JPH0540633Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a remote control device for an AV (audio-visual) system, and in particular,
The present invention relates to a remote control device equipped with a mechanical mechanism using a rotary encoder.

[Summary of the invention] This invention is a remote control device that remotely controls each device of an AV system. a rotary encoder for detecting the direction and amount of rotation of the feed knob; and a determination means for outputting a signal for selecting a desired menu from a plurality of menus displayed on the display unit based on the detected rotation direction and amount of rotation. and a command button attached to the center of the cursor feed knob, and a command switch for outputting a signal to execute the selected desired menu in response to the operation of the command button. The number of buttons on the unit is reduced, making it possible to downsize the device and improve operability.

[Conventional technology] In recent years, video equipment and audio equipment have been integrated.
AV systems are rapidly becoming popular. This AV
Since the system manages each device using a computer, remote control is often added to the system.
In general, remote control devices include:
Television receiver (hereinafter abbreviated as [AV])
It is known that a single device remotely controls a video tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as "VTR"), and the control section is usually equipped with buttons such as a TV/video switch button, and a volume control button. In order to reduce the number of buttons on the control panel and make the device more compact, in addition to TVs and VTRs, AV systems also have video discs (hereinafter referred to as [VD]) in addition to TVs and VTRs. When a system consists of a large number of devices, such as compact discs (hereinafter referred to as [CD]), and you try to remotely control all of these devices with one remote control device, it may take some switching. With buttons, the number of buttons cannot be reduced that much, making it impossible to downsize the device, and it becomes very difficult to know which of the many buttons to press.

In view of these problems, the present applicant has already proposed a remote control device for an AV system in which the device is made smaller and has improved operability in Utility Application No. 154967/1983.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the remote control device, and the remote control device has a device main body 61 , which is a flat rectangular body, divided into an operating portion 61a and a grip portion 61b in the longitudinal direction, and an intermediate position thereof. An oscillator 62 is rotatably disposed on the oscillator 62. The rocker 62 has left and right selection buttons 62.
a, 62b and a command button 62c are provided, and by pressing the selection buttons 62a, 62b, various menus are displayed on the display section (not shown) of the AV system, and the operator selects the oscillator while looking at the display screen. 62 to move the cursor marked on the menu, and with the cursor moved to the desired menu, press the command button 6.
Pressing 2c commands execution of that menu.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line - in FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 7, the oscillator 62 is rotatably fitted onto a shaft 63 fixed to the device main body 61 , and an encoder 64 made of a magnetic resistance material or the like is mounted on the side surface of the rotating portion. It's embedded. The encoder 64 detects the amount of rotation of the oscillator 62 via the magnetoresistive element 65, encodes it into a pulse code, decodes it with a decoder (not shown), and makes it correspond to the movement of the cursor, thereby allowing menu selection. This is what we do. According to this device, the user selects a menu by rotating the rocker 62 while looking at the display screen, so operation is easy and there is no need to provide a large number of buttons on the operating section 61a for each menu.

[Problems that the invention aims to solve] However, in recent years, AV systems have not only increased the number of types of devices that can be configured, but also
As the functions of each device become more diverse, in order to control them effectively, the remote control device must also be equipped with functions that correspond to these functions.As a result, the number of buttons increases. Therefore, it is not possible to reduce the size of the device and improve operability. Although the above proposal by the applicant has the effect of preventing an increase in the number of buttons,
Since there is a limit to the rotation angle of the rocker, there is a limit to the number of menus that can be supported, and this is insufficient to keep up with advances in AV systems.

This invention was created in view of these problems, and is a remote for AV systems that can support an unlimited number of devices, improve operability, and reduce the size of the device. The purpose is to provide a control device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the present invention, the means for solving the above problems is to use a rotary cursor feed knob that is rotatably attached to the main body of the device with a rotation shaft in the center. , a rotary encoder for detecting the direction and amount of rotation of the cursor feed knob, and a rotary encoder for outputting a signal for selecting a desired menu from a plurality of menus displayed on the display unit based on the detected rotation direction and amount of rotation. a command button attached to the center of the cursor feed knob, and a command switch for outputting a signal for executing the selected desired menu in response to the operation of the command button. configured the remote control device.

[Function] Since the cursor feed knob is rotatably attached to the main body of the device, if the rotary encoder is rotated any number of times using the cursor feed knob, the role of an infinite number of switches can theoretically be reduced to a small one. This will be accomplished with an operating section and small equipment.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of a remote control device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, in the remote control device, the upper surface of a device main body 1, which is a flat rectangular parallelepiped, is used as an operation surface 1a, and a rotary type cursor feed knob 2 is disposed in the center thereof. The cursor feed knob 2 is formed in the shape of a disk, and is attached to the device main body 1 so as to be rotatable at the center with a rotation shaft 3. A magnetized plate 4a is fixed. And this magnetized plate 4a
A magnetoresistive element 4b is attached to the main body 1 of the apparatus by a support member 4c at a position facing the magnetoresistive element 4b at a predetermined distance from the rotary encoder 4. The direction and amount of rotation of the cursor feed knob 2 are detected by pulses, and this is decoded by a counter (not shown) or a decoder as a determination means, and the AV
A desired menu is selected from a plurality of displayed menus by correlating the movement of the cursor on the display section of the system. The rotation shaft 3 of the cursor feed knob 2 is formed hollow, and the core rod 5a of the command button 5 is arranged at the center of the upper surface of the cursor feed knob 2.
is inserted. The other end of the core rod 5a is in contact with a command switch 6 disposed at the bottom of the main body 1 of the apparatus, and by pressing the command button 5, the command switch 6 is operated to execute a selected desired menu.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the remote control device, and FIG. 1 corresponds to a vertical sectional view taken along the line - of this perspective view. As shown in FIG. 2, the device of this embodiment has a main body 1 which is a flat rectangular parallelepiped.
The top surface is an operation surface 1a, and a circular cursor feed knob 2 is disposed in the center thereof, and the command button 5 is further disposed in the center thereof. A recess 2a corresponding to the fingertip size of an adult's thumb is formed on the top surface of the cursor feed knob 2, and the operator places his thumb or the like on this recess 2a, rotates the cursor feed knob 2, and then slides his finger. You can press command button 5 just by pressing command button 5. The concave portions 2a may be provided at multiple locations, and if the concave surface is provided with minute protrusions 2b or friction portions, it will be convenient to rotate the device with a finger.
Note that a plurality of push buttons are arranged on the operation surface 1a, the details of which will be described later.

FIGS. 3a and 3b are front views showing an example of the display section of the AV system. As shown in both figures, AV
The display unit 31 of the system shows a main menu 31a indicating the type of each device and a submenu 31b indicating each function, and a cursor 31c blinks above these menus. For example, FIG. TV” and press the command button. Similarly, FIG. b shows that the VTR device is being driven at normal speed, and if you want to fast-forward it, rotate the cursor feed knob clockwise to move the cursor 31c to the next three positions. >” and press the command button.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a circuit that processes the above operations. As shown in the figure, the circuit of the remote control device includes a rotary encoder 41, a counter 42 that counts pulses detected from the rotary encoder 41, and a control section 43 that outputs a required signal based on the number of pulses. It is composed of an infrared light emitting diode 44 that transmits a signal from the control section 43 to the AV system, and switches 45 on the operation section.

As described above, the rotary encoder 41 includes a magnetized plate 4a fixed to the circumferential surface of the rotating shaft 3 of the cursor feed knob 2, and a mounting member 4c on the device main body 1 side.
and a magnetoresistive element 4b attached to the
The magnetized plate 4a is magnetized with 100 N-S magnetic fields,
100 pulses are generated in one rotation, but if you set the control unit 43 to increment each rotation, it will be updated each time no matter how many rotations you make, and as long as you can present the menu on the display screen, it is theoretically possible. It is also possible to act as an infinite number of switches.

The detected pulses are counted by a counter 42 which is a determining means. Since the rotation direction of the cursor sending knob 2 is determined by the phase, the cursor can be sent in any direction. In this embodiment, four pulses are set as one movement of the cursor, and the control unit 43 transmits a corresponding signal to the AV system using the infrared light emitting diode 44. Further, switches 45 on the operation surface 1a are connected to the control section 43, and in response to switch input, signals corresponding to codes are sent to the AV system.

The buttons on the operation surface 1a include, for example, the "PWR" button 21, the "REC" button 22,
"MIX" button 23, "STATUS" button 24,
A pair of "VOL" buttons 25a and 25b, "CH"
Buttons 26a and 26b, “MUT” button 27
"DISP" button 28 and page turning button 29
There are a and 29b. The "PWR" button 21 is
It is used to turn on or off the main power of the AV system, and the "REC" button 22 is used to switch the VTR etc. to the recording or recording state.
The "MIX" button 23 is used to select video and audio from separate devices in the AV system, and is used, for example, when the user wants to listen to the sound of a CD while watching the TV screen. The “STATUS” button 24 is
The so-called spectrum analyzer status, which indicates which pitch and level of sound is present, is output on the display screen.
[VOL+] button 25a increases the volume,
[VOL-] button 25b reduces the volume. [CH
+] button 26a changes the TV channel forward by 1.
The [CH-] button 26b moves the TV channel back one channel in the opposite direction. “MUT” button 2
7 is used to automatically set the desired device to a silent state. The "RESET" button 28 is used when it is desired to return the counter 42 to its initial settings all at once. Page turning buttons 29a and 29b are used to turn pages in the storage area.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operating procedure of the above embodiment. Hereinafter, the operating procedure of the present invention will be explained in detail according to the flow with reference to the above-mentioned figures.

When the flow starts and the power is turned on, the initial settings are performed first. Next, when the operator operates the push buttons on the operation surface, the control unit 43 determines the code corresponding to each of the buttons, and outputs the code to the AV system from the infrared light emitting diode 44. If the operator turns the cursor forward knob 2 instead of the push buttons, the flow does not branch,
The rotary encoder 4 reads the pulses, and the counter 42 in FIG. 4 counts the number of pulses and outputs the count to the control unit 43.
In this embodiment, four pulses correspond to one movement of the cursor, so the control unit 43
After it is confirmed that the cursor has been rotated by more than one pulse, a cursor movement command corresponding to the number of pulses is remotely output from the infrared light emitting diode 44. The control unit 43 stores the position of the cursor, so the desired menu can be selected by determining how far to move the cursor 31c in the display unit 31 in either the left or right direction. If the cursor overflows the set menu, it returns to the beginning or end of the menu and continues to move. In this way, the display unit 3 of the AV system shown in FIG.
At 1, the cursor 31c is placed on a desired menu and the operator presses the command button 5 to turn on the command switch 6, whereupon the desired menu is executed.

In this embodiment, the operator can execute the desired menu by simply placing his finger on the recess 2a of the cursor feed knob 2, rotating the cursor feed knob 2, and then pressing the command button 5. However, it is extremely simple, and since it uses a rotary encoder, theoretically it is possible to perform the role of an infinite number of switches with a small operating section and a small device. Note that the cursor feed knob does not rotate unless an appropriate rotational force (for example, a torque of 100 g-cm or more) is applied by a friction load or a click member.

[Effects of the invention] As explained above, the invention provides a remote for an AV system that is compatible with a large number of devices, improves operability, and allows for miniaturization of the device. A control device can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of the remote control device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view thereof.
3a and 3b are front views of the display section of the AV device, FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the circuit configuration of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the operating procedure of the present invention, and FIG.
7 are a perspective view and a vertical sectional view of a conventional example. 1... Device body, 1a... Operation surface, 2... Cursor feed knob, 4, 41... Rotary encoder, 5... Command button, 6... Command switch, 31... AV device display section, 31a, 31
b...Menu, 31c...Cursor, 42...Counter (judgment means), 43...Control unit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] a rotary cursor feed knob that is rotatably attached to the main body of the device with its center portion pivoted around a rotation axis; a rotary encoder that detects the direction and amount of rotation of the cursor feed knob; and the detected rotation direction. and a determination means for outputting a signal for selecting a desired menu from a plurality of menus displayed on the display unit depending on the amount of rotation, a command button attached to the center of the cursor feed knob, and a command button for operating the command button. and a command switch for outputting a signal for executing the selected desired menu in response to the command.