JP2000021077A - Bi-directional information transmitting system, information recording medium, remote controller, and bi-directional information transmitting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bi-directional information transmitting system in which a high grade interactive system can be constituted inexpensively without using a special information reproducing device. SOLUTION: A radio cassette 1 reproduces a CD 2 in which an acoustic signal is recorded, and provides a reproduced acoustic signal to a user 8. A remote controller 11 controls remotely the radio cassette 1. Control information for controlling a reproduction process of the radio cassette is recorded in the CD 2 as an acoustic signal reproduced by the radio cassette 1. Control information is outputted from a loudspeaker 7 as a sound wave signal AS. The remote controller 11 inputs a sound wave signal AS and decodes control information, and forms a control signal based on this control information. A control signal is outputted to the radio cassette from a transmitting LED 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a bidirectional information transmission system capable of bidirectional transmission of information between an information reproducing apparatus and a user, an information recording medium used in the bidirectional information transmission system, and The present invention relates to a remote control and a bidirectional information transmission method for performing bidirectional transmission of information between an information reproducing apparatus and a user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The two-way information transmission system as described above is used, for example, as an educational system. As such a conventional example, the one described in JP-A-5-266579 can be mentioned. FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram showing this conventional system. This system uses a compact disk (hereinafter referred to as "CD") 5
2 is equipped with an information reproducing apparatus 51 capable of reproducing an audio signal by loading, and a controller 54 to which headphones 55 are connected. An infrared signal IR is bidirectionally transmitted between a transmission / reception unit 53 provided in the information reproducing apparatus 51 and a controller 54. The controller 54 is provided with a switch (not shown) that can be operated by a user. When the audio recorded on the CD 52 is reproduced by the information reproducing device 51, the reproduced audio is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 53 to the controller 54 as an infrared signal IR. Therefore, the user operates a switch provided on the controller 54 while listening to the transmitted sound with the headphones 55. Then, the operation information at that time is transmitted as an infrared signal IR from the controller 54 to the transmission / reception unit 53, and the information reproducing device 51 performs a predetermined operation according to the content of the operation information.

Next, the operation of the system will be described with reference to the case where the CD 52 is "educational software for memorizing the era of history". When the reproduction of the CD 52 is started, the following question is first provided to the user via the headphones 55. "The Kamakura Shogunate was enacted in 1192. If you think it is correct, press the A switch. If you think it is incorrect, press the B switch." The information playback device 51 pauses after playing this message State. Therefore, the user presses either the A switch or the B switch provided on the controller 54 based on his / her own judgment. Then, the information reproducing device 51 inputs information on which switch is pressed through the transmission / reception unit 53, and determines whether the answer is correct or incorrect. If the answer is correct, the user jumps to the track on which the correct message "correct" is recorded, while if the answer is incorrect, the user jumps to the track on which the incorrect message "correct" is recorded. After that, the pause is released and the message recorded on each track is reproduced. In this way, the user can proceed with the operation of the system by using the reproduced sound and the switch of the controller 54, and memorize the year of history in an interactive manner.

[0004]

On the CD 52, control information for instructing the information reproducing apparatus 51 to pause or for jumping the reproduction start position is recorded in addition to the voice message for the user. Have been. The information reproducing device 51 performs various operations such as pause, jump, and reproduction start based on the pause command and the jump command read from the CD 52 and the switch information input from the controller 54. . That is, the information reproducing apparatus 51 is configured in advance to perform a predetermined operation according to the control information read from the CD 52. Therefore, in order to construct the interactive system as described above, a special information reproducing device 51 configured for the CD 52 is required.

However, the educational system as described above is
Often it is only needed at certain ages and times. Nevertheless, it is extremely uneconomical to require a special information reproducing device to construct such an interactive system. On the other hand, a so-called boombox capable of receiving radio broadcasts and reproducing CDs and cassette tapes is provided at a low cost as an information reproducing apparatus that allows easy enjoyment of music and the like, and its penetration rate is extremely high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to economically configure an advanced interactive system without using a special information reproducing apparatus. A bidirectional information transmission system, an information recording medium and a remote controller used in the bidirectional information transmission system, and a bidirectional information transmission method for performing bidirectional information transmission between an information reproducing apparatus and a user. It is in.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, a two-way information transmission system according to a first aspect of the present invention provides an information reproducing apparatus configured to reproduce at least an information signal including an audio signal and to provide the information signal to a user. A remote control for remotely controlling the playback device, wherein the information signal includes control information for controlling a playback process of the information playback device, as an audio signal played back by the information playback device, A signal input unit for inputting an audio signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus, a signal forming unit for forming a control signal for controlling the reproduction process from control information included in the input audio signal, and the control signal And a signal output unit that outputs the signal to the information reproducing apparatus.

[0008] Here, the "acoustic signal" is a signal in a frequency band that can be heard by a human. The frequency band that can be heard by humans, that is, the sound signal band is about 15H
The frequency is from z to 20 Hz to about 20 to 30 kHz. The "reproduction process" of the information reproducing apparatus includes, for example, pause and release of reproduction, jump to a predetermined reproduction position, and the like, and refers to a progress of reproduction in the information reproducing apparatus. is there.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording medium capable of reproducing an information signal including at least an audio signal and providing the information signal to a user, and an audio signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus. And forming a control signal for controlling a reproduction process of the information reproducing apparatus from the control information included in the input audio signal, and outputting the control signal to the information reproducing apparatus to remotely control the information reproducing apparatus. An information signal including the control information as an audio signal is recorded so that the information can be reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus of the bidirectional information transmission system including a remote controller to be controlled.

The remote controller according to claim 11 is a remote controller for remotely controlling an information reproducing apparatus capable of reproducing an information signal including at least an audio signal and providing the information signal to a user. A signal input unit for inputting the reproduced audio signal, a signal forming unit for forming a control signal for controlling a reproduction process of the information reproducing device from the input audio signal, and outputting the control signal to the information reproducing device. And a signal output unit.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the information reproducing apparatus is remotely controlled by a remote controller and reproduces an information signal including at least a sound signal to be provided to a user. Forming control information for controlling the reproduction process as an audio signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus, reproducing the acoustic signal by the information reproducing apparatus, receiving the reproduced acoustic signal by the remote control, A control signal for controlling the reproduction process is formed from the control information included in the received audio signal, and the control signal is output from the remote controller to the information reproduction device.

In these two-way information transmission systems, information recording media, remote controllers, or two-way information transmission methods, control information for controlling a reproduction process of an information reproducing apparatus is
The signal is transmitted to the remote controller as an acoustic signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus. Then, based on this control information, the reproduction process of the information reproducing apparatus is controlled by the remote controller.
Therefore, it is possible to control the reproduction process of the general-purpose information reproducing apparatus, which is merely remotely controlled by the remote controller operated by the user, according to the information signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus, at a high level.

[0013] A two-way information transmission system according to a second aspect is characterized in that the control information is included in the information signal as an audio signal existing in an audio signal band of about 500 Hz or less or about 10 kHz or more.

The information recording medium according to claim 7 is characterized in that the control information is recorded as an audio signal existing in an audio signal band of about 500 Hz or less or about 10 kHz or more.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the remote controller, the signal forming unit may be configured to control the sound signal so as to have a frequency of about 500 Hz or less,
The control signal is formed from an acoustic signal band of 0 kHz or more.

With these two-way information transmission systems, information recording media, or remote controllers, it is possible to make control information reproduced as an audio signal difficult for a user to recognize.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the bidirectional information transmission system is characterized in that the control information is included in the information signal as any one of a tone signal, a dual tone signal, and a tone burst signal. I have.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the information recording medium, the control information is recorded as one of a tone signal, a dual tone signal, and a tone burst signal.

In these two-way information transmission systems or information recording media, control information can be reliably transmitted,
This makes it easy to implement.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the bidirectional information transmission system, the information reproducing apparatus can output two-channel sound signals included in the information signal in parallel, and the control information is It is a dual tone signal in which each tone signal is distributed to each of the two channels.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the information recording medium, the control information is recorded as a dual tone signal in which each tone signal is distributed to each of two channels output in parallel from the information reproducing apparatus. Features.

In these two-way information transmission systems or information recording media, the transmission of control information is further ensured, and each tone signal of the dual tone signal is distributed to two channels. It is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of a difference frequency signal that may occur with modulation distortion.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the two-way information transmission system, the audio signal includes a listening audio signal to be provided to a user;
A tone signal, a dual tone signal, or a tone burst signal, comprising a control audio signal encoded with the control information, and the control audio signal is in a critical band around the frequency of the control audio signal. It is characterized in that the spectrum level is smaller than the spectrum level of the listening sound signal and is superimposed on the listening sound signal and included in the information signal.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the information recording medium, the audio signal is any one of a listening audio signal to be provided to a user, a tone signal, a dual tone signal, and a tone burst signal, and The control audio signal has a spectral level smaller than the spectral level of the listening audio signal in a critical band around the frequency of the control audio signal, and is superimposed on the listening audio signal. It is characterized by being recorded as.

In these two-way information transmission systems or information recording media, the control sound signal can be masked by the listening sound signal.

A remote controller according to a thirteenth aspect is provided with an information input unit through which a user can input information, and the signal forming unit forms the control signal based on the information input from the information input unit. And

With this remote controller, it is possible to control the reproducing process of the information reproducing apparatus based on the information input by the user.

[0028]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, specific embodiments of a bidirectional information transmission system, an information recording medium, a remote controller, and a bidirectional information transmission method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the bidirectional information transmission system of Embodiment 1. This system includes a CD, MD,
A so-called radio-cassette (information reproducing apparatus) 1 in which an information recording medium 2 such as a cassette tape is loaded, and an information signal recorded on the information recording medium 2 can be reproduced and provided to a user. A remote control 11 for remotely controlling the boombox 1 is provided. Here, a case where a CD is used as the information recording medium 2 will be described. The boombox 1 is a general-purpose one, and includes a driving unit 3 for rotating the CD 2 and moving the optical pickup, and a decoding unit 2 for decoding a signal read from the CD 2.
It has a signal reproducing unit 4 for making a sound signal of a channel, and a speaker 7 for providing the reproduced sound signal to a user 8 as a sound wave signal AS. The receiving sensor 6 receives the infrared signal IR output from the remote controller 11 and outputs a control signal to the controller 5. The controller 5 has the function of a microcomputer, and operates based on a control signal input from the reception sensor 6 and an operation switch (not shown) provided on the body of the radio-cassette 1.
And the signal reproducing unit 4.

On the other hand, the remote controller 11 is provided with a microphone (signal input section) 19 for inputting an acoustic signal output from the speaker 7 as a sound wave signal AS. Then, the output signal from the microphone 19 is next input to the filter 20, and only a signal existing in a predetermined frequency band is extracted. The extracted signal is decoded by the decoder 21 and sent to the controller 13 having a microcomputer function. The controller 13 is connected to a memory 14 from which data can be read and written, operation buttons 16 that can be operated by the user 8, and a display unit 17 that performs various displays for the user 8. Further, the remote controller 11 is provided with a scanner (information input unit) 18 capable of reading a print pattern shown in text or the like. Then, the scanner 18 receives, via the decoder 15 that decodes the data indicated by the print pattern,
It is connected to the controller 13.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an information signal recorded on the CD2. This CD2 can record a two-channel sound signal as the information signal. Although the CD 2 is physically in the shape of a disk, it is drawn in a tape shape with the time axis being horizontal for the sake of simplicity and easy understanding. Further, the case where the CD2 is educational software will be described as an example. First, at the beginning of the first track, a track number code TNO indicating that the track number is "1" is recorded.
Next, a question Q1 for asking the user 8 for a predetermined judgment is recorded. Furthermore, following this question Q1,
The correct code CC for determining whether the user has made a correct or incorrect answer, the jump destination CJ at the correct time indicating the playback start position when the answer is correct, and the playback start when the answer is incorrect An incorrect answer jump destination WJ indicating a position, and a pause instruction PI for temporarily stopping reproduction of the boombox 1 via the remote controller 11 are recorded. The correct message CM1 is recorded following the pause instruction PI, and the next question jump destination NJ is recorded at the end of the first track. In the second track, a track number code TNO indicating that the track number is "2" is recorded first, and an incorrect message WM1 is subsequently recorded.

Further, the CD 2 has a second question Q
2. The correct message CM2, the incorrect message WM2, the third question Q3, etc. relating to the question Q2 are continuously recorded. However, since the recording pattern is the same as the recording pattern relating to the first question Q1, a detailed description is omitted here for simplicity.

The questions Q1, Q2, Q3 and the messages CM1, WM1, CM2, WM2 are information to be provided to the user 8 as voice. Therefore, it is needless to say that these are recorded on the CD 2 as sound signals in the sound signal band. However, the TNO, CC, and C which are control information for controlling the reproduction process of the boombox 1
J, WJ, PI, and NJ are all recorded as audio signals output from the speaker 7. So next,
How these are recorded as audio signals on CD2 will be described.

The human audible range is about 15H as described above.
The frequency is from z to 20 Hz to about 20 to 30 kHz. Therefore, the boombox 1 is also configured to be able to reproduce signals in such a frequency band. On the other hand, 1955
As is evident from the iso-loudness curve measured in the year and currently accepted by the ISO, human hearing sensitivity is about 1 kHz to
It is known that the sensitivity is highest at 5 kHz, and the sensitivity gradually decreases on the low tone side or high tone side.
Signals in a frequency band of about 500 Hz or less or 10 kHz or more are hardly perceived by human ears. Therefore, in the CD2, the control information is set to 10
It is recorded as an acoustic signal in a frequency band of kHz to 20 kHz.

The control information is 10 kHz to 20 kHz.
It is recorded as a DTMF signal in a frequency band of Hz. As the DTMF signal, for example, four tone signals having no articulation relation in each of the high-frequency side and the low-frequency side in the frequency band, such as a telephone, are selected. One symbol is formed by combining with one of the tone signals on the side.
Therefore, according to the DTMF signal of this example, 16 types of symbols having different meanings can be formed. Table 1 shows each symbol and the respective meaning assigned to each symbol in the system. Then, the control information is encoded by such a DTMF signal, and is recorded on CD2. Table 2
The relationship between the recorded code and the control information is shown as an example. As shown in Table 2, for example, if the control information is “jump to the twelfth track”, the DTMF signal representing the symbol “B”, the DTMF signal representing the symbol “1”, and the symbol “2” The DTMF signal is sequentially recorded as a burst signal that continues for a predetermined time. Then, at this time, the high frequency side signal of the DTMF signal is recorded on one of the two channels,
The low frequency signal is recorded on the other channel. FIG. 5A shows an envelope of the DTMF signal.
As shown in the figure, the DTMF signal smoothly increases its amplitude from no signal at its rising portion R and smoothly decreases its amplitude at its falling portion F to a signal-free state. is there. And DT
The duration T of the MF signal is set to about 100 mS or less.

[0036]

[Table 1]

[Table 2]

Next, the operation of the above system when the above educational software is used as the CD 2 will be described. FIG. 3 shows a boombox 1 that constitutes the system.
And a remote controller 11 and a text 10 on which a predetermined print pattern 9 is printed. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the remote controller 11. First, the reproduction of the CD 2 on which the signal as shown in FIG. Then, a DTMF signal obtained by encoding the TNO is output from the speaker 7. This is a sound signal A having a frequency of 10 kHz or more.
Since it is S, it is hardly heard by the user 8, but can be received by the microphone 19 of the remote controller 11 (step S1). The received sound signal AS is transmitted to the microphone 19
Is converted to an electric signal by the filter 20 and the DTMF is
The signal is extracted. Then, this D is
The TMF signal is decoded, and control information indicating that the track number is "1" is input to the controller 13.
In the controller 13, a control signal for controlling the boombox 1 is formed based on such control information. That is, the signal forming unit is constituted by the filter 20, the decoder 21, and the controller 13. Next, a question Q1 is output from the speaker 7 as a sound wave signal AS. The sound wave signal AS is a sound signal mainly in a frequency band of 500 Hz to 10 kHz, such as "Which of the two fruits is there?"

When the reproduction of the question Q1 is completed, the speaker 7 outputs a DT encoding the control information CC, CJ, WJ.
An MF signal is output. The remote controller 11 receives these DTMF signals with the microphone 19 in step S2 in FIG. The received DTMF signal is decoded into control information CC, CJ, and WJ by the filter 20 and the decoder 21 in the same manner as the TNO, and is input to the controller 13. Further, the control information CC, CJ, WJ is stored in the memory 14 via the controller 13.

Next, the speaker 7 of the boombox 1 outputs a DTMF signal that encodes the pause command PI.
This DTMF signal is also stored in step S3 of the flowchart.
Is received by the microphone 19 and decoded by the filter 20 and the decoder 21. The controller 13
Forms a pause signal PS for suspending the boombox 1 from the decoded pause instruction PI. In step S4, the temporary stop signal PS is transmitted from the controller 13 to the transmission LED (signal output unit) 12
Is transmitted to the radio-cassette 1 as an infrared signal IR. The boombox 1 receives the infrared signal I
Upon receiving R, the controller 5 puts the driving unit 3 and the signal reproducing unit 4 into a pause state.

When the above operation is viewed from the user 8, the question Q
After the playback of No. 1, the boombox 1 is in a paused state. Then, the user 8 answers the determination obtained in the question Q1 by scanning the print pattern 9 of the text 10 with the scanner 18 of the remote controller 11. Remote control 1
In step S5, 1 reads the data indicated by the print pattern 9 from the scanner 18. At this time, the memory 14
In the table, the fact that the correct answer number is 2 is stored based on the correct answer code CC “# 2” transmitted from the boombox 1. Therefore, the controller 1 of the remote controller 11
3 compares the data indicated by the print pattern 9 with the correct answer number in step S6.

If it is determined by this comparison that the judgment input by the user 8 is correct as the answer to the question Q1, the process proceeds to step S7, where the suspension release signal RS
Is output from the transmission LED 12. Then the boombox 1
Is suspended, and the correct message CM1 is output from the speaker 7 as an audio signal. This is, for example, "Correct. Well done." When the reproduction of the correct answer message CM1 is completed, the next question jump destination NJ is output from the speaker 7 of the boombox 1 as a DTMF signal. The remote controller 11 receives this in step S8, decodes it in the same manner as described above, and forms a jump signal NJS for jumping the playback position of the boombox 1 to the beginning of the third track. Then, the jump signal NJS is output to the boombox 1 via the transmission LED 12 as an infrared signal IR.
Then, the boombox 1 starts playing the track containing the second question Q2, and thereafter repeats the above routine.

On the other hand, if it is determined by the comparison that the judgment input by the user 8 is incorrect as the answer to the question Q1, the process proceeds to step S10, and the incorrect answer jump signal WJS is output from the transmission LED 12. . The incorrect answer jump signal WJS is a jump signal having the playback start position of the boombox 1 as the head of the second track when CD2 is recorded as shown in FIG. After setting the reproduction start position to the beginning of the second track, the transmission LED 12 outputs a pause release signal RS in step S11. Then, the incorrect answer message WM1 is output as an audio signal from the speaker 7 of the boombox 1. This is something like, "Sorry, the answer is the second cherry." Then, at this time, the reproduction of the third track is started, and the above routine is repeated again.

In the bidirectional information transmission system as described above, by reproducing the CD2, control information for controlling the reproduction process of the radio-cassette 1 is output from the speaker 7 of the radio-cassette 1 as a sound signal AS, 11 to receive. Then, a control signal is formed by the remote controller 11, and the control signal is output to the radio-controlled device 1 as an infrared signal IR. Therefore, the general-purpose radio-cassette 1 which only performs simple operations such as pause and cue in response to the infrared signal IR from the remote controller 11 is provided with a CD.
2 can perform a complicated operation corresponding to the recorded contents. Thus, by using the general-purpose and low-price boombox 1 as described above, various interactive information transmission systems for education and recreation, etc., for which complicated and sophisticated control is required for the reproduction process, are configured. Can be. Further, it is necessary to cause the radio-cassette 1 to perform different operations on the contents recorded on the CD 2 between the educational system and the entertainment system such as a game. Even in such a case, the above system uses CD2
Can be dealt with simply by changing the control information recorded in. Therefore, a flexible interactive system can be constructed economically. Even if the system needs to be changed, the remote control 1
It can be dealt with by replacing only one. Therefore, the economy is further improved.

The control information is output from the speaker 7 as a sound signal AS having a frequency of 10 kHz or more. Therefore, while the signal can be reliably received by the microphone 19, the user 8 hardly senses it. Therefore, a two-way information transmission system can be configured without impairing the use comfort. Moreover, the control information output from the speaker 7 is a DTMF signal. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the remote controller 11 from erroneously recognizing the control information. Furthermore, using the DTMF signal as described above,
When cross-modulation distortion occurs in the signal, a difference frequency signal between the two tone signals may be generated. When such a difference frequency signal is in a frequency range of 500 Hz to 10 kHz,
The user 8 will be perceived and use comfort will be impaired. However, in the above system, each tone signal of the DTMF signal is distributed to each of two stereo channels and output. Therefore, generation of the difference frequency signal as described above can be reliably avoided. Therefore, even when the inexpensive boombox 1 is used, good use comfort can be reliably maintained. Further, the duration T of the DTMF signal is set to about 100 ms.
It is as follows. According to tests performed by the inventors, it has been found that the user 8 hardly perceives the DTMF signal for such a duration. Moreover, the DT
The envelope of the MF signal is smooth as shown in FIG. Therefore, as compared with the case where the envelope has a square wave shape as shown in FIG.
In addition, in the falling portion F, it is possible to suppress generation of unpleasant pulse noise. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the use comfort from being hindered by the presence of the DTMF signal.

The remote controller 11 has a scanner 18
Is provided, and the user 8 can input a judgment for the question Q1. The controller 13 forms a control signal based on the control information transmitted from the boombox 1 and the input judgment. Therefore, the reproduction process of the boombox 1 can be controlled based on both the judgment input by the user 8 and the recorded contents of the CD 2, and thereby the system can perform advanced control. This will be described with reference to the example of FIG. 3. When the print pattern 9 indicating “cherries” of the text 10 is scanned, a question asking the number of fruits is asked while determining the correct answer, and asking the color of the fruits. This means that the answer to the question can be incorrect.

Although the first embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above description, the control information is recorded on the CD 2 as a DTMF signal having a frequency of 10 kHz or more, but this may be a DTMF signal having a frequency of 500 Hz or less, or a tone signal of 10 kHz or more and
The DTMF signal may be configured by combining with a tone signal of 0 Hz or less. Further, the control information may be encoded as a single tone signal having various meanings in its frequency and recorded on a CD2. Further, the control information may be recorded on a CD2 as a tone burst signal having a frequency of 500 Hz or less or 10 kHz or more, and a sequence of “1” and “0” may be represented by the presence or absence of the burst signal. . Thus, the control information is encoded into, for example, an 8-bit digital signal, and the digital signal is decoded by the remote controller 11. If importance is placed on facilitating the configuration of the filter 20, the frequency of the tone signal is about 500 Hz or less or about 10 k
Hz or more is preferable. However, if emphasis is placed on comfort for the user 8, the frequency is preferably about 300 Hz or less or about 15 kHz or more.

The above system has been described assuming that question Q2 and question Q3 proceed sequentially from question Q1. However, this means that the user 8 scans the printed pattern 9 of the text 10 so that any questions Q
, Q2,... May be appropriately reproduced.

On the other hand, for the signals for remotely controlling the radio-cassette 1, different control codes are assigned to the respective manufacturers. Thus, a device that is not intended by the user 8 does not malfunction due to the remote operation by the remote controller 11. Therefore, the remote controller 11 may store various control codes corresponding to the respective manufacturers in advance, so that the pattern of the control signal output from the transmission LED 12 can be switched according to the radio-cassette 1 to be controlled. . In this way, one type of remote control 11 can cope with various radio-cassettes 1, thereby contributing to the convenience of the user 8 and reducing the manufacturing cost of the remote control 11 by enabling mass production of a single type. Can be. In addition to storing various control codes in advance as described above,
The remote controller 11 can be configured as a so-called learning remote controller. Here, the learning remote controller is a remote controller that receives a control code stored in various remote controllers by a predetermined operation, stores the received remote control code, and outputs a signal composed of the control code as a control signal. is there. In this case as well, one type of remote controller 11 can cope with various boomboxes 1 in the same manner as described above.
1 can reduce the manufacturing cost.

By the way, the remote controller 11 operates the text 1
Read the print pattern 9 printed at 0,
The judgment of the user 8 on the radio-cassette 1 is transmitted to the radio-cassette 1. However, as shown in FIG. 6, this may have an answer button (information input section) 22 which allows the user 8 to input a judgment on the question Q1 or the like. In the remote controller 45 shown in FIG.
As 2, a numeric keypad for inputting “「 ”and“ × ”and a numeric keypad for inputting various numbers are provided. In addition to the answer button 22, the remote control 22 is provided with an operation button 23 for directly directly controlling the radio-cassette 1 by remote control. And, of course, also in the remote controller 45, the microphone 19 for inputting the control information output from the radio-cassette 1 as the sound signal AS, and the infrared signal IR
And a transmission LED 12 for transmitting to the boombox 1. Further, the information input unit as described above may be a touch panel or a pen input device.

The remote controller may not have an information input unit such as the scanner 18 and the answer button 22. In this case, too, by transmitting a pause command PI or a command for automatically canceling the pause after a predetermined time has elapsed from the radio-cassette 1 to the remote controller as a sound wave AS, a complicated operation according to the recorded contents of the CD 2 is performed. Can be performed by the general-purpose boombox 1. More specifically, the English educational software will be described as an example. First, a predetermined English sentence recorded on the CD 2 is reproduced, and then the radio-cassette 1 transmits a pause instruction PI. Then, a pause signal PS is transmitted from the remote controller to the radio-cassette 1, so that the radio-cassette 1 is in a pause state after the English text is reproduced. Then, the user 8 practices the English utterance, and when it is finished, presses the pause release button of the remote control to reproduce the next English sentence. At this time, an instruction to automatically release the pause 10 seconds after the pause may be transmitted from the boombox 1 to the remote controller. In this case, the boombox 1 repeatedly plays and pauses the English sentence at regular intervals.

Further, in the above description, a CD is used as the information reproducing apparatus.
Although the radio-cassette 1 for reproducing the audio signal recorded on the cassette tape is used, an LD player or a DVD player that can reproduce not only the audio signal but also the video signal may be used. In this case, the information signal provided to the user 8 may be both the video information and the audio signal, or may be only the video information. In addition to an information reproducing apparatus that loads an information recording medium such as a CD2 and reproduces the information, the information recording medium is connected to a device that is installed at a remote location and stores information signals by a wired or wireless communication network. May be used as well as an information reproducing apparatus configured to perform the reproduction. Such an information reproducing apparatus may be such that the information signal input through a communication network is temporarily stored in a memory and then reproduced, or reproduced by real-time processing without storing the information signal in a memory. Is also good. In the above description, the expression “boombox” is used, but any information playback device that can play back at least an information signal including an audio signal and provide it to a user may be used. Needless to say, it may be a device.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a bidirectional information transmission system according to a second embodiment will be described. The difference between this system and the system of the first embodiment is that the control information is recorded on the CD 2 as any sound signal,
Is to output from Therefore, here, this difference will be mainly described.

First, as a result of psychoacoustics, when two sounds are present at the same time, it is known that the closer the frequency components of these two sounds are, the greater the masking effect of one sound on the other sound is. Have been. As described in "NeuroScience & Technology Series Speech / Hearing and Neural Network Model" (October 25, 1994, published by Ohm Co., Ltd.), the frequency range that can cause such masking is the critical band. being called. This critical band CB [Hz] can be calculated by the following equation as a function of the frequency f [kHz] of the signal sound. CB = 25 + 75 (1 + 1.4f ² ) ^0.69 Then, when there is a signal sound of a certain frequency, the spectrum level of noise within a critical band centered on the frequency of this signal sound is larger than the spectrum level of the signal sound. If,
More precisely, if it is 4 dB or more, the signal tone is masked by noise. Therefore, in this system, an information signal to be recorded on CD2 is configured as follows.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a frequency spectrum of the information signal recorded on the CD2. This information signal
It comprises a control sound signal CS and a listening sound signal HS. Here, the control sound signal CS is a sound signal formed of the control information and formed as a dual tone signal such as a DTMF signal, or a tone signal or a tone burst signal. On the other hand, the listening sound signal HS is
Like the question Q1 or the correct answer message CM1, it is an audio signal intended to be used by the user 8 for listening. The listening sound signal HS has a spectrum close to white noise because it contains various frequency components. However, since the control sound signal CS as described above is a signal having a single frequency, it is represented by a substantially straight line in the figure. You. When the control sound signal CS is a dual tone signal such as a DTMF signal, FIG. 7 shows one of them. Then, within the critical band CB centered on the control sound signal CS, the spectrum level of the listening sound signal HS is set to be higher than the spectrum level of the control sound signal CS. It is preferably at least 4 dB. The filter 20 is configured as a band-pass filter whose center frequency is the frequency of the control sound signal CS. The pass band PB is narrower than the critical band CB, so that the spectral level of the control sound signal CS is sufficiently higher than the spectral level of the listening sound signal HS in the pass band PB.
The control sound signal CS is converted to the listening sound signal HS.
At the same time, it is recorded on CD2 so as to be output from the boombox 1.

In this two-way information transmission system,
Similarly to the system of the first embodiment, various interactive information transmission systems for education, entertainment, and the like can be configured using the general-purpose and low-price boombox 1. In addition, since the information signal output from the speaker 7 of the boombox 1 is configured as described above, the control information signal CS is masked for the user 8 by the listening information signal HS. Therefore, the user 8 hardly recognizes the control information signal CS, which can prevent the user's comfort from being impaired. Moreover, in the pass band PB of the filter 20, the spectrum level of the control information signal CS is sufficiently higher than the spectrum level of the listening information signal HS. Therefore, the remote control 11 can reliably recognize the control information signal CS, and secure the stability of the system operation.

In this system, the control information signal CS is masked by the listening information signal HS. Therefore, the frequency of the control information signal CS may be in the range of 500 Hz to 10 kHz.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a bidirectional information transmission system of Embodiment 3. Here, the information reproducing apparatus is a portable headphone stereo 3.
1 is configured. This headphone stereo 31
The remote controller 30 is connected to the remote controller 30 via a wired cable. An answer button (information input section) for the user to input the judgment is provided on the remote controller 30.
36, and an operation button 38 for remotely controlling the headphone stereo 31 are provided.
9 is connected.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of this system. The same blocks as those in the system of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and will not be described again in detail. This system includes a headphone stereo 31 loaded with an information recording medium 2 such as a CD, MD, or cassette tape as described above, and capable of reproducing an audio signal recorded on the information recording medium 2, and a headphone stereo 31. 3
And a remote controller 30 for remotely controlling the remote controller 1. Among them, the headphone stereo 31 is a general-purpose one, and an information signal is read from, for example, a CD 2, and an audio signal is reproduced by the signal reproducing unit 4 from the information signal.
The reproduced audio signal is amplified by an output amplifier 32 and transmitted to the remote control 30 via the remote control code 28 by an electric signal E.
Output as S. The remote controller 30 outputs the electric signal ES to the headphones 29 as it is, and the decoder 15 decodes the control information from the electric signal ES. Then, a control signal is formed by the controller 13 based on the control information. This control signal is output from an output interface (signal output unit) of the remote controller 30.
The signal is transmitted from 35 to the input interface 33 of the headphone stereo 31 via the remote control code 28.
Note that a display signal such as a track number is output from the headphone stereo 31 via the display data output unit 34 and the remote control code 28. In the remote controller 30, display data is formed from the display signal by the display data decoder 37, and the display data is displayed on the display unit 17.

Also in this system, the CD2 used
Are the same as those of the system of the first or second embodiment. That is,
When the CD 2 is reproduced, control information for controlling the reproduction process of the headphone stereo 31 is output to the remote controller 30 as an audio signal. Then, a control signal is formed by the remote controller 30, and the control signal is output to the headphone stereo 31. Therefore, the remote control 30
, The general-purpose headphone stereo 31 that only performs a simple operation in response to a signal from the CD 2 can perform a complicated operation corresponding to the recorded content of the CD2. Thus, using the general-purpose and low-priced headphone stereo 31, it is possible to configure various bidirectional information transmission systems for education, entertainment, and the like that require complicated and sophisticated control in the reproduction process. The control information is hardly sensed by the user in the same manner as in the above-described embodiments, so that it is possible to prevent the use comfort from being impaired. In particular, since the inner ear type headphones 29 do not have a high frequency response to a low tone of 500 Hz or less, when the control information is included in the information signal as an acoustic signal of 500 Hz or less, the use comfort can be further improved.

Fourth Embodiment FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a bidirectional information transmission system according to a fourth embodiment. This system differs from the systems of the above embodiments in that a repeater 26 is used. Therefore, here, this difference will be mainly described, and the same components as those in the system of the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and will not be described again in detail.

The boombox 1 as described in the first embodiment is usually provided with an audio jack 25 for connecting headphones. The repeater 26 is connected to the audio jack 25. The repeater 26 has the audio jack 25
Audio plug (signal input section) 43 for connection to
And a speaker 27 for outputting an acoustic signal to the user 8 as a sound signal AS, and a speaker 27 for outputting the acoustic signal.
, An decoder 42 for decoding control information from an audio signal, a data modulator 40 for modulating the control information into an infrared signal IR, and A transmission LED 41 for outputting the infrared signal IR is provided. The remote controller 44 is provided with an infrared sensor 24 for receiving the output infrared signal IR. Decoder 2
Numeral 1 is for decoding control information from the output signal of the infrared sensor 24.

In this system, the CD2
The recording pattern and the operation procedure of the user 8 are the same as those of the system of the first embodiment. By playing the CD 2, control information for controlling the playback process of the boombox 1 is output to the remote controller 44 via the audio jack 25 of the boombox 1 and the repeater 26. The control information is decoded by the remote controller 44, a control signal is formed from the control information, and the control signal is output to the radio-cassette 1 as an infrared signal IR. Therefore, the general-purpose boombox 1 that only performs a simple operation in response to a signal from the remote controller 11 can perform a complicated operation corresponding to the recorded content of the CD 2. Thus, using the general-purpose and low-price boombox 1, it is possible to configure various interactive information transmission systems such as those for education and recreation that require complicated and sophisticated control in the reproduction process. In this case, the control information is not transmitted directly from the repeater 26 to the boombox 1, but is transmitted once to the remote controller 44, and the remote controller 44 transmits a control signal based on the control information and the information input by the user 8. Has formed. Therefore, boombox 1
Can be highly controlled based on both the recorded contents of the CD2 and the operation of the user. Moreover, the control information is transmitted as an electric signal from the radio-
To the remote controller 44 as an infrared signal IR. Therefore, the control information can be reliably transmitted to the remote controller 44 even when the radio-cassette 1 to be used is very inexpensive and the frequency characteristic of the speaker 7 has many peaks and dips.

[0063]

As described above, in the two-way information transmission system of claim 1, the information recording medium of claim 6, the remote controller of claim 11, or the two-way information transmission method of claim 14, the user simply operates. The reproduction process of a general-purpose information reproducing apparatus which is only remotely controlled by a remote controller can be highly controlled in accordance with an information signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to economically configure an interactive system capable of performing a complicated operation according to an information signal without using a special information reproducing device.

A two-way information transmission system according to claim 2,
According to the information recording medium of claim 7 or the remote control of claim 12, the control information reproduced as the audio signal can be made difficult for the user to recognize. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the use comfort from being hindered.

According to the two-way information transmission system of the third aspect or the information recording medium of the eighth aspect, it is possible to easily transmit the control information while ensuring the transmission.

In the bidirectional information transmission system according to the fourth aspect or the information recording medium according to the ninth aspect, the transmission of control information is further ensured, and the generation of a difference frequency signal which may occur together with the intermodulation distortion in the information reproducing apparatus. Can be reliably prevented. Therefore, even if the system is inexpensive, it is possible to further improve the reliability and the comfort of use.

In the two-way information transmission system according to the fifth aspect or the information recording medium according to the tenth aspect, since the control sound signal can be masked by the listening sound signal, it is possible to prevent the comfort of use from being hindered. Becomes possible.

In the remote controller according to the thirteenth aspect, the reproducing process of the information reproducing apparatus can be controlled based on the information input by the user. Therefore, it is possible to configure an interactive system that has a simple configuration and that can perform more advanced operations.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a bidirectional information transmission system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording pattern of a CD used in the system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a use state of the system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of a remote controller constituting the system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an envelope of a DTMF signal used in the system.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a modification of the system.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing a spectrum of an information signal in the bidirectional information transmission system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a bidirectional information transmission system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the system.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a bidirectional information transmission system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional bidirectional information transmission system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 boombox 2 CD 11 remote control 12 transmission LED 18 scanner 19 microphone 20 filter 21 decoder 22 answer button 24 infrared sensor 26 repeater 30 remote control 31 headphone stereo 33 input interface 35 output interface 36 answer button 43 audio plug 44 remote control 45 remote control

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] August 21, 1998 (1998.8.2
1)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0011

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the information reproducing apparatus is remotely controlled by a remote controller and reproduces an information signal including at least an acoustic signal to be provided to a user. Forming control information for controlling the reproduction process as an audio signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus, reproducing the acoustic signal by the information reproducing apparatus, receiving the reproduced acoustic signal by the remote control, A control signal for controlling the reproduction process is formed from the control information included in the received audio signal, and the control signal is output from the remote controller to the information reproduction device.

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0026

[Correction method] Deleted

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0027

[Correction method] Deleted

[Procedure amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0049

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Meanwhile, the remote controller 11 reads the print pattern 9 printed on the text 10 and
The judgment of the user 8 for 1 etc. is transmitted to the boombox 1. However, as shown in FIG. 6, this may have an answer button (information input section) 22 which allows the user 8 to input a judgment on the question Q1 or the like. In the remote controller 45 shown in FIG. 3, the answer button 22 is provided with a button for inputting "O" and "X" and a numeric keypad for inputting various numbers. In addition to the answer button 22, the remote control 45 is also provided with an operation button 23 for directly controlling the radio-cassette 1 remotely. And, of course, also in the remote controller 45, the microphone 19 for inputting the control information output from the radio-cassette 1 as the sound signal AS, and the infrared signal I
A transmission LED 12 for transmitting to the boombox 1 as R is provided. Further, the information input unit as described above,
It may be a touch panel or a pen input device.

[Procedure amendment 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0063

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0063]

As described above, in the two-way information transmission system of claim 1, the information recording medium of claim 6, the remote controller of claim 11, or the two-way information transmission method of claim 13 , the user simply operates. The reproduction process of a general-purpose information reproducing apparatus which is only remotely controlled by a remote controller can be highly controlled in accordance with an information signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to economically configure an interactive system capable of performing a complicated operation according to an information signal without using a special information reproducing device.

[Procedure amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name]

[Correction method] Deleted

Claims (14)

[Claims] An information reproducing apparatus configured to reproduce an information signal including at least an audio signal and provide the information signal to a user, and a remote controller for remotely controlling the information reproducing apparatus. Control information for controlling a reproduction process of the information reproducing apparatus is included as an audio signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus, and the remote controller inputs a sound signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus. A signal forming unit that forms a control signal for controlling the reproduction process from control information included in the input audio signal, and a signal output unit that outputs the control signal to the information reproduction device. A two-way information transmission system, comprising: 2. The bidirectional information transmission system according to claim 1, wherein the control information is included in the information signal as an audio signal existing in an audio signal band of about 500 Hz or less or about 10 kHz or more. 3. The information signal according to claim 1, wherein the control information is included in the information signal as one of a sound signal, a tone signal, a dual tone signal, and a tone burst signal. Any two-way information transmission system. 4. The information reproducing apparatus is configured to be able to output two-channel audio signals included in the information signal in parallel, and the control information is configured to output each tone signal of each of the two channels. 4. The bidirectional information transmission system according to claim 3, wherein the bidirectional information transmission system is a dual tone signal. 5. The sound signal according to claim 1, wherein the sound signal is a listening sound signal to be provided to a user, and a control sound signal, which is one of a tone signal, a dual tone signal, and a tone burst signal, wherein the control information is encoded. The control sound signal has a spectrum level smaller than the spectrum level of the listening sound signal in a critical band around the frequency of the control sound signal, and is superimposed on the listening sound signal and included in the information signal. 5. The two-way information transmission system according to claim 3, wherein: 6. An information reproducing apparatus configured to reproduce an information signal including at least an audio signal and providing the information signal to a user, and an audio signal reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus. A control signal for controlling a reproduction process of the information reproducing apparatus is formed from control information included in the information reproducing apparatus, and the control signal is output to the information reproducing apparatus to remotely control the information reproducing apparatus. An information recording medium, wherein an information signal including the control information as an audio signal is recorded so that the information reproduction device of the bidirectional information transmission system can reproduce the information signal. 7. The information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the control information is recorded as an audio signal existing in an audio signal band of about 500 Hz or less or about 10 kHz or more. 8. The information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the control information is recorded as any one of a tone signal, a dual tone signal, and a tone burst signal. 9. The control information according to claim 8, wherein the control information is recorded as a dual tone signal in which each tone signal is distributed to each of two channels output in parallel from the information reproducing apparatus. Information recording medium. 10. The sound signal includes a listening sound signal to be provided to a user, a tone signal, a dual tone signal,
Or a control sound signal which is one of a tone burst signal and the control information is encoded, and the control sound signal has a spectral level within a critical band centered on a frequency of the control sound signal, and 10. The information recording medium according to claim 8, wherein the information recording medium is formed so as to be smaller than a spectrum level of the signal and is superimposed on the listening audio signal and recorded. 11. A remote controller for remotely controlling an information reproducing device capable of reproducing an information signal including at least an audio signal and providing the information signal to a user, and receives the audio signal reproduced by the information reproducing device. A signal input unit, a signal forming unit that forms a control signal for controlling a reproduction process of the information reproducing device from the input acoustic signal, and a signal output unit that outputs the control signal to the information reproducing device. A remote control comprising: 12. The remote controller according to claim 11, wherein the signal forming unit forms the control signal from an audio signal band of about 500 Hz or less or about 10 kHz or more in the audio signal. 13. An information input unit through which a user can input information, wherein the signal forming unit forms the control signal based on the information input from the information input unit. Or the remote controller according to claim 12. 14. An information reproducing apparatus, which is remotely controlled by a remote controller, can reproduce at least an information signal including an audio signal and provides the reproduced information signal to a user, and a control for controlling a reproducing process of the information reproducing apparatus. Forming information as an audio signal to be reproduced by the information reproducing apparatus, reproducing the acoustic signal by the information reproducing apparatus, receiving the reproduced audio signal by the remote controller, and controlling the control included in the received audio signal. A bidirectional information transmission method, comprising: forming a control signal for controlling the reproduction process from information; and outputting the control signal from the remote controller to the information reproduction device.