JP2001109389A - Speech recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a speech recording and reproducing device which permits to suppress consumption of current to a minimum required, also easily check operation conditions regardless of the time of switch operation, and is easy to operate without mis-operation. SOLUTION: The speech recording and reproducing device having a lighting device for lighting a display part is provided with a switch operation part 1 including at least one key, a switch operation detecting means 6 for detecting an input operation state of the switch operating part 1, a photometric means 2 for starting photometry of ambient lightness synchronizing with the input operation on the switch operation part 1, a brightness judging means 3 for deciding the luminance by using a photometric output from the photometric means 2, and a lighting part control part 4 for controlling to turn on or turn off the lighting by the lighting device according to the decision result of the luminance deciding means 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an audio recording / reproducing apparatus having an illumination device for illuminating a display unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, portable audio has been known in which an audio signal is converted into digital data, stored in a flash memory as a rewritable storage medium, and the audio data stored in the flash memory is converted into an analog signal and reproduced. A recording / reproducing apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as an IC recorder) has been put to practical use.

[0003] Many of the display units of these IC recorders using a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter, referred to as LCD) are widely used. However, the LCD is
Since the liquid crystal itself does not emit light, for example,
Under a low illuminance environment such as at night or in a dark room, the visibility of the display is significantly deteriorated. Therefore, in order to improve the visibility under the low illuminance environment as described above, a backlight device is often provided on the rear side or almost the side surface of the LCD for illumination.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-252342 discloses a portable telephone which illuminates a key operation unit and a display unit according to time information of a calendar when the surroundings are dark and the apparatus is in use. .

This portable telephone has a light quantity detecting section for detecting the brightness of the surroundings, a detection output of the light quantity detecting section, and a control section for detecting an input operation state of the operation section. When the detection output of the light amount detection unit is supplied to the control unit, if the surroundings are dark and any key of the operation unit is operated, the illumination unit is turned on in accordance with the time information of the calendar clock unit. Lighting is determined.

That is, the illuminating unit is turned on only when a predetermined condition (the surroundings are dark, the keys are operated, and the time suitable for lighting) is reached while always detecting the surrounding brightness and key input. .

[0007]

However, the light amount detection unit disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-252342 always measures light at least from power-on to power-off, regardless of whether or not there is a key input. Therefore, depending on the circuit configuration, the current consumption increases. Furthermore, for example, in a room where shutters are completely closed or in a dense bush, it is necessary to turn on the lighting unit because it is quite dark even in the daytime, but the final lighting availability of the lighting unit is determined by the time of key operation. Therefore, it is conceivable that it is determined that a key operation has been performed at a bright time in the daytime, and the lighting unit does not light.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and its object is to reduce the current consumption to a necessary minimum and to be independent of the time when the switch is operated. Another object of the present invention is to provide a voice recording / reproducing apparatus which can easily confirm the operation state and which is easy to use and free from erroneous operations.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an audio recording / reproducing apparatus having an illumination device for illuminating a display unit. A switch operation unit including: a switch operation detection unit that detects an input operation state of the switch operation unit; a photometry unit that starts photometry of ambient brightness in synchronization with an input operation of the switch operation unit; And a control means for controlling turning on or off of the illumination of the lighting device in accordance with the result of the judgment by the luminance judgment means.

In the audio recording / reproducing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the brightness determining means changes a brightness determination time by changing a photocurrent integration time of the photometric means. It can be set to any value.

Further, in the audio recording / reproducing apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the control means is configured such that when the input operation of the switch operation section is not detected for a predetermined time, or the display on the display section is turned off. If so, the lighting of the lighting device is turned off.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an audio recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. The switch operating section 1 including at least one key and a switch operating section 1 are shown.
Switch operation detecting means 6 for detecting an input operation state of
Photometric means 2 for starting photometry of the ambient brightness in synchronization with an input operation of the switch operation unit 1, luminance determining means 3 for performing luminance determination using the photometric output of the photometric means 2, and photometric means 2
And a lighting device for controlling the turning on and off of the lighting according to the determination result of the brightness determining device 3 when the predetermined time predetermined by the timing device 7 is measured. It is characterized by comprising a section control means 4 and an illuminating means 5 which is turned on or off by the illuminating section control means 4.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an IC recorder provided with the audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention. Here, each of the normal functions of the IC recorder, that is, the recording process, the playback process, the fast-forward process, the rewind process, the stop process, and the menu change process is to be performed using well-known technical means. Since it does not directly relate to the contents of the present embodiment, a detailed description is omitted.

The IC recorder according to the present embodiment includes a microphone 20 for converting a sound into an electric signal, and a sound output from the microphone 20 is amplified by a connected microphone amplifier (AMP) 21. The analog audio signal amplified by the microphone amplifier 21 is input to an A / D converter (A / D) 23 after an unnecessary frequency band is cut by a low-pass filter (LPF) 22.

In the A / D converter 23, the audio signal converted into a digital signal is converted into a digital signal by a digital signal processor (D
SP) 34. This digital signal processing unit 34
At the time of recording, under the control of the system control unit 31, the audio signal converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 23 is compression-converted (encoded) into data of a fixed format in frame units. The encoded data is temporarily stored as audio data in a buffer memory (not shown) of the system control unit 31.

On the other hand, during reproduction, the digital signal processing unit 3
4 performs a process of reading audio data from a buffer memory (not shown) under the control of the system control unit 31 and performing expansion conversion (decoding) on a frame basis, and the decoded digital signal is supplied to a D / A converter. (D / A) 24.

The audio signal converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 24 is converted to a low-pass filter (LPF) 25.
After the unnecessary frequency band is cut in step (a), the signal is amplified by a power amplifier (AMP) 26. Then, the sound is output from the speaker 27 as sound.

The system control unit 31 is constituted by a CPU. In addition to the digital signal processing unit 34, a storage unit (memory) 33, an operation unit 32, a display unit 29, and a lighting unit 2
8 and the photometric unit 30 are connected. Here, the illumination unit 28 is, for example, an LED, an EL (ELECTO).
R-LUMINESCENCE) or a lamp or the like.

The storage unit 33 includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory,
For example, it is composed of a flash memory or the like, and stores audio data encoded by the digital signal processing unit 34 via a buffer memory (not shown) of the system control unit 31 during recording. At this time, index information relating to audio data is also stored.

The operation unit 32 includes a recording switch (REC),
Playback switch (PLAY), stop switch (STO)
P), fast forward switch (FF), rewind switch (R
Various switches such as EW) and a menu switch (MENU) are provided for each function.

The display section 29 displays an operation mode when a predetermined sequence is started by operating one of the switches on the operation section 32, or an operation state thereafter.
For example, when the recording switch (REC) is pressed, the elapsed time of recording, the remaining recording time, the file number, and the like are displayed. Menu switch (MENU)
When is pressed, a display related to selection of functions such as microphone sensitivity (high / low), recording mode (standard / long), and alarm (on / off) is performed. Further, when the system control unit 31 has a clock function, the current date and time are also displayed.

When a switch input operation of the operation unit 32 occurs, the photometry unit 30 measures ambient brightness in synchronization with a photometry start signal (not shown) of the system control unit 31. The photometry is performed for a predetermined period of time, during which the photometry value during the photometry is constantly output to the system control unit 31. Alternatively, the photometric value immediately before the elapse of the predetermined time may be output as the photometric result.

The system control unit 31 makes a luminance determination of the photometric value. If the photometric value is smaller than a predetermined luminance value, the display unit 29 is illuminated by the illumination unit 28. The photometric unit 30 will be described later in detail.

FIG. 3A is a diagram showing the configuration of the photometric unit 30 and the system control unit 31 shown in FIG. 2, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the concept of luminance determination.
In FIG. 3A, the photodiode 30a is reverse-biased at the reference voltage Vref. Further, an integration capacitor 30b for integrating photocurrent of the photodiode 30a is directly connected to the photodiode 30a. The integration capacitor 30b is connected to the open drain transistor 31b in the CPU 31 and the input terminal of the A / D converter 31a.

First, just before the photometry, the integration capacitor 30b is turned on by turning on the open drain transistor 31b.
Is short-circuited momentarily to discharge residual charges. Thereafter, when the open drain transistor 31b is turned off, charging of the photodiode 30a by the photocurrent starts, so that a voltage Va is generated across the integrating capacitor 30b. This voltage Va is proportional to the peripheral luminance. Therefore, this integration operation is performed for a predetermined time, and the voltage Va generated during this operation is converted into a digital value by the A / D converter 31a of the system control unit 31, and a predetermined luminance determination value (reference value) is obtained. You can compare the size.

For example, in FIG. 3 (b), assuming that the luminance judgment value is Von, when the voltage Va after the predetermined integration time tm has passed Va> Von, the illumination is turned on.
The brightness determination may be performed so that the illumination is turned off when <Von.

Next, the operation of the IC recorder of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the IC recorder is powered on, the system control unit 31 of FIG. 2 executes predetermined initialization (step S1) and timer start (step S2). This timer measures the time for the IC recorder to enter a standby mode (low current consumption mode) from a normal operation mode after a predetermined time has elapsed.

When the operation mode of the IC recorder is entered, a recording switch (REC), a reproduction switch (PLAY), a fast-forward switch (FF), a rewind switch (REW), and a stop switch are performed by switch detection operations shown in steps S3 to S8. (STOP), Menu switch (MENU)
, It is detected whether or not there is a switch turned on. If the switch that has been turned on is the recording switch (step S3), the recording processing subroutine (step S15)
Execute Similarly, if the turned on switch is a reproduction switch (step S4), a subroutine for reproduction processing (step S17), and if the turned on switch is a fast forward switch (step S5), a subroutine for fast forward processing (step S19). If the turned on switch is a rewind switch (step S6), a subroutine for rewinding processing (step S21), and if the turned on switch is a stop switch (step S7), a subroutine for stopping processing (step S23). If the turned on switch is a menu switch (step S8), a subroutine for menu change processing (step S2)
Execute 5). After the execution of the subroutine, the timer is restarted (step S26), and the process returns to the main loop.

At this time, the respective subroutines S
Immediately before the execution of steps 15 to S25, the subroutines S14 to S24 of the lighting lighting process are executed.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the details of the illumination lighting process. As shown in FIG. 5, after measuring the peripheral luminance (step S30), the luminance of the photometric value is determined (step S31). If the photometric value is smaller than the predetermined determination luminance value, the illumination is turned on (step S30). S32).

Returning to FIG. 4, if all the switches are off, it is checked whether or not the illumination unit is on (step S9), and the time measured by the timer is compared with a predetermined time. The determination (step S12) is repeatedly performed in the main loop, and if the timed time exceeds a predetermined time while the illumination is not turned on, the process enters a standby mode subroutine (S13).

In the standby mode, the operation becomes a low current consumption operation. Specifically, the microphone amplifier (AMP) 21 of FIG.
A low-pass filter (LPF) 22, an A / D converter (A / D
D) 23, digital signal processor (DSP) 34, D / A
The power supply of the converter 24, the low-pass filter (LPF) 25, the power amplifier (AMP) 26, the display unit 29, the storage unit 33, the photometry unit 30, and the illumination unit 28 is cut off or provided in an IC (not shown) configuring each block. By outputting a non-selection signal from the system control unit 12 to the chip enable terminal that is set, a low current consumption state is set.

At this time, the CPU of the system control unit 12
Switches itself to a low-speed clock that consumes the least amount of current and enters a low-current-consumption state. In some cases, the operation clock is set to the main clock (for example, 9.
28 MHz) to a subclock (eg, 32.76)
8 kHz), and then the main clock may be completely stopped until communication is resumed or a switch input is detected.

On the other hand, in the confirmation of whether or not the illumination is on (step S9), if the illumination is on,
It is determined whether or not the elapsed time from the start of lighting exceeds a predetermined time (allowable lighting time) (step S10). If it is over, the light is turned off (step S11).
And return to the main loop.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the photometry of the surrounding brightness is started by the photometry means in synchronization with the input operation of the switch operation unit, and the luminance determination is performed using the photometry output of the photometry means. When the luminance is lower than the predetermined luminance, the lighting is turned on, so that the current consumption can be suppressed to a necessary minimum, and regardless of the time when the switch is operated, that is, in the daytime, in a dark place. Even when you are
It is possible to easily confirm an operation state such as an erroneous operation (visibility is improved). This makes it possible to provide an audio recording / reproducing apparatus which is easy to use and free from erroneous operations.

[0037]

According to the present invention, the current consumption can be minimized, and the operation state can be easily confirmed irrespective of the time when the switch is operated. It is possible to provide an audio recording / reproducing device free from erroneous operations.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of an audio recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an IC recorder provided with the audio recording / reproducing device of the present invention.

FIG. 3A shows a photometric unit 30 and a system control unit 3 shown in FIG.
1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating a concept of luminance determination.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the IC recorder of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for determining whether to turn on an illumination according to a photometry result.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... SW operation part, 2 ... Photometric means, 3 ... Luminance determination means, 4 ... Illumination part control means, 5 ... Illumination means, 6 ... SW operation detection means, 7 ... Timekeeping means 20 ... Microphone, 21 ... Microphone amplifier, 22 ... low-pass filter, 23 ... A / D converter, 24 ... D / A converter, 25 ... low-pass filter, 26 ... power amplifier, 27 ... speaker, 28 ... illumination part, 29 ... display part, 30 ... photometric part, 31 ... System control unit, 32 ... Operation unit, 33 ... Storage unit (memory), 34 ... Digital signal processing unit (DSP).

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An audio recording / reproducing device having an illuminating device for illuminating a display unit, a switch operation unit including at least one key, a switch operation detection unit for detecting an input operation state of the switch operation unit, A photometric unit that starts photometry of ambient brightness in synchronization with an input operation of a switch operation unit; a luminance determining unit that performs luminance determination using a photometric output of the photometric unit; Control means for controlling the turning on and off of the lighting of the lighting device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the brightness determination unit can set a determination level of the brightness determination to an arbitrary value by changing a photocurrent integration time of the photometric unit. 2. The audio recording / reproducing device according to 1. 3. The control unit turns off the illumination of the lighting device when the input operation of the switch operation unit is not detected for a predetermined time or when the display of the display unit is turned off. Item 2. The audio recording / reproducing device according to Item 1.