Electronic components mounted on the printed circuit board which connect through to 52 contact points on its other side. When a button on the remote control keypad is pressed its conductive base connects with the corresponding contact point completing an electrical circuit to the 8-bit, low-voltage operation microcontoller. This is a highly integrated chip of the RISC (reduced instruction set computer) type specifically designed for the limited functions necessary for a tv remote control. The microcontroller creates a coded command signal which is then transmitted as infra-red light by the I-R light emitting diode (LED) to the sensor on the TV receiver (or set-top box) where it is decoded. Here the micro-controller can be seen near the centre of the PCB with the infra-red LED to the left at the end and location points for 2 x 1.5v AAA batteries at the other end.