GB2228133A

GB2228133A - Character information display system of cassette player and method thereof

Info

Publication number: GB2228133A
Application number: GB8928940A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hyun Min Kim
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1989-02-08
Filing date: 1989-12-21
Publication date: 1990-08-15
Anticipated expiration: 2009-12-21
Also published as: GB8928940D0; GB2228133B; JPH02251984A

Abstract

A character information display system of a cassette player and a method for displaying the character information corresponding to audio signal being output through speaker on a LCD unit provided in the cassette player comprises two heads for tracking two tracks of a tape, pre-amplifiers, power amplifiers. A/D converter, input/output, CPU, RAM, and LCD controller for displaying the character signal being output from the CPU on a LCD unit. In the system, audio signal is recorded in monaural on the right track of tape to be tracked by the right head and on the left track of tape to be tracked by the left head a starting signal indicating the start of a sentence, a control word signal indicating the language selection function and display selection function, and an ending signal indicating the character information signal of a sentence and the end of a sentence are recorded in order. <IMAGE>

Description

CHARACTER INFORMATION DISPLAY SYSTEM OF CASSETTE PLAYER AND A METHOD THEREOF BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a character information display system for a cassette player, more particularly to a character information display system for a cassette player and a method for desplaying character information which enable such character information as the corresponding character and/or figure to be displayed on a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen at the same time when audio signal is output through a speaker. The ordinary cassette player has been using as an audio exclusive appliance to record audio signal on a tape or to reproduce the audio signal recorded on a tape. Accordingly, there would be still no problem even in case of listening to the music using an ordinary cassette player.

However, since the study aid materials are required for the effectiveness to watch the characters at the same time when the reproduced signal of a cassette player is listening to, in case of learning the foreign languages etc. The conventional cassette player brings not only inconvenience but also there is defect to make a user sick of using it and to give up the learning halfway.

In view of the above mentioned defect in the conventional cassette player, an audio signal and character information signal are separately recorded on each channel of the stereo tape having 2 channels and the audio signal recorded on the tape is output to the speaker after it has been reproduced and processed in the first channel head.

It has been known as the system that the character information signal recorded on the tape is to be displayed on the computer monitor (CRT) after the signal has been produced and processed on the 2nd channel head.

However, in the conventional system, since a separate computer system and a monitor (CRT) have to be used to display the character information, such a system is not applicable to a portable cassette player. There is also another defect being restricted for the learning space in case of intending to learn foreign laguages.

Recently, the video cassette recorder recording and reproducing the image signal is used, however, the video cassette recorder not only casts a burden upon the users because the price is expensive but also there is a defect of being impossible to use it as a portable learning aid material because the big demension has the learning space restricted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable cassette player on which such character information as character and/or figure corresponding to the audio signal at the same time when the audio signal is output through a speaker, can be displayed on the liquid crystal display screen.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a character information display system and a method for displaying the character information which either perform the function of the conventional cassette player only by the selection of users or display the character information signal which is output from the audio signal through a speaker on the liquid crystal display screen.

Further object of the present invention is to provide a character information display system and a method for displaying the character information in which the character information signal is displayed momentarily, in scroll or repeatedly in response to a command control signal.

The above objects of the present invention can be attained by: recording an audio signal on the right track of a cassette tape; recording the character information signal and command control signal corresponding to the audio signal on the left track; reproducing and amplifying the audio signal in the right head to output to the left and right speakers; reproducing and amplifying the character information signal and command control signal in the left head to convert into digital signals; processing the digital signals of the character information signal and command control signal in a central processing unit (CPU); and thereafter displaying the character, information signal on a LCD screen momentarily or in scroll basis in response to the command control signal.

According to the present invention, since the audio signal is reproduced in the right head to output to the left and right speakers and the character information signal corresponding to the audio signal is reproduced in the left head and displayed on the LCD screen which is installed in the cassette player, the system is applicable even to a small-sized portable cassette players, also the system has an effect to be used as the learning aid materiaL regardless of the studying space. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is block diagram showing an embodiment of the character information display system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the character information display system according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the character information recording method according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the character information reproduction method according to the present invention, FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams showing the recording types on a cassette tape, in which FIG. 5A is an explanatory view showing the type of two-track recording, FIG. SB is an explanatory view showing the type of four-track recording, and FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory views showing the relationship of the recording sequence between an audio signal and a character signal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. l, in a cassette player where left and right heads LH and RH are connected with left and right speakers LS and RS via pre-amplifiers 1 and 2 and power amplifiers 3 and 4 respectively, to the said left and right heads LH and RH, switches S1 and S2 interlocked thereto are connected, and a fixed terminal bl of the first switch S1 and a fixed terminal a2 of the second switch S2 are connected in common to an input terminal of the pre-amplifier 1, and a fixed terminal al of the first switch S1 is connected to a CPU 8 via a pre-amplifier 5, an analong/digital converter 6 and the input/output 7.

ROM for programming 9 and RAM for storing data 10 are connected with the CPU 8 and at the same time, the output terminal of the CPU 8 is connected with an LCD part 12 through an LCD controller 11.

In the drawings, reference S3 represents an interrupt switch, and the first and second switches S1 and S2 are constituted in such that they are short-circuited to their fixed terminals al and a2 in case of selection of the character information display function, and they are shortcircuited to the separate fixed terminals bl and b2, respectively, in case of selection of the audio exclusive function.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the case being applicable to 4 track head which is a reciprocating reproduction head. As shown in FIG. 2, the left and right heads LH and RH are directly connected to the first and second pre-amplifiers 1 and 2 and another left head LH1 is directly connected to the third pre-amplifier 5 and the other components are the same as those in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the character information recording method of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the starting signal showing the start of a sentence is recorded after the system has been initialized and one byte of the sentence is recorded after the control word has been recorded, and thereafter the next byte of the character information is repeatedly recorded until the end of the sentence when it is not the end of the sentence, and the end signal showing the end of the sentence is recorded when it is the end of sentence, and in case that there is another sentence, the process after the recording of the above starting signal is repeated and the character information is recorded.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the character information reproduction method in the CPU 8 of FIGS. 1 anda. As is shown in FIG. 4, the LCD controller 11 is turned on after the system has been initialized, and a title is indicated like "DISPLAY CASSETTE" on the LCD 12, and when the starting signal showing the start of the sentence is detected, the character information is read one byte by one byte until the signal showing the end of the sentence is detected and the character information is stored in sequence in the first region of the RAM 10, and when the ending signal is detected, the character information data which is stored in the first region of the RAM 10 is stored in the second region of the RAM 10 and after the language selection process and the display function selection process are carried out by analizing the control word, the character information data stored in the second region of the RAM 10 is displayed on the LCD part 12 in accordance with each function selection.

FIG. 5A is an explanatory view showing the recording type of a cassette tape to be used on the cassette player of FIG. 1. As is shown in FIG. 5A, the audio signal is recorded in monophonic in the right track RT of the cassette tape Tl to be tracked in the right head R, and the starting signal indicating the start of each sentence Ythe language selection function and the control word signal indicating the display selection function character information signal the end signal indicating the end of a sentence are recorded in sequence on the left track LT of the cassette tape T to be tracked on the left head LH.

FIG. 5B is an explanatory view showing the recording type of the cassette tape to be used on the cassette player of FIG. 2. As shown in the FIG. 5B, the audio signal is recorded in stereo on the left and right tracks LT and RT to be tracked on the left and right heads LH and RH. No signal condition is maintained on another right track RT' to be tracked on another right head RH'. The starting signal indicating the start of each sentence athe language selection function and the control word signal indicating the display selection function athe character information signal > the end signal indicating the end of a sentence are recorded in sequence on the left track LT' to be tracked on another left head LH'.

On the other hand, the above control word signal is consisted of 8 bytes and the upper 4 bytes are used as the language selection function byte, and the lower 4 bytes are used as the display selection byte.

The language selection function and the display selection function depending upon the control word signal are as the following Table 1.

TABLE 1

Upper 4 bytes Lower 4 bytes bit set value Function bit set value Function 0001 English 0001 Momentary display 0010 Japanese 0010 Sequence display 0011 Korean 0011 Momentary displayed --- > Sequen-ce display 0100 Franch 0101 Momentary display Momentary display 0101 German 0100 Sequence display Momentary display 0110 Spanish 0110 Momentary display Sequence display 0111 Russian . -- > Momentary display FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the relationship between the above signals which are to be recorded in the same way as FIG. 5 and the recording sequence of the character information signal.

FIG. 6A shows the recording sequence of the character information signal and FIG. 6B shows the recording sequence of the audio signal.

As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B when the character information signal corresponding to a sentence A and a sentence B is recored prior to the recording of the audio signal of the sentence A and the sentence B, the audio signal of the sentence A and the sentence B are reproduced after the character information signals of the sentences A and B have been reproduced in advance. Thereby, the character information signals of the sentences A and B can be displayed on the LCD part at the same time when the audio signals of the sentences A and B are output through a speaker. Also, when the character information signal corresponding to a sentence C at the initial stage when the audio signal of the sentence C is recorded, the character information signal of the sentence C is reproduced and the audio signal of the sentence C can be reproduced, and thereby the character information signal of the sentence C can be displayed on the LCD part at a certain period of time after the audio signal has been output through a speaker. On the other hand, the recording time of the character information signal corresponding to the audio signal is not limited as the above explanation. Since the recording time of the character information signal is extreamly shorter than the recording time of the audio signal, the contents of studying materials which are to be desirable to record can be determined at editor's discretion.

Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the present invention will be described in detail.

In FIG. 1, in order to select an audio exclusive function, the switches S1 and S2 are short-circuited to their separate fixed terminals bl and b2, and when the audio exclusive tape is reproduced, the audio signals which are reproduced on the left and right heads LH and RH are amplified in the first and second pre-amplifiers 1 and 2 after having been passed through the first and second switches S1 and S2 and finally they are output in stereo to the left speaker LS and the right speaker RS.

On the other hand, in order to select the character information display function, the switches S1 and S2 are short-circuited to their primary fixed terminals al and a2, and when the recorded cassette tape T1 is reproduced, as shown in FIG. 5A the audio signal which is recorded on the right track RT of the cassette tape T1 is reproduced on the right head Roll, and the reproduced audio signal is amplified in the second pre-amplifier 2 and the second power amplifier 4 and is output to the right speaker RS and at the same time, the reproduced audio signal is amplified in the first pre-amplifier 1 and the first power amplifier 3 and output to the left speaker LS after having been passed the second switch S2.

Namely, at this time, mono audio signal which is reproduced on the right head RH is output to the left speaker LS and the right speaker RS. And at this time, the starting signal, the control word signal, the character information signal and the ending signal which have been recorded in the left track LT of the cassette tape T1 are reproduced on the left had LH. The reproduced signal is amplified in the third pre-amplifier 5 after having been passed the first switch S1, and it further is converted into a digital signal in the analong/digital converter 6. The converted digital signal is applied to the CPU 8 through the input/output 7. Thereby, the CPU 8 displays the digital signal on the LCD part 12 after having processed in accordance with the flow chart of FIG. 4 according to the contents of the programming of ROM 9.That is to say, when the reproduction selection signal is input through the input/output unit 7, the CPU 8 turns the LCD controller 11 on and displays the title as "DISPLAY CASSETTE" on the LCD part 12 after having initialized the system.

Thereafter, when the starting signal indicating the start of a sentence is detected from the signal applied through the input/output 7 by converting into the digital signal in the analong/digital coverter 6 as the above explanation, the output signal of the input/output 7 is stored in sequence in the first region of the ROM 10 by reading the byte one by one until the ending signal indicating the end of a sentence is detected. Henthforth, when the ending signal is detected, the character information data which is stored in sequence in the 1st region of the above RAM 10 shall be read and be stored in the 2nd region of the RAM 10. Thereafter, the character selection processing and the display function selection processing are performed by analyzing the control word, the character information data which is stored in the second region of the RAM 10 is displayed on the LCD unit 12 by controlling the LCD controller 11 in accordance with the selection of each function.

For an example, as shown in Table 1, supposing that the upper 4 bytes of the control word are English selection value and the lower 4 bytes are the momentary display selection value, the character information data stored in the second region of the RAM 10 is processed in accordance with the English selection and the LCD controller 11 is controlled in accordance with the momentary display, and then the English sentence according to the character information data is momentarily displayed on the LCD unit 12.

In the same way, supposing that the upper 4 bytes of the control word are Japanese selection value and the lower 4 bytes are momentray displayz sequence display value the character information data stored in the second region of the RAM 10 is processed in accordance with the Japanese selection and the LCD controller 11 is controlled according to the momentary display and then the Japanese sentence is momentrarily displayed on the LCD unit 12 according to the character information data and again, the Japanese sentence is displayed in sequence on the LCD unit 12 in the same way as the above. Thereafter, when the starting signal indicating the start of the sentence is again detected, the information in line with the character information data is displayed on the LCD unit 12 by repeating the processing procedures in the same way as above.

On the other hand, with a sentence displayed on the LCD unit 12 as shown in the above, when the interrupting switch S3 in pushed, a low electric potential signal is applied to the CPU 8 as interrupting signal via the input/output 7 and thereby, the CPU 8 reads the character information data which is stored in the second region of the RAM 10 as shown in the above and the interrupting function is completed after the character information data is repeatedly displayed on the LCD unit 12.

On the other hand, in case that the cassette tape T2 which is recorded in the way as FIG. 5B is reproduced in the circuit of FIG. 2 after the stereo audio signal which is recorded in the left track LT and the right track RT of the cassette tape T is reproduced, respectively, it is amplified in the pre-amplifiers 1 and 2 and power amplifiers 3 and 4 and is output to the left and right speakers LS and RS.And at this moment, the starting signal indicating the start of a sentence, the control word signal indicating the language selection function and display selection function, the character information signal, the ending signal indicating the end of the sentence which are recorded on another left track LT' are reproduced by another left head LH' and applied to the third pre-amplifier 5 and thereby the signal which is reproduced by another left head LH' is processed in the same way as the explanation of FIG. 1 and displayed on the LCD unit 12.

As described above in detail, the audio signal is reproduced on the right head and is output through the left and right speakers, and the character information signal corresponding to the audio signal is reproduced on the left head and displayed on the LCD unit which is installed on the cassette player. Therefore it can be used as a studying aid materials regardless of the learning space. Also, since it is displayed either momentarily or in sequence on the LCD unit in accordance with the control word in which the sentence is recorded according to the character information signal, the learning effect can be promoted than ever and since the processing part for reproduced character information signal can be designed in a signle chip, the smallest size can be expected and at the same time there is an effect to provide it with the lowest price.

Claims

What is claimed is

1. A character information display system of cassette player comprising: left and right heads for tracking left and right tracks of a tape; first and second switches by which the reproduction signal of the left and right heads are output optionally, first and second pre-amplifiers for amplifying the reproduction signal output from the first switch or the second switch and the reproduction signal output from the right head; first and second power amplifiers for amplifying and outputting the output signals from the first and second pre-amplifiers to left and right speakers; third pre-amplifier for amplifying the reproduction signal output from the first switch; analog/digital converter for converting the output signal from the third pre-amplifier into digital signal; input/output unit for outputting by receiving the output signal from the analog/digital converter;; central processing unit for processing the output signal from the input/output unit in compliance with the contents of the program of ROM and outputting the processed signal into character display signal; RAM for storing temporarily the data processed in the central processing unit; and LCD controller for displaying the character display signal output from the central processing unit on a LCD unit.

2. The character information display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein audio signal is recorded in monaural on the right track of tape to be tracked by the right head and on the left track of tape to be tracked by the left head a starting signal indicating the start of a sentence, a control word signal indicating the language selection function and display selection function, and an ending signal indicating the character information signal of a sentence and the end of a sentence are recorded in order.

3. The character information display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reproduction signal of the left and right heads are directly applied to the first and second pre-amplifiers, and the reproduction signal of the second left head is applied to the third pre-amplifier.

4. The character information display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein audio signal is recorded in sterophonic on the left and right tracks of tape to be tracked by the left and right heads, and on another left track of tape to be tracked by the second left head starting signal indicating the start of a sentence, a control word signal indicating the language selection function and display selection function, and an ending signal indicating the character information signal of a sentence and the end of a sentence are recorded in order.

5. A method for displaying the character information comprising the following steps of: displaying the title on the LCD unit by turing the LCD controller after initializing the system by the central processing unit; storing the character information data by reading by one byte in the first region of RAM in order until the ending signal indicating the end of a sentence is detected when the central processing unit detects the start signal indicating the start of a sentence; storing the character information data stored in the first region of the RAM in the second region of the RAM when the ending signal is detected; performing the language selection function processing and display selection processing by analyzing the control word signal of one byte; and displaying the character information data stored in the second region of the RAM on the LCD unit via the LCD controller.

6. The method for displaying the character information data as claimed in claim 5, wherein the control word signal of one byte includes the upper four bytes indicating the language selection value, and the lower four bytes indicating the display selection value.

7. A portable cassette player of the kind adapted to play audio tapes is characterised in that it also has the means to present a visual representation of the audio signal being played.

8. A portable cassette player substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.