Patent: Telephone-responsive Device for Muting the Sound Output of a Television Set
US Patent issued for telephone-responsive device for muting the sound output of a television set. Patent 5,128,987
Apparatus responsive to the operation of a nearby telephone for selectively muting the sound output of a television set, including a ring detection circuit and an off-hook detection circuit coupled in parallel and responsive to either a ringing signal or an off-hook condition of the telephone for delivering an activating signal to a common output, remote-control circuitry selectively operable for muting the sound output of a television set, a controller circuit coupled between the common output and an input of the remote-control circuitry, and manually operated selection switches for providing four different modes of operation. In preferred embodiments the controller includes a plurality of permanently fixed internal logic circuits which respectively correspond to different remote volume control codings of various different makes or models of television sets, and manually operable circuitry are provided for selecting a particular one of the fixed internal logic circuits so as to enable the remote-control circuitry to mute the sound output of a television set whose remote volume control coding corresponds to that praticular fixed logic circuit.
Patent: Remote Control System for Combined Ceiling Fan and Light Fixture
US Patent issued for remote control system for combined ceiling fan and light fixture. Patent 5,187,472
A control unit for a combined ceiling fan and light fixture (ceiling unit) is coupled to a temperature sensor monitoring the temperature of the room containing the ceiling unit, has manual entry keys for controlling fan energization, speed and direction and light energization and intensity and for selecting a mode of operation, and has a first microprocessor for controlling a radio transmitter to transmit a command bit sequence. The transmitted signal is received by the ceiling unit where a second microprocessor responds to the command bit sequence to control the firing of one of several triacs controlling fan energization, speed and direction and to control light energization and intensity. In an “auto-speed” mode, fan speed responds to changes in room temperature. In a “winter mode”, the fan blows upwardly at a slow speed, the speed being momentarily increased periodically to break up stratification. Two control units at different locations in the room may be used to control the ceiling unit, which responds only to the control unit which last transmitted a manual command in response to key activation. An update is transmitted hourly, if all fan and light functions are off, or every ten minutes, if a function is on, the update timer being reset whenever a new command is transmitted.
Patent: Remote Control System for Combined Ceiling Fan and Light Fixture
US Patent issued for remote control system for combined ceiling fan and light fixture. Patent 5,041,825
A control unit for a combined ceiling fan and light fixture (ceiling unit) is coupled to a temperature sensor monitoring the temperature of the room containing the ceiling unit, has manual entry keys for controlling fan energization, speed and direction and light energization and intensity and for selecting a mode of operation, and has a first microprocessor for controlling a radio transmitter to transmit a command bit sequence. The transmitted signal is received by the ceiling unit where a second microprocessor responds to the command bit sequence to control the firing of one of several triacs controlling fan energization, speed and direction and to control light energization and intensity. In an “auto-speed” mode, fan speed responds to changes in room temperature. In a “winter mode”, the fan blows upwardly at a slow speed, the speed being momentarily increased periodically to break up stratification. Two control units at different locations in the room may be used to control the ceiling unit, which responds only to the control unit which last transmitted a manual command in response to key activation. An update is transmitted hourly, if all fan and light functions are off, or every ten minutes, if a function is on, the update timer being reset whenever a new command is transmitted.
