iTunes Remote Control

ECE 445 Spring 2006

Project #24
Jon Michaels
Nick Modrzejewski
Rob Tupuritis
 Introduction
 Digital Music

 Peer to Peer Filesharing

 Wireless Communications

• Apple iPod
• iTunes
• Multimedia PC’s
• Universal Remotes
Objective
 Aid transition of digital music into
home theater

 Build product to aid popular digital

music player

 Functional and marketable product

 Initial Idea
 Remote Control for iTunes on a PC

 RF and Bluetooth vs. infrared

 Functionality - menu, visualization,

and equalizer functions

 Software package
Features
 PIC Microcontroller

 BlueSMiRF radio

 Bluetooth USB

 Backlit Serial LCD screen

 ON/OFF switch

 4 AA Battery powered

 Surface mount buttons

The iTunes Remote
 System Overview
 Hardware:
 Pushbuttons and logic, PIC16F88
microcontroller, serial enable LCD,
BlueSMiRF blueradio, Power Supply,
 Bluetooth enabled PC.
 Software:
 iTunes, remote handler software
(ECERemote.exe), PIC program
 System Overview

Serial enabled software

LCD

BlueSMiRF BlueTooth Serial Port

PIC16F88

12 Push
Buttons
 Hardware Overview
(In House)
 Pushbuttons and Logic
 User interface, 12 buttons allow the user to control iTunes
remotely
 PIC16f88 microcontroller
 Controls communication from the remote to radio
 Power Supply
 Provides a regulated 5V source and ground for the system.
 Hardware Overview
(Purchased)
 Serial Enabled LCD
 serLCD v2
 Controlled by the HD44780 LCD controller
 Purchased from Sparkfun Electronics
 BlueSMiRF
 Manufactured by blueradios
 Purchased from Sparkfun Electronics
Push Buttons & Logic
 12 Priority encoded
buttons
 Logic system for
generating an interrupt
signal
Push Buttons & Logic
(Schematic)
 PIC16F88 Microcontroller
 Receives button data on pins
A0-A3
 External interrupt driven
 Generates unique ASCII
character for each button.
 Sends ASCII character via RS-
232 port to BlueSMiRF.
 Programmed in C using
MPLab, CCS C compiler, and
PICStart Plus programmer.
PIC16f88 Microcontroller
(Schematic)
Power Supply
 Powered by 4 AA
batteries
 Standard slider switch
provides ON/OFF
functionality
 voltage regulator
provides a clean 5 volt
supply to system.
 Purchased Hardware
 Serial Enabled LCD
 16x2 character LCD display with
adjustable backlight.
 Receives ASCII character via RS-232
port and displays it.
 BlueSMiRF
 Receives RS-232 data from PIC and
transmits over radio link.
 Receives data via radio link and
transmits in RS-232 standard to serial
enabled LCD.
 9600bps, 8 Bits, No Parity, 1 Start/Stop
 Software
 Custom Windows application that
interfaces between the iTunes software and
remote control hardware
 Features:
- Media Player Functionality
- Music Library Navigation
- Hardware Configuration
 Media Player Functionality
 Play/Pause
 Skip Forward/Backward
 Volume Adjustment
 Equalizer
 Visualizer
 Shuffle
 Music Library Navigation
 Access to entire iTunes music library from
remote via menu interface
 Easy intuitive navigation
 Song selection arranged by artists and user-
defined iTunes playlists
 Hardware Configuration
 Dynamic interface
allows user to easily
connect to Bluetooth
remote
 Provides interface to
adjust LCD backlight
remotely
 Development Tools
 Visual C# application developed using
Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET
framework
 iTunes Windows SDK
 iTunes Programming
 iTunes functionality exposed via Windows
COM interface
 Allows creation and manipulation of iTunes
its and internal objects:
- playlists and playlist collections
- tracks and track collections
- custom event handlers
 Menu Interface
 Tree-like structure
 Nodes are built dynamically as user navigates

== Playlists ==
Party Mix
MenuNode class
Driving Mix
MenuItem class
Oldies
MenuItem class
=== Beatles ===
MenuItem class All You Need is Love
=== Artists ===
Aerosmith Come Together

Beatles Help!

Chevelle
 Communications - Incoming
 BlueSMiRF radio is configured by
Windows as a standard serial port
 .NET framework provides SerialPort class
 DataReceived Event Handler reads in
commands from remote
 Byte streams are decoded into commands
that are sent to iTunes
 Communications - Outgoing
 LCD functionality is controlled from the PC
 The LCD unit receives commands and
characters to display
 User button presses and iTunes events call
LCD functions that write the appropriate
information to the display
 Range Testing
 BlueSMiRF radio accepts AT modem-style
commands
 Provides two measures of connection quality:
- Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)
- Bit Error Rate
 Start at distance of two feet and incremetally move
away, taking 3 measurements of each indicator per
step
 Average values and plot as a function of distance
 Range Testing
Results:
- Maximum operating distance ~30m
- Reliable operation within 20m
Link Quality
Link Quality vs.
vs. Distance
Distance

300
300

250
250
Link Qaulity (bit error indicator)

200
200

150
150

100
100

50

0
0 5
5 10 15
15 20
20 25
25 30 35
35
Distance (meters)
Distance (meters)

Link Quality
Link Quality vs.
vs. Distance
Distance )Linear (Link
)Linear (Link Quality
Quality vs.
vs. Distance
Distance
 Battery Life
Backlight Brightness Current Draw – Idle Current Draw –
(mA) Communicating (mA)
“Off” 119 125
25% 123 130
50% 129 136
75% 134 140
100% 138 146
• Measure current draw for 12 different cases
• Assume normal operation involves the user selecting one new song every
5 minutes. This requires approximately 10 – 30 button presses
(communication events)
• Standard Energizer E91 AA Battery has a capacity of 2850 mAh
 Battery Life

Expected Battery Life For Normal Use

24.5

24

23.5

23

22.5
Hours

22

21.5

21

20.5

20
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Backlight Brightness
 Recommendations
 Push and hold button repeat
 Minimze cost by building radio and LCD in
house
 Handle out of Range crashing issues
 Increased software robustness
 Increased battery life through radio ‘sleep
mode’
 Rechargeable batteries, dock
 Q&A

Are there any questions? We hope to have answers.