|
[ home ] [ projects ] [ download ] [ news ] [ funding ] [ contact us ] |
Contemporary consumer devices such as TVs, videos, and CD players have individual remote controls with a bewildering array of buttons - often laid out in a dense and unmemorable block. Many households now have at least 3 separate remote controls and sometimes more.
Anyone with a vision impairment, manual dexterity problems, or simply mild technophobia has little chance of making these remotes do the right thing.
a-technic are currently prototyping a talking universal remote control with a small number of easily accessible buttons.
By touching a button on this talking remote the user is informed of the function of the button with a simple spoken phrase (e.g. "Volume Up" or "Pause"), and upon pressing the button for slightly longer, the talking remote sends the appropriate infra red control signal to the currently selected device (TV, CD, etc).
The remote comprises:
The keypad has the following layout.
| 1 [vol down] |
2 [mute/pause] |
3 [vol up] |
| 4 | 5 [F1] |
6 |
| 7 [F2] |
8 [F3] |
9 [F4] |
| * [device select] |
0 [F5] |
# [function select] |
When a key is touched briefly (<0.2 seconds) the remote speaks the speech fragments that describe the currently assigned function/state of this button - e.g. ‘volume up’, ‘CD Player’ or ‘Timer Functions’ for quick presses of the 1 button, the * button when CD has been selected and the # button when the Timer Functions group has been selected (see below for a description of Function Groups). Note that to minimise speech fragment occupancy the description of one button (e.g. ‘volume up’) may comprise more than one fragment.
A longer press of a button (>0.2 seconds) causes the function of that button to be performed – i.e. the corresponding IR codes to be emitted. A long press does not cause the function of the button to be spoken.
[We may reverse the meaning of long versus short press – i.e. short press does the function and long press only speaks it – if this is better for users]
Each long press of Device Select (*) causes the codes associated with all the other buttons on the pad to be switched to the set for the next configured device (TV, CD, etc). The 1, 2 and 3 buttons are always assigned to volume down mute or pause and volume up respectively. 4 and 6 are always assigned to track or channel down and up respectively. 5, 7, 8, 9 and 0 (F1-F5) are initially assigned to the default Function Group for the particular device. Each long press of the Function Group Select button causes the function group associated with F1-F5 to be cycled to the next configured function group for this device.
All functions for a given device other than Volume Up/Down, Mute or Pause, and Track or Channel Up/Down are split into logically related Function Groups. Because there are only 5 function keys (F1-F5) some particularly complex sets of function may span more than one group and some groups may just be ‘Miscellaneous Functions’. In some groups one or more of the function buttons may not have an assigned function (e.g. in the bass/treble function group for an amplifier, a sensible assignment might be F2 (7) = bass down, F4 (9) = bass up, F1 (5) = treble up and F5 (0) = treble down (look at the keypad to see why this is a logical layout). If the device amp supports a ‘Reset to Defaults’ code, this would be assigned to F3 (8) – i.e. the centre of the cross. However, normally F3 would remain unassigned.
A quick press on an unassigned key speaks ‘Unassigned’, and a long press does nothing.
The default function group is simply the first configured function group and is always the group that is loaded when a device is selected using the Device Select key.
Double-clicking Device Select re-loads the default function group for the currently selected device.
Some devices require numbers to be entered from the remote in certain modes (or indeed at any time, such as simply hitting the channel number button on a TV remote to switch to that channel). Double-clicking any button except Device Select (*) or Function Group Select (#) on the talking remote at any time causes the IR code for the key legended with that number on the real remote to be sent (without speaking). For example double clicking Volume Down when the selected device is CD causes the IR code corresponding to the 1 key on the real remote for the configured CD player to be emitted (normally causing track 1 to be played).
Double-clicking Function Group Select toggles the speaking remote between normal and numeric entry mode. In numeric entry mode, keys 0-9 are assigned to the correspondingly legended keys on the real remote and the talking remote has its normal speak on short press, act on long press behaviour. For example double-clicking Function Group Select then doing a long a short press of F4 followed by long presses of F4, F5 and Volume Up results in the talking remote saying ‘7’ then emitting the IR codes for 7, 8 and 3. Double-clicking Function Group Select again returns the talking remote to normal mode.
On entry to and exit from numeric mode the talking remote says ‘number keys’ and function keys’ respectively.
In numeric mode, Device Select and Function Group Select behave as * and #. i.e. if the device currently selected has an * and a # on its real remote, long presses of Device Select and Function Group Select respectively while in numeric mode will send these IR codes.
Double-clicking any key other than Function Group Select while in numeric mode is equivalent to a long press of that key.
Increasingly, the device with the relevant volume control in a home entertainment set-up is different form the device with the relevant channel selection control. E.g. when playing a TV through a home stereo sound system, the two sets of controls most frequently used are the volume on the stereo amplifier and the channel select on the TV. To accommodate this, the talking remote may have Compound Devices configured such as ‘Stereo TV’. Such devices must be custom configured by selecting the volume IRs for on device and the track IRs for another and a sensible mix of key functions from the two devices for assigning to F1-F5 in the default function group for the compound device. Normally it would not be worthwhile setting up non-default function groups for this compound device since the less frequently used functions can be performed by first using Device Select to switch to the configuration for the appropriate underlying real device (in this case the amplifier or the TV).
|
[ Go up a page ] |