JPH02202260A - Telecontroller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a VTR start its picture recording job in a short time by outputting a remote control signal corresponding to a picture recording channel and then another remote control signal which commands the recording state via a remote control signal output means after a remote signal detecting means receives the remote control signal which points the relevant picture recording channel. CONSTITUTION:A bell signal is inputted from a telephone circuit, and a control means 6 starts to count a prescribed time, e.g. 5 seconds via a built-in timer 8 after the end of collation of passwords. Then a caller operates a dial button, etc., of a telephone set within 5 seconds in case the caller desires a reservation mode for the reserved video recording. Thus a remote signal showing the switch of modes is transmitted. A mode deciding means 13 collates the information stored previously in a memory 7 with the dial signal received via an operation of the caller. Then a picture recording reservation mode is set when the caller transmits a remote signal to secure the picture recording reservation mode.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a telecontrol device that can set or control the recording reservation and operation of a video tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as VTR) from a remote location via a telephone line. be.

2. Description of the Related Art Telecontrol devices have been used to control electrical equipment from a remote location through telephone lines. Some of these control VTRs using infrared light. This device is connected to a telephone line and automatically responds when a bell signal is input.
The telephone line is closed, and the recording channel, recording start time, and recording end time are set by a remote signal sent by the calling party.

Then, when the recording start time arrives, the selected channel and remote control signal to start recording are transmitted to the VTR.
It sends out infrared light, which is the same as that emitted by a remote control device (hereinafter referred to as remote control) attached to a VTR, and causes the VTR to start recording. Then, when the recording end time comes, the telecontrol device again sends a stop signal to the VTR, causing the VTR to stop recording.

Hereinafter, a conventional telecontrol device as described above for controlling a VTR will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the conventional telecontrol device. In FIG. 3, 1 is a telephone line, 2 is a telecontrol device, 11 is a VTR, and 12 is a VTRI 11':: EIK(7)'J remote controller. The telecontrol device 2 includes a telephone line interface 3, a voice synthesis circuit 4, a remote signal-to-digital signal conversion circuit 5, a control means 6 composed of a microcomputer, an infrared signal drive circuit 9, and an infrared light emitting diode 10. The control means 6 further includes a memory 7 and a timer 8 therein. In addition,
This infrared signal drive circuit 9 and infrared light emitting diode 1
0 realizes a remote control signal output means for outputting a remote control signal of a VTR.

The operation of the telecontrol device constructed as described above will be explained below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when a bell signal arrives on the telephone line 1, the telephone line interface 3 detects it and outputs a signal indicating this to the control means 6. On the other hand, the control means 6 counts the number of bell signals arriving on the telephone line 1, and controls the telephone line interface 3 to close the telephone line 1 when a preset number is reached. Then, with the telephone line closed, when the caller sends a remote signal representing a password using the dial button of the calling party's telephone in order to reserve recording on the VTRII (step 1), the telephone line The interface 3 receives this remote signal and outputs it to the remote signal-to-digital signal conversion circuit 5. The remote signal-to-digital signal conversion circuit 5 converts the received remote signal into a 4-bit digital signal and outputs it to the control means 6. The control means 6 checks the input digital signal and the password stored in the memory 7 in advance (Step 2), and if they match, it controls the voice synthesis circuit 4 to send a message "What channel?" is sent to the calling party (step 3). When the caller who inquired about this message sends a remote signal representing the channel using the telephone's dial button, etc. in the same way as sending the password described above (step 4), the signal is converted into a digital signal in the same way as above. It is converted and output to the control means 6. On the other hand, the control means 6 judges whether the input digital signal matches a pre-registered channel signal (step 5), and if they match, stores data indicating the channel in the memory 7.

Next, the control means 6 controls the speech synthesis circuit 4 to output a message to the caller saying, "What time and minutes are you calling?" (Step 6). In response to this message, when the caller sends a remote signal indicating the recording start time by the same operation as described above (step 7), the control means 6
It is determined whether the signal is a valid signal (step 8), and if it is a valid signal, it is stored in the memory 7 in association with the previously stored data indicating the channel. Next, the control means 6 causes the speech synthesis circuit 4 to send out a message saying "What time and minutes?" (Step 9), and when the caller sends the recording end time (Step 10), the control means 6 becomes effective. If it is valid, the data indicating the recording end time is stored in the memory 7 in relation to the data indicating the previously stored channel and the data indicating the recording start time. When this series of steps is completed, the control means controls the voice synthesis circuit 4 to output a message for confirming the contents stored in the memory 7 (step 12), and opens the telephone line.

The control means 6 performs a timing operation using a built-in timer 8, and when the recording start time stored in the memory 7 comes, the infrared signal drive circuit 9 of the remote control signal output means is activated.
Then, the channel signal and recording start signal are outputted in accordance with the channel information stored in the memory 7 in relation to the recording start time. Then, from the infrared light emitting diode 10 to gtVTRllll:, the VTR11
g:: Infrared light, which is the same remote control signal for channel selection and remote control signal for starting recording as the attached remote control 12 outputs, is emitted, and the VTRII starts recording.

Then, when the recording end time comes, the timer 8 in the control means 6
Since the contents stored in the memory 7 match, the control means 6 should output the same infrared light as the remote control signal for instructing to stop recording that is output by the remote control 12 of the VTRII. A control signal is output to the infrared signal drive circuit 9 of the control signal output means.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the configuration described above, recording will not start unless the recording channel, recording start time, and recording end time are set in a certain procedure. It is troublesome when you want to record urgently, such as when the video has already started, and there is also the problem that recording cannot be done immediately.

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve this object, the telecontrol device of the present invention includes a remote signal detection means for detecting a remote signal input from a telephone line, and a remote signal detection means for instructing a recording channel. The remote control signal output means is provided with means for controlling the remote control signal output means to output, in this order, a remote control signal corresponding to the recording channel and a remote control signal instructing to start recording when a remote control signal is received.

With this arrangement, when a caller sends a signal to the telecontrol device indicating a recording channel, recording of that channel begins immediately.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telecontrol device in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing its operation. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 13 denotes a mode determination means. Specifically, after the password verification is completed, a remote signal for mode switching is detected by the remote signal detection means within a predetermined time measured by a timer. If the remote signal is detected, it is determined that the caller wants reservation mode, and if the remote signal is not detected within a predetermined time, the caller is It is determined that the user desires the direct mode. Components similar to those in the conventional example are given the same numbers and their explanations will be omitted.

First, the process from when a bell signal is input from the telephone line to when a password is verified is the same as in the conventional example.

When the password verification is completed, the control means 6 causes its internal timer 8 to start measuring a predetermined time (for example, 5 seconds).

Thereafter, if the caller desires a reservation mode for reservation recording, he or she operates a dial button or the like on the telephone during the 5 seconds and sends a remote signal indicating mode switching. This signal is determined by the mode determining means in the control means 6 (step 13). Similarly to the password verification, the mode determining means 13 uses information stored in advance in the memory 7 and the caller's operation. This is done by comparing it with the incoming dial signal. Here, when the caller sends a remote signal for the recording reservation mode, the recording reservation mode is set and the operation is similar to that of the conventional example (operation from step 3). Therefore, a description of the operation in this recording reservation mode will be omitted.

Next, a case where the calling party desires the direct mode will be explained.

This is the mode in which the caller does not send any signals during the five seconds after the password verification. That is, when the control means 6 determines that a remote signal instructing mode switching has not arrived during the timer 8 counting 5 seconds, the control means 6 moves the process to step 14, controls the voice synthesis circuit 4, and sends the message to the caller. Send the message "Recording. What channel?" (Step 14)
. In response, when the caller sends a signal representing the recording channel, it is determined whether the channel signal is a valid signal (step 15), and if it is, the channel signal and recording start signal are remotely controlled in this order. The infrared light emitting diode 10 immediately emits the signal to the vTRll via the infrared signal drive circuit 9 of the signal output means, and in step 16), the VTRI 1 starts recording.

As described above, this embodiment is very effective when the operator wants to immediately start video recording via a telephone line.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, the caller simply sends a signal indicating the recording channel to the telecontrol device via the telephone line, and the caller receives a control signal instructing the VTR to select the recording channel and instructing the VTR to start recording. The control signals to be used are successively sent to the VTR in this order, making it possible to start recording by the VTR in a short time, which has a great practical effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a telecontrol device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the telecontrol device according to the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional telecontrol device. Block diagram shown,
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the conventional telecontrol device. 1...Telephone line 2...Telecontrol device 3...
...Telephone line interface 4...
...Speech synthesis circuit 5...Remote signal-to-digital signal conversion circuit 6...Control means 7...Memory 8... ...Timer 9...Infrared signal drive circuit 10...
...Infrared light emitting diode 11...
...VTR 12...Remote control 13...Mode judgment means Name of agent
Patent attorney Shigetaka Awano (1 person)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A telephone line interface that automatically closes the telephone line in response to a bell signal input from the telephone line;
A remote signal detection means for detecting a remote signal input from a telephone line, a storage means for storing various information, a timer means for performing a time measurement operation, and a remote control signal output means for outputting a remote control signal for the video tape recorder. In the scheduled recording mode, when the remote signal detection means receives data indicating a recording channel, a recording start time, and a recording end time, the data are correlated with each other and stored in the storage means, and the time measurement output from the timer means is When the recording start time stored in the storage means arrives, a remote control signal corresponding to the recording channel stored in the storage means in association with the recording start time and a remote control signal instructing to start recording. are output from the remote control signal output means in this order, and when a remote signal instructing a recording channel is received after the line is closed by the telephone line interface in a mode other than the scheduled recording mode, the recording is performed. control means for controlling the remote control signal output means to output a remote control signal instructing a channel, and then for controlling the remote control signal output means to output a remote control signal instructing to start recording. A telecontrol device characterized by: