JP2002223487A - Audio support device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an audio support device that detects absence of an audio signal from an electronic device such as a television receiver so as to automatically interrupt a power supply for an audio reception circuit and an audio amplifier circuit thereby preventing useless power consumption. SOLUTION: The audio support device is configured with a remote commander 1 with a speaker 13 that transmits an infrared ray command signal to an electronic device such as a television receiver and an audio transmitter 10 that is placed at a side of the television receiver and transmits the audio signal as an infrared ray audio signal. A remote command circuit 2 of the remote commander 1 is controlled by a microcomputer 7 and when a reception circuit 3 cannot receive the infrared ray signal, an input terminal IN1 of the microcomputer 7 goes to an L level and an output terminal OUT1 going to an L level turns off a switching transistor(TR) 17 to open a relay contact 15b and to interrupt supply of power to the reception circuit 3 and the audio amplifier 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a voice support device capable of performing remote control corresponding to an electronic device such as a television receiver. The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting and automatically turning off a circuit power supply to prevent useless power consumption.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Remote commanders capable of transmitting command signals by wireless transmission using infrared rays or radio waves have become widespread in correspondence with various audio electronic devices such as television receivers, VTRs, and CD players. Such a remote commander has an advantage that a user can remotely control an electronic device by an operation of the user and easily turn on / off a power switch of the electronic device. Particularly, for example, in volume adjustment of a television receiver (hereinafter, simply referred to as a television), a viewer can operate the receiver output at hand by using a remote commander, which is very convenient. ing.

[0003] By the way, when a plurality of people are watching one television together, if a certain person operates to a desired volume, the volume is not always comfortable for another person. In particular, if a person with weak hearing raises the volume to an appropriate level for himself, the volume will be too loud for a person with normal hearing. Also, when watching TV in an environment where the volume cannot be raised much, such as at night, the sound becomes difficult to hear.
You cannot enjoy comfortable viewing. There is also a method of connecting and listening to earphones or headphones, but in that case, the user must be in a position where the earphones or headphones are located, which is often inconvenient.

In order to solve such a problem, a remote commander with a speaker has been developed as a support device for listening to TV sound at hand. If you use this remote commander, you can turn on and off by remotely operating the power switch of the TV and at the same time, receive the sound from the TV side as an infrared signal, at hand or at your ear,
You can listen clearly at the required volume. Therefore, for example, when the user wants to watch television at midnight, not only does it not disturb the neighborhood even in the one-room room, but can also watch the television without connecting the earphones or headphones even in the home where the examinees and infants are.

[0005] In addition, it becomes easy to listen even in an environment where surrounding sounds are noisy, such as during washing in a kitchen or during construction in a neighborhood. In addition, even if the hearing is reduced, the user can select the most suitable volume for himself, so that there is an advantage that he can enjoy one TV with his family.

[0006]

However, in a conventional voice support device, a remote commander having an internal power supply such as a dry battery usually needs to operate a power switch to turn on / off a speaker. there were. However, once the user forgets to turn off the power switch, after turning off the TV, the remote commander loses the sound output from the TV, so that even if the remote commander is turned on, the user does not notice. Therefore, useless power is consumed by the amplifier circuit of the speaker.

As described above, when the power of the television is turned off by hand using the remote commander, there is an inconvenience that the speaker at hand is not automatically turned off even though the infrared sound signal from the television is lost. Was.

An object of the present invention is to detect the disappearance of an infrared signal for transmitting sound from an electronic device such as a television, and to automatically cut off the power supply of a sound receiving circuit and a sound amplifying circuit, thereby providing a useless signal. An object of the present invention is to provide a voice support device that prevents power consumption.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a transmitting unit arranged on an electronic device side for modulating and transmitting a voice signal of the electronic device, and a remote control unit for remotely controlling the electronic device and transmitting the signal. There is provided an audio support device including a remote control unit with a speaker that receives and reproduces an audio signal from a unit. In this audio support device, the remote control unit includes a receiving circuit that receives the audio signal transmitted from the transmitting unit, a demodulation circuit that demodulates the audio signal received by the receiving circuit, and an audio signal that is demodulated by the demodulation circuit. An amplifier circuit for amplifying a signal, a speaker for converting a signal amplified by the amplifier circuit into sound and outputting the sound, the receiving circuit, a demodulation circuit, an amplifier circuit, and a power switch for turning on and off a power supply to the speaker; When the receiving circuit does not receive an audio signal for a predetermined time, the receiving circuit includes a receiving circuit, a demodulating circuit, an amplifying circuit, and current control means for controlling power supply to a speaker.

According to the voice support apparatus of the present invention, the infrared signal for transmitting the voice from the electronic device to be remotely operated disappears, and at the same time, the power supply to the speaker of the remote controller at hand is cut off, and the reception circuit and the amplification circuit Useless power consumption can be eliminated.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The audio support device of this embodiment is, for example, a remote commander with a speaker for transmitting an infrared command signal to a television receiver, and is arranged on the television receiver side, and transmits the audio signal as an infrared audio signal. And an infrared transmitting unit.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration inside the remote commander. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a configuration of the entire remote commander, 2 denotes a remote control circuit, 2a denotes a window for transmitting a command signal by infrared rays,
3 is a receiving circuit for receiving an infrared sound signal of a television, 3a
Is a light receiving window for infrared sound signals.

The remote control circuit 2 includes an infrared light emitting section 5 for emitting an infrared signal from the transmission window 2a, an on button 6a for turning on / off the television power supply, an off button 6b, a channel selection key (not shown), a volume up / down key, and the like. And a microcomputer 7 (hereinafter, referred to as a microcomputer). The audio signal receiving circuit 3 includes an infrared light receiving section 8 and an audio demodulating section 9.

Reference numeral 10 denotes an external infrared sound transmitter, which transmits the sound of the television monitor 11 as an infrared signal.
The audio transmitter 10 is configured to transmit a television audio signal obtained by being connected to a television audio circuit via a microphone or directly to the outside as an infrared signal, for example.

In the remote commander 1, an infrared signal input to the light receiving window 3a of the receiving circuit 3 is received by the infrared light receiving section 8 as a TV audio signal. The infrared receiving section 8 is connected to the microcomputer 7 of the remote control circuit 2. In the receiving circuit 3, the television audio signal is demodulated by the audio demodulator 9 and output from the output terminal OUT3. The demodulated television audio signal is further amplified by the audio amplifier 12 and output from the speaker 13 as audio of a predetermined volume.

In the remote commander 1, when the on button 6a of the remote control circuit 2 is operated, a signal for turning on the television is sent to the infrared light emitting section 5 via the microcomputer 7, and the transmission window 2a is turned on. Is output to the television monitor 11 as an infrared command signal. Similarly, by operating the off button 6b of the remote control circuit 2 to the television monitor 11, a signal for turning off the television power can be output as an infrared command signal.

This voice support apparatus is further characterized in that the remote commander 1 with the speaker 13 has the following configuration. That is, the battery 14, which is a power supply inside the remote commander 1, is connected to the power supply terminal (+ B) of the remote control circuit 2 and to the relay circuit 15. The relay circuit 15 includes a relay contact 15b that is turned on when a current flows through the relay coil 15a. The battery 14 is connected to the audio amplifier 1 via the relay contact 15b.
2 and the power supply terminal (+ B) of the receiving circuit 3.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a power switch connected in parallel with the relay contact 15b. When the power switch 16 is turned on, the remote commander 1 connects the audio amplifier 12 and the receiving circuit 3 to the battery 14, and power is supplied thereto. Supplied. Reference numeral 17 denotes a switching transistor that controls on / off of a current flowing through the relay coil 15a of the relay circuit 15. Note that a similar circuit can be configured using a transistor instead of the relay circuit 15.

The remote control circuit 2 of the remote commander 1 is controlled by a microcomputer 7, and various operation signals are supplied from operation buttons 6. The microcomputer 7 has an input terminal IN
1, IN2 and an output terminal OUT1. Of these, the input terminal IN1 of the microcomputer 7 has the output terminal OUT2 of the infrared light receiving section 8 at the H level when the infrared signal is received by the receiving circuit 3, and the L level when the infrared signal is no longer received. Is supplied. Further, when the power switch 16 is turned on to start the power supply to the audio amplifier 12, a detection signal to that effect is supplied to the input terminal IN 2 of the microcomputer 7. From the output terminal OUT1, a signal for turning on and off the switching transistor 17 is output via a current control resistor R1. The power switch 16 is turned on only when pressed, but once the power switch 16 is turned on,
When the switching transistor 17 is kept on by the microcomputer 7, the audio amplifier 12, the receiving circuit 3
The battery 14 is connected continuously. Note that the resistor R2 is a resistor for adjusting the audio level.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the receiving circuit 3. As shown in FIG. Reference numeral 21 denotes 2.3 MHz arranged in the light receiving window 3a.
, A photodiode 22 that receives only the received 2.3 MHz infrared signal, a bandpass filter (BPF) 23 that amplifies the 2.3 MHz infrared signal, and a demodulator 24 that demodulates the audio signal. Reference numeral 25 denotes an audio output circuit that outputs a demodulated audio signal, and reference numeral 26 denotes a detection circuit that detects whether an infrared signal is received. The detection circuit 26 includes the infrared light receiving section 8
And outputs an H level or L level control signal to the microcomputer 7 from the output terminal OUT2.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the remote commander 1. Hereinafter, a method of using the above-described remote commander 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the present invention, the method of using the remote commander 1 for the television monitor 11 is the same as that of the ordinary one. By operating the operation button 6 at hand, for example, the operation of the television monitor 11 can be remotely controlled. .

First, when the power switch 16 of the remote commander 1 is turned on (step 1), the input terminal IN2 of the microcomputer 7 of the remote control circuit 2 is switched to the H level, and the output terminal OUT1 is also switched from the L level. Switch to H level. As a result, the switching transistor 17 is turned on, a current flows through the relay coil 15a of the relay circuit 15, and the relay contact 15b is turned on, so that power is supplied to the receiving circuit 3. At this time, if the television power is already turned on, the receiving circuit 3 receives the infrared signal from the audio transmitter 10 and outputs the audio signal from the output terminal OUT3 of the audio demodulation unit 9. In step 2, the microcomputer 7 is connected to the output terminal OUT2 of the infrared receiving section 8
The control signal at the H level is supplied to the input terminal IN1 of the microcomputer 7, and the process proceeds to step 3, where the output terminal OUT1 of the microcomputer 7 is maintained at the H level.

As described above, when the power switch 16 is turned on, the power supply of the receiving circuit 3 and the audio amplifier 12 is continued through the relay contact 15b, and the television 13 is transmitted from the speaker 13 of the remote commander 1 placed at hand. The sound of the monitor 11 can be heard at a predetermined volume.

After that, when the infrared sound signal to the remote commander 1 disappears due to the power off of the sound transmitter 10 or the like, the infrared light receiving unit 8 does not detect the infrared signal, and the infrared signal from the output terminal OUT2 of the microcomputer 7 is output. The H level signal is not input to the input terminal IN1. Therefore, the process proceeds from step 2 to step 4, where the output terminal OUT1 of the microcomputer 7 goes low. Therefore, the switching transistor 17 is turned off and the relay contact 15
b is turned off, and power supply to the receiving circuit 3 and the audio amplifier 12 is stopped (step 5).

Therefore, at the same time as the infrared signal of the audio transmitter 10 is lost, the audio output from the speaker 13 of the remote commander 1 at hand is also eliminated, and the power consumption in the receiving circuit 3 and the audio amplifier 12 is eliminated. Further, even when the television power is turned off by operating the off button 6b of the remote control circuit 2, if the infrared signal disappears in conjunction with the television monitor 11, the infrared sound signal to the remote commander 1 disappears. Useless power consumption in the audio amplifier 12 can be eliminated.

In the remote commander 1 described above, even if the infrared signal from the audio transmitter 10 is erroneously temporarily interrupted, the power supply to the receiving circuit 3 and the audio amplifier 12 is stopped. The inconvenience that the sound from the remote commander 1 cannot be heard only by blocking the signal is likely to occur. Therefore, a predetermined delay time is set in the detection circuit 26 for detecting whether or not an infrared signal has been received before switching from the H level to the L level. Therefore, if the infrared signal from the audio transmitter 10 is erroneously interrupted for a short period of time, the power switch 1 is turned on in order to continue the audio output from the remote commander 1.
You do not need to press 6. In addition, this delay time is
Can be set to an appropriate value.

In the above, the audio support device for a television has been described. However, the present invention can be variously modified in various ways. For example, the present invention can be applied to devices provided with sound collecting / amplifying / outputting devices, such as devices such as VTRs, CD players, radios, and various AV devices, such as a voice support device using a general-purpose remote commander. In addition to the wireless remote commander using infrared rays, the present invention may be applied to a remote commander that transmits a command signal by radio waves.

As described above, when the infrared audio signal from the audio transmitter 10 is lost, the remote commander of the present invention detects that the infrared signal has been lost, and automatically receives the reception circuit 3 and the audio amplifier. The power supply to the power supply 12 can be cut off.

[0030]

As described above, according to the audio support apparatus of the present invention, it is detected that the audio signal from the electronic device such as a television has disappeared, and the audio receiving circuit and the audio amplifying circuit are automatically detected. By cutting off the power supply, useless power consumption can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration inside a remote commander of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a receiving circuit.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the remote commander according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Remote commander, 2 ... Remote control circuit, 2a ... Sending window, 3 ... Receiving circuit, 3a ... Light receiving window, 5 ... Infrared light emitting part, 6 ... Operation button, 7 ... Microcomputer, 8 ... Infrared light receiving part, 9
... Audio demodulation unit, 10 ... Audio transmitter, 11 ... TV monitor, 12 ... Audio amplifier, 13 ... Speaker, 14 ... Battery,
15 relay circuit, 16 power switch, 17 switching transistor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A transmitter disposed on an electronic device side for modulating and transmitting an audio signal of the electronic device, and a speaker for remotely controlling the electronic device and receiving and reproducing the audio signal from the transmitter. An audio support device comprising a remote control unit, wherein the remote control unit receives a voice signal transmitted from the transmission unit, a demodulation circuit demodulates a voice signal received by the reception circuit, An amplifier circuit that amplifies the audio signal demodulated by the demodulation circuit; a speaker that converts the signal amplified by the amplifier circuit into audio and outputs the audio; and a power supply to the reception circuit, the demodulation circuit, the amplification circuit, and the speaker. A power switch for turning on / off the supply, and when the audio signal is not received for a predetermined time by the receiving circuit, the receiving circuit, the demodulating circuit, the amplifying circuit, and the speaker Voice support apparatus characterized by comprising: a current control means for interrupting control the force supply, a. 2. The current control means according to claim 1, wherein said current control means comprises a self-holding control circuit arranged in parallel with said power switch, and a microcomputer for controlling said control circuit. Voice support device. 3. The audio support device according to claim 1, wherein the audio signal transmitted and received by the transmission unit and the remote control unit is an infrared audio signal.