JPH0481320B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a remote control device suitably used, for example, in a stage light control device.

BACKGROUND ART FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to a remote control device 1 conventionally used, for example, in a stage light control device. The configuration of this prior art includes a remote control device 1 and a controlled device 2 such as a light control device that receives a signal from the remote control device and performs a channel switching operation, for example. The remote control device 1 has a key input section 3, and a key switch signal generated by the key operation of the key input section 3 is subjected to conversion processing such as encoding, code format conversion, signal level conversion, etc., and is derived as a transmission signal. and a transmission section 5 that transmits a transmission signal from the converter 4 as a radio wave or infrared ray.

The controlled device includes a receiving section 6 that receives a control signal transmitted from the remote control device 1, and a receiving section 6.
A converter 7 that performs signal error checking and determination of the code represented by the control signal regarding the signal from the
and a control section 8 that controls the load 9 based on the signal from the converter 7.

The conventional remote control device 1 as described above has the following features:
The above processing is performed on intermittent control signals generated in response to key operations in the key input unit 3 (that is, a series of discrete control signal sequences correspond to each series of key operations). On the other hand, when transmitting a continuous control signal (for example, the output level of a slide type volume, etc.) by, for example, the radio waves or infrared rays, the following configuration has been used.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a second prior art technology which is capable of transmitting the continuous control signal as well. The configuration of this prior art will be explained with reference to FIG. This prior art is similar to the above-described first prior art, and the same reference numerals are given to the different parts. This prior art also basically consists of a remote control device 1.
The remote control device 1 includes a key input section 3, a converter 4, and a transmission section 5 having the configuration and functions shown in FIG. 4 as described above. The controlled device 2 also includes a receiving section 6, a converter 7, a control section 8, and a load 9.

On the other hand, as described above, the remote control device 1 is configured to generate continuous control signals and transmit them.
For example, a fader 10, which is a slide type volume and outputs a continuously changing output voltage, and an analog quantity such as the output voltage from the fader 10 are converted into a digital quantity to derive digital information. A converter 11 such as an analog/digital (hereinafter abbreviated as A/D) converter
and a transmission section 12 that transmits digital information from the A/D converter 11 using the radio waves, infrared rays, or the like.

The controlled device 2 includes a receiving section 13 that receives the continuous control signal, and a digital/analog (hereinafter referred to as
(abbreviated as D/A) converter 14. D/A
The analog signal derived from the converter 14 is given to the control section 8 to control, for example, the fade level of the plurality of loads 9.

In the second prior art with such a configuration, the discrete control signal from the key input unit 3 is transmitted to the controlled device 2 via the converter 4 and the transmission unit 5 only when a key is operated, and the discrete control signal is transmitted to the controlled device 2 via the converter 4 and the transmission unit 5. The signal is applied to the control section 8 via the converter 7, and the load 9 is controlled. On the other hand, the fader 10 always sends out a constant level of output even when no operation is being performed to change the output, and the control signal that is this output is
It has already been transmitted to the controlled device 2 via the A/D converter 11 and the transmission section 12.

Therefore, the second conventional technique which solves the problem of the first conventional technique in that it cannot handle continuous control signals generated by, for example, the fader 10, is shown in FIG. As explained with reference to this, both an arrangement for processing the control signals from the key input section 3 which generates discrete control signals and an arrangement for processing the continuous control signals from the fader 10, for example, must be provided.
Therefore, there are problems in that the circuit configurations of the remote control device 1 and the controlled device 2 become complicated, and the overall configuration becomes large.

Purpose An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, and to significantly improve usability by being able to transmit both a continuous first control signal and a discrete second control signal. An object of the present invention is to provide a remote control device that can simplify the configuration for generating a first control signal and a second control signal, converting them into transmission signals, and transmitting the signals.

Arrangement of the Invention The arrangement of the present invention for achieving the above object includes: a first operating means for generating a first control signal having a continuous signal level; and a second operating means for generating a second control signal having a discrete signal level. a second operating means; a trigger signal generating means for generating a trigger signal at a predetermined period; and a storage means for sequentially storing the second control signal each time the second control signal is generated from the second operating means. , storing in the storage means the last address at which the second control signal is stored, and when the first control signal is input following the second control signal, the last address of the storage means is stored based on the trigger signal; address control means for storing a first control signal from an address following the address; and address control means for storing a first control signal and a second control signal stored in the storage means.
A remote control device comprising: a conversion means for converting a control signal into a transmission signal; and a transmission means for transmitting the transmission signal.

According to the invention, the first control signal having continuous signal levels is generated from the first operating means, and the second control signal is generated from the first operating means.
A second control signal having discrete signal levels is generated from the operating means. The second control signal is sequentially stored in the storage means every time the second control signal is generated, and the first control signal is stored in the storage means every time the trigger signal is generated from the trigger signal generation means at a predetermined period. are stored sequentially.

Here, when the first control signal is input following the second control signal, the last address of the address range in which the second control signal is stored in the storage means is stored in the address control means, and the first control signal is inputted. are stored starting from the address following the last address. The first control signal and the second control signal are converted into transmission signals by the conversion means, and then transmitted by the transmission means.

In this way, the first control signal having a continuous signal level and the second control signal having a discrete signal level can be stored in a single storage means and transmitted continuously. performance is greatly improved. Furthermore, the need for each of the first control signal and the second control signal to be provided with a separate configuration for storing the signal, converting it into a transmission signal, and transmitting the signal is eliminated, and the configuration can be significantly miniaturized.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. This embodiment is suitably used in a dimming device for stage lighting, etc., and the remote control device 21 performs so-called wireless dimming control.
and a controlled device 22, such as a light control device, which is controlled by a remote control device 21 as will be described later. Controlled device 22
controls, for example, a plurality of dimming loads 23 and the like.

The remote control device 21 of the present embodiment differs from the configuration described in the prior art section, in that the remote control device 21 simply transmits the intermittent second control signal from the key input unit 24 and the continuous first control signal from the fader 25. Processing can be performed using one configuration.

The remote control device 21 includes a key input section 24, which is a second operating means realized by, for example, a so-called numeric keypad, and a first key input section 24, which is in the form of a sliding volume or the like, and which generates a continuous first control signal. It includes a fader 25 which is an operating means. A first control signal, such as a continuously varying voltage, from the fader 25 is digitally coded by a converter 26. That is, the converter 26 includes an A/D converter.

Signals from the key input unit 24 and the converter 26 are input to a converter 27 having a configuration as described below, converted into a serial transmission signal in a manner described later, and provided to the transmission unit 28. The transmission unit 28 transmits the serial transmission signal from the converter 27 in the form of, for example, radio waves or infrared rays. On the other hand, a trigger signal, which is an instruction signal, from a period counter 29, which is an instruction signal deriving means, is taken into the converter 27, and the operation as described below is realized.

The controlled device 22 includes a receiving section 30 that receives the signal from the transmitting section 28 of the remote control device 21, and a converter 3 that checks the signal format and determines the code regarding the signal from the receiving section 30.
1, and a control unit 32 that controls the lighting mode of the dimming load 23 in response to the output from the converter 31.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of the converter 27 shown in FIG. The configuration of the converter 27 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. From the key input section 24 to the converter 27, signal lines K1, K2, ..., Kl corresponding to each key (not shown) arranged in the key input section 24 are connected to the press operation of each key. A corresponding signal is applied, and is converted by the encoder 34 into, for example, n-bit binary information (D0, D1,...,D _o-1 . This binary information is latched in the latch circuit 34, and the code is The comparison unit 35 determines whether the code matches an execution key code stored in the execution key code memory 36, which will be described later.

The information latched in the latch circuit 34 is transferred to the buffer memory 39 based on the output from the address counter 38 which performs a counting operation in accordance with the clock signal from the read clock circuit 37. The contents stored in the buffer memory 39 are converted into a serial transmission signal via a parallel/serial conversion section 40 and sent to the transmission section 28 .

The address counter 38 is provided with a preset value buffer 41 for setting a predetermined address as described later. Further, the operation of the above-described configuration is performed by applying a predetermined delay to the trigger signal from the period counter 29 by delay circuits 42 and 43, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing of the second control signal from the key input unit 24, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing of the continuous second control signal from the fader 25. Processing of the second control signal from the key input section 24 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3.

At step n1 in FIG. 3, a key operation is performed in the key input unit 24, for example, to select a channel, and a key input is obtained. This input signal is given to the encoder 33 via any one of the signal lines K1 to Kl, and in step n2, for example, n-bit binary code information (D _o-1 . . .
D0). The information from encoder 33 is immediately latched in latch circuit 34 at step n3.

At step n4 in FIG. 3, the code comparison section 35 reads out the execution key code from the execution key code memory 36 in which a transmission start execution key code, which will be described later, is stored, and compares it with the information content of the latch circuit 34. If this judgment is negative, it means that the key input at step n1 was not an execution key operation, and the process moves to step n5, where the line from the encoder 33 that encodes the signal from the key input section 24 as described above is By the signal via l1, the count value of the address counter 38 is
Incremented. Next, in step n6,
The latch circuit 38 to the buffer memory 39 uses the count value of the address counter 38 as an address.
Information is transferred from

At step n7, it is determined whether the information transfer at step n6 has been completed. If not, the process returns to step n2 and repeats the process from step n2 to step n7 described above. If the judgment at step n7 is affirmative,
The process moves to step n8, and the last address of the used storage area is stored in the preset value buffer 41 in the buffer memory 39 where the storage process has been performed. At step n9, the remote control device 21 enters a state of waiting for input, and if there is a key input, the process returns to step n2.

In step n4, the judgment result is affirmative.
That is, if it is determined that the obtained key input is an execution key code, the process moves to step n10. In step n10, execute key code memory 3
The code comparator 35 transfers the execution key code stored in 6 to the buffer memory 39, and detects the matching state, and outputs an address reset signal to the line 12 at step n11.

In step n12, the count value of the address counter 38 is reset to "0" by this address reset signal, and in step n13, after a predetermined delay time by the delay circuit 43, the address reset signal is reset to the reading clock circuit. 37, and a clock pulse is output. This clock pulse is applied to an address counter 38.

At step n14, the counter 38 for this address is
starts counting. Address counter 3
For example, m-bit address information (A _{n-1 .} . . A0) is output from 8, and based on this address information, the information currently stored in the buffer memory 39 is read out and sent to the parallel/serial converter 40. Given. After being subjected to parallel/serial conversion in step n16, it is applied to the transmission unit 28 as a serial transmission signal, and transmission is performed in step n17.

Reference will now be made to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. When the fader 25 is operated as described above at step m1 in FIG. encoded into .

The n-bit digital information from converter 26 is latched into latch circuit 34 at step m4.
At this time, in step m5, the address counter 38 is reset by the trigger signal from the period counter 29, and on the other hand, in step n8 of FIG. 3, the final address stored in the preset value buffer 41 is reset to It is set in the address counter 38 at m7.

In step m8, the address counter 38 performs a counting operation after the final address value, and in step m9, information associated with the operation of the fader 25, which is latched in the latch circuit 34, is calculated based on the address information according to this counting operation. The data is transferred to the buffer memory 39.

In step m10, the trigger signal from the period counter 29 is delayed by the delay circuit 42 and input to the address counter 38, thereby resetting the address counter 38, and in step m11, the trigger signal is further delayed. After a delay by the circuit 43, a clock pulse is output from the read clock circuit 37.

In step m12, the address counter 38 starts counting from "0" based on the clock pulse from the read clock circuit 37, and by outputting the address information, the information stored in the buffer memory 39 is counted in step m13. is read out. In step m14, the parallel/serial converter 40 outputs serial transmission information,
In step m15, the transmission unit 28 performs transmission using, for example, radio waves and infrared rays.

At step m16 in FIG. 4, it is determined whether the count value of the counter 38 is a so-called full address. The full address here refers to a state in which the count value of the address counter 38 has reached the final address value of the buffer memory 39.
If the result of the determination at step m16 is negative, the process returns to step m13 again, and the process consisting of steps m13 to m16 as described above is repeated. That is, reading from the buffer memory 39 continues until the address counter 38 reaches the full address.

If the judgment result in step m16 is affirmative, the process moves to step m17, where a clock stop signal is output from the address counter 38 to the read clock circuit 37, and the read clock circuit 3
Stop the clock pulse output of 7. step
At m18, the address counter 38 is reset to "0".

As described above, the remote control device 21 of this embodiment
Information input from the key input section 24 can be transmitted from the transmission section 28 by operating the execution key. Further, when one of the dimming loads 23 is specified using the key input unit 24 and the crossfade level of the dimming load 23 is set using the fader 25, the fader 25 The first control signal accompanying the operation is
In the buffer memory 39, the second control signal generated by the key input operation on the key input unit 24 is stored starting from the address following the stored address.

The first control signal caused by the operation of the fader 25 can be stored in the buffer memory 39 by updating the first control signal caused by the operation of the fader 25 in a different manner. Therefore, by repeatedly operating only the fader 25 after a predetermined key operation, signals from a plurality of different modes of the fader 25 can be sequentially transmitted in combination with the predetermined key input. .

FIG. 5 shows a remote control device 2 according to another embodiment of the present invention.
1 (see FIG. 1) is a block diagram showing the configuration of a converter 27a included in the converter 1 (see FIG. 1). In this embodiment, the configuration of the remote control device 21 except for the converter 27a and the configuration of the controlled device 22 are the same as those of the previous embodiment, and the explanation thereof will be omitted. The configuration of the converter 27a will be explained with reference to FIG.

The noteworthy point of this embodiment is that the remote control device 27a is realized using a CPU (central processing unit) 44. Further, in this embodiment, a memory 45 represented by, for example, a RAM (random access memory) is used in place of the buffer memory 39 of the embodiment shown in the second figure.

6 and 7 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the remote control device 27a of the embodiment shown in FIG. As in the embodiments described above, the signal processing associated with key operations corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. 6, and the signal processing associated with the operation of the fader 25 corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. Below, signal processing associated with key operations will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. At step a1 in FIG. 6, a predetermined key operation is performed, for example, to select a channel for the load (see FIG. 1) 23.

With this key operation, a signal is derived to one of the signal lines K0 to Kl, and the step shown in FIG.
At a2, the encoder 33 converts it into, for example, n-bit binary information. At this time, in step a3, from the encoder 33 to the CPU 44
An interrupt signal I1 is derived, and the CPU 44 performs step a4 in FIG. 6 in response to this interrupt signal I1.
At , the binary information from the encoder 33 is read.

At step a5 in FIG. 6, the CPU 44 determines whether the read information is an execution key code stored in the memory 45 in advance and similar to the previous embodiment. If the judgment result is negative, the contents read from the encoder 33 are stored in the memory 45, and the process returns to step a1 again.
It will be in a state of waiting for an operation.

If the judgment result in step a5 is affirmative, the contents already stored in the memory 45 are read out in step a7, converted into serial transmission information by the parallel/serial converter 40 in step a8, and then converted into serial transmission information in step a9. Transmission section 2
Transmission is performed by 8. After this, the process returns to the state of waiting for an operation.

Below, signal processing when the fader 25 (see FIG. 1) is operated will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 7. When the fader 25 is operated in step b1, the output voltage, which is constantly derived from the fader 25, changes, and the obtained output signal is input to the A/D in step b2.
converted.

The first control signal from the fader 25 converted into a digital signal in step b2 is
It is converted into binary information at b3, and then the converter 27
input to a.

At step b4 in FIG. 3, the converter 27a takes in the trigger signal from the period counter 29, and the step
In step b5, this trigger signal causes the CPU 44 to read the binary information from the converter 26 and store it in the memory 45, and in step b6 read it out together with the information already stored in the memory 45, The data is derived to the parallel/serial converter 40.

In step b7, parallel/serial converter 4
0, the n-bit information read from the memory 45 is converted into a serial transmission signal, and the step
It is transmitted by the transmission section 28 at b8.

As mentioned above, information transmitted by operating the fader 25 is different from transmission of information by key operation.
There is no need to input an execution key code, and information transmission is immediately executed by operating the fader 25.

In each of the embodiments described above, the second control signal and the first control signal from the key input section 24 and the fader 25 are transmitted by the remote control device 21 having only a single system configuration regarding data storage and transmission. I was able to process it. That is, by using a single configuration consisting of a read clock circuit 37, an address counter 38, a buffer memory 39, a parallel/serial conversion circuit 40, and a preset value buffer 41, both the first control signal and the second control signal are transmitted to the buffer memory 39. stored in the transmission section 2.
Transmission started from 8. This eliminates the need to separately provide a configuration for storing and transmitting data for each of the first control signal and the second control signal, as described in the conventional example, and the configuration can be significantly miniaturized.

Further, the first control signal and the second control signal can be stored in a single buffer memory 39, and the first control signal and the second control signal, which are closely related to each other, can be stored in successive memories in the buffer memory 39. They are stored in a range and transmitted in this storage order. As a result, compared to the case where the first control signal and the second control signal are transmitted independently, there is no need to combine them again, and usability is significantly improved.

Further, by operating only the ten keys on the key input unit 24, it is possible to designate different addresses in the buffer memory 39, that is, to designate different loads, and to set the same fader level for each load with great ease. Conversely, the key input section 24
By simply repeating the operation of the fader 25, data for different dimming levels or the same dimming level can be continuously transmitted and set for the load specified using, for example, a numeric keypad. This makes dimming control much easier. Furthermore, since such signal transmission involves transmitting dimming level data in combination with the load address, the reliability of the transmitted signal is significantly improved.

Effects According to the present invention as described below, a first control signal having a continuous signal level is generated from the first operating means, and a second control signal having a discrete signal level is generated from the second operating means. be done. The second control signal is sequentially stored in the storage means every time the second control signal is generated, and the first control signal is stored in the storage means every time the trigger signal is generated from the trigger signal generation means at a predetermined period. are stored sequentially.

Here, in the present invention, when the first control signal is input following the second control signal, the second
The last address of the address range in which control signals are stored is stored in the address control means, and the first control signal is stored from the address following the last address. The first control signal and the second control signal are converted into transmission signals by the conversion means, and then transmitted by the transmission means.

In this way, the first control signal having a continuous signal level and the second control signal having a discrete signal level can be stored in a single storage means and transmitted continuously. performance is greatly improved. Furthermore, the need for each of the first control signal and the second control signal to be provided with a separate configuration for storing the signal, converting it into a transmission signal, and transmitting the signal is eliminated, and the configuration can be significantly miniaturized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a remote control device 21 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
and a block diagram showing the configuration of the controlled device 22,
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the remote control device 21, FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the processing associated with key operations on the remote control device 21, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing when the fader 25 of the remote control device 21 is operated. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the converter 27a according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining signal processing associated with key operations in this embodiment. , FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the signal processing associated with the operation of the fader 25 of this embodiment, FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first prior art, and FIG. 9 is the configuration of the second prior art. FIG. 21...Remote control device, 24...Key input unit,
25...Feder, 26, 27, 31...Converter, 28...Transmission unit, 29...Period counter, 3
8... Address counter, 39... Buffer memory, 41... Preset value buffer, 44...
CPU, 45...memory.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first operating means for generating a first control signal having a continuous signal level; a second operating means for generating a second control signal having a discrete signal level; and a predetermined period. trigger signal generating means for generating a trigger signal at the second operating means; storage means for sequentially storing the second control signal each time the second control signal is generated from the second operating means; The stored last address is stored, and when the first control signal is input following the second control signal, the first control signal is read from the address following the last address of the storage means based on the trigger signal. address control means for storing; and a first control signal and a second control signal stored in the storage means.
A remote control device comprising: a conversion means for converting a control signal into a transmission signal; and a transmission means for transmitting the transmission signal.