JP2007087227A - Wireless transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless transmitter capable of reducing power consumption and preventing unnecessary attention from being called on the user with respect to light-up motions. <P>SOLUTION: The wireless transmitter controls so as to gradually lower illumination after the light source is lit up, when a switch section is turned on according to an operation of a push-button member. Thus, the wireless transmitter can be lit gradually, without keeping lighting, until designated operations are carried out. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless transmitter used for a customer to call a store clerk in a restaurant or the like.

Conventionally, in restaurants and the like, a wireless transmitter placed on a table is often used as a means for a customer to call a store clerk (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This wireless transmitter transmits a radio signal to a receiver in the store in response to the customer pressing the push button, thereby notifying that the customer is calling the store clerk. Also, this wireless transmitter may output a predetermined notification sound at the time of pressing operation or turn on the entire push button so that the customer himself can confirm that the push button of the wireless transmitter has been pressed. It is commercially available.
JP-A-11-161858

  However, since the conventional wireless transmitter that illuminates the entire push button is lit only when the push button is pressed, the push button is hidden by the operator's hand during the push operation, and the lit state is visually confirmed. There was a problem that it was difficult. Moreover, in order to solve this problem, it is conceivable that, when a pressing operation is performed, the lamp is kept lit until a predetermined operation is performed, but in this case, the power consumption becomes high, so the life of the built-in battery is shortened. In addition, there is a problem in use such as calling the customer's unnecessary attention to the lighting operation of the wireless transmitter and hindering the conversation between the customers.

  Therefore, the present invention has been proposed in view of the above-described circumstances, and can reduce power consumption and eliminate unnecessary customer attention for lighting operation. An object is to provide a wireless transmitter.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the wireless transmitter according to the present invention reduces the illuminance step by step after turning on the light source unit when the switch unit is turned on in accordance with the operation of the push button member. Control to turn off. Thereby, the wireless transmitter according to the present invention can be gradually turned off without being turned on until a predetermined operation is performed.

  According to the wireless transmitter according to the present invention, since the light is gradually turned off, it is possible to reduce power consumption and to avoid calling the customer unnecessary attention to the lighting operation.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  This embodiment is a wireless transmitter used for a customer to call a store clerk in a restaurant or the like.

[Schematic configuration of wireless transmitter]
The wireless transmitter according to this embodiment schematically includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing 10 having a substantially square upper surface as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, for example. Is done. The housing 10 is roughly divided into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped main body 11 and a button frame member 12 disposed so as to cover the upper surface of the main body 11. The wireless transmitter is configured so that the push button member 13 is exposed from a hole formed in the center of the button frame member 12. The housing 11 may be formed by integrally forming the main body 11 and the button frame member 12. However, in the following, the button frame member 12 is assumed to be detachably engaged with the main body 11. explain.

  This wireless transmitter transmits a radio signal for identifying the wireless transmitter to a predetermined receiver in response to the operator pressing down the push button member 13, so that the operator Inform you that you are calling. The wireless transmitter outputs a predetermined notification sound in response to the pressing operation of the push button member 13 so that the operator himself can confirm that the push button member 13 has been pressed, and the push button member. A predetermined lighting operation is performed through the lighting portion 14 formed on the peripheral edge portion of the 13.

[Detailed configuration of wireless transmitter]
Specifically, such a wireless transmitter is configured as shown in a perspective view in FIG. 2 and a cross-sectional view in FIG.

  The button frame member 12 is a lid-like member having a hole formed in the center of a substantially square main surface, and constitutes a part of the casing 10 described above. The button frame member 12 is configured to engage with the push button member 13 so that the push button member 13 slides in the vertical direction and to detachably engage with the main body 11.

  The push button member 13 is a member having a main surface of a substantially circular member configured to be capable of being pressed. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the push button member 13 includes a central portion 13a formed slightly smaller than the hole formed in the button frame member 12, and a peripheral portion of the central portion 13a from the central portion 13a. And a peripheral portion 13b integrally formed at a slightly lower height. The central portion 13a is shielded at least from the upper surface, and has the same color as the colors of the main body portion 11, the button frame member 12, and the like. On the other hand, the peripheral portion 13b is made of an optically transparent translucent member, and is engaged with the button frame member 12 as a part of the housing 10 so that light from the light source portion 32 described later can be visually recognized from the outside. Match. The push button member 13 forms the above-described lighting part 14 that transmits the light from the light source part 32 by the peripheral edge part 13b.

  Furthermore, the main body 11 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box-like member that houses various members for realizing the function of the wireless transmitter, and constitutes the above-described casing 10 together with the button frame member 12. Specifically, the main body 11 is attached to the cover member 21 by attaching a cover member 21 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in which a part of the housing 10 is hollow and a predetermined screw 22 or the like. An external appearance is formed by the base member 23 covering the bottom surface.

  Inside the cover member 21, a printed circuit board 30 on which an electronic component for wirelessly transmitting a radio signal in response to an operation of the push button member 12 and an electronic component for performing notification sound output and lighting operation are mounted. The switch unit 31 is disposed below the push button member 13 and switched to the on state in accordance with the operation of the push button member 13, and the switch unit 31 is disposed below the peripheral portion 13b of the push button member 13 and is turned on. The light source unit 32 that is turned on in this case is accommodated.

  At least a switch unit 31 and a light emitting element 32a such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode) in the light source unit 32 are mounted on the printed circuit board 30. Further, the light source unit 32 has a light guide path 32 b disposed below the peripheral edge portion 13 b of the push button member 13. The light guide path 32 b is made of an optically transparent resin, optical fiber, or the like, and is formed in an annular shape along the peripheral edge portion 13 b of the push button member 13. On the other hand, the light emitting element 32a is disposed below the peripheral edge portion 13b of the push button member 13 and at a position where it enters the light guide path 32b. The light source unit 32 includes the light emitting element 32a and the light guide path 32b, and guides the light emitted from the light emitting element 32a along the peripheral edge part 13b of the push button member 13 through the light guide path 32b.

  The space between the printed circuit board 30 and the base member 23 housed in the cover member 12 is configured as a battery case 33 in which a primary battery that supplies driving power for lighting the light source unit 32 is mounted. . A hole for attaching / detaching the primary battery to / from the battery case 33 is formed in a part of the base member 23, and the hole is closed by a battery lid member 34 having a predetermined shape. A predetermined cushion material 35 is fixed to the bottom surface of the base member 23 in order to prevent the tabletop on which the wireless transmitter is placed from being damaged.

  The main body 11 has a sheet-like spring member 36 having a predetermined waterproof property interposed between the switch portion 31 and the push button member 13 so as to cover the upper surface of the cover member 21. This sheet-like spring member 36 is made of, for example, a biaxially stretched polyester film or the like, and has at least a predetermined waterproof property and a high light-transmitting property. As the sheet-like spring member 36, it is desirable to use a material excellent in toughness, electrical insulation, heat and cold resistance, chemical resistance and the like. As shown in FIG. 4A, the sheet-like spring member 36 is a perspective view as seen from the front surface and FIG. 4B is a perspective view as seen from the back surface. It is a sheet member, and the front surface is convex and the back surface is concave.

  In the wireless transmitter having such a structure, the convex portion of the spring member 36 that covers the upper surface of the main body portion 11 bends to the back surface side as the push button member 13 is pressed. In the wireless transmitter, the switch unit 31 is switched from the off state to the on state by pressing the switch unit 31 with the spring member 36 bent to the back side. Thereby, in the wireless transmitter, transmission of a radio signal, output of a notification sound, and lighting operation of the light source unit 32 are performed. At this time, in the wireless transmitter, the light emitted from the light emitting element 32a is guided along the peripheral edge portion 13b of the push button member 13 through the light guide path 32b, and as shown by the arrow in FIG. 13 and the button frame member 12 as a part of the housing 10 allow the guided light to leak to the outside, so that the lighting operation by the light source unit 32 can be visually recognized by the operator. Therefore, in the wireless transmitter, it is possible to notify that the operator is calling a clerk or the like, and the operator himself can easily confirm that the push button member 13 has been pressed.

[Configuration of printed circuit board]
Such a wireless transmitter incorporates the above-described printed circuit board 30 having a configuration as shown in FIG. That is, the printed circuit board 30 includes an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only) that stores an ID for identifying the wireless transmitter, in addition to the light emitting element 32a configuring the switch unit 31 and the light source unit 26 described above. Memory), a wireless IC 42 as wireless transmission means for transmitting a wireless signal via the antenna 42a when the switch unit 31 is turned on, and a CPU ( A control unit 43 including Central Processing Unit) is mounted. The printed circuit board 30 also includes a piezoelectric buzzer 44 that constitutes a ringing unit that outputs a predetermined notification sound when the switch unit 31 is turned on, a switch unit 45 for setting various functions, and the like. To do.

[Wireless transmitter operation]
Such a wireless transmitter incorporating the printed wiring board 30 operates, for example, as shown in FIG. 6 based on drive power supplied from a primary battery 50 serving as a power source such as two AAA batteries.

  That is, in the wireless transmitter, when the switch unit 31 is turned on in response to the operator pressing the push button member 13, a control signal indicating that is input to the control unit 43. In response to this, the control unit 43 sounds the piezoelectric buzzer 44 in the sounding unit for a predetermined time of, for example, about 100 msec, and outputs a notification sound.

  In addition, when the output of the notification sound is completed, the control unit 43 reads the ID information of the wireless transmitter from the ID storage unit 41, and transmits a radio signal including this ID information to the receiver via the radio IC 42 and the antenna 42a. Send to.

  Further, when the transmission of the wireless signal is completed, the control unit 43 performs the lighting operation of the light emitting element 32a in the light source unit for a predetermined time of about 425 msec, for example. At this time, after turning on the light emitting element 32a in the light source unit, the control unit 43 performs control so that the illuminance is gradually reduced and the light is turned off. That is, in this wireless transmitter, the period from when the light emitting element 32a is turned on to the time when the light emitting element 32a is turned on until the light becomes completely invisible is longer than the period during which the light emitting element 32a is naturally turned off. Also make it longer.

  Further, the control unit 43 may perform control so that the illuminance is increased step by step even when the light emitting element 32a is turned on. At this time, it is desirable that the control unit 43 performs control so that the lighting speed is faster than the turn-off speed. Even in this case, the period from when the light emitting element 32a is turned off to when the light emitting element 32a is turned on to when the light is completely visible is longer than the period during which the light emitting element 32a is naturally turned on. .

  Specifically, the control unit 43 can switch the visual illuminance stepwise by controlling the duty ratio of the light emitting element 32a. That is, when the light emitting element 32a is lit for 425 msec, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the control unit 43 causes the light emitting element 32a to light with a duty ratio of 33% until 50 msec has elapsed since the start of lighting. Until then, lighting is performed with a duty ratio of 50%, and then lighting is performed with a duty ratio of 100% until a further 175 msec elapses, thereby lighting the light emitting element 32a while gradually increasing the visual illuminance. On the other hand, the control unit 43 reduces the duty ratio to 50%, 33%, 25%, and 0% every 50 msec when transitioning from a lighting operation at a duty ratio of 100% to a light-off operation. The light is turned off while gradually reducing the visual illuminance of the light emitting element 32a.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the control unit 43 supplies voltage to the light emitting element 32 a that is a light source unit based on a control clock of about 2 kHz, thereby lighting the light emitting element 32 a. At this time, the control unit 43 can change the visual illuminance stepwise by changing the pulse width of the voltage waveform supplied to the light emitting element 32a based on the control clock and repeating the cycle of turning on and off. it can.

  In the wireless transmitter, the lighting control for changing the illuminance of the light emitting element 32a stepwise is performed under the control of the control unit 43, and the operator himself is surely confirmed that the operation has been performed. be able to.

[Effect of the embodiment]
As described above in detail, in the wireless transmitter according to the embodiment, under the control of the control unit 43, the light emitting element 32a that is turned on is gradually turned off so that the operator pushes the push button member 13 over. After the release, it is possible to confirm that the operation has been performed. Further, in this wireless transmitter, the light emitting element 32a that has been lit is gradually turned off under the control of the control unit 43, so that power consumption can be reduced and at the time of transition from turning on to turning off. Thus, it is possible to prevent troubles in use such as disturbing conversations between customers at restaurants and the like without inadvertently alerting the operator.

  Further, in the wireless transmitter, under the control of the control unit 43, the light emitting element 32a is turned on with the visual illuminance being increased stepwise, and the lighting speed is controlled to be faster than the turn-off speed. Thus, when the operator depresses the push button member 13, the light emitting element 32a is not lighted immediately, but can be lighted gradually in time, and the surrounding atmosphere can be prevented from being damaged.

  Further, in the wireless transmitter, the lighting operation of the light emitting element 32 a may be repeatedly performed under the control of the control unit 43. That is, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the control unit 43 may perform control so that the light emitting element 32 a is turned on and off a plurality of times at a predetermined time period of about 1.5 s. In the wireless transmitter, by repeatedly turning on and off the light emitting element 32a, it is possible to reliably notify that a call is being made.

  Furthermore, in the wireless transmitter, under the control of the control unit 43, the pulse width of the voltage waveform supplied to the light emitting element 32a is changed, and control is performed to change the illuminance of the light emitting element 32a stepwise. Thus, the illuminance switching control of the light emitting element 32a can be easily performed, and flickering of the light emitting element 32a can be eliminated.

  The above-described embodiment is an example of the present invention. For this reason, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made depending on the design and the like as long as the technical idea according to the present invention is not deviated from this embodiment. Of course, it is possible to change.

(A) is a perspective view which shows the schematic external appearance structure of the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention, (b) is a top view which shows the schematic external appearance structure of the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the detailed structure of the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the detailed structure of the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention. (A) is the perspective view which looked at the sheet-like spring member used for the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention from the surface, (b) is the sheet-like spring used for the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention. It is the perspective view which looked at the member from the back. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the printed circuit board built in the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating in detail the lighting operation of the wireless transmitter shown as embodiment of this invention. In the wireless transmitter shown as an embodiment of the present invention, a process of changing the visual illuminance stepwise by changing the pulse width of the voltage waveform supplied to the light emitting element and repeating the cycle of turning on and off will be described. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Housing | casing 11 Main body part 12 Button frame member 13 Push button member 13a Center part 13b Peripheral part 14 Lighting part 21 Cover member 22 Screw 23 Base member 30 Printed circuit board 31, 45 Switch part 32 Light source part 32a Light emitting element 32b Light guide path 33 Battery Case 34 Battery lid member 35 Cushion material 36 Sheet-like spring member 41 ID storage unit 42 Wireless IC
42a Antenna 43 Control unit 44 Piezoelectric buzzer 50 Primary battery

Claims (4)

A push button member configured to be capable of being pressed; and
Wireless transmission means for transmitting a radio signal in response to the operation of the push button member;
A switch unit that is disposed below the push button member and switches to an on state in which the wireless signal is transmitted in accordance with the operation of the push button member;
A light source unit disposed below the push button member and lit when the switch unit is turned on;
A hole for exposing the push button member engaged so that light from the light source unit can be visually recognized from the outside is formed in the center, and driving power for lighting the switch unit, the light source unit, and the light source unit is provided. A cover member for storing the power to be supplied therein;
A wireless transmitter comprising: control means for controlling to turn off the light source stepwise after the light source unit is turned on when the switch unit is turned on.   The control unit controls the light source unit to light up with gradually increasing illuminance in accordance with the switching of the switch unit to an ON state, and to control the lighting speed to be higher than the extinguishing speed. The wireless transmitter according to claim 1.   3. The wireless transmitter according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the light source unit to repeatedly turn on and off a plurality of times in response to the switch unit being turned on. 4. . 3. The wireless transmitter according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes a pulse width of a voltage waveform supplied to the light source unit to change the illuminance of the light source unit stepwise. 4.

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