Instruction manual

US 6,642,852 B2
1
REMOTE CONTROL DEVICE WITH
APPLIANCE POWER AWARENESS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to home appliance
control and, more particularly, to a remote control device
With appliance poWer aWareness.
In the art it is knoWn to monitor poWer supplied to home
appliances. For example, Niles currently markets a poWer
sensor under the “AFC-2” brand name. Similarly, Panja
markets a poWer sensor under the “AMX” “PCS” and
“PCS2” brand names. These poWer sensors are particularly
used to monitor the state of a home appliance, i.e., Whether
the home appliance is poWered on or in a standby mode of
operation (also referred to as off). More particularly, the
poWer sensors are used in connection With a system that
further comprises a central controller. The poWer sensors
communicate state information to the central controller, via
a hard Wired connection, and the central controller is pro
grammable to use the state information to effect control of
home appliances.
While these knoWn systems Work for their intended
purpose, they have not been Widely adopted for use by
consumers for the reason that they suffer numerous draW
backs. In this regard, the systems are expensive to purchase
and installation (e.g., Wiring of the components) often
requires the assistance of a professional. Programming the
central controller also requires a high-level of programming
skill that most consumers ?nd intimidating or are simply
unable to comprehend. For example, the Niles system cen
tral controller is programmable only by authoriZed dealers/
installers. Thus, the need exists for a system and method for
controlling appliances having a poWer aWareness compo
nent that an average consumer can afford to purchase and
can easily use.
For simply controlling the operation of home appliances,
it is also knoWn to provide a remote control With macro
command capabilities. For example, commonly oWned US.
Pat. No. 5,959,751, Which is incorporated herein by refer
ence in its entirety, describes a method of programming a
remote control to respond to activation of a macro key to
cause the transmission of command codes that have been
assigned to the macro key. Programming of a macro key can
be accomplished by a consumer simply entering a macro
setup mode, activating keys on the remote control in the
same manner that the consumer Would normally activate
keys to cause one or more appliances to perform one or more
operations, and exiting the macro setup mode. Macro keys
can also be preprogrammed.
While remote controls having macro command capabili
ties have been Widely accepted and used by consumers, there
is a particular problem associated With the use of macros.
When a macro is programmed to transmit poWer control
commands to an appliance (e.g., a macro programmed to
turn on a VCR, turn on a television, and tune the television
to channel 3), there is no easy Way to ensure that the
appliance is in a knoWn state When the macro is executed.
Thus, there is no easy Way to ensure that the desired
operations Will be performed When the macro is executed. In
the example provided, if the television Were already poW
ered on prior to executing the macro, executing the macro
might send a poWer toggle command to the television that
Would not have the desired effect of turning the television
on. Rather, to the frustration of a user, the poWer toggle
command in the executing macro Would cause the already
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poWered on television to turn off and the tune to channel 3
command Would not be capable of being operated upon by
the noW poWered off television.
To solve this problem, it is possible for users to program
a macro Which omits the transmission of poWer commands.
This, hoWever, defeats the purpose of providing a remote
control With macro command capabilities as the user must
then control poWer to an appliance by conventionally acti
vating keys on the remote control or by manually turning
on/off the appliances. Alternatively, in limited cases Where
another function command also causes an appliance to turn
on (e.g., most Sony AV receivers Will turn on if not already
on When an input select command is received) a macro can
be programmed using these function commands to place the
appliance in a desired state. This solution is also not accept
able as it requires the user to have a knoWledge of the
intricacies of the operation of an appliance Which is knoWl
edge that most consumers fail to posses. Furthermore, even
if the consumer had such knoWledge of appliance operation,
this solution requires that the appliance be placed in a state
that might not be desired by the consumer thereby creating
a further problem that needs to be addressed (e.g., by
requiring the consumer to add further steps to a programmed
macro). Accordingly, the need also exists for a system and
method for controlling appliances that an average consumer
can easily use and Which Will ensure that the desired
operations Will be performed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance With these needs a controlling device is
provided having programming Which ensures an appliance
Will be placed into a desired poWer state. To this end, the
controlling device transmits a query message to a power
monitor associated With the appliance to obtain the current
poWer state of the appliance. If the current poWer state does
not correspond to the desired poWer state, the controlling
device transmits a command to the appliance to effect a
change in the current poWer state of the appliance. In this
regard, if the appliance is responsive to discrete poWer
commands, the controlling device transmits a discrete poWer
command to effect the change in the current poWer state (i.e.,
turn the device on or turn off). If the appliance is responsive
to poWer toggle commands, the poWer toggle command
appropriate for the appliance is transmitted to cause the
appliance to change its current poWer state to the desired
poWer state.
A better understanding of the objects, advantages,
features, properties and relationships of the invention Will be
obtained from the folloWing detailed description and accom
panying draWings Which set forth an illustrative embodiment
and Which are indicative of the various Ways in Which the
principles of the invention may be employed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a better understanding of the invention, reference may
be had to a preferred embodiment shoWn in the folloWing
draWings in Which:
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for providing a
remote control With appliance poWer aWareness;
FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram schematic of an exem
plary remote control of the system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 illustrates a top vieW of the remote control of the
system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary table in Which poWer state
information is maintained by the remote control of the
system illustrated in FIG. 1;