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US 2018/0027203 A1Published application
Directional remote control based on ranging
AssigneeSony Corporation
InventorWilliam Clay
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A remote control (RC) has two ultra-wideband tags arranged along the axis of the RC at a known distance “d” from each other. An appliance to be controlled can use a UWB anchor to ping the tags and determine the distance to each tag. The distances are then subtracted and if the difference substantially equals the known distance “d”, this represents an indication that the RC is pointed directly at the appliance, and the appliance accordingly will execute commands from the RC. Otherwise, the appliance ignores the RC commands.
Claims20
Apparatus comprising:
- at least one computer memory that is not a transitory signal and that comprises instructions executable by at least one processor to:
- transmit a wireless interrogation signal to a companion device;
- receive one or more responses to the interrogation signal from the companion device;
- based on the one or more responses, determine at least first and second distances;
- determine a difference between the first and second distances;
- compare the difference to a known distance;
- based on the compare, generate one of two binary outputs.
4 more elements
A remote control (RC) comprising:
- a housing defining a longitudinal axis;
- and
- at least first and second wireless elements arranged on the housing parallel to the longitudinal axis and configured to respond automatically to wireless pings received from an electronic appliance.
An appliance comprising:
- at least one processor configured for presenting on a video display demanded images;
- and
- at least one computer memory accessible to the at least one processor and including instructions executable for:
- causing a ping to be transmitted to a remote control (RC) configured to send wireless commands to the appliance to control the appliance;
- receiving first and second responses to the ping from respective first and second modules on the RC;
- using the first and second responses to determine first and second distances;
- determining a difference between the distances;
- comparing the difference to a known spacing between the modules of the RC;
- responsive to determining that the difference satisfies a test when compared to the known spacing, configuring the appliance to execute commands from the RC;
- and
- responsive to determining that the difference does not satisfy the test when compared to the known spacing, not configuring the appliance to execute commands from the RC.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.