Electrical appliance control
AssigneePico Electronics Limited
InventorDavid R. Thompson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transmitter, for electrical appliance control by transmitting digital control signals on a power main, comprises two releasably connected parts, a first part comprising m actuators to initiate the generation of m control signals, and the second part containing a generator for the control signals, and a selector for selecting m out of n control signals. The selector is hidden by the first part when the parts are joined together and may be adjusted to select different groups of m control signals from the n possible signals. All n control signals can be produced, in groups of up to m signals for each condition of the selector. A monitor is also provided to monitor the main in order to achieve transmitter queueing dependent upon the selector settings at the transmitters.
Claims27
A transmitter for controlling n slave units by means of a digital control signal containing an area code common to said n slave units, an address for at least one of said n slave units and a command, the transmitter comprising:
- first means for generating an area code;
- second means for generating selectively any one of n addresses for respective ones of said n slave units;
- third means for generating a command;
- m (<n and >1) actuator means coupled to the first, second and third generating means such that a single actuation of one of said m actuator means causes the generation of a digital control signal comprising said area code, an address selected from said n addresses, and said command;
- and
- address selector means presettable to any one of a plurality of conditions, each of which condition presets a group of m addresses where m is less than n, for defining which addresses constitute said group of m addresses;
- whereby all n slave units, in sequence of operation of said selector means, are controllable by said actuator means of said transmitter in groups of up to m slave units for each condition of the selector means.
A transmitter for controlling at least m slave units by means of digital control signals at least some of which contain an address for at least one slave unit, the transmitter comprising:
- a first part comprising m actuating means and;
- a second part releasably connectable to said first part and comprising digital control signal generating means having x(>m) input means so as to be responsive to the operation of x distinct actuating means;
- and coupling means for coupling said m actuating means to m of said x input means for generating said digital control signal with a form depending upon which of the m actuators has been operated, wherein the first part can be removed and replaced by another first part with m actuating means and with coupling means for coupling to a different m of said x input means, whereby the second part will generate digital control signals that depend upon the coupling means of first part.
A transmitter for controlling at least m slave units by generating a digital control signal containing an address for at least one of the slave units and a command for the associated slave unit, the transmitter comprising:
- m actuating means by which the generation of said digital control signal can be initiated for selected ones of at least m slave units;
- storage means for storing substantially simultaneous actuations of a plurality of said actuating means;
- and digital control signal generating means for generating from the storage means a digital control signal comprising one portion containing the addresses of all those selected slave units corresponding to stored actuations and for which a given command has been entered, and a second portion consisting of the given command applicable to those addresses.
A transmitter for controlling slave units by means of a digital control signal transmitted onto a power main, the transmitter comprising:
- means for inputting an instruction to define said digital control signals;
- means for storing said instruction;
- means for generating, and transmitting onto said power main, said digital control signal corresponding to the stored instruction;
- timing means for delaying the transmission of said digital control signal until the timing means has completed the timing of a given time;
- means for monitoring the power main for detecting digital signals and noise of a given property;
- and
- means for causing the timing means to recommence its timing when the monitoring means detects signals of said given property, whereby the transmission of said digital control signal is delayed until the main has been free of signals of said given property for said given time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.