It looks like there’s a major bug in IR Toy firmware v1.04. After a few days it stops working. We have not seen this bug in the lab, if you have an example please let us know how it happened (died suddenly, on startup, etc) and the operating conditions (mode, etc). v1.04 has been deprecated and removed from the recommended downloads at Google Code.

So far this seems limited to the v1.04 firmware, if you have this problem with a v1.02 firmware please let us know.

People with this bug report that the IR Toy can be revived with the bootloader:

• Connected the PGC and PGD pins (or via holes) before plugging in the IR Toy. Contact is only needed at power on, so a temporary connection is fine.
• Plug in the IR Toy USB cable. The LED should turn on.
• Use the v1.02 firmware package to upload the v1.02 firmware.
• Replug the USB cable to reset the IR toy after the update.

Illustrated upgrade instructions are in the documentation wiki.

We’ll try to get this straightened out and release a new firmware this week.

Ytsirk analyzed the remote control protocol from a LED license plate frame using the USB IR Toy. Also check out part I and part II that introduce the hardware. We can’t wait for the next installment that covers reprogramming the marquee with a battery powered IR Toy, it sounds like there’s a lot of potential mischief fun to be had.

rsdio developed a Mac application for the USB IR Toy. It captures and displays the raw waveform from the IR Toy’s raw infrared mode, and has a limited protocol analyzer.

See the latest version in the documentation wiki.

The USB IR Toy test firmware v1.04 has a new infrared sampling mode that will be used by the upcoming WinLIRC plugin. This mode times the duration of infrared pulses and sends the measurements to the computer. It’s currently receive-only, but we’ll add a compatible transmit feature in a future update.

Work on the plugin will begin soon, but if you finish it first we’ll send you an IR Toy v1.1 prototype.

Protocol documentation follows.

Protocol

The protocol is very simple, it might need to be updated in the future (see potential issues).

pulse1-high8 | pulse1-low8 | blank1-high8 | blank1-low8 | … | blankn-high8 | blankn-low8 |

The first IR pulse starts a timer that measures length of the pulse. The length is returned as a 16bit count, high byte first. Multiply the raw 16bit timer value by 21.3333us to determine the actual length in microseconds.

The IR Toy continues to spit out measurements of each pulse and the blank space between. Sampling stops when there is no IR change for a full (0xffff) period of 1.7seconds. This will hopefully end during a blank period, but could be a pulse period if an IR jammer were in use. After a full period of no change the IR Toy ’sleeps’ and won’t send any more data until the beginning of the next IR pulse.

Calculate the duration in microseconds (us)

To get the actual width of each pulse or space:

• Combine the high and low byte
• Multiply by 21.3333us

Here’s an example:

{00}{2B}{00}{28}{00}{2A}{00}{27}{00}{2B}{00}{28}{00}{2A}{00}{27}{00}{2B}{00}{27}{00}{2A}{00}{28}{00}{54}{00}{51}{00}{2B}{00}{28}{00}{54}{00}{51}{00}{54}{00}{51}{00}{2A}{FF}{FF}

• 002b (first pulse duration) = 43 = 43 * 21.3333us = 917.3319us
• 0028 (first blank duration) = 40 = 40 * 21.3333us = 853.332us
• 002a (second pulse duration) = 42 = 42 * 21.3333us = 895.9986us
• … 0xff 0xff = final blank space of 1.7seconds, end of data sequence

The measurements are all pretty close to the 889us bit period of an RC5 remote. We could probably improve accuracy by increasing the resolution of the timer measuring the pulse period to 10us or less. We won’t worry about this unless there are problems with the current scheme, but it could easily be made adjustable.

Enter IR sample mode

First send 0×00 (raw byte value 0) to reset from any other mode. It might be good to send it 5 times to be sure it’s out of SUMP mode too.

Next, send ’s’ or ‘S’ to enter IR sample mode. The IR Toy will respond with the protocol version (currently S01).

Now the bytes start flowing on any IR activity.

Potential issues

Which byte is which? Tracking the byte stream.

There’s no easy way to sync to the byte stream unless you track it from the start or wait for the first 0xff 0xff terminator. This probably isn’t a huge deal in practice, just reset (0×00, ‘S’) and track the data from the beginning.

Alternatively, we could update the protocol to use a bit of the high byte to flag pulse and blank periods. The issue of determining which bytes in the stream are the high and low 8bits remains.

How to detect end of data? The long IR Toy timeout.

The IR Toy will send the 0xff 0xff terminator flag after no pin change is detected for one timer period, but that is nearly two seconds. A program will be really unresponsive if it depends on the terminator sequence to start processing the data.

Another issues is that the IR Toy doesn’t care if the timeout happens during a pulse or blank period, and it has no ability to let us know a pulse is longer than 1.7seconds. A continuous IR pulse, like an IR jammer, would really mess up the bytestream. We made the IR Toy somewhat robust against this situation by syncing only to the start of an IR pulse.

Taking it further

The next IR Toy firmware release will add a compatible transmit mode, and make the timer interval adjustable.

Now it’s time to write a driver to support the IR Toy sampling mode in WinLIRC. The new WinLIRC developer has already prepared a basic framework for us. The IR Toy protocol is somewhat similar to the UIRT2, so some source could be recycled from a plugin for that device. Follow development in the forum.

Work on the plugin will begin soon, but if you finish it first we’ll send you an IR Toy v1.1 prototype.

This documentation has not yet been moved to the IR Toy wiki.

It looks like there’s a bug in v1.04 that makes it stop working after a few days. It can be fixed by connecting the PGC and PGD vias to enter the bootloader and uploading the v1.02 firmware again.

USB IR Toy firmware v1.04 is ready for download. This release has a new mode for better WinLIRC support, and a new firmware query command. The new mode is still being tested, we may need to hand-tune some timing for the best performance.

• New firmware version query command (v/V)
• New infrared sampling mode (s/S)

Upgrade instructions and the updated USB IR Toy protocol are in the documentation wiki.

The USB IR Toy is $20, including worldwide shipping.

WinLIRC, the Windows version of the popular LIRC PC remote control decoder, has seen a spurt of development after 4 years of no activity.

The updated version uses a new plugin system that should be able to support the USB IR Toy’s irman decoder mode and rawIO modes. We’re also adding a new mode that gives the actual duration of each change in the remote signal.

Development continues on the cross-platform Python GUI for the IR Toy. See the latest build images and source code.

The USB IR Toy is $20, including worldwide shipping.

There is an update of the USB IR Toy and a new Bus Pirate v4 in the forum. Your comments and suggestions are needed to make these the best designs yet.

These projects won’t be manufactured until the fall at the earliest, and probably won’t be available until next year. This preview release is part of our pledge to move new projects to the forum earlier in the development process.

The USB IR Toy will soon have a cross-platform GUI that can capture, display, and replay infrared signals. The application is written in Python with the open source wxPython IDE. If you’d like to join the effort, our latest work is always in the SVN. We hope to have a demonstration version soon.

What should we name it?

The USB IR Toy is back in stock at Seeed Studio. Back orders will ship now, and new orders should ship immediately.

The latest batch of USB IR Toys has a few minor updates:

• The IR LED footprint was swapped for a correct version.
• A plain IR LED instead of the metal-can version.
• The IR LED current limiting resistor is 180ohms for better transmitting range.
• Ships with minor firmware update v1.02.

A second batch of web platforms is available today too should also be in stock soon. The Flash Destroyer kits will ship shortly.

The USB IR Toy is $20, including worldwide shipping.

Here’s a DIY, potrable version of the USB IR Toy. It runs the same firmware and bootloader as the IR Toy, but has a few changes:

smaller than the original USB IR Toy

full integration in a tiny case

four IR LEDs for increased range

it can be powered with a 9V battery, making it independent of the computer

It’s always great to see a new take on a design. If you’ve ever updated an open source project for your own needs, we want to know.