JP2781450B2 - Output value adjustment device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for adjusting the volume of a sound, the contrast of an image, the brightness, and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent audio and video equipment, considerations that are suitable for remote control (remote control) are given priority. Control of volume and screen brightness is performed by pressing a dedicated button (key) on the main unit or remote control. It is supposed to do. For example, if you want to increase the volume,
Press the (L-UP button) and press the volume decrease button (VOL-DOWN button) to decrease the volume. The same applies to the adjustment of brightness (brightness), contrast, hue, and the like of a video device.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The background noise level in the surroundings differs greatly between daytime and nighttime,
Even if the volume was just right when listening during the day,
It sounds very loud when heard at night, and in some environments it can be a nuisance to others. The same can be said for the contrast and brightness of the screen of the television receiver. The optimum contrast and brightness levels are different between a bright and dark environment. In these cases, it is possible to adjust with the conventional volume buttons, contrast buttons, and the like provided on the remote control transmitter and the device body, but these buttons can adjust the volume and contrast to the desired level as much as possible. As such, adjustments can only be made continuously. Alternatively, even if it is not completely continuous but has a stepped shape, it can only be made to change gradually with a very small change amount. Therefore, in the daytime,
If you turn on the audio / video device at night with the brightness adjusted, press the button many times or keep pressing the button until you adjust to the desired volume / contrast level. Must continue.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and to provide an output adjustment device that can change output values such as volume and contrast by a predetermined level in a stepwise manner with one touch.

Means for solving the problems The output value adjusting device of the present invention is a continuous change operation means that is manually pressed, and according to the operation of the continuous change operation means,
Continuous change control means for continuously or gradually changing the output value of the output device by a predetermined small amount; storage means for storing an arbitrarily settable change amount larger than the small amount; and manually pressing operation Step change operation means to be performed;
And step change control means for changing the output value of the output device by the change amount stored in the storage means in accordance with the operation of the step change operation means.

The amount of change is stored in the storage means 15 in advance. When the continuous change control means 11 changes the output value of the output device 12 stepwise, the change amount stored in the storage means 15 is set to a value larger than the change amount in one step.

When the continuous change operation means 10 is operated, the continuous change control means 11 changes the output value of the output device 12 continuously or by a predetermined minute step amount. Therefore, when the output value of the output device 12 is to be largely changed, if only the continuous change operation means 10 is used, the operator must operate the continuous change operation means 10 many times, or 10 must be operated.

On the other hand, when the step change operation means 13 is operated, the step change control means 14 reads the change amount from the storage means 15 and changes the output of the output device 12 stepwise by the change amount. That is, the output value of the output device 12 can be largely changed by operating the step change operation means 13 only once.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a television (TV) receiver embodying the present invention. First, the operation of each unit of the present receiver will be briefly described.

A desired channel is selected by the tuner 21 from the TV broadcast signals received by the antenna 20, and is converted into an intermediate frequency signal. The intermediate frequency signal is amplified by the intermediate frequency amplification circuit 22 and supplied to the audio detection circuit 23 and the video detection circuit 26. The audio signal and the video signal extracted by the respective detection circuits 23 and 26 are respectively output to an audio output circuit 24 and a video output circuit 27.
Various processing is added by the speaker 25 and the picture tube.
Output to 28.

The operation of the TV receiver is controlled in a unified manner by a microcomputer (microcomputer) 32, and a viewer command to the microcomputer 32 is performed by a remote control pad (transmitter) 29 or a keypad 31 provided in the main body. Remote control transmitter
The signal from 29 is sent to the microcomputer 32 via the remote control receiver 30.
Is transmitted to The microcomputer 32 is connected to a memory 33 including a ROM and a non-volatile RAM. The microcomputer 32 is operated by a command from an operator (viewer) according to a program stored in the ROM. Output circuit
Control 27 mag.

First, a method of changing the volume of the audio output from the speaker 25 in this TV receiver will be described. FIG. 3A shows a button arrangement of the remote control pad 29 related to the following description. Among these, the buttons used to change the volume include a step down button 40, a step up button 41, a continuous down button 42, a continuous up button 43
It is. The two continuous buttons 42 and 43 are normal volume control buttons, and are used to change (increase / decrease) the volume by a small amount. During operation of these buttons, a display of blocks corresponding to each minute amount appears on the picture tube 28,
The current volume can be checked visually. Both step buttons 40 and 41 are unique to the present embodiment,
This button is used to instantly change (increase / decrease) the volume in a step-like manner.

Step down button 40 and step up button 41
Before using, you must set the amount of step change to be changed by these buttons. This procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the memory button 44 is pressed (step # 10) to enter the setting mode. Then, the user presses the step-down button 40 (step # 12), and informs the microcomputer 32 that the amount of step reduction is stored in this button. Next, the continuous down button 42 is pressed (or kept pressed) several times, and the step change amount is set while looking at the volume display block appearing on the picture tube (step # 14). When the setting of the desired step change amount (decrease amount) d _D is completed, the memory button 44 is pressed again, and the step change amount setting processing for the step down button 40 is completed (step # 16). The step change amount d _D set in the step down button 40 is stored in the nonvolatile RAM of the memory 33. If the next step (button operation) is not performed within a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) between steps # 10 to # 12 and steps # 14 to # 16, the current setting processing is invalid. If you want to make another setting, you must start over from step # 10.

Step step change for up button 41 (increase) D _U setting is also performed exactly as (step ♯20~♯2
6).

After the change amounts of the step-down button 40 and the step-up button 41 are set as described above, when these buttons 40 and 41 are pressed, the sound volume changes as shown in FIG. 5 (a). In this figure, the center line 50 shows how the volume changes when the continuous down button 42 or the continuous up button 43 is operated in a normal state.

Here, for example, when the step down button 40 is pressed while the current volume is at the point A, the volume is instantaneously reduced by the set step change amount d _D and comes to the point B. This point B
When it is desired to perform fine adjustment of the sound volume, the sound volume changes as indicated by a dotted line 51 by operating the continuous down button 42 or the continuous up button 43 as usual. Note that the volume does not change after the point 54 when the volume becomes 0, and remains at 0, and even if the step down button 40 is pressed when the volume is lower than the point 54, the amount of change due to that is of course
d is less than or equal to _D.

Conversely, pressing the step up button 41 at point C when in the normal state on line 50, the volume goes up point D rises only once d _U. Thereafter, by operating the continuous down button 42 or the continuous up button 43 in the same manner, the sound volume changes as indicated by a chain line 52. Of course, the loudest volume (MA
X) After point 55, the volume does not increase any further,
Further, the step change in this range (increase) is as follows d _U.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the step down button 40 or the step-up button 41 only one operation can be changed by once a predetermined amount d _D or d _U volume. Therefore, by setting the normal changing line 50 to a level suitable for nighttime, the volume can be raised at a stretch by the step-up button 41 in the daytime so that the volume is not buried in the surrounding noise. When it is inserted, by pressing the step-down button 40, the volume can be instantaneously reduced to a level that does not bother others.

FIG. 3 (b) shows a remote control pad 29 'provided with a button 45 for stepwise reducing the contrast of the image. The two buttons 46 and 47 provided below are conventional buttons for continuously changing the contrast (down 46 and up 47). In this case, the step change amount setting process (FIG. 4 (b)) and the state of the change (FIG. 5 (b)) are almost the same as those in the case of the volume control described above. Since it is common to always look at the maximum contrast when viewing, only the case of lowering it at night (line 61) with the daytime change line 60 as a reference is assumed. Therefore, there is only one contrast step change button 45.
The step of pressing the button 45 is also omitted in the step change amount setting process of FIG. In FIG. 4 (b), steps # 30, # 34, and # 36 are steps # 10, # 14, # 16 (or steps # 20, # 24, # 26) of FIG. 4 (a), respectively. The same is true. FIG. 5 (b)
In the equation, d _C is the step change amount of the contrast when the step button 45 is pressed.

In the above embodiment, only the sound volume for audio and the contrast for video have been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to other output values such as sound quality, brightness (brightness), hue, and the like. Further, such buttons are not limited to being provided on the remote control pad, and may be provided on the keypad 31 of the main body.

Effect of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the output value of the output device can be changed little by little by pressing the continuous change operation means, and the step change operation means can be pressed. Thus, the output value of the output device can be changed stepwise by an arbitrarily set change amount. Therefore, by setting the amount of change to an appropriate value, the output value of the output device can be instantaneously greatly changed just by pressing the step change operation means once. The difference between the optimal volume at night and at night can be adjusted very easily with one touch. In addition to sound volume (volume), it can be applied to various output devices such as sound quality adjustment of treble, bass (bass), etc., brightness (brightness) of video output, contrast, hue, etc. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a TV of the embodiment.
FIG. 3 (a) is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a receiver.
FIG. 4B is an external view of two types of remote control pads used in the embodiment, and FIGS. 4A and 4B are flowcharts showing a process for setting a change amount of a step change button of those remote control pads. 5 (a) and (b) are graphs showing how the volume and contrast change in those cases.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus for adjusting an output device for outputting a predetermined electric signal, comprising: a continuously changing operation means which is manually pressed; and an output value of the output device which is continuously changed according to an operation of the continuous change operation means. Continuous change control means for gradually changing the value gradually or by a predetermined small amount; storage means for storing an arbitrarily settable change amount larger than the small amount; step change operation means manually pressed; An output value adjusting device, comprising: a step change control unit that changes an output value of the output device by an amount of change stored in a storage unit in response to an operation of the step change operation unit.