Does this IR product exist, or could something be built?

[[email protected]]

Hi,

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever. All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control. You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven. And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Is there some kind of device that would enable this functionality?
The only thing I can think of is to put IR targets in different
physical positions around the room, and relay the signals to each
device. But that is a pain when all your equipment is in a single
rack.

Does something to solve this problem exist, or could it be built using
STAMPs, etc?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tim Wescott]

Hi,

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever. All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control. You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven. And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Is there some kind of device that would enable this functionality? The
only thing I can think of is to put IR targets in different physical
positions around the room, and relay the signals to each device. But
that is a pain when all your equipment is in a single rack.

Does something to solve this problem exist, or could it be built using
STAMPs, etc?

Thanks in advance.

All I can think of is a mechanical arrangement that pulls a shield away
from the IR receiver of the device you want to talk to -- but then you'd
need another remote to talk to the controller for the switch.

Perhaps there are some pro audio equipment that support IR addressing?

--
Tim Wescott
Control systems and communications consulting
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott
Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

 

[PeterD]

Hi,

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever. All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control. You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven. And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Is there some kind of device that would enable this functionality?
The only thing I can think of is to put IR targets in different
physical positions around the room, and relay the signals to each
device. But that is a pain when all your equipment is in a single
rack.

Does something to solve this problem exist, or could it be built using
STAMPs, etc?

Thanks in advance.

I certainly could build something like this, but it wuold not be
cheap... Think along the lines of a device that receives all the
remote inputs, and that device routes the codes to the desired unit.
Each unit's IR input port would only be able to see the device's
output port. So with the remote you'd have to press a button to start
the process, then a number for the unit, then the command for that
unit.

 

[D from BC]

Hi,

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever. All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control. You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven. And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Is there some kind of device that would enable this functionality?
The only thing I can think of is to put IR targets in different
physical positions around the room, and relay the signals to each
device. But that is a pain when all your equipment is in a single
rack.

Does something to solve this problem exist, or could it be built using
STAMPs, etc?

Thanks in advance.

Addressable repeaters came to mind.

IR light
IR Xmitter-------address 1-------->IR in>IR out>CD1
+------address 2-------->IR in>IR out>CD2
+------address 3-------->IR in>IR out>CD3

 

[J.A. Legris]

Hi,

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever.  All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control.  You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven.  And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Is there some kind of device that would enable this functionality?
The only thing I can think of is to put IR targets in different
physical positions around the room, and relay the signals to each
device.  But that is a pain when all your equipment is in a single
rack.

Does something to solve this problem exist, or could it be built using
STAMPs, etc?

Thanks in advance.

Keep it simple. Use fiber-optic cables to extend each CD player's IR
port, terminating at one of N holes drilled into a panel of wood
located at your control panel. Each hole provides a target for you to
independently aim your remote at close range. You may have to reduce
the signal strength (possibly using aluminum foil and some tape) to
eliminate crosstalk between the holes or across the room.

 

[Reactor]

I certainly could build something like this, but it wuold not be
cheap... Think along the lines of a device that receives all the
remote inputs, and that device routes the codes to the desired unit.
Each unit's IR input port would only be able to see the device's
output port. So with the remote you'd have to press a button to start
the process, then a number for the unit, then the command for that
unit.

Peter,

Thanks for your response. Is the high cost in the build or in the design of
the circuitry?

 

[Reactor]

Addressable repeaters came to mind.

IR light
IR Xmitter-------address 1-------->IR in>IR out>CD1
+------address 2-------->IR in>IR out>CD2
+------address 3-------->IR in>IR out>CD3
.
.
.
Block each CD IR receiver with an addressable IR repeater.
Each repeater has a IR detector, IR LED + other goodies.


D from BC
British Columbia
Canada.

D,

Thanks for the response. Do these addressable repeaters exist, or would it
have to be custom built? If they exist can you point me to a source?

 

[Reactor]

Hi,

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever. All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control. You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven. And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Is there some kind of device that would enable this functionality?
The only thing I can think of is to put IR targets in different
physical positions around the room, and relay the signals to each
device. But that is a pain when all your equipment is in a single
rack.

Does something to solve this problem exist, or could it be built using
STAMPs, etc?

Thanks in advance.

Keep it simple. Use fiber-optic cables to extend each CD player's IR
port, terminating at one of N holes drilled into a panel of wood
located at your control panel. Each hole provides a target for you to
independently aim your remote at close range. You may have to reduce
the signal strength (possibly using aluminum foil and some tape) to
eliminate crosstalk between the holes or across the room.

--
Joe

Joe,

Thanks for your response. This is in interesting and certainly very
inexpensive solution. A little more clunky than my client will want, but if
there's no other way . . . . .

 

[Reactor]

By the way everyone, I posted under two aliases when I shouldn't have.
Apologies.

Bruce.

 

[D from BC]

D,

Thanks for the response. Do these addressable repeaters exist, or would it
have to be custom built? If they exist can you point me to a source?

I believe it's a custom thing. But who knows, something might pop up
from a Google search.
Same goes for the RC transmitter.

Gave it some more thought...
wires
IR light |-->IR LED>>CD 1
IR Xmitter->address + code-->central receiver+-->IR LED>>CD 2
|-->IR LED>>CD 3

Block all the IR detectors on all the CD's with an IR LED.
Let a single receiver do all the work.

D from BC
British Columbia
Canada.

 

[John Larkin]

Hi,

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever. All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control. You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven. And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Is there some kind of device that would enable this functionality?
The only thing I can think of is to put IR targets in different
physical positions around the room, and relay the signals to each
device. But that is a pain when all your equipment is in a single
rack.

Does something to solve this problem exist, or could it be built using
STAMPs, etc?

Thanks in advance.

A lens could concentrate and collimate the ir from a single remote, so
it hit only one receiver. Add a laser pointer for fun.

John

 

[Gordon S. Hlavenka]

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever. All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control. You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven. And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Howsabout a backwards solution?

Put an IR LED directly in front of each device's receiver. Initially
all 8 LEDs will emit a signal. Maybe DC would be enough, or maybe you
need to modulate it at 30 or 40 KHz. Anyway, it's enough so that no
device can understand any IR coming from anywhere else; they're all
completely swamped by the LEDs you've added. You put a little tube
around the jammer LEDs, so that each one only jams its own CD player.
But both ends of the tube are open so that IR from the room can still
get to the CD player's IR receiver.

At your easy chair you have a special IR remote, with 8 buttons on it.
When you push button #1 on this second remote, it causes the "jamming"
LED on CD player #1 to turn off. Now you can happily push whatever
buttons you want to on any one copy of the remote that would ordinarily
control all 8 CD players and only CD player #1 will respond, because the
rest of them are still blinded.

Etc.

So what you have to build is this remote-controlled 8-channel IR jammer.

 

[Keith]

Hi,

Let's say you have an A/V cabinet with 8 copies of the same device.
Could be a DVD, VCR, CD Player, whatever. All devices are the same
brand and model number, and are controlled by an IR-based remote
control.

For this description lets say these are all CD players.

You want to change the track on one of the players in the stack, with
the remote control. You do not want to change a thing on any of the
other seven. And you need this functionality to happen from 10 - 15
feet away, so walking up to the stack and putting the remote an inch
away from the IR receiver is out.

Is there some kind of device that would enable this functionality?
The only thing I can think of is to put IR targets in different
physical positions around the room, and relay the signals to each
device. But that is a pain when all your equipment is in a single
rack.

Does something to solve this problem exist, or could it be built using
STAMPs, etc?

Thanks in advance.

You can install small incandescent lamps near each IR receiver.
A 6V bulb run from 12V will last more or less forever and will
glow visiblly (but mostly infra red) and will 'blind' the
adjacent IR receiver.

How you select which device isn't blinded is another issue, but
the basic technique may be useful.

Cheers

 

[Reactor]

[email protected] wrote in message

Google for IR router

BG,

Thanks! I Googled just about everything BUT router. Found it within
seconds.

 

[Reactor]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I found what I need and appreciate your
efforts.

 

[D from BC]

You can install small incandescent lamps near each IR receiver.
A 6V bulb run from 12V will last more or less forever and will
glow visiblly (but mostly infra red) and will 'blind' the
adjacent IR receiver.

How you select which device isn't blinded is another issue, but
the basic technique may be useful.

Cheers

Huh... A blank out selection method.
I got a spin off idea..


<========LCD Shutter
|
| CD1 IR detector
| (|=
|

<========LCD Shutter
|
| CD2 IR detector
| (|=
|

Oops forget that idea...
As per
http://www.liquidcrystaltechnologies.com/tech_support/LCDShutterConsiderations.htm

"
7) What if I want the shutter to operate in the IR? UV?

-- We can make a shutter that operates in the IR, but it will be
extremely expensive. The materials needed to operate in the IR are all
special order and are very expensive. They do however work very well.
"

Using bulbs or IR LED's for blinding the IR detector would be cheaper
and easier to get.


D from BC
British Columbia
Canada.

 

[J.A. Legris]

Keep it simple. Use fiber-optic cables to extend each CD player's IR
port, terminating at one of N holes drilled into a panel of wood
located at your control panel. Each hole provides a target for you to
independently aim your remote at close range. You may have to reduce
the signal strength (possibly using aluminum foil and some tape) to
eliminate crosstalk between the holes or across the room.

--
Joe

Joe,

Thanks for your response.  This is in interesting and certainly very
inexpensive solution.  A little more clunky than my client will want, but if
there's no other way . . . . .

Oh, there's a client. Use anodized aluminum instead of wood.