JP2008061064A - Remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote controller which suppresses influences on a power consumption and materializes an enhancement of an operational responsiveness. <P>SOLUTION: When a key input is again carried out at less than 30 sec, a push time/frequency determination means 22 compares inputted key No. with key No. of a storage means 23. When the key No. is inconsistent, another key is operated to be outputted at an output setting level of the present condition. If it is consistent, the push time/frequency determination means 22 determines whether or not the key No. is repeatedly pushed, if the same key is inputted at less than a given time period, the push time/frequency determination means 22 sends a determination result to an output level/timing control means 25, and the output level/timing control means 25 regards it as a responsiveness enhancement being demanded and sets an output level to a Hi level. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote control device for remotely operating an electric product or the like to be operated by transmitting a control signal using infrared rays or the like.

  Infrared remote control devices are widely used as means for remotely operating electrical products such as television receivers. As a method for realizing a long reach distance, a method of simply using a plurality of LEDs or a circuit configuration in which the LED current is fixedly increased can be considered. However, these methods increase the power consumption, and are not efficient when the use at a close distance is standard.

  Therefore, a technique (Patent Document 1) is disclosed in which output adjustment is performed in accordance with a user's usage environment, and control is performed so that the adjusted output becomes constant. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a conventional remote control device.

  The remote control device 50 includes a battery 51, a microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as a microcomputer) 52, an LED 53, an LED current drive circuit 54, and an operation key unit 55. The microcomputer 52 includes a transmission output setting circuit 61, a storage unit 62, a battery voltage detection circuit 63, and a transmission output control circuit 64.

  First, the user operates the operation key unit 55 to set a transmission output value, and the transmission output setting circuit 61 stores the transmission output value data in the storage unit 62. Next, when the user operates a key of the operation key unit 55 to give an instruction to the operation target device, the transmission output setting circuit 61 sets a transmission code corresponding to the operated key, and the transmission output control circuit Transmission output value data and a transmission code are supplied to 64. The battery voltage detection circuit 63 detects the voltage of the battery 51 and supplies the detection result to the transmission output control circuit 64.

The transmission output control circuit 64 causes the LED current drive circuit 54 to turn the current on / off based on the transmission code from the transmission output setting circuit 61. Further, based on the voltage detection result of the battery voltage detection circuit 63 and the transmission output value from the transmission output setting circuit 61, the current value is supplied to the LED drive circuit 54 so that the transmission output of the LED 53 coincides with the set transmission output value. The adjustment is done.
JP 2001-313988 A

But with this technology,
(1) The setting work of the transmission output value by the user is necessary in advance.
(2) When it becomes necessary to operate from a distance longer than the distance corresponding to the set transmission output value, the output setting must be changed by the user each time.
Is mentioned as a drawback.

  In view of such a situation, the present invention intends to provide a remote control device that realizes an improvement in operation responsiveness while suppressing an influence on power consumption.

The present invention includes an operation key unit having a key group operated by a user to give an instruction, a transmission unit that transmits a control signal corresponding to the operated key, and a control unit that controls each unit,
The control unit includes a key determination unit that determines an operated key, and a transmission pulse generation unit that generates a transmission pulse for transmitting a control signal corresponding to the key determined to be operated by the key determination unit from the transmission unit. And the continuous operation determining means for determining whether the same key has been operated for a predetermined time or more or a predetermined number of times, and the determination result of the continuous operation determining means is a continuous operation of the same key, A remote control device comprising: a transmission control unit that controls a transmission output level of a transmission unit to a value that can be received by a receiving device.

  Further, the transmission control means sets the output level of the transmission unit as a default value when the determination result of the continuous operation determination means is not a continuous operation.

  Further, the transmission control means increases the output level of the transmission unit step by step according to the time or the number of operations of the same key.

  In general, when the same key of the remote controller is operated continuously (repeatedly, continuously pressed), it is expected that the device does not react as expected by the user. The present invention detects such a case, and even if the command transmission is performed, there is no response, and only when the user continuously operates the same key, the transmission output is temporarily increased and transmitted, thereby affecting the power consumption. Responsiveness can be improved without being affected by disturbance noise while being suppressed.

  In particular, when a continuous operation in which the same key is pressed is not performed, the output level of the transmission unit is returned to the default value, so that the normal key operation can be used with low power consumption. In addition, you can set multiple output levels for the transmitter and increase the output level step by step according to the key operation time (long press time) and the number of operations (number of presses). Can be set in detail.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a remote control device (hereinafter abbreviated as a remote controller) according to the present invention. The remote controller 10 is assumed to be used for operating a television receiver. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a general electric product such as a video or a camera may be the target of the operation.

  The remote controller 10 has a structure including an operation key unit 11, a microcomputer (control unit) 12, an LED driver unit 13, an LED 14, and a power source (battery) 15. The microcomputer 12 includes a key determination unit 21, a pressing time / number determination unit (continuous operation determination unit) 22, a storage unit 23, a transmission pulse generation unit 24, an output level / timing control unit (transmission control unit) 25, and an activation control unit 26. It is the composition which consists of.

  The operation key unit 11 includes a group of keys such as a channel up / down key, a numeric keypad, a power key, a left / right up / down movement key, and an enter key. The microcomputer 12 controls the LED 14 based on a user instruction from the operation key unit 11. The LED driver unit 13 performs control driving by turning on / off the current to the LED 14 at high speed. The LED 14 emits infrared rays and outputs an operation instruction signal. The power supply 15 supplies electricity to each part.

Each means of the microcomputer 12 functions as follows.
The key determination means 21 determines which key is pressed.
The pressing time / number of times determination means (continuous operation determination means) 22 includes a timer and counts the time, counts the time and the number of times the key is pressed, and is a single press or continuous operation (long press or repeated press). It is determined whether it is. Further, it is determined whether or not the pressed key is the same key as the previous time, and it is determined that the key has not been operated for a certain period.
The storage means 23 stores information on the type of the pressed key, how to press it (single press, long press, etc.), and the number of times (first time, second time and thereafter).

The transmission pulse generating means 24 generates a transmission pulse pattern of the light emission command corresponding to the pressed key. The output level / timing control means 25 determines the output level with reference to the pressed time and number of times. Then, when transmitting a pulse pattern corresponding to the pressed key, timing control is performed so that the output level can be switched in synchronization with each light emission command.
The activation control means 26 places the remote controller 10 in a standby state or activates it.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation / operation procedure of the remote controller 10.
When a user inputs using the operation key unit 11 of the remote controller 10, the key determination unit 21 of the microcomputer 12 detects a key press (step S1), and the activation control unit 26 releases the standby state and activates the remote controller 10. (Step S2) In addition, the contents of each internal flag are reset, the timer of the push time / number of times determination means 22 is started, and the LED output level in the output level / timing control means 25 is set to the default value (Step S3). . Next, the key determination means 21 determines which key is pressed, and stores it in the storage means 23 as a value (key No.) that can identify the key (step S4). The transmission pulse generating means 24 is a key No. received from the key determining means 21. A pulse group is created in accordance with the transmission code corresponding to, and sent to the output level / timing control means 25. The output level / timing control means 25 sends the output level of this pulse group to the LED driver unit 13 as a default value, and the LED driver unit 13 turns the current ON / OFF to drive the LED 14, and the infrared ray corresponding to the pulse group from the LED 14. Is output (step S5). The light emission command of the key pressed for the first time is an output with a default value set when the microcomputer is activated.

  Thereafter, the pressing time / number of times determination means 22 resets the timer in the microcomputer 12 (step S6), and the key determination means 21 detects whether there is a key input while the microcomputer 12 is activated (step S7). If there is no key input (step S7; No), the pressing time / number determination means 22 determines that there is no operation when the timer count value is not input for 30 seconds or more (step S8; Yes), and the pressing time / number of times is determined. The result is sent from the number determination means 22 to the activation control means 26, and the activation control means 26 sets the standby mode to reduce power consumption (step S9). When the timer count value is less than 30 seconds (step S8; No), the process returns to step S7 to check whether there is a key input.

  If the microcomputer 12 is in the standby mode in step S9, the output level is reset to the default value in step S3 at the next activation, and the first operation is performed in another environment.

  When the key determination means 21 detects a key input while the microcomputer is activated (step S7; Yes), that is, when there is a key input in less than 30 seconds after the microcomputer is activated, the pressing time / number of times determination means 22 is input. Key No. And the key No. of the storage means 23. (Step S10). Key No. If they do not match, it means that another key has been operated, and the process returns to step S4 to output the current output setting level (step S5). If they match (step S10; Yes), it is determined whether or not the pressing time / number of times determination means 22 has been repeatedly pressed (step S11). In other words, if the same key is input within a predetermined time (3 seconds in this example) (step S10; Yes), it is considered that the same key is repeatedly operated due to poor responsiveness (ineffective). Then, the determination result is sent to the output level / timing control means 25, and the output level / timing control means 25 sets the output level to Hi in order to improve the responsiveness (step S12).

  Returning to step S4, the key No. Is stored in the storage means 23, the output level / timing control means 25 sends the output level of this pulse group to the LED driver section 13 as Hi setting, and the LED driver section 13 turns the current ON / OFF to drive the LED 14 The infrared ray of Hi output corresponding to the pulse group is output from the LED 14 (step S5).

  On the other hand, when the same key is operated (step S11; No), the response is made after 3 seconds or more (when considering step S8, the timer count value at this time is 3 seconds ≦ timer count value <30 seconds). Considering that it is not repeated pressing due to poor performance, returning to step S4, infrared rays are output at the output level set at that time.

FIG. 3 is a comparison of transmission patterns in the case of the same key press, where (a) is a conventional transmission pattern example and (b) is a transmission pattern example of the present invention. The transmission pattern is the following key press pattern. The time intervals between key presses are t1, t2, t3, and t4.
(1) Key A pressed: transmission patterns P1, P6
(2) t1 followed by key A: transmission pattern P2. P7
(3) Press key B after t2: transmission patterns P3 and P8
(4) Press key B after t3: transmission patterns P4 and P9
(5) Press key B after t4: transmission patterns P5 and P10
Here, t1 <3 seconds, t2 ≧ 30 seconds, t3 <3 seconds, 3 seconds ≦ t4 <30 seconds.

  In the conventional case shown in FIG. 3 (a), transmission is performed in all the light emission commands (transmission pulse group) while maintaining the output level once set. For this reason, when disturbance noise happens to be used as shown in the figure, it becomes difficult for the receiving side to recognize the transmission command for a long period of time. When the user operates the keys of the remote controller 10 and the response is poor due to the influence of disturbance noise, the same key is operated any number of times.

  In the present invention, in the transmission pattern P7, as shown in FIG. 3B, since the key A is pressed and the key A is continuously pressed at t1 <3 seconds, steps S10 and S11 in FIG. , S12, and the output level is set to Hi. Next, since t2 ≧ 30 seconds, the standby mode is set in step S9 from step S8: Yes in FIG. Next, when the key B is pressed, the process starts from step S1, and in step S3, the output level is set to a default value. Therefore, the output level of the transmission pattern P8 returns to the default value.

  Next, in the transmission pattern P9, when the key B is continuously pressed at t3 <3 seconds, the processing is performed in steps S10, S11, and S12 in FIG. 2, and the output level is set to Hi. When the key B is pressed after 3 seconds ≦ t4 <30 seconds, step S11 is No and the output level is maintained as it is, so that the output level of the transmission pattern P10 remains Hi.

  As described above, in the present invention, if the key is repeatedly pressed (or the operation key may be pressed long), the output level is increased. In this way, a light emission command (transmission pulse group) that temporarily increases the margin for disturbance noise is transmitted, leading to improved remote control response.

  In addition, since the remote control transmission output is not always increased, the remote control power consumption is not greatly affected. Rather, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), in a situation where the output level has a small margin with respect to external noise, the response level is deteriorated and the output level is temporarily set rather than repeated key operations and repeated transmissions. There is a case where the power consumption can be reduced if the power is increased.

Even if the power consumption does not change, there is a large difference in the noise margin, and the margin is greatly different. For example, power consumption is affected by the factor of LED current value (output level) x time.
(1) Noise level 80, output level 100, transmission time 1
(2) Noise level 80, output level 200, transmission time 2
If this is the case, the output level × time is 200, which is the same. However, the noise margin is 6 times different between 20 and 120.

  Further, since the output level is switched in units of the light emission command (transmission pulse group), fine control over time can be performed. Furthermore, the remote control output adjustment work by the user to match the usage environment is not required, and the communication protocol itself is not changed, so that no special processing is required on the receiving side.

  In this embodiment, when the LED output level is increased, there is only one value. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of output levels may be set. In this case, the height of the output level may be set so as to increase stepwise in accordance with the number of times the key is pressed and the length of the pressing time. In this way, the output level can be set finely according to the situation.

It is a block diagram which shows one Example of the remote control apparatus (henceforth abbreviated as remote control) based on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation and operation | movement procedure of a remote control apparatus. (A) is a conventional transmission pattern example, (b) is a transmission pattern example of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the conventional remote control apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

10 Remote Control Device 11 Operation Key Unit 12 Microcomputer (Control Unit)
13 LED driver part 14 LED
15 Power supply (battery)
21 Key determination means 22 Press time / number of times determination means (continuous operation determination means)
23 Storage Unit 24 Transmission Pulse Generation Unit 25 Output Level / Timing Control Unit (Transmission Control Unit)
26 Start-up control means 50 Remote control device 51 Battery 52 Microcomputer 53 LED
54 LED current drive circuit 55 Operation key section 61 Transmission output setting circuit 62 Storage means 63 Battery voltage detection circuit 64 Transmission output control circuit

Claims (3)

An operation key unit having a key group operated by the user to give an instruction;
A transmitter for transmitting a control signal corresponding to the operated key;
A control unit for controlling each unit,
The controller is
Key determination means for determining the operated key;
A transmission pulse generating means for generating a transmission pulse for transmitting a control signal corresponding to the key determined to be operated by the key determining means from the transmitter;
Continuous operation determination means for determining whether the same key has been operated for a predetermined time or more, or whether the same key has been operated a predetermined number of times;
A remote control device comprising: a transmission control means for controlling the transmission output level of the transmission unit to a value that can be received by the receiving device when the determination result of the continuous operation determination means is a continuous operation of the same key; .   The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control unit sets the output level of the transmission unit as a default value when the determination result of the continuous operation determination unit is not a continuous operation.   The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control unit raises the output level of the transmission unit in a stepwise manner according to the time and the number of operations of the same key.

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