JPS625315B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a program timer device that is connected to electronic devices such as television receivers and radio receivers and controls these electronic devices to a desired state according to preset information. be.

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of power supply timer devices have been commercially available that have a function of turning on a television receiver or the like at a predetermined time every day and turning it off after a predetermined time has elapsed. Although this power timer device can control the power on and off, it is not possible to simultaneously control the power and perform other controls such as selecting a channel to listen to.

Recently, program timer devices that can not only control time but also select desired channels have begun to be commercially available.The present invention aims to make such program timer devices multifunctional, easy to use, and prevent malfunctions. It is something.

The outline of the multi-function program timer device according to the present invention will be explained using FIG.

FIG. 1 is a front view of the operation and display panel of the program timer device. This program timer device has the following functions.

(1) Clock function: Operates as a digital display clock.

(2) Reception based on program reservation: By setting the program start time and desired channel, the desired channel can be received at the set time even if the television receiver is turned off. This reservation is automatically canceled after a certain period of time, for example, two hours after the start. This is a power-saving and safety feature that allows the television receiver to only operate for a certain period of time even if you forget to set it and go out.

(3) Sleep timer: By pressing the sleep timer button, the power of the television receiver is automatically turned off after continuing reception for a certain period of time, for example, one hour.

An outline of the operation to obtain the above operation will be explained. The operation display panel shown in Figure 1 includes a fluorescent display tube and 12 push buttons for displaying the time and reserved channels.
It consists of 7 display lamps such as LEDs.

(1) Setting the clock: While pressing the clock/start button, press the hour button, 10 minute button, and minute button to set.

The reason why each time adjustment button is pressed while pressing the clock/start button is to prevent the clock from going out of order due to incorrect operation or children's mischief.

(2) Program reservation: It is possible to reserve 5 programs using buttons 1 to 5. For example, when you press the 1 button, the indicator lamp on the left shoulder of this button lights up, and after checking that it lights up, press the hour, 10 minute, and minute buttons to set the start time, and press the channel button to set the reception channel.

This setting content is displayed on the display tube.

Finally, by pressing the clock/start button, this reservation becomes executable and the reservation indication lamp lights up. The reserved channel is received at the reserved time.

(3) Confirmation and confirmation of reservation: By pressing buttons 1 to 5, the settings corresponding to each button will be displayed on the display tube, and the reservation can be confirmed. Further, by pressing the buttons 1 to 5 and then pressing the release button, the setting contents corresponding to any of the buttons 1 to 5 are canceled.

(4) Sleep timer By pressing the sleep timer button, the sleep timer is set and the power can be automatically turned off after TV reception continues for a certain period of time, for example, one hour.

The above is an outline of how to operate the multi-function program timer for a television receiver.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the system configuration of a program timer device according to the present invention.

The power source for operating the electric circuit of the timer device 1 is connected to the power source side of the television receiver 2, and power is supplied to the timer device 1 regardless of whether the television receiver 2 is turned on or off. ing. 17 is a power supply circuit of the timer device 1. This is because the timer device also operates as a clock, so it must be constantly energized. Reference numeral 16 denotes a switch means built into the timer or directly driven by the timer, such as a relay.The contacts of this relay are for turning on and off the power of the television receiver, and are connected to the power switch 22 of the television receiver. connected in parallel.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a channel selection signal line for selecting a reception channel of the television receiver, which sends a signal corresponding to the reception channel reserved in the timer device to the channel selection block 24 of the television receiver 2. It is.

The switch circuit 11 is provided with a plurality of switches for selecting or executing each of the above-mentioned functions, and the state of each switch is converted into an appropriate signal and input to the information processing circuit 12. The information processing circuit 12 consists of a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits, including a switch circuit 11, a memory 13, and a clock generation circuit 1.
Memory 13 and display circuit 1 according to the input from 4.
5. Output to relay 16 and channel selection circuit 24. The memory 13 is made up of a RAM (random access memory), and is read and written by the information processing circuit 12. The clock generation circuit 14 is a circuit that generates clock pulses of a constant frequency.
The time is counted by counting the clock pulses generated here by the information processing circuit 12 and memory 13. The display circuit 15 is composed of a display tube, a light emitting element, and a driving circuit thereof, and displays the current time, reserved time, reserved channel, reserved address, etc. in response to input from the information processing circuit 12.
The timer power supply circuit 17 is a circuit that supplies necessary voltages to each circuit of the timer (in FIG. 2, power lines connected to each circuit are omitted to avoid complexity).

Next, the operation of the timer will be explained in more detail using FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the main parts of a timer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The current time is stored in the current time memory 131, and the reservation contents, that is, reception start time, reception end time, and desired channel are stored in the reservation memory 132.
It can be arbitrarily set by operating a plurality of switches.

The counter 191 counts the clock pulses inputted from the clock generating circuit 14, and when a certain number of clock pulses have been counted, it sends a count end signal to the discrimination circuit 122 and starts counting again. The determination circuit 122 receives a count end signal from the counter 191, reads the current time, advances the current time by one, and writes it into the current time memory.

The determination circuit 123 reads the current time and the reservation details, and compares the current time with the reception start time and the reception end time.

If the current time and the reception start time match, a signal to turn on the relay 16 is applied to the relay drive circuit 192. Thereafter, a channel selection pulse corresponding to the reserved channel is applied to the channel selection circuit 24 through the channel selection pulse level correction circuit 193. If the current time and the reception end time match, a signal to turn off the relay 16 is applied to the relay drive circuit 192.

The above is an explanation of the main functions of the timer for a television receiver. In the example in Figure 3, the case where the reservation content is one is shown for simplicity, but the configuration of a timer that can make multiple reservations is almost the same as that shown in Figure 3, and the number of reservation content memories is increase, discrimination circuit 1
23, the number of times to be compared only increases.

Now, let's consider how multiple reservations are used. Since there is a program you want to watch, turn on the TV receiver and select a channel. When the program ends, you turn off the TV receiver, and after a while, you find another program you want to watch again, so you turn on the TV receiver and select a channel - this rarely happens. It is more common to keep the TV receiver turned on and change channels.

From the above point of view, it is redundant to include each end time in the timer reservation contents. Moreover, it is troublesome for the viewer to set the end time every time he or she makes a reservation.

Furthermore, when the timer itself is built into the television receiver, the number of buttons that can be attached to the panel surface is limited due to restrictions on the area of the panel surface that can be occupied by the timer. good.

An object of the present invention is to provide a timer that improves the redundancy of the end time among the timer reservation contents described above.

FIG. 4a shows the contents of the reservation content memory 132 of FIG. 3.

If the time is stored in minutes, a total of 11 bits is required: 24 hours, so at least 5 bits, and 60 minutes, at least 6 bits. If, for example, 12 channels are to be selected, a minimum of 4 bits is required.

Including the start time, end time, and channel, the reservation content memory requires at least 26 bits.

What should be noted here is that when starting reception, it is necessary to specify the channel, but when receiving ends, the channel being received is turned off, so it is not necessary to specify the channel. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4b, if the reception start time or reception end time is stored as a reservation time in the reservation time memory, and the channels (1 to 12 in this case) are stored in the channel memory, the reservation The time stored in the time memory is regarded as the reception start time, and the number of channels other than the receivable channels (for example, 13) is stored in the channel memory.
is stored, the time stored in the reservation time memory is regarded as the end time. In other words, when the number 1 to 12 is stored in the channel memory, the relay 16 is turned on at the reserved time to output a tuning pulse corresponding to the stored channel, and when the number 13 is stored in the channel memory, turns off the relay 16 at the scheduled time.

By doing this, the redundancy of the end time in the reservation contents described above is eliminated, and the viewer also
This eliminates the hassle of having to set the end time every time you make a reservation.

The discrimination circuit 123 of the circuit shown in FIG. 3 reads out and compares the current time and the reserved time, and if they match, reads out the channel of the reserved contents. If the content of the channel is a number from 1 to 12, the relay drive circuit 192
A signal is applied to turn on the relay 16, and then a tuning pulse corresponding to the read channel is applied to the tuning circuit 24 through the tuning pulse level correction circuit 193. If the content of the channel is number 13, a signal to turn off the relay 16 is applied to the relay drive circuit 192.

Even when there are a plurality of reservation content memories, reservations are executed using the same means.

As explained above, in addition to the numbers of receivable channels in the reception channel memory of the reservation content memory, by being able to store numbers that are distinct from these and mean "turn off the relay," This eliminates the redundancy of including the start time and end time in one reservation at the same time, saving memory and increasing the number of reservations when the number of memory bits is limited. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of the timer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the external connections of the timer according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the main parts of an embodiment of the timer according to the present invention. The block diagram in FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of the reservation contents memory. 1...Timer, 2...Television receiver, 1
6... Relay, 22... Power switch, 24...
Tuning circuit, 131, 132...Memory, 192...
...Relay drive circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A time memory that stores a plurality of reserved times;
A channel memory for storing reserved channels corresponding to each time stored in the time memory, a counting means for counting time to derive the current time, and a power switch of the television signal receiving device are provided in parallel. In the timer equipped with a switch means, means for setting a specific number A that is not a television broadcast channel in the channel memory, and a reserved time stored in the time memory and a current time derived by the counting means. If they match and the number of reservation channels corresponding to the matched reservation times is not the number A, the switch means is closed, and the reservation time stored in the time memory and the current time derived by the counting means are The timer is characterized by comprising a determining means for opening the switch means when the reserved channels read from the channel memory corresponding to the coincident reserved times are equal to the number A.