1. Electrical apparatus, said electrical apparatus including a number of components (4; 12) which are required to communicate with each other in a manner to allow the transmission of data therebetween, and characterised in that at least two of the components are provided with communication means to allow said communication of data in the form of a light emitter and receiver, and communication is made by the controlled emission of light and reception of the same.
2. Electrical apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that one or more of the components (4; 12) are provided with light transceivers.
3. Electrical apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that the light emitter andor receiver is in the form an infra red emitter andor receiver.
4. Electrical apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that a light aerial (6) is used for the transmission and reception of data.
5. Electrical apparatus according to claim 4 characterised in that the light aerials (6) comprise a series of LEDs and photoreceptors which communicate with each other.
6. Electrical apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that light signals can be transmitted between said components via a conduit (14).
7. Electrical apparatus according to claim 6 characterised in that said light conduit (14) is a fiber optic cable connection.
8. Electrical apparatus according to claim 6 characterised in that said light conduits (14) are made into mats.
9. Electrical apparatus according to claim 8 characterised in that said mats are comprised of a plurality of light conduits (14) joining appropriate components (4; 12) together.
10. Electrical apparatus according to claim 8 characterised in that the mats are located under but in contact with the components (4; 12).
11. Electrical apparatus according to claim 2 characterised in that the light transceivers are built into the silicon and light is transmitted from the silicon through a window provided therein.
12. Electrical apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that said apparatus is a broadcast data receiver, said receiver for receiving digital data broadcast from a broadcaster at a remote location.
13. A broadcast data receiver (BDR), said BDR receiving digital data from a broadcaster at a remote location and decoding said data to provide video, audio andor auxiliary data, said BDR including one or more printed circuit boards (2; 10) and said one or boards including a number of components (4; 12) which are required to be interconnected in a manner to allow the transmission of data therebetween, characterised in that at least two of said components are provided with communication means to allow said communication of data and said communication means are in the form of a light emitter and receiver.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A rotary position transmitter for registering a rotary movement of a rotary element (2) that can rotate about an axis of rotation (3),
where the rotary position transmitter has a sensor arrangement (1) with at least two sensors (6-8) and an evaluation circuit (10) which is disposed downstream of the sensors (6-8) and by means of which a rotary position of the rotary element (2) relative to a reference position of the rotary element (2) can be registered,
where, in each possible rotary position of the rotary element (2), the sensors (6-8) are capable of simultaneously supplying raw signals using which it is possible to determine by which of a number of angular ranges (11-13) the rotary element (2) has been rotated relative to the reference position,
where, at least in the case of a slow rotary movement, power pulses are output forcibly to the sensor arrangement (1) by a first power generation system (14), on the basis of which pulses it is possible to operate the sensor arrangement (1) in each case until it is possible to determine the angular range (11-13) by which the rotary element (2) has been rotated relative to the reference position when a power pulse is output,
where the first power generation system (14) and the rotary element (2) are coupled to each other in such a way that, by using two angular ranges (11-13) which are determined solely by using the raw signals when immediately successive power pulses are output, unequivocal detection of the direction of rotation of the rotary element (2) is possible.
2. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the angular ranges (11) are equally large.
3. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the angular ranges (12, 13) comprise basic angular ranges (12) and intermediate angular ranges (13) which alternate with respect to the rotary position of the rotary element (2), and in that the basic angular ranges (12) are larger than the intermediate angular ranges (13).
4. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the basic angular ranges (12) and the intermediate angular ranges (13) are equally large among themselves.
5. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the evaluation circuit (10) is constructed in such a way that it checks the raw signals supplied by the sensors (6-8) for plausibility and, if implausibility exists, outputs an error signal.
6. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the first power generation system (14) outputs the forcible power pulses to the sensor arrangement (1) at least up to a limiting rotary speed, and in that the rotary position transmitter has a second power generation system (15) which is coupled to the rotary element (2) in such a way that it supplies power continuously to the sensor arrangement (1) at the latest beginning at the limiting rotary speed.
7. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it has supply connections (16) by means of which the sensor arrangement (1) can be supplied with power from outside.
8. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, irrespective of the type of supply of power to the sensor arrangement (1), the rotary position of the rotary element (2) is always determined solely by using the raw signals supplied simultaneously at one instant.
9. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the sensors (6-8) are magnetic field sensors (6-8), in particular Hall sensors (6-8), and in that the rotary element (2) has a magnetic signature with at least two signature regions (4, 5).
10. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the signature regions (4, 5) are magnetized radially or axially with respect to the axis of rotation (3).
11. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the signature regions (4, 5) are equally large among themselves.
12. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the first power generation system (14) and the rotary element (2) are coupled to each other via coupling magnets (17).
13. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the coupling magnets (17) are magnetized radially or tangentially.
14. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the first power generation system (14) and the rotary element (2) are coupled to each other in such a way that the rotary element (2) alters its rotary position by a maximum of 120 between two immediately successive power pulses.
15. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the sensor arrangement (1) can be operated in a cyclic manner in order to register and evaluate the raw signals.
16. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the evaluation circuit (10) has a revolution counter (23) disposed downstream thereof, by means of which a number of revolutions of the rotary element (2) can be determined.
17. The rotary position transmitter as claimed in claim 16, characterized in that the revolution counter (23) can be supplied with power together with the sensor arrangement (1), in that the revolution counter (23) has an electrically erasable and writable read-only memory (25), and in that the counter reading and the angular range (11-13) determined during the output of the power pulses to the sensor arrangement (1) are stored in the read-only memory (25) during the respective power pulse.