JPH0583765A - Remote control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a system improved in the operability of the remote operation and facilitate with the change of a system scale over many kinds of units. CONSTITUTION:The remote control system is constituted of a system controller 3 having a receiving part 2 and controlling the whole system by a receiving signal from a remote control device 1 and one or plural units 4-6 controlled the system controller 3 and having the individual function constituting the system respectively, and one or plural units 4-6 are connected through a common bus 7 to the system controller 3 and controlled through the common bus 7 is accordance with the specified communication procedure by the system controller 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system controlled by remote control (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller), and more particularly to a component type system composed of various kinds of units controlled by a remote controller, such as an audio component device. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, remote control using a remote control device is used in various products such as an audio device, a television and a cooler, and they use a remote controller dedicated to a model. FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of a device system using a conventional remote controller.
In the illustrated example, a CD player (CDP) 21, a cassette tape recorder (CS) 22, and a television (TV) 2
3 are controlled by using the dedicated remote control device 1 corresponding to them. The device has a receiving unit 2 for receiving signals from each remote control device 1, a key unit 24 for manually operating those devices, and a display unit 25 for displaying information about these devices. Output signals from these devices are selected through the selector 26, only one of them is selected, amplified by the amplifier 27, and output from the speaker 28. The selector 26 may select an output signal by using a manual changeover switch or by controlling an analog switch by a microcomputer or the like. Also, a learning remote controller has already been used as a product, and it is intended to read various control codes from the remote control device 1 corresponding to various devices and replace them with one learning remote control device to control various devices. is there.

[0003]

However, as described above, in the conventional case, the user of the device needs to use many remote controllers corresponding to the device, and as shown in FIG. 22 and 23 respectively have the remote control device 1, the key section 24, the display section 25, etc. Therefore, the functions of the entire component system are duplicated, and the cost is high.

Also in the above-mentioned learning remote controller, the receiving section 2, the key section 24 and the display section 25 on the device side are left as they are, which is not sufficient for the purpose of reducing the cost of the device itself. Further, in some systems, for example, audio component products, only one of the devices that make up the system has the remote control device 1 and the receiving unit 2, which controls other system component devices. However, the other constituent devices connected thereto are dedicated to the system, and the connection wiring and control method between these devices are complicated for each device, and as a result, the overall system is It used to be expensive.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to use only one remote control device 1 without owning a large number of remote control devices 1 for a given remote control system and to use the remote control system. Is to provide a remote control system that can be constructed by various types of units and can sufficiently cope with the case where the scale is variable, and further that the cost of the entire system can be minimized.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a remote control device 1 for remotely controlling a system, and a system having a receiving section 2 for receiving a signal from the remote control device 1 and operating by the received signal. In the configured remote control system, as shown in FIG. 1, the system includes a system control device 3 having a receiver 2 for controlling the entire system according to a signal received from the remote control device 1, and a system control device 3 for controlling the system. One or a plurality of units 4 each having an individual function constituting the system.
6, one or more units 4 to 6 are connected to the system controller 3 via a common bus 7 and controlled by the system controller 3 via the common bus 7 according to a certain communication procedure. ..

Further, according to FIG. 2, the system has an individual function as one unit constituting the system and a receiving section 2, and controls its own individual function and the entire system according to a received signal from the remote control device 1. And one or more units 5 and 6 each having an individual function controlled by the one unit 8 and having an individual function constituting a system different from the individual function. , The other one or more units 5 and 6 are connected to the one unit 8 via a common bus 7 and controlled by the one unit 8 via the common bus 7 according to a certain communication procedure. They are shown in Figure 3.
As shown in FIG. 5, a serial bus is used as the common bus 7, and those devices are connected to the common bus 7 by a simple bidirectional driver / receiver for bidirectional communication between devices and units.

[0008]

In FIG. 1, a dedicated unit 3 for controlling the entire remote control system receives a signal from the remote control device 1 at a receiving unit 2, decodes the received signal, and various units via a common bus 7 according to a certain protocol. Send command to 4-6. It also receives the responses from those units 4-6.

In the case of FIG. 2, the function of the unit 3 is shared by one of the various units 4 to 6, and in the figure, the unit 8 has the functions of the unit 3 and the unit 4. The unit 8 receives the signal from the remote controller 1
, And decodes the received signal and transmits a command to various units 5 and 6 via the common bus 7 according to a certain protocol. It also receives the replies from those units 5, 6.

In FIG. 3, a control unit 9 (corresponding to 3 in FIG. 1 or 8 in FIG. 2) for controlling the entire system on the serial bus line 7 and various units 10, 1 constituting the system.
1 (corresponding to 4 to 5 in FIG. 1 or 5 and 6 in FIG. 2) is multi-connected, bidirectionally connected by a driver / receiver having a simple configuration, and bidirectional communication is performed between devices according to a certain communication protocol.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A remote control system according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a remote control system configuration according to the present invention, in which a dedicated system control device 3 is provided and various units 4 to 5 constituting the system are connected thereto as described above. The system control device 3 may be provided with a key section and a cover section for manual operation of the various units 4 to 5 in addition to the receiving section 2 shown in the figure. Various devices such as CDP, CS, and TV can be used for the various units 4 to 6. The various units 4 to 5 do not need to be provided with a key unit or a display unit for remote control operation. For communication between these devices and units, for example, a ROM chip microchip dedicated to communication that can be used for all these devices can be used.

FIG. 2 shows another example of the configuration of the remote control system according to the present invention. As described above, the unit 8 has the function of the system control device 3 in addition to the function of the unit 8 itself. The other units 5 and 6 correspond to the units 4 to 6. The unit 8 controls both the main body of the unit 8 and the other peripheral units 5 and 6 according to the signal received by the receiving unit 2 from the remote control device 1, and therefore communicates with the peripheral units 5 and 6 via the common bus 7. I do. The unit 8 may be provided with a key part and a cover part for manual operation of the main body and the peripheral units 5 and 6. The peripheral units 5 and 6 do not need to be provided with a key unit or a cover unit. Communication between the units is the same as described above.

FIG. 3 shows a serial bus line circuit configuration of the common bus 7 used in the present invention. A control unit 9 (corresponding to 3 in FIG. 1 or 8 in FIG. 2) for controlling the entire system and various units 10, 1 constituting the system
1 (corresponding to 4 to 5 in FIG. 1 or 5 and 6 in FIG. 2) is multi-connected to this line and bidirectionally connected by a simple driver / receiver including an open collector and a line buffer. Signal transmission is performed by driving an open collector driving transistor, and signal reception is performed by a line buffer. A bare wire, a coaxial cable, or the like is used for this serial bus line.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a communication protocol between devices on the common bus 7. For example, when a new unit C joins a remote control system in which a control unit (master unit) A and a peripheral unit (slave unit) B are operating, a registration request is sent from the unit C to the master unit A, and the master unit A Register it. After that, the peripheral units for the master unit A are processed as A and C. The slave units B and C report their contents to the master unit A each time the state of those units changes. The format of the data transferred on the bus line 7 is composed of unit addresses, commands and data.

FIG. 5 shows a display example of the operation plate of the remote control device 1 commonly used for various units.
In (A), a remote control signal transmission unit 12 is provided on the upper portion of the remote control device 1, and mode keys 13 to are provided on the operation plate.
There are 14 and function keys 16-18. As shown in the figure, for example, CS, CDP, and TV are assigned to the mode keys 13 to 15, and the function key functions change depending on the selection of these mode keys. In the figure, when the mode key 13 is pressed, it becomes the CS mode and the function keys 16 to 1
STOP, REW and FF are assigned to 8 respectively. (B) has a display 19, and the device selected by the mode selection key 20 is displayed in the upper left part of the display 19, and the contents of the function keys 16 to 18 are displayed in the lower part of the display 19 (A). ) Is used similarly. In this case, there is an advantage that many peripheral units can be controlled by the small remote controller 1. Keys such as a power switch and a sound volume are omitted.

[0016]

As described above, according to the remote control system of the present invention, in the case of the configuration of FIG. 1, the system control device 3 is composed only of the control and communication parts, so that it can be easily miniaturized and at low cost. Is possible. Further, the various units 4 to 5 do not need to be provided with a key portion or a display portion for operating a remote controller. Therefore, it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of the entire system. For communication between devices and units, a ROM-dedicated microchip dedicated to communication that can be used for all devices is used, and a communication protocol is built in to reduce the size, and further cost reduction by mass production is possible. In this case, the various units need only have an interface on which the chip is mounted.

In the case of the configuration of FIG. 2, a unit essential to the system, such as a tuner of an audio device or a CDP
Since the system control device 3 itself is incorporated into the system, etc., the system control device 3 is not required, and the cost reduction is achieved. By providing a serial bus interface between the system control device 3 and peripheral units and performing bidirectional communication that defines a fixed data format and communication protocol, simple connection and high-level information transmission / reception become possible and there is no error. Communication and flexible unit expansion are possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a remote control system configuration according to the present invention, showing a case where a dedicated system control device is provided.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the configuration of the remote control system according to the present invention, showing the case where one unit also serves as the system control device.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a circuit configuration of a communication bus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a communication flow chart showing an example of a communication control procedure according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a display example of a remote control operation plate.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional remote control system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Remote control device 2 ... Reception part 3,9 ... System control device 3 '... System control function 4-6,10,11 ... Peripheral unit 7 ... Communication bus 8,9 ... System control device combined unit 12 ... Transmission part 13- 15, 20 ... Mode keys 16-18 ... Function keys 19 ... Display 21 ... CD player 22 ... Cassette tape recorder 23 ... Television 24 ... Key section 25 ... Display section 26 ... Selector 27 ... Amplifier 28 ... Speaker

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A system comprising a remote control device (1) for remotely controlling a system and a receiving part (2) for receiving a signal from the remote control device (1), the system being operated by the received signal. In the remote control system, the system control device (3) has the receiving part (2) and controls the entire system according to a received signal from the remote control device (1); (3) is composed of one or more units (4-6) each having an individual function that constitutes the system, and the one or more units (4-6) share a common bus (7). The system controller (3) is connected to the system controller (3) via the common bus (7).
The remote control system is characterized in that it is controlled according to a certain communication procedure. 2. A system comprising a remote control device (1) for remotely controlling a system and a receiving part (2) for receiving a signal from the remote control device (1) and operating by the received signal. In the remote control system described above, the system has individual functions as a unit constituting the system and the receiving unit (2), and as its own unit, according to a reception signal from the remote control device (1). One unit (8) having an individual function and a function (3 ′) for controlling the entire system, and an individual unit different from the individual function controlled by the one unit (8) and each constituting the system. It is composed of one or more units (5, 6) having a function, and the one or more units (5, 6) are connected to the one unit (8) via a common bus (7). Connected And a remote control system, characterized in that it is controlled according to a certain communication procedure by via said common bus (7) said one unit (8).