Coded data generation or conversion – Code generator or transmitter – Transmitter for remote control signal
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-26
2004-06-29
Horabik, Michael (Department: 2635)
Coded data generation or conversion
Code generator or transmitter
Transmitter for remote control signal
C340S870030, C323S304000, C323S333000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06756930
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to signal transmitting means, in particular to self-contained apparatuses for transmitting digital signals and remote control (RC) systems on their basis.
The invention may be used to create self-contained maintenance-free signal transmitters, beakons, signaling and transmitting devices in safety systems, wireless sensors in industrial automation systems, and remote control systems of consumer and industrial equipment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
A known self-contained coded radio-frequency signal transmitter for safety systems comprises a piezoelectric cell for generating electric charges under the application of mechanical stress thereto, a unit for generating and transmitting radio-frequency signals on air and a circuit for supplying power to said unit from the piezoelectric cell (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,190, published Nov. 5, 1996).
A deficiency of the known transmitter is that a relatively small electric charge generated by the piezoelectric cell when exposed to mechanical stress flows virtually unchanged to a low-frequency filter capacity which serves as a peculiar kind of buffer charge storage to supply the following unit for generating and transmitting coded radio-frequency signals. Low voltage (5-12V) at output of the low-frequency filter, suitable to supply said signal transmission unit, is generated owing to a significant voltage drop across active component of the filter, this in turn reducing the output power of the circuit. A threshold element and a silicon rectifier in this circuit affect only the shape and polarity of the current pulse from the piezoelectric cell without increasing the total charge in initial current pulse. Non-ideal nature of the silicon rectifier used in the circuit, specifically, a low diode breakdown voltage (several thousand volts) and electrical leaks from back-biased diodes, reduces a permissible operating voltage magnitude at its input and restricts thereby the possibility of obtaining sufficiently great current pulses in the circuit. As the result, the charge stored in the low-frequency filter capacity will be relatively small, this reducing efficiency of the electric supply circuit of the known radio-frequency signal transmitter as a whole.
Also known in the art are various RC devices and systems for electric apparatuses, including a lighting fixture RC system (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,028, published Jul. 20, 1976), a suspended fan RC system (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,814, published Feb. 1, 1983), TV and audio receiver RC system (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,760, published Dec. 23, 1975), a transmitter for a car lock RC system (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,169, published Jan. 7, 1997).
In particular, the car lock RC system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,169, comprises a self-contained coded RC signal transmitter, a receiver and a lock control unit. The receiver in the RC system receives energy from the same electric circuit as the load controlled thereby, the lock, and the self-contained RC signal transmitter is provided with an independent electric power supply, a battery or rechargeable battery.
The necessity of periodic expenditures for buying batteries, recharging rechargeable batteries and providing timely service to the self-contained transmitter, along with economic and environmental problems involved in utilization of spent batteries, are basic disadvantages of such RC systems that restrict their wide use.
Attempts have been taken to design control systems wherein a transmitter is supplied from piezoelectric cells, e.g. an electronic toy control unit (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,472, published Sep. 16, 1986). In the device, however, the transmitted signal has no digital coding of information which is required to control different functions of an actuator of a controlled object, and the charge from the piezoelectric cell is directly used by the transmitting apparatus without any preliminary processing, i.e. very inefficiently.
DE 4034100 teaches an apparatus for storing energy of natural lightning. The apparatus uses a reducing transformer connected, via a bridge rectifier, to a accumulation capacitor. However, the application of such design of the secondary transformer coil and the bridge rectifier is not quite efficient because, when charging the accumulation capacitor, the current pulse energy of the secondary coil is lost at two series-connected forward-biased diodes.
Furthermore, the use of natural lightning as the charge generator for compact remote control transmitters is infeasible.
Numerous documents teach various embodiments of charge generators, information generation and transmission units, and information transmission channels (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,223; U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,600; SU 1,003,129; GB 2164219; GB 2177527 and EPO 513443). The aforementioned documents, however, are lacking information of the possibility to use the features disclosed in them, either individually or in combination, for providing battery-free self-contained remote control signal transmitters, and information of ways of designing and technical embodiments of battery-free self-contained remote control signal transmitters and remote control systems on their basis.
The inventors are unaware of employment of piezoelectric cells or other charge generators to provide RC systems for consumer or industrial apparatuses.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a self-contained digital signal transmitter which would not need periodic replacement or recharging of electric power supply, and would have an efficient circuit supplied from a charge generator, which in turn would enable the creation of RC systems for electric apparatuses, data acquisition systems and warning systems, with the possibility of long-term integration of RC signal transmitters, like traditional wall-board switches, in unmanned structures and constructions.
The above object is attained in a self-contained digital signal transmitter comprising: an electric power supply including an electric charge generator with an actuation means, and a digital signal generation and transmission unit; the signal transmitter further comprising an electric charge energy converter having an input connected to an output of the charge generator, and an output connected to an input of the digital signal generation and transmission unit; the electric charge energy converter being adapted to increase initial number of electric charges provided from the generator, and reduce potential of electric charges stored at the output of the converter.
The output of the converter may further include an electric charge storage in the form of, for example, a capacitor, for buffering the electric power from the digital signal generation and transmission unit.
In an embodiment of the self-contained transmitter, the electric charge energy converter is a reducing transformer, a primary coil of which is connected to an output of the electric charge generator, and a secondary coil comprises two coils and is connected, via a full-wave rectifier, to the electric charge storage, which is more efficient than the design of the converter taught in DE 4034100. The converter is efficient when the charge generator produces short high-energy current pulses.
In another embodiment of the self-contained transmitter, the electric charge energy converter is a semiconductor converter having an input region coupled to an output of the electric charge generator, formed by a back-biased p-n-junction and intended for storing charges from the electric charge generator and producing an avalanche breakdown process when a threshold voltage is exceeded across said p-n-junction, and an output region of the semiconductor converter, formed by a region for separating and storing secondary charges produced as the result of the avalanche breakdown, and connected, via a rectifier, to the electric charge storage. The input region of the semiconductor converter may be formed by other structures different from said p-n-junction, for example, by a transistor or thyristor structure which
Maslennikov Nikolai Mikhailovich
Nunuparov Martyn Sergeevich
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Dang Hung
Horabik Michael
Nunuparov Martyn Sergeevich
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