Remote controls that employ the new Radio Frequency for Consumer Electronics (RF4CE) standard will eliminate the line-of-sight limitations of infrared devices and dramatically reduce the number of buttons needed to control various A/V systems, such as televisions and DVD players. Hillcrest Labs and Texas Instruments demonstrated some of the first of these remote controls at the 2009 International CES.
The devices, which combine Hillcrest’s Freespace technology and TI’s RemoTI network protocol, show how consumer electronics companies can create pointer-based remote controls. Freespace technology enables manufacturers and service providers to embed pointing and motion control into a wide range of handheld devices. Hillcrest’s iconic device is the Loop Pointer, which uses just two buttons and a scroll wheel to control on-screen applications. RF remotes also support more advanced features, such as in-air pointing, for enhanced entertainment experiences based on bi-directional communication capabilities.
“With RF4CE, consumers can expect remote control interoperability, richer features, and far more robust ways to control their in-home entertainment experiences,” said Chad Lucien, vice president of Freespace products and corporate strategy at Hillcrest Labs. “They are also now free to place their CE devices out-of-sight in their homes.”
The RF4CE standard is backed by the RF4CE Consortium, whose members include Panasonic, Philips, Samsung Electronics, Sony Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor, OKI, and Texas Instruments.
Hillcrest Labs
www.hillcrestlabs.com
Texas Instruments
www.ti.com