WO1995019613A1

WO1995019613A1 - Infrared system for inquiry and response

Info

Publication number: WO1995019613A1
Application number: PCT/ES1994/000003
Authority: WO
Inventors: José Jorge GIL PEREZ
Original assignee: Bienvenido, Gil, S., L.
Priority date: 1994-01-14
Filing date: 1994-01-14
Publication date: 1995-07-20
Also published as: AU5861294A

Abstract

Infrared system for inquiries and responses intended to enable a plurality of persons to answer questions through the use of individual wireless controls, so that the results are recorded by means of a computer, either in a statistical or individual form, and that, if desired, said results may be presented immediately after the reading operation of data selected by the individuals participating in the inquiry. The system comprises an assembly of individual controls provided with keys for selecting the response option which, through a coded infrared radiation and a series of signal emitters and receivers, communicate with a computer connected to the emitters and receivers, the computer running a program for managing and controlling the data receiving and recording process.

Description

CONSULTATION AND RESPONSE SYSTEM FOR

INFRARED

DESCRIPTION

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an infrared consultation and response system, which aims to allow a number of people to respond, individually, through respective wireless portable units (controls), to questions or questions that may be asked. -as orally, in writing, on projection screen, or by other procedures, so that the results are recorded on a computer, either statistically or individually, and that, if desired, such results can be presented immediately e after the process of reading the data selected by the individuals participating in the consultation.

BACKGROUND OF THE IN-VENTION-

There are many activities in which some procedure is required to obtain response data, opinion etc, provided by people who are They ask different types of questions, questions or tests.

Such procedures are necessary for conducting surveys, voting, knowledge evaluations, tests, opinion polls, etc. Thus, the availability of new procedures or techniques that provide improvements in speed, efficiency, reliability, registration and statistical treatment, or, in some cases, in preserving the confidentiality or anonymity of responses, has an unquestionable interest, both for the entities or persons that perform the data collection, as for the individuals who respond.

The current methods through which the aforementioned data collection processes related to consultations, tests, exams, etc. are carried out. They are very diverse. Apart from the most common, in which individuals give their response orally, in writing, freehand, through gestures, etc. , others have been developed, - taking advantage of certain technical means, have advantages in some of the aspects mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Thus, there are numerous systems in which each individual has

SUBSTITUTED SHEET Some type of keyboard, command or selector that, connected through a cable with a central station for recording, processing and presentation of data and results, allows you to transmit and communicate your response options to that station. Systems of this type have long been in the market, which are used in chambers of political representatives, in training centers, in congresses in commercial presentations, or even in competitions and games with public participation. In some applications, these systems have notable drawbacks related to distances, portability and need for installation or preparation of wiring, as they require the aforementioned cable link. As an example of these systems, in which the connection between the response selector element of each individual and the recording or scrutiny station is carried out by means of cable, it is worth mentioning the "Renewed" equipment of the Brahler house.

Another type of - systems are those that manage to avoid the physical connection between the keyboard or selector available to each individual, and the central system of data recording, thanks to a radio wave communication. Systems of this type require

SUBSTITUTED SHEET the use of certain emission powers of said waves in certain bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Consequently, in some cases, the system may cause interference in other of the many equipment and instruments that work thanks to the same principle. Indeed, the restrictive legislation established in developed countries is well known, as well as the great saturation of artificial radiation in this region of the spectrum: television signals, radio, citizen bands, electromagnetic noise produced by engines and machines, etc. In addition, in the realization of this type of systems there is a significant difficulty in constructing an effective radio receiver, with a sufficiently small size to be able to be located inside the portable individual unit, without an external antenna and with low consumption. This aspect is important, since the battery that should incorporate the said unit must not have excessive weight and size and, nevertheless, it should allow for efficient use for as many hours as possible, without the need for replacement. As an example of a radio system, the one developed by the American firm Fleet ood can be cited.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET The use of infrared optical radiation is today a principle of operation of numerous systems, some as well known as the remote control controls of audio, television and video equipment, and others of more recent appearance, such as the "air mouse" , wireless computer pointer of the firm is American Selectech.

These systems, although they use infrared radiation as a means of communication, are clearly distinguished from the system object of our invention, not only for its purpose and operation, but also for its constituent elements, both in the functional mechanical aspect, and in the aspect electric and electronic

The arguments presented in the previous paragraphs show the interest of having a consultation and response system that, enjoying. Of all the advantages of the most advanced systems of those mentioned above, incorporate improvements in terms of state information or in which you find the process of receiving and recording data at any time, in terms of flexibility and speed in the presentation of the same, in terms of simplicity of installation, in addition to not being limited by the need for

SUBSTITUTED SHEET Establishing cable connections, or two-way communications iona1 is by means of radio waves.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The system object of our invention, whose main components are shown schematically in Fig. 1, responds to the need to overcome the drawbacks of the systems and methods mentioned, so it presents peculiarities especially advantageous for certain applications. This is derived from: the use of infrared radiation as a means <3rd bi-directional communication between the central data recording and processing station and each individual unit of choice of response option; of the bidirection iona1 sequential protocol with which said communication is established; of the possibility of using the desired quantity of central transmitting and receiving units, connected to each other, in cascade or in a star, in order to cover the communications effectively in the entire area or space in which the controls are distributed ; as well as the use of a specific circuit of the infrared transmitter module of the controls (see Fig. 2), which includes an electronic converter component

SUBSTITUTED SHEET voltage (DC / DC) that raises the electrical voltage supplied by the emission circuit itself, so it differs from those that are conventionally used in infrared remote control commands by the fact that it can incorporate a high number of IRED emitting diodes, which provides a high potential for infrared emission and a better direction in the emission as IREDs can be arranged in different orientations, all without the overall dimensions of the set. large and can be contained in a portable control of small dimensions.

The system includes a central computer that is connected to infrared emitting elements and infrared or radio sensors, through an apparatus or interface that adapts the signals to the bus or to a serial port of the computer. The selection of the response option of each individual is carried out by means of individual controls equipped with - keys or selectors. Each of these controls includes the circuits, electronic components and the ectropes that allow the reception of encoded infrared signals and the emission of infrared or encoded signals.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET radio. In addition, it has autonomous power by battery or accumulator and can have LED status indicators, "ON / OFF" selector, override key, "LCD" screen, battery indicator, etc.

To avoid the mixing of signals that would occur in the central sensors if they received coded radiation emitted simultaneously by several individual controls, they have an electronic logic code selector, thanks to which, in the computer runs a program that makes the central transmitters enable each of the commands sequentially so that each of them only emits after receiving a particular coded signal. Thus, the central sensors are sequentially capturing the encoded signals emitted by each of the individual controls, avoiding the said mixing or saturation effect, which would make it impossible to distinguish and decode the received signals.

The indicated communication procedure allows a luminous indication of whether the selected data has been registered in each command. It also allows, if desired, the specific response to be identified.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET from each command, and in addition the corresponding time data has elapsed since the corresponding key has been pressed.

As an illustrative example, but in no way limitative, possible equations of the infrared query and response system are indicated below. Individual controls: they contain electronic board with microprocessors, five keys (or other quantity of them) of option of answer with individual LED indicators of state, indicator of state of the battery, a key of cancellation that allows to rectify a selection made previously; so that another option can be selected by means of the corresponding key, or refrain from answering, leaving the five answer keys canceled; The system detects this abstention state, which is distinguished from the case in which the command has not been put into operation by means of the corresponding ON / OFF selector. It incorporates an internal counter that is initialized each time any one of the keys is pressed, so when the bidirection communication process is performed1, it sends the elapsed time data along with that of the corresponding response. Incorporates

SUBSTITUTED SHEET 9 volt battery (it can also be of another value, as long as its size is not excessive); infrared receiver; Infrared emitter with 8 IREDs powered through a DC / DC type component that raises the voltage to 27 volts (for example) and feeds, through a resistance of 22 ohms to two parallel branches one of which contains a capacitor 1000 microns or radios and the other 8 IREDs in series with each other and with a MOSFET transistor that works in switching, so the emitted infrared signal is in the same way as the power signal at the MOSFET transistor door. It incorporates logic code selector. 8 bit trinary.

Sensor elements and central emitters: units, whose circuits include both sensor components and transmitter components, connected by cable to each other (in cascade or star) and with the interface module, and supported on a desktop, or on two telescopic tripods, of so that its placement - is a-fair to obtain optimal coverage in infrared communications with the controls. Interface: with a network cable for its power supply, it incorporates a transformer and electronic circuit board inside with

SUBSTITUTED SHEET Microprocessors for the adaptation of the signals and supply of the power to the sensor elements and central emitters (these can also be equipped with autonomous power), and in its external part it presents switches of activation and deactivation of the mentioned elements, selector ON / OFF, LED's status indicators, parallel bus cable connector for communications with the computer (these communications can also be made via serial connection type RS232 or SCSI). Computer: conventional computer type (can be portable), with keyboard, hard disk, floppy disk drive, parallel bus card for communications with the interface module, or serial port, wired or wireless computer pointer, monitor, connected to your time to a multiscan videoprojector for large-screen presentation of the texts or icons of questions and response options, numerical results, graphics, as well as computer or video images for information on the issues - to consult or ask. As specific etro-optical components, both emitting diodes of the TSUS 5402 type, and infrared sensors of the TSUS 5402 type can be used both in the controls, as well as in the central sensor and emitter elements.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET type GP1U50X or BPW 41N. Infrared communication in AM, all or nothing, with carrier of 38 KHz and signal frequency of 1, 2 KHz. 8 bit trinary encoding.

An especially interesting alternative for those cases where a large area of communications coverage is required is to perform infrared communication from the central system to the individual units and by radio from the individual units to the central unit. This heterodox solution, unconventional due to the simultaneous use of both technologies, allows for a wide range of communications from the central system to the individual units, without the need for them to incorporate two radio receivers, through the use of a high number (50, 100, 500, ...) of infrared LED emitting elements in the central unit (oriented in different directions or arranged behind an optical diffuser for optimal angular coverage) and simple infrared receivers in the controls. It also allows a wide range of communications from the individual controls to the central system, through the use of one or more radio receivers in the system.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET central and simple radio transmitters in the controls, which have a lower di- icity than the infrared LED emitters and a greater typical range.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET

Claims

RE IVINDICATIONS

12.- Infrared consultation and response system, characterized in that it consists of a set of individual controls, equipped with keys or selectable elements of the response option, as well as electro-optic emitting and receiving elements of encoded infrared electromagnetic radiation, which by this The procedure communicates with a computer that is connected to other central emitting and receiving infrared elements, through an interface instrument that adapts the signals to the bus or to a serial port of the computer, in which a management and control program runs of the process of receiving and recording the data from the individual controls, as well as, where appropriate, the presentation of them by screen, printer or any other procedure.

25.- Consultation and response system by in-f rarroj-os, according to claim 1 ^Q , characterized in that the communication from the central system to the individual controls is carried out by means of infrared optical radiation, while the communication from the controls

SUBSTITUTED SHEET Individuals towards the central system is performed by means of radio waves.

38.- Infrared consultation and response system, according to claims 12 and 25, characterized in that the infrared emission and infrared or radio reception central units incorporate an interface circuit for direct connection to the computer, either by serial port or by parallel port, as well as connectors to be able to connect with other units of the same type by means of their connection, in cascade or in star, in order to obtain coverage of the communications in the whole area or space in which the individual units are distributed.

42.- Infrared consultation and response system, according to claims 1 28 and 32, characterized in that the individual controls, through luminous elements or screen, provide the user with messages related to the process or to the specific information-that is being treated, such as "wait", "answer now", "not correct", etc. , all this through the wireless communication established between the controls and the computer.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET 52. - Infrared query and response system, according to claims le, 2, 32, and 42, characterized in that each individual control has an electronic logic code selector that identifies and differentiates it from the others, thanks to which, in The computer runs a program that makes the central transmitters enable each of the commands sequentially, so that each of them only emits after receiving a particular coded signal. Thus, the central sensors are sequentially picking up the encoded signals emitted by each of the individual controls, avoiding the effect of signal mixing or saturation that would occur in the central sensors if they received coded radiation emitted simultaneously by several controls.

62.- Infrared query and response system, according to claims le, 2 3e, 42 and 52, characterized in that -registr-to the abstention option, since, when a command is activated and no response option is selected from those specified in the keys or selectors of said command, it responds with an encoded signal

SUBSTITUTED SHEET specific to this state, identified as abstention, when required for this in the sequential communications process b idirec c iona1 is between the controls and the central sensing and emitting elements, which is carried out in each consultation.

7e._ Infrared query and response system, according to claims 12, 22 32, 42 52 and 62, characterized in that together with the response option data of each individual unit, it records an indicative data of the time elapsed since the pulse is pressed. corresponding response option key or selector; for which each individual unit incorporates an internal counter that is initialized each time any one of the mentioned keys or selectors is pressed.

8e._ Infrared inquiry and response system, according to claims 12, 22 32, 42 se, 66 and

-T-β, characterized by that -the infrared emission circuit of the control is fed from the battery through a DC / DC voltage converter that raises the effective voltage, allowing to use a greater number of emitting diodes and get accordingly.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET greater emission power and greater range.

SUBSTITUTED SHEET