WO2000002344A2

WO2000002344A2 - Method and device for wireless control of at least two different devices

Info

Publication number: WO2000002344A2
Application number: PCT/DE1999/001986
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wilhelm Müller
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 1998-07-03
Filing date: 1999-07-01
Publication date: 2000-01-13
Also published as: WO2000002344A3; AU5726699A

Abstract

A portable personal computer (FS) is fitted with a radio modem and identifies machines that are located nearby. The location of the portable computer is, for instance, determined by GPS, using the position of the communication cell and the base station that it communicates with; the machine is identified by means of a site plan or an identification code present therein and the type of control is also determined. The required operational interface is transmitted viar the radio network to the PC. The machine in question is controlled by the PC using its own functions via the appropriate connecting paths, according to whether the machine is connected to the fixed network or radio network. The invention can be used in various types of manufacturing processes, storage facilities or conveyor devices.

Description

description

Method and system for wireless control of at least two different devices

The increasing competitive pressure leads to an increasing pressure to rationalize in the area of manufacturing, transport and logistics. This fact leads to the fact that more and more automated devices are used in conjunction with each other. Such facilities can be, for example, computer-controlled production lines, automated high-bay warehouses or local transport systems. If errors occur in such automated facilities, in the case of cyclical maintenance work or in the setting up of various sub-work steps to be carried out as part of the completion of the tasks of these devices, it is often necessary to be able to operate these devices remotely in order to observe their function, or to do error analysis. Since each device to be controlled has individual performance features and thus also individual control features, previously available remote controls for such systems are individually designed and adapted to the properties of the respective device. Basically, remote controls are also known from the household sector for picture and sound reproduction devices. For such applications, remote controls are also known which are suitable for operating several devices.

The object underlying the invention is to specify a further method and system for the wireless control of at least two devices.

This object is achieved for the method according to the features of claim 1 and for the system according to the features of claim 9. Further developments of the invention result from the dependent claims. An embossable remote control is advantageously used in the method according to the invention, in which an identification feature of the device to be controlled is first advantageously determined in its functional area, and the type and the associated control features of the device are identified on the basis of this identification feature, with which the remote control is initially shaped becomes. In this way it is achieved that little memory has to be made available in the remote control for receiving the defining features and continues to change when the to be controlled

No expensive update measures need to be carried out in the area of the remote control.

In a further development of the method described, a code provided on the device is advantageously used because such a measure is simple to implement and no complex technical solutions are required for the recognition of the code.

In a further development of the described method, the location of the device to be controlled is advantageously determined as an identification feature and the type of device is identified in connection with an underlying site plan. This provides an extremely flexible solution to the problem that does not require equipment labeling. Furthermore, this further development allows the devices to be arranged in an extremely flexible manner, without impairing the function of the described method.

In a further development of the described method, a global positioning system can advantageously be used for determining the location, since such systems have become widespread in the meantime and allow sufficient spatial resolution to be used for the described method. In this way, no additional technical measures for location determination are required. In a further development of the described method, the fact that the remote control is located in the area of the device to be controlled and thus the location of a communication cell via which the wireless remote control is connected to a cellular communication network, also approximately the location of the device to be controlled, is advantageously used specifies what can be used to determine the type of facility from a site plan and thus the control features of the facility to be controlled can be identified.

In a further development of the described method, the control features of the respective device are advantageously kept ready in the device itself, since the control features can be transmitted in this way to the remote control via the wireless connection path, and no complex administration activities are required to control the respective control features to be able to assign the various devices so that they can then be impressed on the remote control.

In a further development of the described method, the control features of all devices, separated by type, are advantageously kept ready in a server, since the control features are thus easy to administer and update. In this case, it is only necessary to ensure that the remote control has access to the data stored in this server via a wireless communication network.

In a further development of the method described in the remote control, an assignment of control features to the type of device is advantageously kept available, since in this way a connection between the respective device and the server that controls the control features is not also used to determine the control features required for the respective device ready, is required. A system is particularly advantageous in which a personal computer is present as a practical remote control and machines are provided as devices, it being possible to use communication networks of various forms known as communication networks. In this way, little effort for the installation of infrastructure is possible necessary and known and proven means for d _* ie

Use in the system.

In a further development of the system described, the devices to be controlled can be prompted by the remote control to load new software in order to carry out other control functions or work steps, or can be loaded by the remote control with new software via a server.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained below with reference to a figure.

As the figure shows, an example of a system consists of a communication network DN, which contains, for example, a private branch exchange PBX and / or alternatively a local area network LAN. Databases AA and BB are connected to these facilities. Devices E1 to E3 and a remote control FS are also present in the system. The devices or existing radio modems a to c are connected to the communication network DN via data lines D10 to D40. In the event that the devices are not directly connected to the communication network, there are radio network adapters 2x and 3x on the respective devices, here at E2 and E3. The devices E1 to E3 here contain a database 1b, 2b and 3b for recording control features of the respective device. The remote control has, for example, a transmitter and receiver FSx, with which it has access to an existing wireless communication network, such as a DECT network, or an open network. public cellular communication network. These connection options from the remote control to the different devices are designated with F10 to F30. However, this is not intended to mean that there must be different connection options for each form of the system, but merely to show that different connection options can exist. It is conceivable, for example, that the remote control FS receives the control features to be shaped from a device E2 or from the database AA or BB and controls the respective device with the aid of ultrasound or infrared. However, any other combinations of transmission media are also conceivable and usable without impairing the application of the invention.

For further illustration, radio ranges I to IV are entered in the figure. The radio area II represents, for example, the overlap of two radio cells, through which the device E2 and at the same time the communication network DN can be reached. Multi-cell communication networks, such as the DECT system, for example, can be used as communication networks in the system described, and a commercially available personal computer with a special plug-in card can be provided as a practical remote control. With such a practical remote control FS, it is now possible to load the respective user interface of the respective device using software. According to the proposal, a wide variety of variants are provided depending on the application and use and connection of the device and the networks. In particular, the use of a wireless remote control results in the advantages that several devices can be controlled with one PC, no special infrastructure in the form of cabling has to be set up and storage space in the PC is saved, the method being particularly advantageous regardless of versions and Expansion stages of the respective facilities. The following variants are shown in detail in this figure. The device El is connected to the communication network DN via a data line D10. In the event that this is to be controlled remotely with the remote control FS, the embossable control features of this device El must first be forwarded to the remote control FS, for example in the form of a user interface. For this purpose, for example, the operator of the remote control is in the vicinity of the device E1 and can access identification features that are present on the device. For example, a barcode is provided on the device, or it can be determined by means of the cellular communication system to which the remote control has access that this is located in cell I of the radio network and thus in the vicinity of the device El. From this it can be derived by means of a site plan that the device El is to be controlled by the remote control. There are various possibilities for the transmission of the control features of the device El to the remote control FS. The remote control contacts the communication network DN via the transmitter FSX by means of the radio connection a via the data line D20. The device El is also connected to the communication network DN via the data line D10. The control features can now be passed on from the database 1B, from the database AA, or from the database BB to the remote control FS. The device El can now be controlled by the remote control FS by means of the control features that have now been embossed and the user interface thus present, also via the data lines D20 and D10, via which the control features are loaded. Similar data paths and transmission paths of the control features are conceivable for embossing the remote control for controlling the devices E2 and E3. The identification can be carried out, for example, via the location of the base stations B and C. In this case, the device E2 is located in the radio area III of the base station B and the device E3 is located in the radio area IV of the base station C. bar, which control features are currently to be loaded in the remote control to control the respective devices, or which user interface is currently required. The device E2 can be controlled, for example, via the base station a, b and the radio receiver 2x, or can also be operated directly by the remote control using its transmitter and receiver FSX and the radio connection of the device E2, 2x. This applies analogously to the device E3, the base station c and the radio connection 3x, as well as the radio area IV. In these cases, the respective control features can again be present on all of the data bases shown. In the event that the remote control FS communicates directly with the devices via its transmitter and receiver FSX, it makes sense for the respective control features to be present in the databases 2B or 3B, since the communication effort is reduced in this way. In the event that the control features of the respective devices are centralized in databases BB or AA, it is advantageous to use the remote control FS to assign a table of the respective types of control features to the respective one

To keep the device type available so that, for example to control the device E2, the control features of the device E3 are not loaded, or the assignment must first be queried via the communication network DN. In this context, it is also conceivable that the respective devices can be loaded with new software using the remote control FS, if the devices are controlled by software, via the individual databases. Since the communication network is implemented, for example, as the Internet, the respective device can be addressed using the PC using the addressing options mentioned and the user interface is transferred from the database to the PC using JAVA-Script, from database AA, or BB. In the event that the user interface is not made available directly by the respective device, but is loaded by a server, as illustrated here by databases AA and BB, this should be ensured that the software has been transferred correctly. After the embossing process, i.e. the transfer of the user interface and the control features, the remote control can initiate a new connection to the respective remote-controlled device, this connection may be made via the radio network or via the fixed communication network, depending on the available and available communication options. It should be noted here that if the device is connected to a PBX, this can be viewed as a digital terminal. In the event that this switching system is designed as an integrated data service network (ISDN), for example, the data to be exchanged are exchanged via the B channel of the ISDN. In the case of a local area network, for example, the internet protocol can be provided for the exchange of data. The same applies to the use of cellular radio networks. A data server (AA, BB) can be connected, for example, as an ISDN terminal or via its IP address.

Claims

claims

1. Method for wireless control of at least two different devices with the following features:

a) An identification feature of a device to be controlled (E1, E2, E3) is determined in the functional area of a remote control (FS) which serves to control devices and can be shaped by control features;

b) a device type (E1, E2, E3) of the device to be controlled (E1, E2, E3) is identified on the basis of the identification feature; the remote control (FS) is shaped based on the identified device type (E1, E2, E3).

2. The method according to claim 1, in which a code provided on the device is used as the identification feature.

3. The method according to claim 1, in which the location of the remote control is used as an identification feature, and via this location in connection with a map of the facilities

(E1, E2, E3) the device type (E1, E2, E3) is identified.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is determined using a global positioning system.

5. The method according to any one of claims 3 or 4, in which the remote control (FS) is integrated into a cellular, wireless communication network (I, II, III, IV) and the location is determined on the basis of the spatial position of the cell of the communication network which is a communication with the remote control

(FS) is possible.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the embossable control features in the device

(E1, E2, E3) are available.

7. The method as claimed in one of claims 1 to 5, in which the control features are kept separate in a database (AA, BB, lb, 2b, 3b) according to the control feature type, which is provided by the remote control (FS) via a communication network

(DN, F10-F30, D10-D40) can be reached.

8. The method according to claim 7, in which an assignment of control feature type to device type (E1, E2, E3) is used in the embossable remote control (FS), and from the remote control (FS) by means of this assignment and a communication network (DN , F10-F30, D10-D40) in which the remote control (FS) is integrated, the embossing of the control / or device (E1, E2, E3) is initiated with the control features.

9. System for the wireless control of at least two different devices (E1, E2, E3) with method features according to one of claims 1 to 8 and the following features:

a) As an embossable remote control, it has a portable personal computer; b) as facilities it has machines; c) as communication networks, it has at least one or more networks from the following selection:

Local Area Network (LAN), Integrated Digital Services Network (ISDN), an extension communication network (PBX) with DECT functionality, a cellular radio network.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the defining control features are implemented in the form of software.