Will the remote control get better?

The other day, the corporate alliance ZigBee Alliance announced the readiness of a new standard for radio frequency communication, called the ZigBee Input Device, and will replace infrared radiation in input devices. The development directly relates to remote controls for household appliances, which, as we know, are very imperfect. And the batteries in them run out relatively quickly, and the signal transmission is not very perfect, which causes not only minor problems, but also very annoying. In general, the ZigBee Input Device, hopefully, will allow tomorrow's remote controls to come into being.

What does the new standard “know”? For example, it provides a much larger than before, the range of the remote control, so that the reliability of controlling the device increases, plus you can even work with household appliances from the next room, i.e. through the wall. In principle, this can come in handy if you need to turn off the TV forgotten below or in the next room. We can also assume that all kinds of pranksters will begin to massively mock their neighbors, acquiring universal remotes, and turn off / on all in a row. I wonder if the communication standard provides something to protect against such situations?

Of the advantages of the standard, one can also distinguish significantly less power consumption by the remote control, so now the batteries will last for a long time. Of course, the unexpectedness of discharging batteries will not be more pleasant, but at least the batteries / battery charge cycles will be required less than before.

In addition, the most pleasant feature is that it will now be possible two-way communication between the input device and the device. It is clear that such a function will really find wide application. For example, a remote control or device will respond to any changes in the environment by adjusting the corresponding parameters of the device.

The developers claim that the ZigBee Input Device standard will be implemented not only for remote controls, but will also be used in other input devices, such as wireless keyboards, mice, touchpads and other devices. Unfortunately, the alliance has not yet announced when it is possible to expect the appearance of devices with a new standard.

Via hothardware