Methods for controlling an electric device using a control apparatus
An electrical switch apparatus including a movement sensitive form is disclosed. The apparatus includes a housing, a motion sensor and a processing unit, where motion on, near or about the motion sensor is translated into output commands adapted for list scrolling, where the list can be arranged in a hierarchy such as menus or for changing a value of an attribute of a electrical device under the control of the switch.
1. A method for manipulating an electrical device comprising:
sensing motion via a motion sensor;
producing an output signal corresponding to the sensed motion;
converting the output signal via a processing unit in communication with the motion sensor into a command function based on the sensed motion and changes in a direction of the sensed motion, where the command function is a scroll function or a simultaneous select and activate function, and
controlling one object or a plurality of objects in electronic communication with the processing unit, where the processing unit includes an object list having an object identifier for each object and an object specific attribute list for each object having one adjustable attribute or a plurality of adjustable attributes, where each object specific attribute has an attribute identifier,
where the simultaneous select and activate function comprises a select and scroll function or a select and attribute control function,
where motion in a first direction causes the processing unit to issue a scroll function for scrolling through the object list and where a change in a direction of the motion corresponding to a second direction of motion, sufficiently different from the first direction of motion to allow motion discrimination by either the processing unit or motion sensor, which causes the processing unit to simultaneously select an object from the object list and activate the selected object, where the object is either an attribute list or an attribute and where the processing unit issues a corresponding scroll function or an attribute control function, and
sensing a change in a direction of the motion corresponding to a second direction of motion, sufficiently different from the first direction of motion to allow motion discrimination by either the processing unit or motion sensor, causes the processing unit to simultaneously select an object from the object list and activate the selected object, where the object is either an attribute list or an attribute and where the processing unit issue a corresponding scroll function or an attribute control function.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the motion sensor includes an optical sensor, a touch sensitive surface, a touchless surface, a rotatable device, or mixtures and combinations thereof.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the objects include lighting devices, cameras, ovens, dishwashers, stoves, sound systems, display systems, alarm systems, control systems, medical devices, robots, robotic control systems, hot and cold water supply devices, air conditioning systems, heating systems, ventilation systems, air handling systems, computers and computer systems, chemical plant control systems, computer operating systems and other software systems, remote control systems, or mixtures and combinations thereof.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein one of the objects has a single controllable attribute and motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to either increase or decrease a value of its single controllable attribute depending on the motion in the second direction being in a direction of increasing attribute value or decreasing attribute value.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein one of the objects has a plurality of adjustable attributes and motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to issue a scroll function for scrolling through its object specific attribute list, and motion in a third direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select an attribute from its object specific attribute list and to either increase or decrease a value of the attribute depending on the motion in the third direction being in a direction of increasing attribute value or decreasing attribute value, where the second direction and the third direction are different in an amount sufficient to allow direction discrimination.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein if one of the objects has no controllable attribute, then motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to and activate it.
7. A method of manipulating an electrical switch apparatus comprising:
providing a switch including:
a user interface having a motion sensor capable of producing an output signal, in response to: (a) motion, in any direction, of the motion sensor, or a component of the motion sensor, or (b) motion, in any direction, of a human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor, a body part of a human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor, or an object under control of the human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor, and
a processing unit in electric communication with the motion sensor, which converts the output signal into a control function, where the sensor output is based solely on the sensed motion, and where the command function comprises a scroll function or a simultaneous select and activate function, and
controlling one object or a plurality of objects in electrical communication with the processing unit, where the processing unit includes an object list having an object identifier for each object and an object specific attribute list for each object having a plurality of attributes, where each object specific attribute has an attribute identifier,
where the simultaneous select and activate function comprises a select and scroll function or a select and attribute control function and
sensing motion in a first direction causing the processing unit to issue a scroll function for scrolling through the object list and
sensing a change in a direction of the motion corresponding to a second direction of motion, sufficiently different from the first direction of motion to allow motion discrimination by either the processing unit or motion sensor, causes the processing unit to simultaneously select an object from the object list and activate the selected object, where the object is either an attribute list or an attribute and where the processing unit issue a corresponding scroll function or an attribute control function.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the motion sensor includes an optical sensor, touch sensitive surface, touchless surface, rotatable device, or combinations thereof.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the objects include lighting devices, cameras, ovens, dishwashers, stoves, sound systems, display systems, alarm systems, control systems, medical devices, robots, robotic control systems, hot and cold water supply devices, air conditioning systems, heating systems, ventilation systems, air handling systems, computers and computer systems, chemical plant control systems, computer operating systems and other software systems, remote control systems, or combinations thereof.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein one of the objects has a single controllable attribute and motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to either increase or decrease a value of its single controllable attribute depending on the motion in the second direction being in a direction of increasing attribute value or decreasing attribute value.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein one of the objects has a plurality of adjustable attributes and motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to issue a scroll function for scrolling through its object specific attribute list, and motion in a third direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select an attribute from its object specific attribute list and to either increase or decrease a value of the attribute depending on the motion in the third direction being in a direction of increasing attribute value or decreasing attribute value, where the second direction and the third direction are different in an amount sufficient to allow direction discrimination.
12. The method of claim 7 , wherein if one of the objects has no controllable attribute, then motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to and activate it.
13. A method for controlling an electrical device comprising: providing a plurality of device switches, each of the switches including a user interface having a motion sensor capable of producing an output signal,
in response to: (a) motion, in any direction, of the motion sensor, or a component of the motion sensor, or (b) motion, in any direction, of a human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor, a body part of a human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor, or an object under control of a human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor,
a processing unit in electric communication with the motion sensor, which converts the output signal into a control function, where the sensor output is based solely on the sensed motion, and where the command function comprises a scroll function or a simultaneous select and activate function and where the simultaneous select and activate function comprises a select and scroll function or a select and attribute control function, and
each of the switches is in electrical communication with and controls a plurality of objects,
where each of the objects includes at least one adjustable attribute,
where the processing unit includes an object list having an object identifier for each object and an object specific attribute list for each object having a plurality of attributes, where each object specific attribute has an attribute identifier,
where motion in a first direction causes the processing unit to issue a scroll function for scrolling through the object list and
where a change in a direction of the motion corresponding to a second direction of motion, sufficiently different from the first direction of motion to allow motion discrimination by either the processing unit or motion sensor, causes the processing unit to simultaneously select an object from the object list and activate the selected object, where the object is either an attribute list or an attribute and where the processing unit issue a corresponding scroll function or an attribute control function.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising a remote control unit in communication with each of the switches and designed to provide remote control of the switches and the devices.
15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising a control unit in communication with each of the switches and designed to provide centralized control of the switches and the devices.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising a remote control unit in communication with the control unit to provide remote control of the control unit, all of the switches and all of the devices.
17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the motion sensor includes an optical sensor, a touch sensitive surface, a touchless surface, a rotatable device, or combinations thereof.
18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the objects include lighting devices, cameras, ovens, dishwashers, stoves, sound systems, display systems, alarm systems, control systems, medical devices, robots, robotic control systems, hot and cold water supply devices, air conditioning systems, heating systems, ventilation systems, air handling systems, computers and computer systems, chemical plant control systems, computer operating systems and other software systems, remote control systems, or combinations thereof.
19. The method of claim 13 , wherein one of the objects has a single controllable attribute and motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to either increase or decrease a value of its single controllable attribute depending on the motion in the second direction being in a direction of increasing attribute value or decreasing attribute value.
20. The method of claim 13 , wherein one of the objects has a plurality of adjustable attributes and motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to issue a scroll function for scrolling through its object specific attribute list, and motion in a third direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select an attribute from its object specific attribute list and to either increase or decrease a value of the attribute depending on the motion in the third direction being in a direction of increasing attribute value or decreasing attribute value, where the second direction and the third direction are different in an amount sufficient to allow direction discrimination.
21. The method of claim 13 , wherein if one of the objects has no controllable attribute, then motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to and activate it.
22. A method for controlling objects comprising
providing a user interface for communicating with a user,
providing a motion sensor capable of producing an output signal, in response to: (a) motion, in any direction, of the motion sensor or a component of the motion sensor, or (b) motion, in any direction, of a human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor, a body part of a human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor, or an object under control of a human within a motion sensing zone of the motion sensor, and
providing a processing unit in electric communication with the motion sensor, which converts the output signal into a control function, where the sensor output is based solely on the sensed motion, where the command function comprises a scroll function or a simultaneous select and activate function, where the simultaneous select and activate function comprises a select and scroll function or a select and attribute control function, where the processing unit includes an object list having an object identifier for each controlled object and an object specific attribute list for each controlled object having a plurality of attributes, and where each object specific attribute has an attribute identifier, and
controlling one object or a plurality of objects via the interface,
sensing motion in a first direction via the motion sensor and causing the processing unit to issue a scroll function for scrolling through the object list,
sensing a change in a direction of the motion corresponding to a second direction of motion,
sufficiently different from the first direction of motion to allow motion discrimination by either the processing unit or motion sensor, causes the processing unit to simultaneously select an object from the object list and activate the selected object, where the object is either an attribute list or an attribute and where the processing unit issue a corresponding scroll function or an attribute control function.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the objects include sound systems, display systems, alarm systems, control systems, medical devices, robots, robotic control systems, hot and cold water supply devices, air conditioning systems, heating systems, ventilation systems, air handling systems, computers and computer systems, chemical plant control systems, computer operating systems and other software systems, and combinations thereof.
24. The method of claim 22 , further comprising
providing a plurality of motion sensors, where each motion sensor controls one or more of the objects and the processing unit includes a list of motion sensors and the object list comprises a plurality of object sublists, one for each motion sensor.
25. The method of claim 24 , wherein motion in a first direction causes the processing unit to issue a scroll function for scrolling through the list of motion sensors, motion in a second direction causes the processing unit to simultaneously select a particular motion sensor from the list of motion sensors and to scroll through its object sublist, motion in a third direction causes the processing unit to simultaneously select an object from the object sublist and to scroll through its object specific attribute list, and motion in a fourth direction causes the processing unit to simultaneously selects an attribute form the object specific attribute list and to either increases or decrease the attribute depending on the motion in the third direction being in a direction of increasing attribute value or decreasing attribute value, where the first direction and the second directions are different by an amount sufficient to allow direction discrimination, the second direction and third direction are different an amount sufficient to allow direction discrimination, and the third direction and the fourth direction are different an amount sufficient to allow direction discrimination.
26. The method of claim 24 , further comprising
a remote control unit in communication with each of the motion sensors and designed to provide remote control of the motion sensors and the devices they control.
27. The method of claim 24 , further comprising
a control unit in communication with each of the motion sensors and designed to provide centralized control of the motion sensors and the devices they control.
28. The method of claim 27 , further comprising
a remote control unit in communication with the control unit to provide remote control of the control unit, all of the motion sensing apparatuses and the devices they control.
29. The method of claim 22 , wherein if one of the objects has no controllable attribute, then motion in the second direction simultaneously causes the processing unit to select the object and to and activate it.