"aim-aware" wireless?

[dpopiz]

I'm trying to think of some way to give wireless devices a sense of aim.

example:
I have a simple remote control with only two buttons: vol up, vol down. It would be cool if I could say, turn down the TV by pointing at the TV, and then turn up the stereo by pointing it at the stereo.

YES, IR does this exactly, but there are two probs:
1. IR still does not go through solid objects, and does not receive from all directions. what if I'm standing somewhere to the rear of the TV and I want to turn it down?
2. IR is too "dumb". I think in this day and age, we need something that capable of talking to more than one device at once and communicating large complicated data streams without unrecoverable errors


so, any ideas on how this would be accomplished? perhaps modeling locations based on the data from multiple radio tranceivers? based on signal strength? a focused propogation beam instead of propgating in all directions?

 

[everman]

I think the words you're looking for is context sensitive. You can use gyroscopes and accelerometers to keep track of where it goes and where it's pointing.

 

[dpopiz]

Originally posted by: everman
I think the words you're looking for is context sensitive. You can use gyroscopes and accelerometers to keep track of where it goes and where it's pointing.

that would work, but then the device would have to know beforehand where everything else is in the vicinity.

the best solution I can come up with is a focused beam of radiation. But I'm not sure how easy that would be to accomplish -- it would have to be sort of "focused beam without a focal point", like a laser but a little bit larger.

 

[harrkev]

The only way that this would work would be to have the components "talk" to each other. Your TV and your Stereo would have to understand each other's codes. And they would have to be able to compare notes to see which one has the stronger signal. This means another cable going from your TV to your stereo.

So, it might be possible at a reasonable price. But there would still be a price increase. And the manufacturer would have to figure out if the price increase was worth it. Also, I can assume that if this ever did happen, only one manufacturer would make it. This means that all of your equipemnt would have to be replaced in order to reap any benefits. If you are like most people, you are not going to dump all of your exisitng equipment in order to make this happen. So there is little incentive for a manufacturer to produce this.

 

[MrDudeMan]

get a universal remote and program in the buttons...this has already been thought of and IR works fine