WO1991002333A1

WO1991002333A1 - Device for vote collection and processing

Info

Publication number: WO1991002333A1
Application number: PCT/FR1990/000603
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yves Louineau; Francis Carrier
Original assignee: Airelle Productions
Priority date: 1989-08-08
Filing date: 1990-08-08
Publication date: 1991-02-21
Also published as: FR2650901A1

Abstract

Several voting boxes (10) are connected to a vote collector (50) via an infra-red link. Each voting box (10) has several buttons (12A-12G, 14A, 14B, 16) which may be selectively operated to record a vote, a reception circuit (32) to receive at least one interrogation signal, a transmission circuit (34) to transmit a vote signal in response to the reception of the interrogation signal, means providing the box (10) with an identification code and a data processing circuit (20) connected to the box (10) buttons (12A-12G, 14A, 14B, 16), identification means (30) and infra-red receiver (32) and transmitter (34) circuits. The vote collector (50) has transmission means (54) to transmit the interrogation signals to the voting boxes (10), reception means (56) to receive the voting signals transmitted by the voting boxes (10) and is connected to a data processing unit (80) comprising means for memorising the voting data and voting data processing means to control the display (84) of the voting results, where each item of voting data comprises the identification code of the box (10) from which the vote was cast and a code representing the button operated (12A-12G, 14A, 14B, 16) to record the vote.

Description

Device for entering and processing votes

The present invention relates to a device for entering and processing votes. Such a device is in particular intended to be used during meetings or seminars, to allow the participants to express their opinion on various subjects.

Each participant has a voting box with buttons and votes by pressing a button. The votes are collected by a collecting circuit in order to provide all the participants with an indication, for example visual, of the distribution of the votes.

Known devices using wire connections between the voting boxes and the collector circuit are not very flexible to use.

To remedy this drawback, it was proposed in document FR-A-2 266 227 to use a radio link between the collector circuit and the voting boxes. Each voting box comprises a memory in which is stored information representative of the vote expressed by action on a button of the box. The content of the memory is read and transferred to the collector circuit in response to the reception of an interrogation signal transmitted by the latter.

Radio links are the source of disturbances, and are exposed to disturbances, which limit their use, and which are the source of erroneous results.

In addition, with this known device, the votes are collected without being associated with an identification of the boxes, therefore of the participants from which they come, which limits the possibilities of exploiting the results of the votes.

Also, the object of the present invention is to provide a device which is free from the drawbacks of the aforementioned known devices, in particular a device which is very flexible to use, not sensitive to disturbances. and offering maximum possibilities for the exploitation of the voting results. This object is achieved by a device of the type comprising:

a plurality of voting boxes each having several keys which can be selectively actuated to cast a vote, a receiving circuit intended to receive an interrogation signal and a transmitting circuit intended to transmit a voting signal in response to the reception of the signal d question, and

a vote collector having transmission means for transmitting interrogation signals to the voting boxes, and reception means for receiving the voting signals transmitted by the voting boxes, the vote collector being connected to each voting box by wireless connection, device in which, in accordance with the invention, - the connections between the vote collector and the voting boxes are made by infrared radiation,

each voting unit further comprises means providing an identification code of the unit and an information processing circuit connected to the keys of the unit, to the identification means and to the infrared receiver and transmitter circuits, and

the vote collector is connected to an information processing unit comprising means for storing voting information and means for processing voting information for controlling the display of the results of the votes, each voting information comprising the code identification of the box from which the vote is taken and a code representative of the key pressed to express the vote.

Advantageously, each voting unit comprises an indicator means for providing visual information in response to an acknowledgment signal received from the vote collector after transmission of the voting information originating from the voting unit.

According to a particular feature of the device according to the invention, the keys of each voting unit include a set of colored keys and the means for processing the Voting information is arranged to control the display of the results of several voting sessions in the form of an array of picture elements in which each element represents a vote from a box. Other features and advantages of the device according to the invention will emerge on reading the description given below, by way of indication, but not limitation, with reference to the appended drawings in which:

- Figure 1 is an overall diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the invention;

- Figure 2 shows in more detail a voting box of the device of Figure 1;

FIGS. 3A to 3C show different visual representations of voting results obtained by means of the device of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the vote collector forming part of the device of FIG. 1,

- Figure 5 is a diagram of a voting unit forming part of the device of Figure 1, and - Figures 6A to 6D are flowcharts describing the operation of the device of Figure 1.

An embodiment of the device according to the invention will be described below in the context of its application to the implementation of the method known as "Abnac of Régnier". According to this method, each person in a group decides on a question by choosing a color. The colored scale ranges, for example, from green (favorable) to red (unfavorable) passing through light green (rather favorable), orange (shared opinion) and light red (rather unfavorable). White and black can be used to indicate that one does not know or does not want to answer. The set of responses for a group of people and a series of questions, or items, forms a colored matrix. The components of the matrix can be arranged in different ways. As shown in Figure 1, a device allowing the implementation of this method comprises a plurality of voting boxes 10, a vote collector 50 and an information processing unit comprising a microcomputer 80.

Each voting unit (FIG. 2) comprises on its front face a set of keys 12A to 12E forming a colored scale, two keys 12F and 12G white and black, two keys 14A and 14B "yes" and "no", and a key 16 cancellation. The front face of the housing further carries two light indicators 18 and 19, for example constituted by light-emitting diodes. These indicators could be replaced by any other display device, for example a liquid crystal screen, or by audible indicators.

The vote collector 50 essentially consists of a transmission box 52 connected to the microcomputer 80 by a serial link 82, for example of the RS 232 type.

As described in detail below, each box 10 is, arranged to allow the memorization of information, representing the button of the box actuated by the person to whom the box is allocated as long as the collector has not asked the box l 'transmission of this information, and as long as all the exchange communication between the collector and the box has not been concluded satisfactorily.

Activation of the voting box by the collector, at the start of a voting session, puts the indicator 18 in a first state, indicating to the holder of the box that he can vote, and the actuation of a key. puts the indicator 18 in a second state, indicating to the holder of the box that his vote has been taken into account by the box. The transmission of the vote by a box is carried out in response to an interrogation signal sent by the vote collector and received by the box. In response to receiving the vote, the vote collector produces an acknowledgment signal which is received by the box.

The transmissions between vote collector and voting box are carried out by infrared radiation. The indicator 19 acts as a viewfinder allowing a user to know if the box assigned to it is correctly oriented towards the transmission box of the vote collector, a necessary condition for any communication between it and the box.

Each box can be designed to be able to operate according to several predetermined operating modes. The selection of an operating mode can be carried out by transmission by the collector of an appropriate code to the box.

The colored matrix representing all the votes for a group of people and a series of questions is displayed on a video screen 84 under the control of the microcomputer 80.

Figure 1 shows a colored matrix as obtained by assigning each row to an item, starting with item 1 through item n, during a voting session, and assigning each column to a housing. Of course, conversely, the rows could be assigned to the boxes and the columns to the items.

FIGS. 3A to 3C show colored matrices obtained after rearrangement of the elements of the matrix shown in FIG. 1. These rearrangements are carried out by program using the microcomputer 80. In the case of FIG. 3A, a diagonal is produced. sation of the items by changing the order of the lines to go from the item having received the greatest number of favorable responses to that having received the greatest number of unfavorable responses, which enables consensus to be reached. In the case of FIG. 3B, the participants are diagonalized by changing the order of the columns to go from the box, that is to say from the participant, having emitted the most favorable responses to that having emitted the more negative responses. Finally, in the case of FIG. 3C, a cross diagonalization is carried out by rearranging the pairs of items / boxes according to the colored scale. The image obtained shows three areas; an extreme favorable zone, an extreme unfavorable zone and a "fuzzy"diagonal; this image makes it possible to highlight marginal opinions which often reveal information relevant that it is useful to have expressed.

Of course, other arrangements of the colored matrix are possible, the processing of the voting information pertaining to the method implemented and not being in itself an original element of the invention. In addition, the voting results can be presented other than in the form of a colored matrix, for example in the form of histograms.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the circuit constituting the transmission box 50 forming the vote collector.

The box 50 contains an infrared transmitter 54 and an infrared receiver 56. The information to be transmitted in the form of binary sequences comes from the microcomputer 80 via the link 82 and is received by an interface circuit 58. The output of the latter is connected to an input of an AND type door 60 with two inputs. The second input of gate 60 receives a clock signal from an oscillator 62 through a frequency divider "64. The output of gate 60 is connected to the input of transmitter 50 so that the signal light produced by it is modulated by the binary sequence representing the information to be transmitted. A light indicator such as an electroluminescent diode 66 is also connected to the output of the door 60 to indicate the phase of emission by the housing 50.

The voting information is received by the box 50 in the form of modulated infrared radiation picked up by the receiver 56. The output of the latter is connected to a monostable circuit 68 which converts the information received into a binary sequence of pulses . A gate 70 of the AND type with two inputs has a first input connected to the output of the monostable circuit 68 and a second input connected to the output of a monostable circuit 72. The latter has its input connected to the output of the interface circuit 58 to produce a pulse in response to the start of a transmission by the box - »50. The pulse produced by the monostable circuit has a length defining the duration of a polling station polling cycle. This duration (for example 2.5 ms) is very greater than that (for example 0.02 ms) of the pulses produced by the monostable circuit 68. The output of the gate 70 is connected to the interface circuit 58 to allow the routing in memory of the microcomputer 80 of the voting information received by the housing 50.. A light indicator such as a light-emitting diode 74 is also connected at the output of door 70 to indicate the phase of reception of voting information by the box 50.

FIG. 5 shows the circuit making up a voting unit 10.

This circuit comprises a microprocessor processing unit 20 connected by a bus 22 to a program read-only memory 24, a data random access memory 26 and an input / output circuit 28. The set of keys forming the keyboard of the housing is connected to the circuit 28 for ^'even a set of micro-switches 30, the combination of the open or closed states is a binary code identifying the housing 10.

The signals transmitted by the box 50 are received by an infrared receiver 32, while the voting information produced by means of the box 10 is transmitted to the vote collector by an infrared transmitter 34.

The output of the receiver 32 is connected to a mono¬ stable circuit 36 which converts the signals received from the box 50 into binary sequences transmitted to the processing unit 20.

The voting information is produced in serial form by the processing unit 20 and transmitted to the transmitter 34 through an AND type gate 40 with two inputs. The other input of gate 40 receives a signal produced by a sequencer 38 receiving the internal clock of the microprocessor of the processing unit. The output of the sequencer 40 is also connected to a frequency divider 42 which supplies the processing unit 20 with a signal for triggering the transmission of vote information.

According to a particular feature of the device, each voting unit can be automatically placed in one of several modes different predetermined operating modes: voting mode, conference mode, or initialization mode.

In voting mode, the keyboard of the voting unit is active, the indicator 18 flashes. When a key has been pressed by the participant holding the box, and the corresponding voting information has been taken into account by the box, the indicator 18 becomes fixed. If the holder of the box wants to modify his vote, the ^' cancel key 16 remains active. Typing it resets the indicator 18 to the blinking state, allowing a new choice in the time interval allocated for the vote.

In conference mode, the keys of the keyboard are all active and the indicator 18 remains permanently on. The holder of the box can at any time send the vote collector a message asking to intervene. The transmission of this message is controlled by pressing any key.

In initialization mode, the current operating mode of the box is deactivated. The keyboard is not active and the indicator 18 goes out. FIG. 6A shows the course of a vote by auscultation of the boxes from the vote collector under the control of the microcomputer 80.

The previously activated boxes are interrogated sequentially (phase 100), the interrogation, or addressing, of a box being carried out by sending its identification code (box number). If no request to transmit a vote is received from a box (test 102), the next box is addressed. If a request to transmit a vote is received, a transmission authorization signal is transmitted to the voting unit (phase 104). In the latter case, the reception of the vote is monitored for a predetermined period (test 106). If no vote is received during this period, the following box is sent. If a vote is received during this period, an acknowledgment signal is transmitted to the box (phase 108), the vote information is stored in the memory of the microcomputer 80 (phase 110), then the next unit is addressed. The sequential monitoring of the active boxes is repeated until the end of session is detected (test 112).

The device can be designed to operate with a predetermined number N of fixed boxes, the boxes being all auscultated sequentially, whether assigned or not. Preferably, the number or the identifications of the active boxes are fixed at the start of the voting session, as a function of the number of participants and, optionally of their authorization to vote, and are recorded in the memory of the microcomputer 80.

The voting information stored by the microcomputer 80 includes the identification code of the box from which the vote is cast and a code representative of this vote. The storage is for example carried out in a table, the voting code received from a box being stored at an address corresponding to the identification code of the box.

During a vote, a participant holding a box can modify his vote by pressing the cancel button. In this case, a new vote transmission request is sent to the vote collector as soon as the box is addressed again. The code representing the new vote is then stored in place of the previous code.

Several successive voting sessions are carried out to obtain an image such as that of FIG. 1 or of FIGS. 3A to 3C. For each box, the codes representative of the votes cast during the different sessions are stored next to the box identification code.

During a voting session, the number of active boxes and the start and end of the session are recorded by the session leader. For this purpose, the presenter can have a remote control unit having a structure similar to that of a voting unit, but whose operation is particularized. The host's box is recognized as such by the vote collector by its identification code. FIGS. 6B to 6D show flow charts relating to the operation of a voting unit, in particular relating to the transmission of a vote, the processor of the unit operating by interruption. After start-up, for example by actuation of an on / off switch (not shown), and, optionally testing the state of its autonomous electrical supply, the unit is in the waiting state for interruption by infrared reception. or auscultation of the keyboard. When a message consisting of a box identification code and an activation control signal is received (phase 120, FIG. 6B), the received identification code is compared with the internal box identification code (test 122). If the result is positive, the box is activated (phase 124), and the flashing of the indicator 18 is controlled, indicating to the holder of the box that he is authorized to vote by action on the keyboard. Otherwise the box returns to the waiting state.

When the box is active, if the actuation of a key on the keyboard is detected during auscultation of the keyboard (test 130, FIG. 6C), and if it is a key other than the cancel key ( test 132), the code of the key is memorized in memory of the box (phase 134) and the keyboard is made active (phase 136), the indicator 18 becoming fixed, signifying the taking into account of the ote by the box. The flowchart for transmitting a vote is shown in Figure 6D. After receiving a box identification code (phase 140), the code received is compared with the internal box identification code (test 142). If the comparison has a negative result, the box returns to the waiting state. Otherwise, the storage of a key code in the box is tested (test 144). If a key code has been memorized, a request to transmit the vote is sent (phase 146); otherwise, the box returns to the waiting state.

After sending a transmission request, the reception of the transmission authorization signal is monitored (test 148). In the absence of this reception, the box returns to the waiting state. On the other hand, if the authorization signal is received, the. memorized key code, i.e. vote, is transmitted (phase 150). After issuing the vote, the reception of the acknowledgment signal is monitored (test 152). In the absence of this reception, the box returns to the waiting state. If the acknowledgment signal is received, the keyboard is activated again (phase 154). When the box is subsequently addressed, a new vote transmission request is not sent until a new key code is saved in the box memory.

The holder of the box can modify his vote by acting on the cancel key, which causes the erasure of the key code previously memorized (phase 136, FIG. 6C) and the flashing of the indicator 18 (phase 137), authorizing a new vote which will be transmitted during the next addressing of the box.

The operating mode changes of the box are made in response to the reception of specific messages of passage in voting mode, or conference, or initialization.

Claims

1. Voting input and processing device comprising: - a plurality of voting boxes each having several keys which can be selectively actuated to cast a vote, a receiving circuit intended to receive at least one interrogation signal and a transmitting circuit intended transmitting a vote signal in response to receipt of the interrogation signal, and

a vote collector having transmission means for transmitting interrogation signals to the voting boxes, and reception means for receiving the voting signals transmitted by the voting boxes, the vote collector being connected to each voting box by wireless link, device characterized in that:

- the connections between the vote collector and the voting boxes are made by infrared radiation,

each voting unit also comprises means providing an identification code of the housing and an information processing circuit connected to the keys of the housing, to the identification means and to the infrared receiver and transmitter circuits, and the collector of votes is connected to an information processing unit comprising means for storing voting information and means for processing voting information to control the display of the results of the votes, each voting information comprising the identification code of the box from which the vote is taken and a code representative of the key pressed to express the vote.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the keys of each voting unit comprise a set of colored keys and the means for processing the voting information are arranged to control the display of the results of several voting sessions in the form picture element matrix in which each element represents a vote from a box.

3. Device according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that each box comprises indicator means connected to the information processing circuit, the latter being arranged to control the passage of the indicator means in a first state, in response to reception of an activation signal from the housing, and in a second state, different from the first, in response to the actuation of a key of the activated housing.