GB2258292A - Automated and manual control knob device. - Google Patents

Description

2-)-) n) -) -) is 1 Automated Control Device In recent years, many

electronic appliances, both consumer and professional, have been automated. This means that many functions that are controlled by the use can also be controlled by an internal program of the appliance. In older non-automated appliances, rotary potentiometers were used to control many functions. Automation of a unit requires the use of knobs or buttons that allow an automated change of parameters and would also work as manual controls. Traditional potentiometers usually cannot be used because they can be set only by an operator. Users are accustomed to traditional form of a knob as a control device. By turning knob, a user can increase or decrease the setting of a parameter. An automated control device should work in a similar way. There are several solutions presently being used, all of which have various disadvantages.

one automated design is an array of "up and down" push-buttons. The basic disadvantage of the present automated solutions is the inability to indicate the current position of the control as is possible with potentiometers. In traditional potentiometers, the actual position of the knob is shown by a marker. This allows the user to determine how the control is set. Nothing similar is possible with push-buttons, unless an additional display is provided.

2 Another example of an automated control is a motorized potentiometers. A motorized potentiometer has the disadvantage that a driving motor is mechanically coupled with the potentiometer shaft. Therefore, there are two factors determining knob position, namely, the user and the motor. This complicates the additional circuitry and makes the whole product very unreliable and expensive.

is A third known design of automated control is a rotary multipositioned switch with no mechanical stop, surrounded by light emitting diodes (LED). With this control, the user turns the switch and the position of the switch is shown by one of the LEDs, which is activated by associated electronics. This construction has the disadvantages of high cGst and inconvenient and unclear reading.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a control which combines advantages of a traditional knob with an easy automated setting of knob position.

Pursuant to this object, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one aspect of the present invention resides in a control device having a knob made up 3 of at least two independently rotatable elements, namely, a knob body and a knob cap. The device further includes a reader and a driver that have coaxial independently revolving shafts, similar to a double-shafted potentiometer. The reader shaft is mechanically coupled to the knob body, while the driver shaft is coupled to the knob cap.

The shafts are freely movable independently of each other without mechanical interference therebetween, as are the knob cap and knob body.

The knob body is manually set by an operator, and the knob cap has a position marker which shows the operator the "subjective" position of the knob. The reader reads the actual position or movement of the knob body and sends this data to an electronic circuit. The circuit puts out corresponding data which is read by the driver, which in tuAn sets the position of the knob cap.

The cap and body have no mechanical stop, i.e., they can revolve without restraint. Data outgoing from the reader is processed by the electronic circuit and may differ from data incoming to the driver. This means that the movement of cap does not necessarily have to follow the movement of the knob body. It is only the electronic circuit that determines the cap position setting, and it is only the operator who can move the knob body. This separation of 4 functions of the knob body and the knob cap is essential for the invention.

According to the invention there is provided a control device comprising a hollow first element, a second element positioned within the first element and movable therewithin, and driver means that move one of the elements when the other element is moved.

The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Fig.1 is a perspective view of a control device pursuant to the present invention; Fig.2 is a section along the line II-II of Fig.1; Fig.3 is an exploded view of the device of Fig.1; Fig.4 schematically illustrates the flow of data in the device; Figs. 5-6b shows various embodiments of the knob and cap; and Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1, of an additional embodiment of the control device.

Figs. 1 - 4 illustrate a control device having a plastic knob body 2 with an independent cap 1, a reader 3, and a driver 4. The reader 3 is an optical encoder having radially striped disk with an opto-electronic device capable of reading the movement of the disk and its direction. The knob body 2 is connected with the reader 3 by a shaft 5, and the disk is attached to the shaft 5 so that the reader 3 reads the movement of the knob body 2.

The driver 4 is a miniature stepper motor attaclied to the cap 1 by a shaft 6. A circuit 7 is provided between the -eader 3 and the driver 4. The circuit 7 receives data fron the reader 3 and feeds corresponding data to the driver 4.

The two element knob can be used for a wide variety of applications, and can be designed in several ways. For example, the cap 1 does not have to be the element moved by the driver 4. As shown in Fig. 6, a ring 8 at the bottom of the knob body 2 can take the place of the cap 1. The ring 8 can also be situated at any other point along the knob body 2.

6 As Figs. 5 - 5c, 6a and 6b show, a marker 9 is provided on the cap 1 or ring 8 to show position of the cap 1 or ring 8.

Fig. 7 shows an embodiment having additional knob 10 and additional cap 11 which are respectively connected to a reader 13 and a driver 12 by independent shafts coaxial with shafts 5, 6. Such a multiple arrangement operates on the same principal as that of Fig. 1.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a control device, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.

Claims (6)

7 Claims

1. A control device comprising a hollow first element, a second element positioned within the f irst element and movable therewithin, and driver means that move one of the elements when the other element is moved.

2. A control device according to claim 1 comprising: a knob having at least two independently revolvable elements, including a manually operable element and a driven element, the driven element having a positioned marker; reading means f or reading an amount which the manually operable element is rotated; and processor means for controlling the driver means based upon readings of said reading means, wherein the driver means is for rotating the driven element.

3. A control device according to claim 2, wherein the processor means is an electronic circuit.

4 A control device according to claims 2 or 3, wherein the manually operable element is a knob body, and the driven element is a knob cap.

5. A control device according to any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the rotating elements rotate with no mechanical stop.

6. A control device substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 4, or to any one of Figures 5 to 6, in the accompanying drawings.