A remote control system for controlling a television receiver

Claim 2

A remote control system having a remote control device and a unit to be controlled by said remote control device, said remote control device comprising: a lens for limiting the cross section of a beam of light incident thereon to a small area; at least two light receiving elements for receiving the incident light passing through said lens, said light receiving elements being arranged such that an area, on which the incident light impinges, of each of said light receiving elements changes depending on an angle of incidence of the incident light; a switching circuit for selectively inputting outputs of necessary ones of said light receiving elements; an intensity-of-received-light detecting means for detecting the intensity of light received by each of said light receiving elements from outputs of said switching circuit; and a calculating means for calculating a ratio of the intensity of light received by one of each pair of said light receiving elements to that of light by the other light receiving element from the intensities of light detected by said intensity-of-received-light detecting means.

Claim 3

A remote control system as set forth in Claim 1 or 2 wherein said remote control device further comprises: a remote-control-code generating means for generating a remote control code corresponding to output data of said calculating means and for outputting a signal representing the generated remote code; and a first light emitting element for emitting light representing the signal representing the remote control code generated by said remote-control-code generating means, wherein said unit comprises: a remote-control-code receiving element for receiving the light emitted from said first light emitting element of said remote control device; a remote-control-code interpreting and discriminating means for interpreting and discriminating the remote control code indicated by the signal represented by the light received by said remote-control-code receiving element; a second light emitting element for emitting light representing a response signal to at least two of the light emitting elements of said remote control device; and a light modulating means for driving said second light emitting element in such a manner to modulate the intensity of light emitted from said second light emitting element.

Claim 4

A remote control system having a remote control device and a unit to be controlled by said remote control device, said remote control device comprising: a diaphragm means for limiting the cross section of a beam of light incident thereon to a small area; a first light receiving means for receiving the incident light passing through said diaphragm means, said first light receiving means being arranged such that an area, on which the incident light impinges, of said first light receiving means changes depending on an angle of incidence of the incident light; an intensity-of-received-light detecting means for detecting the intensity of light received by said first light receiving means; a position-information generating means for generating position information indicating what position of said unit said remote control device is turned toward from the intensities of light detected by said intensity-of-received-light detecting means; a remote-control-code generating means for generating a remote control code corresponding to output data of said position-information generating means and for outputting a signal representing the generated remote code; and a first light emitting element for emitting light representing the signal representing the remote control code generated by said remote-control-code generating means, wherein said unit comprises: a second light receiving element for receiving the light emitted from said first light emitting element of said remote control device; and a remote-control-code interpreting and discriminating means for interpreting and discriminating the remote control code indicated by the signal represented by the light received by said second light receiving element.

Claim 5

A remote control system having a remote control device and a unit to be controlled by said remote control device, said remote control device comprising: a lens means for limiting the cross section of a beam of light incident thereon to a small area; a first light receiving means for receiving the incident light passing through said lens means, said first light receiving means being arranged such that an area, on which the incident light impinges, of said first light receiving means changes depending on an angle of incidence of the incident light; an intensity-of-received-light detecting means for detecting the intensity of light received by said first light receiving means; a position-information generating means for generating position information indicating what position of said unit said remote control device is turned toward from the intensities of light detected by said intensity-of-received-light detecting means; a remote-control-code generating means for generating a remote control code corresponding to output data of said position-information generating means and for outputting a signal representing the generated remote code; and a first light emitting element for emitting light representing the signal representing the remote control code generated by said remote-control-code generating means, wherein said unit comprises: a second light receiving element for receiving the light emitted from said first light emitting element of said remote control device; and a remote-control-code interpreting and discriminating means for interpreting and discriminating the remote control code indicated by the signal represented by the light received by said second light receiving element.

Claim 6

A remote control system as set forth in Claim 4 or 5 wherein said first light receiving means comprises at least two light receiving elements arranged such that an area, on which the incident light impinges, of each of said light receiving elements changes depending on an angle of incidence of the incident light.

Claim 7

In a system having a remote control device and a unit to be controlled by said remote control device, said remote control device including a first light emitting element for transmitting light signals to said unit and also including at least two light receiving elements for receiving light transmitted from said unit, said unit including a second light emitting element, a method of performing remote control of said unit by manipulating said remote control device, comprising the steps of: turning said light emitting element of said remote control device toward the screen of said unit; transmitting a first light signal indicating the start of a remote control operation from the first light emitting element of said remote control device to said unit; displaying a menu of items of operations on the screen of said unit; transmitting a response light signal from said second light emitting element of said unit to said remote control device; generating a control code corresponding to a position on which the light emitted from said first light emitting element of said remote control device currently impinges, on the screen, based on the intensities of light respectively received by said light receiving elements of said remote control device; transmitting a second light signal representing the generated code from said first light emitting element of said remote control device to said unit; displaying a cursor at the position corresponding to the control code represented by the second light signal on the screen of said unit; shifting said remote control device and repeating the process of from the step of transmitting a response light signal to the step of displaying the cursor on the screen of said unit if the cursor is not displayed in a region corresponding to the indication of a desired item of operations on the screen of said unit; and transmitting the first light signal from said first light emitting element of said remote control device to said unit so as to perform an operation of the desired item if the cursor is displayed in the region corresponding to the indication of the desired item of operations on the screen of said unit.