JPH0541895A - Remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control plural optional remote controlled devices unifidely with one remote controller. CONSTITUTION:The controller is provided with operation means 28-32 allocated individually in response to a control instruction coded and outputted in a specific form from a transmission provided corresponding to each remote controlled device, storage means 44, 60 inputting a control instruction from each transmitter and storing the control instruction to an address location corresponding to the operation means 28-32 and output means 46, 49-55, 60 reading a control instruction individually corresponding to the operation means 28-32 from the storage means 44 in response to the operation of the operation means 28-32 and outputting the instruction to the remote controlled device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a television receiver,
The present invention relates to a remote control device that can integrally control a plurality of remotely controlled devices such as radio receivers and video tape recorders.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, various electric devices such as a television receiver, a video tape recorder, and an audio device have been added with a remote control function, and these electric devices are installed in almost the same place. Often used. Therefore, when using a remote control device,
It is necessary to prevent interference between mutual electric devices.

As one of the countermeasures, it is possible to make a difference in the format of the control signal for each device. That is, a general control signal is composed of a binary code having a specific number of bits, and this data is 38 KHz to 40 KHz.
Pulse position modulation (PP
The M) wave or the pulse width modulation (PWM) wave is often transmitted by infrared rays in the form of serial data. Here, since each device uses the same transmission method, in order to prevent malfunction of the remote controlled device other than the intended one, the number of bits should be different in advance, or even if the number of bits is the same, the data structure should be the same. Specific restrictions are set on the method to prevent erroneous responses from occurring intentionally during the device design stage.

[0004]

Therefore, if the three remotely controlled devices mentioned in the example are to be controlled arbitrarily,
Three remote control devices each having a separate data format must be operated separately for each remote controlled device.

However, the need for a separate remote control device for each remote controlled device is such that the number of remote control devices is so large that it takes up space, and it is troublesome to select and use each time. .. Therefore, conventionally, means has been proposed in which one remote control device is used to integrally or control a plurality of remotely controlled devices by manually or automatically switching the data configuration to be transmitted.
(See, for example, JP-A-58-97967).

When designing a system of this type of remote control device that has already been commercialized, it is necessary that the data structure of the control command of each remote controlled device to be controlled is known in advance.

By the way, the manufacturer needs to add a new function to the remote controlled device even if the data configuration method is once set in relation to the remote controlled device.
A situation may arise in which reconstruction is forced. In such a case, the old remote control device cannot control the new remote controlled device. Such a situation is a big demerit for both manufacturers and users who sell and purchase products.

Furthermore, when the manufacturers of the devices with remote controlled functions that are already in use are different, the data configuration methods are various and are not standardized. Therefore, it is almost impossible with the conventional configuration to individually control these devices with one remote control device for an innumerable combination of devices.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and enables a single remote control device to easily and economically and integrally control a plurality of remotely controlled devices. It is something to do.

Therefore, in the remote control device according to the present invention, the transmitters provided corresponding to the respective remote controlled devices are individually assigned in accordance with the control command coded in a unique format and output. Operating means, storage means for inputting each control command from the transmitter, and storing these control commands in an address position corresponding to the operating means, and operating means from the storage means according to the operation of the operating means. And an output unit that reads out a control command individually corresponding to and outputs the control command to the remote controlled device.

[0011]

In the above construction, the control command coded and output in a unique format from the transmitter provided corresponding to each remote controlled device is set by the storage means in correspondence with each operation means. Stored in the designated address location.

Thus, if each control command is stored in advance in this remote control device, the operating means can be operated by operating the operating means without operating each transmitter, and accordingly, the operation can be performed from the storing means. The control command individually corresponding to the means is read and output to the remote control device, and the remote control device is remotely controlled by this control command.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention and a remotely controlled device controlled in a unified manner by the remote control device.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of (here, a television receiver and a radio receiver).

The television receiver 21 is controllable by a dedicated first transmitter 22 for remotely controlling it. This first transmitter 22 has a preset channel "1".
~ '12', volume increase / decrease and power switch on
・ Has a function to turn off.

On the other hand, the radio receiver 23 can be controlled by a dedicated second transmitter 24 for remotely controlling it. The second transmitter 24 is the television receiver 21.
Similarly to the above, it has the functions of preset channels '1' to '12', volume increase / decrease, and power switch ON / OFF.

The television receiver 21 and the radio receiver 23 are provided with light receivers 25 and 26 for receiving infrared control signals, respectively.

The two remote controlled devices (television receiver 21 and radio receiver 23) both form data by PPM waves, but the number of bits and the data forming method are different from each other. Therefore, the radio receiver 23 cannot be controlled by the first transmitter 22, and conversely,
The television receiver 21 cannot be controlled by the second transmitter 24.

Therefore, the remote control device 27 for unification is used.
To prepare. In this unified remote control device 27,
A key row 28 for calling preset channels '1' to '12' of the television receiver 21 and the radio receiver 23, a key 29 for increasing the volume, a key 30 for decreasing the volume,
A key 31 for turning on / off the power switch, a changeover switch 32 for selecting either the radio receiver 23 or the television receiver 21 are arranged, and a memory key 33 for storing control data, storage is completed. A light emitting diode 34 for notifying the user, a light receiver 35 for receiving an infrared signal from the first transmitter 22 and the second transmitter 22 are provided.

When it is desired to control the television receiver 21 and the radio receiver 23 by the remote control device 27, the following operation is performed in preparation for the control.

First, the changeover switch 3 of the remote control device 27.
2 is switched to the television receiver 21 side and the infrared light emitting portion of the first transmitter 22 is set to the light receiver 35 of the remote control device 27.
And preset channel '1' of the first transmitter 22
Press the key. When the data decoder in the remote control device 27 finishes decoding this control data, the light emitting diode 34 repeats blinking, so when the memory key 33 is pressed next, it is registered as the data of the preset channel '1'. The light emitting diode 34 is turned off.

Thereafter, by the same operation, the preset channels "2" to "12", volume increase / decrease, and power switch ON
By operating each key of OFF, the control data of the first transmitter 22 is registered in the remote control device 27 by the same method as described above. The same applies to the second transmitter 24 of the radio receiver 23.

When performing such a registration operation, the operator does not need to know the data configuration method of the first transmitter 22 and the second transmitter 24 at all.

When the above operation is performed using the remote control device 27, the television receiver 21 and the radio receiver 23.
Even when the information is arbitrarily exchanged, the unified remote control device 27 can be used only by repeating the registration operation.

Next, a specific circuit configuration of the remote control device 27 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, the same functions and components shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

Most of this circuit is composed of a program-controlled microcomputer. That is, the first ROM 41 stores a control program for transmitting necessary control data from the remote control device to a series of remotely controlled devices such as the television receiver 21 and the radio receiver 23. The second ROM 42 is the other first
A program for receiving the infrared signals from the second transmitters 22 and 24 by the light receiver 35 and decoding the pulse wave converted by the detector 47 into control data is stored.

The first RAM 43 temporarily stores the control signal from the light receiver 35. The second RAM 44 stores the data decrypted by the program of the second ROM 42 from the data stored in the first RAM 43 at the address corresponding to the operation key. The memory contents are retained for a long time. The third RAM 45 temporarily stores the data generated during the operation of the unified transmitter 27.

First and second programmable timers 49,
Reference numeral 50 is used for counting the pulse width and the pulse interval of the detector 47 and for counting the pulse interval for creating the PPM wave from the data of the second RAM 44. The one-shot multivibrator 46 is of a program type and is a circuit for generating a pulse having an arbitrary pulse width once by giving data in advance. The pulse obtained here is ANDed with the output of the carrier wave oscillator 55. The infrared light emitting diode 54 is intermittently driven at 53 to drive the infrared light emitting diode 54, whereby the infrared light emitting diode 54 outputs the pulse position modulated (PPM) wave.

Further, the key encoder 59 is a read channel 2 for preset channels in matrix form.
8, an operation of converting each signal from the volume increase key 29, the volume decrease key 30, the power switch ON / OFF key 31, and the memory key 33 into a binary code and notifying the CPU 60 that the key has been pressed. do. Further, the remote control device 27 is provided with an input / output terminal 51 for detecting the state of the changeover switch 32 and turning on the light emitting diode 52, and each circuit is provided with a data bus 56, an address bus 57 and an interrupt. Control line 4
It is connected to the CPU 60 via 8, 58.

Then, the above-mentioned operation keys 28 to 32 correspond to "each remote controlled device 21, 23 in the claims.
Corresponding to "operating means individually assigned according to a control command coded and output in a unique format from each of the transmitters 22 and 24 provided corresponding to the optical receiver 3".
5, the detector 47, the second RAM 44, the CPU 60, etc. in the claims, "input the control commands from the respective transmitters 22 and 24, and store these control commands in the address positions corresponding to the operating means 28-32. Equivalent to "memory means",
Furthermore, the one-shot multi-vibrator 46, the first,
The second programmable timers 49 and 50, the CPU 60, and the like in the claims claim that "the control means individually corresponding to the operating means 28 to 32 are read from the storage means 44 according to the operation of the operating means 28 to 32, and the remote control is performed. Control device 21,
23 corresponds to "output means for outputting to 23".

Next, the operation of the remote control device 27 will be described.

First, the operation of decoding the signals from the first and second transmitters 22 and 24 into control data will be described.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a PPM wave that is often used as an infrared remote control signal. The characteristic of this PPM wave is that the pulse width t ₁ is the same for all pulses and binary data is converted into a difference between the pulse intervals t ₂ and t ₃ . Then, one data is composed of T per word, and thereafter this pulse train is repeated.

Therefore, the remote control device 27 counts t ₁ , t ₂ , t ₃ , T of the input pulse data, and at least 2
The count result of words or more is temporarily stored in the first RAM 43. When it is confirmed that the pulse widths are the same among the stored count values, this width is registered as t ₁ .

Next, the counted pulse intervals are sorted into three groups. In the example of FIG. 3, it can be classified into t ₂ , t ₃ and t ₄ . And the relationship between these three groups is t ₂ <t ₃ <
If it is t ₄ , the binary data of t ₂ is defined as “1” and the binary data of t ₃ is defined as “0”. Note that t ₄ is a margin time within the 1-word period T, and has different time values when the binary data configured is different. Further, the number of constituent bits is N−, where N is the number of pulses in one word period T.
It goes without saying that it will be 1.

Information obtained in the first word, that is, pulse width t ₁ , pulse interval t ₂ for "1", pulse interval t ₃ corresponding to "0", bit number N-1, 1 word time T The second word is decoded based on the control program stored in the second ROM 42. And, as a result of the decoding, the first
If it has the same data structure as the word, it is one of the decoded binary data because it is control data that is simply repeated.
(In the case of FIG. 3, it is 11001001) is the third RAM
It is temporarily stored in 45.

If the second word is different from the first word, it is necessary to decode up to the third and fourth words. Then, as a result of the decoding, if the first and third have the same configuration and the second and fourth have the same configuration, it is assumed that one control instruction is configured by two words. 1
And the binary data of the second word are both stored in the third RAM 45.

Most of the PPM wave constructing systems currently in practical use are covered by the above-mentioned decoding system. However, there are countless methods for realizing this with a microcomputer, and therefore more than this. The description is omitted.

Now, in FIG. 2, when the memory key 33 is pressed, the CPU 60 turns on the light emitting diode 52 and then shifts the program control to the pulse data decoding routine. Next, the signal data from the photodetector 35 is detected by the detector 47, and when the waveform is a pulse wave as shown in FIG.
It is input to the PU 60. This interrupt input terminal responds to both the rising edge and the falling edge of the pulse.

Upon receipt of the interrupt, the CPU 60 immediately triggers the first programmable timer 49. Next, each time an interrupt occurs, the count data of the second programmable timer 48 is read, and the value is sequentially stored in the first RAM 43. This operation is continued until the memory area of the first RAM 43 is completely filled or there is no pulse signal train.

When the memory work to the first RAM 43 is completed, the third ROM is read based on the decoding program of the second ROM 42.
Formatting as one control instruction code while using AM45 as a work area. At this point, the light emitting diode 52 starts blinking.

Next, the key to be registered is the key string 2
8 or the keys 29, 30, 31 are selected, one of them is pressed, and then the memory key 33 is pressed, whereby the control command code is transferred to the data area of the address assigned to that key in the second RAM 44. Is stored. At the same time, the light emitting diode 52 is turned off.

When all the keys have been registered by the above operations and operations, the second RAM 44 stores at least the pulse intervals at the pulse width t ₁ and "1" at the addresses corresponding to the respective keys.
Pulse interval t ₃ when t _{2 is} “0”, number of bits N−1, 1
The word composition time T, the minimum number of repetitive words, and the evolved data are stored.

Next, the operation of retransmitting the data stored in the remote control device 27 to the remote controlled device (television receiver 21 or radio receiver 23) will be described.

If any of the operation keys other than the memory key 33 is pressed, the CPU 60
Second RAM based on the control program of the first ROM 41
The data of the address corresponding to the corresponding key stored in 44 is read. Then, data corresponding to the 1-word configuration time T is sent to the second programmable timer 50. Further, data corresponding to t ₂ or t ₃ which is the first bit binary data is sent to the first programmable timer 49 and preset.

Then, the one-shot multivibrator 46 and the first and second programmable timers 49 and 50 are simultaneously triggered.

When the count of the first programmable timer 49 is completed, the binary data of the second bit is obtained.
The t ₂ or t ₃ corresponding to the second bit is preset in the first programmable timer 49 again. in this way,
After repeatedly triggering up to the (N-1) th bit and the count of the first programmable timer 49 being completed, the one-shot multivibrator 46 is further triggered to send the last pulse (Nth time) of the first word.

The pulse train generated one after another in this way is set to the output of the carrier wave oscillator 55 and the oscillation frequency of 38 KHz or 40 KHz which is interrupted by the AND circuit 53, but an intermediate value of 39 KHz is also practical. There is no problem with. This is because the generally designed Q of the photodetector and the detector is not high and is within a range that is sufficiently allowable as the deviation of the carrier frequency.

When the minimum repeat word is 1 word (period T), the above operation may be repeated at the same time when the second programmable timer 50 finishes counting, and when the minimum repeat word is 2 words. Is
Simultaneously with the end of the count of the second programmable timer 50, the data of the second word is similarly sent out, and the operation is repeated after the end of the transmission of the second word. And
This operation continues as long as the key is pressed.

In the above embodiment, the PPM wave is decrypted and retransmitted, but it goes without saying that it can be applied to the PWM wave by changing the control program. Further, in this embodiment, the case where two remote controlled devices are provided has been described, but this number can be arbitrarily increased, and accordingly, the number of operation keys that can be handled can be added as necessary. Needless to say.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to uniformly control a plurality of remote controlled devices by a single remote control device. Therefore, from the user's point of view, the degree of freedom in selecting a product can be expanded, while from the manufacturer's point of view, the degree of freedom to newly format control data can be obtained only by taking measures to prevent interference between products. So the effect is tremendous.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention and remotely controlled devices (here, a television receiver and a radio receiver) that are uniformly controlled by the remote control device.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of a remote control device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is one of control commands transmitted and received by a remote control device.
It is a word transmission format.

[Explanation of symbols]

21, 23 ... Remote control equipment, 22, 24 ... Transmitter, 2
7 ... Remote control device, 28-33 ... Operation keys, 43 ... 1st
RAM, 44 ... Second RAM, 45 ... Third RAM, 46 ...
One-shot multivibrator, 49 ... First programmable timer, 50 ... Second programmable timer, 60
… CPU.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An operation unit individually assigned according to a control command coded and output in a unique format from a transmitter provided corresponding to each remote controlled device, and a transmitter from the transmitter. A storage unit for inputting each control command and storing the control command at an address position corresponding to the operation unit, and a control command individually corresponding to the operation unit from the storage unit according to the operation of the operation unit. And output means for outputting the remote controlled device to the remote controlled device.