22 receives the WiFi signals and then transfers to the converting module 24, the converting module 24 extracts the classification code corresponding to the stereo set 30 in accordance to the ID code of the stereo set 30 contained in the WiFi signals, and then converts the control command into the corresponding Bluetooth signals. Based on the classification code, the Bluetooth transceiver 26 is switched on to transmit the control command to the electric appliance corresponding to the ID code (i.e., stereo set 30), and the control process of the stereo set 30 is completed by the moment.
The way of setting up the air conditioner 40 is similar. In more details, the RF transceiving circuit 422 of the air conditioner 40 transmits the RF signals which contain all kinds of control information and the corresponding ID code of the air conditioner 40 to the RF transceiver 27 of the signal converter 20, and the ID code contained in the RF signals is stored into the memory 25 through the converting module 24, which also stores the classification code of the received signals (i.e., RF signals) into the memory 25, and establishes a connection between the classification code and the ID code corresponding to the air conditioner 40.
After that, the converting module 24 encapsulates the ID code and the control information into WiFi signals, which are then transmitted to the smartphone 10 through the WiFi transceiver 22. In this way, all kinds of the control information of the air conditioner 40 are shown on the display of the smartphone 10 for a user to select therefrom. Similarly, the air conditioner 40 can be controlled wirelessly as described above relating to the stereo set 30, except that the RF transceiver 27 is switched on instead in accordance to the classification code corresponding to the RF signals.
The method of setting up the TV 50 is basically the same with those of the aforementioned electric appliances 30, 40, except that the IR controller 52 is unable to send out IR signals. Therefore, the memory 25 is previously stored with a plurality of IR protocols and the classification code corresponding to the IR signals, wherein one of the IR protocols corresponds to the ID code and all kinds of control information of the TV 50. A user can select the IR protocol corresponding to the TV 50 by transmitting WiFi signals which contain a selecting command to the signal converter 20 through the smartphone 10. According to the selecting command, the converting module 24 extracts the IR protocol corresponding to the TV 50 from the memory 25, and encapsulates the control information and the ID code of the TV 50 into WiFi signals, which are then transmitted to the smartphone 10 through the WiFi transceiver 22.
After that, the display of the smartphone 10 shows all kinds of the control information of the TV 50 for a user to select therefrom. Once selected, the smartphone 10 transmits WiFi signals which contain the ID code and the related control command of the TV 50 to the signal converter 20. According to the ID code of the TV 50 contained in the WiFi signals, the converting module 24 of the signal converter 20 then extracts the classification code and the IR protocol corresponding to the TV 50 from the memory 25, and the control command is encapsulated into IR signals. Based on the classification code, the IR transmitter 28 is switched on to transmit the IR signals to the IR controller 52 to control the TV 50.
In summary, the remote control system 100 of the present invention sends out the WiFi signals according to the control commands inputted via the smartphone 10, and the signal converter 20 converts the WiFi signals into the Bluetooth signals, the RF signals, or the IR signals, which are then transmitted to each of the corresponding electric appliances. Whereby the electric appliances can be controlled at a remote distance. In other words, the remote control system 100 of the present invention is not only able to convert the WiFi signals into the Bluetooth signals, but also into the RF signals or the IR signals to meet different requirements, which improves the convenience of controlling several kinds of electric appliance.
As shown in
The smartphone 62 transmits signals which contain the control commands to the wireless AP 64 through an Internet I; the wireless access point 64 converts the signals into WiFi signals, and transmits the WiFi signals to the signal converter 20. The aforementioned process of converting the WiFi signals into the Bluetooth signals, the RF signals, or the IR signals is then taking place. In this way, a user who is at an outdoor location can still control each of the electric appliances through the smartphone 62, which greatly increases the communication distance between the electronic device and each of the electric appliances.
It must be pointed out that the embodiments described above are only some preferred embodiments of the present invention. All equivalent structures which employ the concepts disclosed in this specification and the appended claims should fall within the scope of the present invention.
