JPH06225216A - Display control adapter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a display control adapter which can easily be used by adding an inexpensive adapter to a unit that is used in the general home and which is for inducing movement will by providing a video signal generation part generating a second video signal and a video signal switching means. CONSTITUTION:The display control adapter 3 is provided with a video signal generation circuit 3-1 generating the second video signal, a switching circuit 3-2 changing over first and second video signals and a switching control signal generation circuit 3-3 generating a switching control signal for the switching circuit 3-2 based on a synchronizing signal extracted from a signal from a sensor circuit 1-1 and the first video signal. Thus, the display of a screen which is usually obtained is controlled in accordance with movement by a movement unit 1 by adding the inexpensive display control adapter 3 to a video signal generator and VTR being a TV tuner for household, which generates the first video signal, for example and to a display unit 4 being a TV monitor for household, which displays an output video signal from the display control adapter, for example.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display control adapter for controlling a screen of an image display device for motivating rehabilitation (hereinafter referred to as "rehabilitation") and exercise for health.

With the progress of an aging society and the increase of adult diseases, the necessity of exercise for various rehabilitation and health promotion is increasing, and it is important to motivate them to exercise.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 shows an example of a device which meets this demand. In the figure, 1 is a fixed bicycle, 1-1 is a dynamo that generates a voltage corresponding to the wheel rotation speed of the bicycle, 2 is a video playback device with variable playback speed, and 3 is a display device such as a CRT or screen. . For example, a recording medium containing a moving image of a landscape photographed from a bicycle running on a road is set in the video reproducing device. When the bicycle is rotated and the rotation speed of the wheels is increased, the output voltage of the dynamo 1-1 is also increased, and accordingly, the reproduction speed of the video reproduction device 2 is also increased, so that the landscape changes faster on the display device. In this way, it is possible to motivate the exercise of biking.

[0004]

However, such a conventional apparatus requires a dedicated video reproducing device, and
Such a device has been relatively expensive because a recording medium is also required and the recording medium must be compatible with the dedicated video reproducing device.

The present invention can be easily used by adding an inexpensive adapter to a device used in a general household.
An object is to provide a display control adapter for motivating exercise.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an exercise equipment corresponding to, for example, the above-mentioned bicycle, 1-1 is a sensor that gives an output corresponding to exercise, such as the above-mentioned dynamo, 2 is the first in the claims. A video signal generating device for generating a video signal of, for example, a home TV tuner, a VTR, or 3
Is a display control adapter according to the present invention, 3-1 is a video signal generation circuit for generating a second video signal described in the claims, and 3-2 is a switch for switching between the first and second video signals. A circuit 3-3 is a switching control signal generating circuit for generating a switching control signal for the switching circuit 3-2 based on a signal from the sensor 1-1 and a synchronizing signal extracted from the first video signal, and 4 is a display control adapter. A display device that displays a video signal that is output from, for example, a home TV
It is a monitor.

[0007]

In the present invention, unlike the configuration of the conventional example shown in FIG. 2, the display of a normally obtained screen can be obtained only by adding an extremely inexpensive display control adapter 3 to the devices 2 and 4 used in a normal home. Are controlled in accordance with the exercise by the exercise equipment 4. When the video signal generator 1 is a VTR, by reproducing a video tape on which an appropriate video is recorded,
Further, when the video signal generator 1 is a TV tuner, the receiving channel is adjusted to a channel of an appropriate broadcast program so that an image that attracts the attention of the exerciser can be obtained. Most of the video that draws the image is hidden by the signal from the video signal generation circuit 3-1 (hereinafter referred to as "masking"), and the area to be masked is reduced as the exercise becomes stronger to display more of the video that attracts the original interest. By doing so, motivation for exercise can be elicited.

[0008]

EXAMPLE A specific configuration of the display control adapter 3 will be described below based on an example of a display screen and a display control adapter. FIG. 3 shows an example of the simplest mask operation screen. FIG. 3A shows the state of the mask when the input from the sensor 1-1 of the exercise equipment 1 is small, and FIG. The state of the mask in the case is shown. An example of a signal for realizing such a display mask is shown in FIG. In the figure, (a) is a vertical synchronizing signal of the first video signal,
(B) is a sawtooth wave reset by a vertical synchronizing signal, and two signal levels corresponding to when the input from the sensor is small and large respectively, (c) corresponds to when the input from the sensor is small Is a comparator output signal indicating a period when the sawtooth wave is larger than the signal level, and (d) is a comparator output signal indicating a period when the sawtooth wave is larger than the signal level corresponding to a large input from the sensor. By comparing with FIG. 3, it can be easily understood that the mask operation as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B can be realized if the state where the comparator output signal is High is regarded as the period of the mask range.
FIG. 5 is an example of a more detailed signal for considering the embodiment of the display control adapter 3, and is an enlarged view of the vicinity where the output of the comparator in FIG. 4 changes from Low to High. In the figure, (a) is the output of the comparator, (b) is the first video signal, (c) is the horizontal synchronizing signal extracted from the first video signal, and (d) is obtained from the switch circuit 3-2. This is the final output to be done. From this (d), it is understood that the final output may be created as follows. (1) The comparator output is High and the horizontal synchronization signal is Hi.
During gh, “final output” = “signal for mask” (2) In other cases, “final output” = “first video signal”.

Based on the above discussion, FIG. 6 shows a configuration of an embodiment for realizing the mask operation of FIG. In the figure,
The same numbers are used for the same components. Reference numerals 3-31 to 3-35 denote switching control signal generators 3- in FIG.
It is a component of 3. The input signal adjusting section 3-31 is shown in FIG.
4) is a part for adjusting the input from the sensor 1-1 of FIG. 4 to a voltage to be compared with the sawtooth wave as shown in FIG. For example, when a dynamo as shown in FIG. 2 is used as a sensor, its output is an AC voltage proportional to the number of revolutions, so it cannot be used for voltage comparison with a sawtooth wave unless it is converted to DC. Input signal adjusting unit 3-3 in such a case
A specific example of No. 1 is shown in FIG. The resistors 3-313 are variable resistors to realize the function described in claim 4. The time constant determined by the product of the resistance value of the resistors 3-313 and the capacitance value of the capacitors 3-312 is more than the longest period (corresponding to the lowest rotation speed) of the generated voltage waveform of the dynamo to be considered. It is good to set a large value. Since the detection circuit shown in FIG. 7 is a very general one, description of its operation is omitted. A concrete example of the synchronous extraction circuit 3-32 of FIG. 6 is described in detail in, for example, "CQ Publisher: Image Signal Processing from Basic (issued April 1, 1987), pages 46 to 51". , Description is omitted. Also, the integrator 3
─33 is also described in detail, for example, on page 243 of "Ohmsha: Handbook of Electronic Information and Communication (published on March 30, 1988), the description thereof will be omitted. The voltage comparator 3-34 is a conventional one. An IC voltage comparator may be used, but since the rate of change with time of two input signals is very slow, it is common to provide a hysteresis characteristic by applying positive feedback as shown in FIG. 8 to prevent output oscillation. The ratio of the resistance value R2 of the resistor 3-342 and the resistance value R1 of the resistor 3-341 R2 /
R1 may be about 100, for example. Voltage comparator 3
-343 is a normal IC voltage comparator.

By using the above embodiment,
The display range can be controlled as shown in FIG. 3 according to the input from the sensor. The above description is based on the assumption that the first video signal is a composite video signal for a monochrome image (a signal in which the synchronization signal and the display image signal are integrated). When the first video signal is, for example, an RGB + SYNC (synchronization) signal output from a personal computer, it is composed of three systems of signals so that the switch circuit 3-2 shown in FIG. 1 can correspond to R, G and B respectively. In addition to the above, the video signal generator 3-1 may be changed to one that provides independent outputs of three systems. Needless to say, only the SYNC signal needs to be given to the switching control signal generator. With the above, RGB + SYN
It is possible to control the display range as shown in FIG. 3 in response to the input from the sensor even for the C format color signal. In this case, since the video signal generators of three systems are provided, both the brightness and the hue of the mask area can be controlled.

Further, the format of the first video signal is NTSC.
Even in the case of a format including a color subcarrier such as PAL or PAL, a subcarrier reproducing circuit used in a normal TV receiver is added to obtain a subcarrier signal in the mask range as a subcarrier signal.
By using a signal in which the reproduced subcarrier is phase-shifted so that it can be masked with a desired hue, it is possible to control the display range as shown in FIG. 3 according to the input from the sensor. .

Further, even in the case of the so-called YC separation signal format in which the luminance signal and the chrominance signal are separated, a normal TV is used.
A signal obtained by adding a subcarrier reproducing circuit for the YC separated signal used in the receiver and appropriately phase-shifting the reproduced subcarrier as a subcarrier signal in the mask range so that it can be masked with a desired hue. By using, it is possible to control the display range as shown in FIG. 3 according to the input from the sensor.

In the above description, the mask range is determined using the analog voltage comparator (3-34 in FIG. 6), but it goes without saying that it may be determined digitally by a microprocessor or the like. An example of this method is shown in FIG. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 6 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. In the figure, 3-36 are counters that are reset by a vertical synchronizing signal and incremented by a horizontal synchronizing signal. Therefore, the output of this counter represents the coordinates from the upper end of the screen. 3-37 is a one-chip microcomputer, which has an AD converter built therein. The output of the input signal adjusting circuit 3-31 is AD-converted by the one-chip microcomputer, and the magnitude of the input signal from the sensor is known. The built-in memory of the one-chip microcomputer has a reference table indicating which range of the ordinate (the unit is a scanning line) of the screen is masked according to the magnitude of the input signal. The one-chip microcomputer compares the value from counter 3-36 with a look-up table and controls the switching signal for the mask. By doing so, extremely flexible and free control of the mask range can be performed. Further, if the one-chip microcomputer is sufficiently high speed, a horizontal synchronizing signal is given to the one-chip microcomputer as shown by the broken line in FIG. 9, and the horizontal coordinate based on the horizontal synchronizing signal is used as the operation clock of the one-chip microcomputer. By counting, it becomes possible to control the mask range in the horizontal direction.

In the above description, the dynamo is taken as an example of the sensor, but it goes without saying that another sensor such as a pressure sensor may be used. At this time, the input signal adjusting circuit (3
Needless to say, the composition of ─31) changes.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the display of a normally obtained screen can be obtained by simply adding the extremely inexpensive display control adapter 3 to the devices 2 and 4 used in a normal home. It can be controlled according to the exercise by the exercise equipment 4,
It is very important for motivating people to exercise and contributing to rehabilitation and health promotion.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conventional configuration example.

FIG. 3 is an example of a display screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of signals required for creating a display screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a detailed example of signals required for creating a display screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of an input signal adjusting circuit that is a component of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an example of how to give hysteresis to a voltage comparator.

FIG. 9 is another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Exercise Equipment 1-1 Sensor 2 Video Signal Generator 3 Display Control Adapter 3-1 Video Signal Generator 3-11 Variable Resistor 3-2 Switch Circuit 3-3 Switching Control Signal Generator 3-31 Input Signal Adjustment Circuit 3 ─ 311 Diode 3 〜 312 Capacitor 3 〜 313 Variable Resistor 3 〜 32 Synchronous Extraction Circuit 3 〜 33 Integrator 3 〜 34 Voltage Comparator 3 341 Resistor 3 〜 342 Resistor 3 343 IC Voltage Comparator 3 〜 35 AND gate 3-36 Counter 3-37 One-chip microcomputer 4 Display device 5 Bicycle 5-1 Dynamo 6 Video playback device

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A first video signal output from a video signal generating device (2) and a sensor signal output from a sensor (1-1) are input to output the video signal to a display device (4). A display control adapter, which is a video signal generator (3-1) that generates a second video signal.
And video signal switching means (3-2, 3-3) for switching between the first video signal and the second video signal and outputting them to the display device (4) based on the value of the sensor signal. A display control adapter characterized by being configured with. 2. The video signal switching means (3-2, 3-2)
The display control adapter according to claim 1, wherein the switching of the video signal is performed so that the second video signal masks the first video signal on the screen. 3. The video signal switching means (3-2, 3-3)
Obtains information on the intensity of exercise or its duration by the sensor signal, and decreases the area for masking the first video signal as the intensity of exercise or its duration increases. , Claim 1
The display control adapter according to any one of items 1 to 3. 4. A means for allowing a user to set a ratio of a region to be masked by the second video signal, which becomes smaller according to the strength of the exercise or its duration. The display control adapter according to the third paragraph. 5. The image represented by the first video signal indicates that the second video signal is a video signal having a constant brightness level when the image represented by the first video signal is a monochrome image. In the case of a color image, the display control adapter according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the display control adapter has a constant brightness level and a constant hue. 6. The display control adapter according to claim 5, further comprising means for setting at least one of the brightness level and the hue by a user.