Remote control system, components and methods

Claim 2

A remote control receiver for incorporation in the electrical wiring of a building or an electrical appliance, the receiver comprising: (a) recovery means for receiving a spread-spectrum radio signal propagated through free space within the building, and recovering from said radio signal digital information including a transmitted address and a transmitted command; (b) address storage means for storing a preset receiver address; (c) address comparison means for comparing said transmitted address and said preset receiver address and determining whether or not said addresses match; (d) control signal means for generating a control signal in response to said transmitted command when said transmitted address matches said preset address; and (e) action means for controlling flow of electricity through the wiring in response to said control signal.

Claim 3

A receiver as claimed in claim 1 further comprising mounting means for mounting said recovery means, address storage means, address comparison means, control signal means and action means entirely within a junction box of the wiring, said recovery means being operative to recover said digital information from portions of said radio signal propagated into said junction box.

Claim 4

A receiver as claimed in claim 2 wherein said recovery means includes means for recovering encoded digital information and decoding said encoded digital information to provide said transmitted address and said transmitted command, the switch further comprising error detection means for comparing said encoded digital information with predetermined spreading code information and accepting said encoded digital information only if said encoded digital information matches said code information within a predetermined tolerance, said control signal means being operative to generate said control signal only if said encoded digital information is accepted by said error detection means.

Claim 5

A building having an electrical utility wiring system comprising a power-consuming device, power wiring extending through the building to the vicinity of said power-consuming device, a receiver as claimed in claim 1 disposed in proximity to said power-consuming device, the action means of said switch being operative to connect or disconnect said power consuming device to or from said power wiring in response to said control signal, said building also having a control transmitter unit including transmitter address storage means for storing a predetermined transmitter address, selectively operable trigger means for generating a command, and broadcast means for producing a spread-spectrum radio signal, varying a predetermined parameter of said radio in accordance with digital information representing said transmitter address and said command and in accordance with a spreading code and propagating said radio frequency signal through free space within the building, said transmitter address being identical to said receiver address stored by said address storage means of said switch, whereby said receiver will produce said control signal and control transmission of power to said power consuming device in response to actuation of said trigger means of said transmitter unit.

Claim 6

A building as claimed in claim 4 wherein said transmitter unit is electrically isolated from said power wiring, said transmitter unit further including a battery and means for actuating said broadcast means only upon actuation of said trigger means.

Claim 7

A building as claimed in claim 4 including a plurality of switches, power consuming devices and transmitter units as aforesaid, each said switch being associated with one of said power consuming devices, each said switch also being associated with at least one of said transmitter units, the address storage means in associated ones of said transmitter units and switches being operative to store the same address, there being a plurality of different addresses stored in different ones of said transmitter units and switches.

Claim 8

An appliance including a housing, a power-consuming element and power supply wiring within said housing and a receiver as claimed in claim 1 mounted entirely within said housing, said recovery means of said receiver including recovery means for recovering encoded digital information and decoding said encoded digital information to provide said transmitted address and said transmitted command, the receiver further comprising error detection means for comparing said encoded digital information with predetermined code information and accepting said encoded digital information only if said encoded digital information matches said code information within a predetermined tolerance, said control signal means being operative to generate said control signal only if said encoded digital information is accepted by said error detection means.