JP2000068868A - Remote control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To minimize power consumption of a light receiving circuit that receives a remote control signal light for a device to be controlled such as a television receiver. SOLUTION: The remote control system is provided with a remote controller that has a transmission means transmitting consecutively n-times (n is a plural number) a prescribed remote control signal and remotely controls a device to be controlled, a reception means 19 that is provided in the device to be controlled to receive a remote control signal from the remote controller, power supply circuits 16, 17 that generate a prescribed operating voltage, and a control means 18 that is operated by an operating voltage from the power supply circuit 16, 17 to supply the operating voltage intermittently to the reception means 19 and to control the operating state of the device to be controlled in response to the remote control signal received by the reception means 19, and relations of Ton<=T and Toff=(n-1) T are satisfied, where T is an oscillation period of the remote control signal from the remote controller, T1 is a signal generating period, T2 is a no signal period, Ton is a generating period of an operating voltage supplied intermittently to the reception means and Toff is a pause period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a remote control device for remotely controlling a controlled device such as a television receiver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional remote control device for a television receiver, for example, even when a main power switch of the television receiver is turned off, a remote control signal from a remote control transmitter can be received at any time. The power is always supplied to the circuit, and the light receiving circuit is in a light receiving state. Therefore, the light receiving circuit constantly consumes power.

In order to save the above power consumption, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
In Japanese Patent Application No. 0-13965 (hereinafter, referred to as a conventional example), a receiver for receiving a remote control signal is intermittently turned on and off, and a control signal having the same content is continuously transmitted from the remote control transmitter. At least one of the control signals can be received during the ON operation period.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned prior art, the power consumption is reduced by intermittently operating the receiving section for receiving the remote control signal. However, the power consumption is still not sufficiently suppressed. There was.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote control device capable of minimizing power consumption of a receiving unit of a controlled device.

[0006]

A predetermined remote control signal is set to n.
A remote controller for remotely controlling the controlled device, having a transmitting means for transmitting the signal continuously (a plurality of times), and a receiving device provided in the controlled device for receiving a remote control signal from the remote controller; A power supply circuit that generates a predetermined operation voltage, and operates by an operation voltage from the power supply circuit, intermittently supplies the operation voltage to the reception unit, and responds to a remote control signal received by the reception unit. Control means for controlling the operation state of the controlled device, wherein the transmission cycle of the remote control signal from the remote controller is T, and the signal generation period is T
1. The non-signal period is T2, the generation period of the operating voltage intermittently supplied to the receiving means is Ton, and the quiescent period is Toff. Ton ≦ T, Toff = (n−1) T It is characterized by the following.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a remote control device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a television receiver 1 as an example of a device to be controlled.
Has a power supply circuit 11 connected to an AC power supply, and a relay 12 constituting a main power supply switch is provided between the AC power supply and the power supply circuit 11. The power supply circuit 11 includes various circuits of the television receiver 1 (for example, a tuner / IF circuit 13).
And a deflection circuit) for supplying an operation DC voltage, and the television receiver 1 is turned on and off by turning on and off the relay 12.

On the other hand, the AC power supply is connected to a standby power supply circuit 14, and a predetermined DC voltage is obtained from the standby power supply circuit 14 even when the above-described various circuits of the television receiver are off. Like that. The standby power supply circuit 14 is connected to a transistor 15 for driving and controlling the relay and a voltage regulator 16 for generating a relatively low voltage (for example, 5 V) DC voltage, and the DC voltage from the voltage regulator 16 is supplied to the power supply control circuit. 17 and a microcomputer 18.

The microcomputer 18 controls the power supply control circuit 17 to perform a switching operation so that the DC voltage from the voltage regulator 16 is output intermittently. The power supply control circuit 17 outputs an intermittent drive voltage. This intermittent drive voltage is generated during a voltage generation period (Ton period).
And the idle period (Toff period) are periodically repeated, and this intermittent drive voltage is supplied to a light receiving circuit 19 for receiving a remote control signal. Therefore, the light receiving circuit 19 does not always operate and operates intermittently, which contributes to reduction of power consumption.

The microcomputer 18 supplies a signal (a) for turning on / off the main power supply to the transistor 15 in response to the remote control reception signal received by the light receiving circuit 19, and controls the tuner / IF circuit. 13 is supplied with a tuning signal (b).

FIG. 2 shows a remote controller 20 for supplying a remote control signal to the light receiving circuit 19. The remote controller 20 has a microcomputer 21 and keys 22 arranged in a matrix, and further has a crystal 23 for generating a reference clock, a transistor 24 for generating a remote control signal, and a light emitting diode 25. The light emitting diode 25 generates a remote control signal by infrared rays.

In the present invention, the operation of the key 22 causes
Various remote control signals are generated, but a single operation is performed to generate a remote control signal having the same content a plurality of times (for example, five times) continuously. It is characterized in that a specific relationship is given to the cycle of the continuously generated remote control signal.

The features of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, (a) shows a remote control signal transmitted from the remote controller 20, and a signal having the same content is n times (in FIG. 3, five times signals A, B, C, and 5).
(D, E) are transmitted. Also,
(B), (c), and (d) show the intermittent drive voltage supplied to the light receiving circuit, and (b) shows the case of the conventional example.
(C) and (d) show the case of the embodiment of the present invention.

The remote control signal (a) repeats a signal period T1 and a pause period T2, and its cycle is T. On the other hand, the conventional intermittent drive voltage (b) periodically repeats a voltage generation period (Ton period) and a pause period (Toff period),
Any one of the remote control signals A to E sent continuously
The Ton period is slightly longer than the period T of the remote control signal so that one can be completely received.

On the other hand, in the present invention, the Ton period of the intermittent drive voltage is set short as shown in FIG. 2C, and when the remote control signals A to E are received, the light receiving circuit 19 confirms the reception. If the minimum receiving period required for is t,
Ton = (T2 + t) is set. The minimum receiving period t is not a period in which any one of the remote control signals A to E (for example, the signal E) is received, but a period in which it is possible to determine that a remote control signal has been transmitted by receiving a part thereof. As shown in (c1) of FIG.
It may be shorter than the remote control signal period T1.

Then, the microcomputer 18 stops the switching control for the power supply control circuit 17 when a part of the remote control signal can be confirmed, and continuously supplies the power supply voltage (5 V) to the light receiving circuit 19. To control. Therefore, thereafter, the light receiving circuit 19 is constantly driven, so that the remote control signal can be reliably received. For example, when a part of the remote control signal E is received in FIG. 3C, the power supply voltage is continuously supplied to the light receiving circuit 19 thereafter. Further, the intermittent operation period (Ton) of the light receiving circuit 19
If the remote control signal E cannot be received during
As shown by the dotted line in (c), the pause period (Toff) again starts, and a new remote control signal arrives.

On the other hand, the Toff period of the intermittent drive voltage (c) is set to Toff = (n-1) T, where n is the number of transmissions of the remote control signal. Since it is necessary to receive at least one of the remote control signals transmitted n times, a value obtained by subtracting one time is applied. When the number of remote control signal transmissions is five as shown in FIG. 3A, Toff = 4
It becomes T.

Here, when T, T1, T2, and t are set as follows, the power consumption when the light receiving circuit 19 is constantly operated and when it is intermittently operated will be compared.

T = 108 ms, T1 = 68 ms, T2 =
When 40 ms and t = 5 ms, the present invention (FIG. 3)
In (c)), Ton = 45 ms, Toff = 432 m
s, and the power consumption of the light receiving circuit 3 is (Ton / (Ton + Toff)) × 100 compared with the case where the light receiving circuit 3 is always operated.
%, (45/477) × 100 = 9.4%.

Next, a second example of the present invention for intermittently driving the light receiving circuit 19 will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG.

In FIG. 3D, Ton indicates the operation period of the light receiving circuit 19, and Toff indicates the idle period. T1 is 1
A remote control signal period, T2 indicates a non-signal period, and T indicates a transmission cycle (T1 + T2) of one remote control signal.

In this example, a remote control signal having a header signal is received. Since the header signal is located at the head of the remote control signal, the light receiving circuit 19 operates so that Ton ≦ T so that at least half of the header can be received. , Toff
= (N-1) T. Therefore, the intermittent operation period (Ton) is slightly longer than that in FIG.

In this case, the microcomputer 18
A switch signal having the timing shown in FIG. 3D is supplied to the power supply control circuit 17 to drive the light receiving circuit 19 intermittently.

In the case of FIG. 3D, Ton = 108 ms,
Toff = 432 ms, and the power consumption of the light receiving circuit 3 is (108/540) as compared with the case of always operating.
× 100 = 20%.

In the case of FIG. 3D, the power consumption is higher than in the case of FIG. 3C. However, by making the header signal sufficiently longer than the external noise, the header signal can be easily distinguished from the noise.
Malfunction of the microcomputer 18 can be prevented.

The conventional intermittent driving method is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), the intermittent operation period (T
on) is set longer than the transmission cycle T of the remote control signal, and the pause period (Toff) is shorter.

For example, if Ton = T + T1, To
ff = (n-1) T-T1. Therefore, compared with the example of the present invention, Ton = 176 ms, Toff = 364 m
s, and the power consumption of the receiving unit is (176/540) × 100 = 32.6% as compared with the case where the receiving unit is constantly operated.

First Example of the Present Invention Light receiving circuit 1 shown in FIG.
The power consumption of the device 9 is 9.4% with respect to the case where it is constantly operated, and the power consumption of the example of FIG. 3D is 20%.

The controlled device is not limited to a television receiver. Further, the control device is not limited to the remote controller, and may be a device connected to the receiving unit of the controlled device by a wired cable.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to minimize the power consumption of the receiving unit of the controlled device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a television receiver as a controlled device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a remote controller of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention and a conventional remote control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ··· Television receiver (controlled device), 19 ···
.Light receiving circuit (receiving means), 17: power control circuit, 1
8 ... microcomputer (control means), 20 ...
・ Remote controller.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A predetermined remote control signal is transmitted n times (n is plural).
A remote controller having transmitting means for continuously transmitting and remotely controlling the controlled device; a receiving device provided in the controlled device for receiving a remote control signal from the remote controller; and a predetermined operating voltage. A power supply circuit that generates, operates by an operation voltage from the power supply circuit, intermittently supplies the operation voltage to the reception unit, and operates the controlled device in response to a remote control signal received by the reception unit. Control means for controlling a state, wherein a transmission cycle of the remote control signal from the remote controller is T, a signal generation period is T1, and a non-signal period is T2, and an operating voltage intermittently supplied to the reception means. Is defined as Ton ≦ T, and Toff = (n−1) T, where Ton is an occurrence period of Toff and Toff is a pause period. Remote control device. 2. When the minimum receiving time required for the receiving means to receive at least one outgoing signal of the remote control signal is t (t <T1), the operating voltage generation period Ton and the quiescent period Toff. 2. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein Ton = (T2 + t) and Toff = (n-1) T.