History of the remote:

• The remote is defined as “operating or controlled from a distance... far apart... distant in relationship or
connection” (‘Remote’, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/remote, date accessed 06/05/09)
(The great idea finder, 2006, ‘Remote control’, http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/remotectl.htm, date
accessed06/05/09)

Brief overlook of the history (American):

1. Remote control was originally used in military (and still today) for weapons and unmanned vehicles.
2. After the war, America invested in the technology for public use. In 1940’s, the remote control garage door
was created, with the first TV remotes being created in the 1950’s.
3. First TV remote was called the ‘lazy bones’, developed by Zenith Electronics in 1950. It used a cable from the
TV set to the viewer, by which motors in the TV operated the controls when activated by the remote. This
proved to be a problem with the large meander of wire across the room.

Figure 1: The lazy bone remote controller advertisement.

(Cnet News/Zenith, ‘Photos: clickers live forever',
http://news.cnet.com/2300-1041_3-6161055-2.html, date
accessed 06/05/09)

4. In 1955, Flashmatic developed the first

wireless remote for TV. Invented by Eugene
Polley, it used four photo cells displayed
around the TV cabinet screen. There were
limitations though, in that the photo cells
could be easily interfered with, i.e., by
sunlight.
5. Zenith management looked to develop further and through about radio waves, however, these would then
make it possible to control sets in adjacent houses. Specific sound frequencies were considered, however,
these were considered to be a possible nuisances or be easily imitated accidentally.
6. Dr. Robert Alder suggested use of ultrasonic waves, out of human hearing range. This was taking forward by
Zenith. The first transmitter used four rods at different lengths, to which each gave out a different frequency,
one to channel up, one to channel down, one to power on or off and one to mute the sound. A trigger on the
control released a spring loaded trigger to strike and created the frequency from the rods. The design was put
to production quickly, starting in 1955 and being produced by late 1956.
This design consequently required complex vacuum transmitter tubes in the TV sets, consequently raising the
price by 30%.

Figure 2: The space command remote control by Zenith 1956

(reelpopblog, 'Robert Alder goes to the big channel changer
in the sky',
http://www.reelpopblog.com/2007/02/robert_adler_go.html,
date accessed 06/05/09)

7. By 1960s, this ultrasound technology had changed and been

reduced in scare, using an electronically battery means of transmitting the ultrasound frequency. This lasted
through till the 1980s.
 8. Come the 1980s, today’s remote technology of using Infra red (IR) had been invented. This uses a low energy
light beam, invisible to the human eye, but is received by the TV.
9. Today, infrared is used for over 50 functional buttons, and used in a variety of machines Zenith also managed
to invent the first wireless Trackball TV remote, called Z-track. This uses a curser onscreen, which is used to
select menus on the TV screen to which sub-menus appear and can be controlled.

Figure 3: The Z-track remote

How infrared works

(Explain that stuff, 2007, ‘Remote control’, http://www.explainthatstuff.com/remotecontrol.html, date accessed 06/05/09)

• Infrared is electromagnetic wave energy. It is the most common form of remote control, however radio waves
can be used, especially if the remote or receiving object is prone to moving out of signal reach, for example, a
wireless games controller has movement out of direct signal if infrared was used.
• To distinguish between the different buttons and controls required, each trigger has a binary code. This is a
series of on/off motion of the infrared beam. For example, if 1 stood for a pulse of infra red and 0 stood for no
pulse. So when, for example the volume up button is pressed on the remote, a binary code of 1000100 may be
sent out, which is recognised by the receiver technology in the device and causes a raise in volume.
• Along with this binary code, another code is sent out, which identifies the product to be controlled, therefore
no other products are interfered with. So ideally, if you knew the codes for lets say, every TV. You could
practically make a universal remote, such as the TV-B-Gone remote, designed by Mitch Altman
Figure 4 The TV-B-Gone remote, designed by Mitch Alder
(Cornfield electronics, 2008, 'TV-B-Gone',
http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php, date
accessed 06/05/09)

Figure 51 Example of A Radio remote control

• Radio control remotes

use a different
technology in order to reach the larger distances required.
The radio waves are transmitted from the controller via the
antenna and picked up in the objects receiver.
This technology has wider use, such as in WI-Fi, wireless
control and communication. This was the first original
technology used in remote controls, and yet still proves to
be a popular choice today. To distinguish between which
object to function, different frequencies are tuned into the controllers and receivers.
Same principle as the radio functionality.