Remote Control for Multimedia Home Entertainment - Case Study Example

First Last Number: Remote Control for Multi - media Home Entertainment II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In the current scenario, home entertainment has been gradually transforming into multi-media home entrainment system. Such transformation has created inconvenience for users to control home entertainment appliances using different remote controls. Thus, the report intends at building a universal remote control that would resolve this problem faced by the people. Correspondingly, the reports aims at building a universal remote control that would facilitate the people to operate and control their multi-media home entertainment system using single remote control. In order to achieve this aim, the data in the report were collected from secondary sources that included lately published journal and articles. The data collected from the different sources were used to assess the design for building the universal remote and determine the alternative designs. Furthermore, the report uses linking procedure. Initially, the prototype of the remote was designed, which was tested based on designed criteria. With respect to the analysis of the data, the prototype was retested and redesigned. The report also highlights the constraints such as technical, management and time constraints associated with the development of a universal remote control. Significant attention was laid on the design factor. In this regard, the width, height and length of the new remote control equals to 2.2 inches, 1 inch and 8.5 inches respectively. This universal remote control unit can be used to operate and control TV, amplifier, Blu-ray, satellite or cable box and sound system among others. In addition, the remote can also be used as game controlling device. One of the major advantages of this report is that it contains few buttons. III. GOALS OF THE PROJECT The increasing heterogeneous home entertainment devices reveal that users often prefer ubiquitous access of the application rather than physically moving to the nearest control point. Nevertheless, the evolution of remote can be seen to eliminate this problem of the users to a considerable extent. The development of the remote control for numerous devices undoubtedly saves considerable time and offers flexibility to the users. However, in the recent times with the continuous advancement in the technologies, home entertainment has transformed into a multi-media approach. Correspondingly, users are currently more interested in accessing multiple facilities using single home entertainment system or application. As a result, many homes in the present world have incorporated gaming and other devices in their home entertainment environments. Nevertheless, integration of numerous media into a single home entertainment system has created a requirement for a universal remote control unit. Precisely stating people wants to operate and control all home entertainment devices with one single universal remote control unit (Kim, Lee and Chung 2537-2542). With this concern, the project aims to develop a universal remote control that would enable all people to control their multimedia home entertainment with the use of single universal remote control unit. In order the supplement the aims of the project, the three objectives has been established. The objectives of the project are provided hereunder. To find out how the various entertainment devices should be integrated and controlled To determine the ways through which unified multi-media entertainment system can be designed To develop an infra-red universal remote control unit IV. METHODOLOGY The aim of the project is to develop a universal remote control for multi-media home entertainment. With this device, individuals can control multi-media home entertainment applications using single remote control unit. Thus, in order to meet the project aims and objectives, extensive research was conducted. More importantly, selection of suitable methods of data collection is very important for any project. This is due to the fact the legitimacy of any project generally depends on the consistency and reliability of data gathered from multiple sources. There are generally two broad methods of data collection applied in a study, which include primary data collection method and secondary data collection method. Correspondingly, primary data represents the first hand or fresh data, which has not yet used. The primary data are derived from interview, questionnaire survey and observation among others. On the other hand, secondary data usually involves reinterpretation of data or the works of others. The methods of secondary data mainly entail review of lately published journal, articles and reports. With respect to this project, an extensive review of literature was undertaken. The use of secondary data was considered for this project. The secondary data was compiled from reputed and lately published journals, articles and business reports such as IEEE Transaction on Consumer Electronics. The data collected for this project included specification sheets relevant to a universal remote control unit, design drawings and delivery requirements along with projections statement regarding how the product will perform (Nicholson and Bennett 1-9). The data compiled from variety of sources were used to assess the different possible designs before proceeding with the development of a universal remote control for multi-media home entertainment. At the same time, it is often very cheaper as well as faster to investigate alternatives prior to developing a new product. In addition, the secondary data were reviewed to develop a good plan necessary for uncovering the potential problems that may consume considerable time as well as more expenditure (Delgado, Picking and Grout 1-10). A flow diagram was applied to represent the development process related to universal remote control unit. The flow diagram was used to better comprehend the development process of the remote control for multi-media home entertainment. In order to eliminate any possible drawbacks related to the development of a universal remote control unit, a linking procedure was designed based on the two primary objectives. Firstly, communication between the control device and any target appliance based on the solo mechanism was established, which would not require user to remember any code. Secondly, the hardware component that would be used in the development of a universal remote control unit would be simple. After compiling the data from numerous sources and converting the relevant data pertaining to the development of a universal remote for multi-media home entertainment into flow diagram was developed (Choy 1089-1094). The preliminary designed was developed to acquire understanding regarding the pros and cons of the design as well as to grab more ideas that would facilitate in the development of a universal remote for multi-media home entertainment with less time and at minimum expenditure. Subsequently, a prototype was build as the functional model in order to measure the development of the remote according to the preliminary design. Besides, the prototype was developed to ensure whether all design criteria are fulfilled or not. In this project, the analysis was performed in the form of product test and redesign. The prototype developed was tested to acquire definite information on the characteristic of the prototype universal remote unit. Subsequently, the prototype universal remote control was redesigned to eliminate the flaws identified during the prototype testing (Science Buddies, “Engineering & Programming Project Tips”). Timeline. The timeline for the different activities necessary for building a universal remote control has been depicted below. ID Task Name Month1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month6 Month 7 1 Data Collection               2 Establishing Design Criteria               3 Preparing Preliminary Designs               4 Building and Testing a Prototype               5 Testing & Redesigning               6 Presentation of Findings and Results               Resource Constraints. Three types of constraints were identified with respect to this project. These constraints included technical limitations, management constraints and time constraints. In this regard, technical constraints related to this project included difficulties of scheduling the tasks necessary for building a universal remote control unit. In the similar manner, the management constraints related to this project was associated with procurement and management of financial resources necessary for carrying out the project. Next, the time constraint was the major limitations imposed to this project. Notably, the limited time frame available for the completion of this project created significant pressure to complete the project on the earliest date. V. RESULTS In the present scenario, people are required to keep different remote controls for controlling various home appliances and home entertainment systems. Truly stating, the connectional remote controls are not flexible enough to meet the needs of people in the current environment. Thus, the development of the universal remote control unit will facilitate people with numerous benefits and flexibility. There are already numerous universal remote controls available in the market place, but still these remotes have certain limitations such as they contains several buttons, which is often confusing for users to use. Thus, one of the potential benefits of this universal remote control is that it contains few buttons only through which people can control their home entertainment device at single click without any confusion. It is very easy to operate, as it can be easily operated by children as well. With the use of this remote control, users can change and control TV channels and the room temperature with utmost ease. In addition, this universal remote control can be used as a game controller device, making the game more fun and impressive than earlier. The remote is also equipped with touch screen color display, which is one of the potential advantages of this remote as compared to other remotes readily available in the market place. The universal remote control is indeed very efficient as well as intuitive interface that would facilitate in better control of users’ integrated home entertainment systems. Nevertheless, one of the major drawbacks of this universal remote control unit is that unlike conventional remote controls, it is comparatively bulky. As far as design of this universal remote control unit is concerned, significant attention was laid on its size. Thus, the size of this remote is relatively smaller than other universal remote controls available in the market. Moreover, unlike other remotes that contain too many buttons, this universal control contains few buttons that can be used by the users to control their multimedia home entertainment system. At the same time, the look of the remote is elegant and support moving distance of 30 meters (Kim, Park, Cho and Park 913-918). Cost/ Benefit Analysis. The below is the forecasted budget of developing one universal remote control. Accordingly, the total cost associated with the development of one universal remote control is ascertained to be £75. Similarly, it is anticipated that the selling price of one universal remote control would be £100 thereby attaining cost saving of £25. In addition, developing a universal remote control is considered to be beneficial, as it will facilitate in attaining the customers attention due to its elegant design and features. Items   Project Cost:   Material cost £30 Personnel Cost £45 Total Cost £75 Benefits:   Intangible benefits Increased Customer Confidence Tangible benefits   Revenue £100 Return on Investment £25 VI. RECOMMENDATIONS The aim of this project was to develop universal remote control units that would facilitate the users to operate and control their multi-media home entertainment with the use of single remote. The universal remote control will be designed to control multiple receivers based on infrared frequency. The universal remote has external antennas placed at the top of it to receive signals. Besides, this universal remote would support TV, amplifier, DVD player, DVR/VCR, Blu-ray satellite or cable box, sound system and projectors. In addition, the remote can be also used as the game controller for gaming device. The design of the remote is simple but quite bulky as compared to conventional remote controls. The overall body of the remote is important factor and thus, significant attention has been laid to it. The body and the look of the remote are elegant and sleek while at the same time it is practical. In addition, the touch screen and the color display are other major features of this remote. Notably, remote should be lengthy. Thus, in order to make the remote more elegant and beautiful, focus has been laid on its length, width and height. The width of this remote is 2.2 inches, height equals to 1 inch and length of this remote is 8.5 inches. The remote can be run on 2 AA type batteries. In addition, the remote also consists of help button assistance for users in case any problem is occurred or faced by the users while using the remote. Below is the prototype of the universal remote control for multi-media home entertainment. Fig: 1 Works Cited Choy, C. S. “An Infra-Red Remote Control System Designed For Universal Control.” IEEE Transaction on Consumer Electronics 41.4 (1995): 1089-1094. Print. Delgado, Armando Roy, Rich Picking and Vic Grout. “Remote-Controlled Home Automation Systems with Different Network Technologies.” Centre for Applied Internet Research (2014): 1-10. Print. Kim, Taewan, Hakjoon Lee, and Yunmo Chung. Advanced Universal Remote Controller for Home Automation and Security.” IEEE Transaction on Consumer Electronics 56.4 (2010): 2537-2542. Print. Kim, Laehyun, Wanjoo Park, Hyunchul Cho and Sehyung Park. “A Universal Remote Control with Haptic Interface for Customer Electronic Devices.” IEEE Transaction on Consumer Electronics 56.2 (2010): 913-918. Print. Nicholson, S. W., and T. B. Bennett. “Transparent Practices: Primary and Secondary Data in Business Ethics Dissertations.” Journal of Business Ethics (2008): 1-9. Print. “Engineering & Programming Project Tips.” Science Buddies. 2014. Web. Nov 25. 2014. Read More