Glossary and terms
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Here we explain and define some of the used terms. In most cases (but not
all!), this correspond to established usage in the Internet, e.g. in the JP1
forum. It should also be pointed out that in some cases, in particular when
comparing previous programs to my own, the assessment may be considered subjective.
- AMX Beacon
- Arduino
- Capturing
- CCF (signal format)
- Ir signal format. Not to be confused with the ccf file
format of the Pronto Classic remotes! Often called "hex" or
"Pronto". Normally given as a sequence of four-digit hexadecimal numbers. For
the meaning, see TODO. Is a very popular format, e.g. for the exchange over
internet forums.
- ccf file format
- Not to be confused with the CCF signal format!
Configuration file format for the Pronto Classic. File extension
ccf
. Can be edited by the ProntoEdit
program. Has been completely reverse engineered, and the open-source program Tonto is able both to interactivelly edit them, as well as
non-interactivelly through an API. IrScrutinizer
can import and export ccf files, using the said API.
- Consumer IR (CIR)
- Consumer IR deals with IR control of various devices. Wikipedia article. Not to be
confused with IRDA.
- Cleansed signal
- Given a capured IR sequence, using the repeat finder, the analyzer removes all occurances of the repeat sequence but
one, and replaces numerically close durations to one value.
- Command
- Here, an IR signal with a name, like "Play".
- CVS (comma separated values)
- Primitive data base format, one record consisting of one line, the entries
separated from one another by a comma (,) (or sometimes another
character). File extension .csv. Can be read directly by a spreadsheet
program.
- Decode
- Given an IrSequence or an IrSignal, a decode is a protocol,
together with parameter values, that are compatible with the given
IrSequence/IrSignal, i.e. could be that protocol/parameters. Note that the
determination is governed by numerical uncertainties, so that small deviations
from the perfect signal are accepted. Furthermore, one signal/sequence may have
none. one, or more decodes.
- DecodeIR
- Shared library for the decoding of
IrSequences. Originally written by John Fine, used by several widely spread programs.
- Device Number
- See protocol parameters.
- Device Type
- Class of components, like TV, VCR, Satellite receiver, etc.
- Duty Cycle
- The percentage of the time the the modulation pulse is on. Typically
slightly less than 50%.
- Ending sequence
- See IrSignal.
- ExchangeIR
- Library for IR signal analysis and exchange by Graham Dixon. Licensed under the GPL3 license. For the present project,
the interesting parts are the Analyzer, the repeat finder, and functions for the UEI
learned format. These parts has been
translated to Java by myself: API
documentation, source.
- Flash
- Period of time when the IR light is "on", or flashed with the selected
modulation frequency. See IrSequence.
- Gap
- Period of time when the IR light is off. See IrSequence.
- Generating, sometimes called rendering
- The process of evaluating an IrProtocol for a
particular parameter value, rendering an IrSignal.
- Girr (Generic IR Remote)
- A general XML-based exchange formats for IR
Signals. Really a container format that can contain any of the CCF, raw format, protocol/parameter format, as well as other text formats
like Global Caché sendir and UEI
learned format. For a full description, see the full documentation.
- Global Caché
- http://www.globalcache.com/
- IR (Infrared light)
- According to Wikipedia,
infrared light are light (electromagnetic radiation) of wavelength between
700nm and 1mm. For control of consumer electronics (CIR), according to
Wikipedia, wavelengths
around 870 nm and 930-950 nm (latter preferred), in comparision to IrDA
(850-900nm) are used. Almost always generated by an IR LED.
- IrpMaster
- A program and API library for rendering IRP protocols version 2. See its documentation. Comes with a powerful (but
slightly hard to use) command line interface. For GUI usage, see IrMaster of IrScrutinizer.
- (IR) Protocol
- An algorithm for turning a number of parameters into an IR signal. It defines the necessary parameters and their
allowed values. In almost all protocols, the most frequently changing parameter
is called "F" (function number). Almost all protocols have a "device number"
called "D". Many protocols have a "sub-device" number, called "S". A few
protocols have a toggle parameter, in general called "T",
and being persistant. A protocol may also
have other parameters, with "arbitrary" names.
- IRP Notation
- Compact, slightly cryptical, notation for defining an IrProtocol. Defined here.
- IrScope
- Program that accompanies the IrWidget, also by Kevin
Timmerman. An alternative is IrScrutinizer.
- Ir Sequence
- Sequence of time duration, in general in expressed microseconds, together with a
modulation frequency. The even numbered entries
normally denote times when the IR light is on (modulated), called "flashes", the other denote off-periods "gaps".
- Ir Signal
- Consists of three IR sequences, called
- start sequence (or "intro", or
"beginning sequence"), sent exactly once at the beginning of the transmission
of the IR signal,
- repeat sequence, sent "while the
button is held down", i.e. zero or more times during the transmission
of the IR signal (although some protoocols may require at least one copy to be transmitted),
- ending sequence, sent exactly once at
the end of the transmission of the IR signal, "when the button has been
released". Only present in a few protocols.
Any of these (but not all) can be empty.
- IrToy
- IrTrans
- IrWidget
- Modulation frequency
- During the "on" periods, the IR light is not just constantly on, but
"flashed" on and off at a frequency called the modulation frequency, typically
between 36kHz to 40kHz, in some cases higher (up to 56kHz), or much higher
(455kHz, Bang & Olufsen equipment). This reduces noise sensitivity and
power consumption, and also allows higher currents throught the IR LED (that
thus does not have to be able to survive the high current continuously). Also
see Duty cycle.
- Toggle
-
Persistant variable in an IrProtocol, in general toggling between 0 and 1, between
different invocations. I.e., if the first invocation has the toggle value 0,
all even invocations will have the value 1 of the toggle, all even the value 0,
independent of the number of repeat sequences. Also see protocol parameters.
- Persistant variable
- A persistant variable in an Ir protocol may, but
need not, be given a value before generating. If not,
it retains its value from previous invocation, or, for the first invocation,
has a default value.
- Raw IR sequence/signal
- A raw Ir Sequence is a sequence of (in general) measured on-off
durations. It may or may not have one or many decodes, but
these are considered to be secondary; its is defined by its numeric
time durations. Often written with signs: a "+" indicates a flash, a "-" indicates a gap.
- Parametric IR signal
- An Ir Signal given as a protocol and a parameter assignment to its
parameters. Of course, a renderer may compute the
numerical Ir Sequences, but these are considered secondary, it is
defined by its protocol and parameters values.
- MakeHex
- A successor to IrpMaster. Adheres to an earlier version ("Version 1") of the IRP Notation. Neither a GUI nor a command line
interface are present; the parameters are given to the program by editing the
data base files. A Java version exists, which has a command line interface, available
here.
- Java
- Protocol Parameters
- See IR Protocol.
- Original Button Code
- Synonym for function number.
- Function Number
- See protocol parameters.
- Subdevice Number
- See protocol parameters.
- scrutinize
- To examine in detail with careful or critical attention.
- IrDA
-
IrDA is a
method for data exchange between PCs and portable devices. It is no longer to
be considered as state-or-the-art, and has been almost completely replaced by
Bluetooth and WiFi. Many devices with IrDA hardware is still around, but it is,
with few exceptions, unsuitable for consumer IR.
- IR LED (light emitting diode)
- Semiconductor component capable of sending light with the desired IR
wavelength. A typical representative is the Osram
SFH 4512.
- Start sequence
- See IrSignal.
- Repeat sequence
- See IrSignal.
- Pronto frequency code
- The second number in the CCF representation. For f in Herz, this is the
four-digit hexadecimal number given as 1000000/(f*0.241246). It can be
conveniently computed by the Time/Frequency Calculator in IrScrutinizer,
available under the Tools menu.
- UEI learned format
- Pronto Classic
- Family of advanced touch-screen remote controls. Manufactured by Philips
19xx-19yy. TODO. Consists of the models TS1000,
TSU2000,
TSU6000,
RC5000,
RC5000i,
RC5200,
RC9200,
RU890,
RU940,
RU970,
USR5,
RAV2K,
RAV2KZ1. Configurable/programmable by a GUI program "ProntoEdit", as well as
the open-source program Tonto.
- Pronto New Generaton
- Later generation of Pronto touch screen programmable remotes. Uses the pcf format as their configurations. Can be read by ProntoEditNG.
- Pronto Professional (*.xcf configuration files)
- Later generation of Pronto touch screen programmable remotes. Uses the xcf format as their configurations. Consists of the
models TSU9800, TSU9600, TSW9500, TSU9400, TSU9300, TSU9200, TSU9500 (Philips) and
RC9001 (Marantz).
- pcf file format
- Like the xcf format, this is a ZIP
file containig an XML file with the real payload, and a
number of icon files. Unfortunataly, the enclosed IR signals are in the PCF format, thus possible to decrypt only by the ProntoEditNG program.
- xcf configuration file
- Configuration file format for the Pronto
Professional line of remotes. Consists of a ZIP file
containing one configuration file in XML-format, as well as a number of
supplementary icon images. The XML file is very easy to understand (for programmers!), and
can contain IR signals in different formats, like CCF format
(usable!) and PCF format (encrypted, thus not usable).
- PCF
- Ir signal format, not to be confused with the pcf file
format of the Pronto NG remotes! This is a proprietary and encrypted form of IR
signals. As fas as I am aware, it is presently not known how to decode this
representation.
- ProntoEdit
- Windows program for programming the Pronto remotes. Exists in different
versions for different Pronto series. Available for download at RemoteCentral.
- protocols.ini
- Repeat finder
- Class in ExchangeIr (function in the original
version) that from an IR sequence numerically tries
to identify the intro-, repeat-, and ending sequence that has generated the
impit sequence.
- RemoteMaster
- rmdu file
- JP1
- LIRC
- Mode2 (LIRC) format/program
- Remote
- A collection of commands with unique names.
- properties (of an interactive program)
- The part of the program's state saved between sessions for each user; saved
to disk.
- sendir (Global Caché) format
- TVS (tab separated values)
- Primitive data base format, on record consisting of one line, the entries
separated from one another by a tab character (ASCII character 9). File
extension .tsv (or other). Can be read directly by a spreadsheet program.
- XML
- wave file format
- XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations)
- XSLT is an XML language for transforming XML documents into other XML
documents, HTML-pages, or plain text. See the Wikipedia article. The programs here
use only XSLT version 1.0.