JPH07154878A - Optical communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit commands and data by less number of parts. CONSTITUTION:The commands are optically transmitted from a remote controller 10 and the data to be transmitted are optically transmitted from a data communication equipment 20. Lights transmitted from the remote controller 10 or the data communication equipment 20 are received by a light reception unit 2 provided in common and converted to the original command and data respectively in a remote control signal reception circuit 3 and a start-stop signal reception circuit 4. Corresponding to the commands, a data receiver 1 performs prescribed operations and also displays the data. Among the two reception circuits 3 and 4, the reception circuit 3 is use and the reception circuit 4 is switched and used in response to a changeover command from the remote controller 10. When specific data are transmitted from the data communication equipment 20 after the changeover, the reception circuit 3 is switched on.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical communication device, and more particularly to an infrared communication device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an optical communication device of this type, there is a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller) used for home electric appliances and the like. This is the PPM transmitted from the remote controller 10 as shown in FIG.
(Pulse-Position Modulatio
n) The infrared signal 11 is converted into an electric signal by the infrared receiving unit 2 of the data receiver 1, and the remote control signal receiving circuit 3
To reproduce the code data, and the control unit 5 reads the code.

Further, there is an apparatus shown in FIG. 4 as an apparatus for transmitting / receiving a start / stop synchronization serial signal. this is,
Optical communication is performed between the two data transceivers 100. Each of the transceivers 100 has the same internal configuration, and the infrared modulation circuit 21 and the infrared light receiving unit 2 for exclusive use respectively convert electric signals / infrared signals, and the start / stop signal transmitting circuit 6 and the start / stop signal receiving circuit 4, the serial signal is generated / recognized.

In the device shown in FIG. 4, data transmission /
Both transmission / reception circuits are provided for confirmation of reception.

Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 62-42635 discloses a technique for performing communication between a keyboard and a system device by an infrared signal in a workstation, a personal computer or the like. JP-A-5
A similar technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-1361.

[0006]

According to the above-mentioned conventional technique, it is possible to obtain an effect that an electric product can be operated from a distant place and a cable between devices is unnecessary.

By the way, in recent years, various information may be displayed to the public using a display. In such a case, there is a demand to remotely control the operation of a display such as a CRT and send the information to be displayed from a remote place. However, there is a drawback in that the number of parts is increased by simply combining the above-mentioned conventional techniques.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and its purpose is to enable remote control of a display with a small number of parts and to send information to be displayed from a remote location. It is to provide a communication device.

[0009]

An optical communication apparatus according to the present invention commonly receives light transmitted from a first transmitter that optically transmits a command and a second transmitter that optically transmits data to be transmitted. A receiver having common light receiving means, first converting means for converting the common light receiving output into the original command, and second converting means for converting the common light receiving output into the original data. Is characterized by.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an optical communication apparatus according to the present invention, and the same portions as those in FIGS. 3 and 4 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In the figure, the optical communication apparatus of this embodiment comprises a remote controller 10, a data receiver 1, a data communication apparatus 20 for transmitting data, and a modulation circuit 21. A remote controller 10 in the figure has a function of transmitting a PPM (pulse position modulation) infrared signal 11 which is switching-modulated with a pulse of 38 to 40 KHz, and sends a command for controlling the data receiver 1.

The data receiver 1 includes an infrared light receiving unit 2 for receiving an infrared signal switching-modulated with a pulse of 38-40 KHz and converting it into an electric signal, and a remote controller 1.
PPM infrared signal 11 by data modulation method 0
Is received and converted into code data (original command), and a control section 5 for processing the code data is included. In addition to this, the data receiver 1 is configured to include an start / stop signal receiving circuit 4 for converting the start / stop synchronization serial signal into code data (original data).

In such a configuration, the PPM infrared signal 11 from the remote controller 10 is converted into an electric signal by the infrared light receiving unit 2. The converted signal is converted into code data by the remote control signal receiving circuit 3, and the converted command is sent to the control unit 5.

On the other hand, the data communication device 20 is a device having an RS-232C interface, such as a personal computer, and is a start / stop synchronization serial signal R.
It outputs the S-232C serial data signal 23 and the power supply 24. The infrared modulation circuit 21 receives the power supply 24 and outputs the RS-232C serial data signal 23 to 38-4.
Switching modulation is performed with a 0 KHz pulse, and the data is converted into a start-stop infrared signal 22 that can be received by the infrared light receiving unit 2 in the data receiver 1.

The infrared receiving unit 2 is a starter infrared signal 2
2 is received and converted to an asynchronous serial signal which is an electric signal. The converted signal is converted into code data by the start / stop signal receiving circuit 4, and the converted data is sent to the control unit 5.

Although the power supply 24 is supplied from the data communication device 20 in this example, it is supplied from the outside (AC adapter or the like), or built in the infrared modulation circuit 21 as a battery. Is also good.

Here, the data receiver 1 is, for example, a CRT.
When the command is optically transmitted as the PPM infrared signal 11 from the remote controller 10, the command is received and converted into code data, and the operation according to the command of the code is performed.

The data communication device 20 is, for example, a personal computer and has an RS232C interface. Then, the output data of the interface is input to the infrared modulation circuit 21, converted into the start-and-stop infrared signal 22, and transmitted. The transmitted start / stop infrared signal 22 is converted into an electric signal in the light receiving unit 2 and then converted into code data in the start / stop signal receiving circuit 4. Then, under the control of the control unit 5, the data is displayed on the screen.

Next, an example of switching control of the two receiving circuits 3 and 4 in the data receiver 1 will be described.

As a first example, it is considered that the remote control signal receiving circuit 3 is normally used and switching is performed by a command from the remote control 10. That is,
A command for switching the receiving circuit is transmitted from the remote controller 10, so that the start / stop signal receiving circuit 4 is used instead of the receiving circuit 3. Then, after the data transmission from the data communication device 20 is completed, the predetermined switching data is transmitted from the device 20 so that the receiving circuit 3 is made active again.

On the other hand, in a second example, the operation from switching from the receiving circuit 3 to the receiving circuit 4 is the same as in the first example.
It is conceivable that the receiving circuit 3 is re-used after a certain period of time.

The above switching control is performed by the control unit 5.

Next, an example of the internal configuration of the infrared modulation circuit 21 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration example of the infrared modulation circuit 21 in FIG. In the figure, this circuit shows a power source 24
It operates by receiving (Vcc) supply. The RS-232C serial data signal 23 from the data communication device is a start / stop synchronization serial signal, and is received by the receiver 25,
Pulse oscillating circuit 29 for generating a 40 KHz pulse signal
Is input to the NAND gate 26 together with the output of. Then, the NAND gate 26 performs pulse modulation, and the infrared LED 22 converts the pulse into infrared light.
Is output as. The resistor 28 is provided to limit the value of the current flowing through the infrared LED 22.

Further, this circuit is a simple example in which the RS-232C serial data signal 23 and the pulse oscillation circuit 29 are not synchronized, but depending on the accuracy of the circuit on the receiving side, it is about 1200 to 2400 bps or less. Data transmission is possible.

The infrared modulation circuit 21 is provided as a unit in the external connector portion of the RS-232C interface of the data communication device 20, and has a function as a so-called adapter. Therefore,
Without changing the internal configuration of the data communication device 20,
The data to be displayed can be transmitted to the data receiver 1 which is a CRT simply by connecting the infrared modulation circuit 21.

With the above configuration, if the data receiver 1 is installed on the platform of a station, etc., the receiver 1 itself can be remotely controlled by a command from the remote controller 10, and the data output from the data communication device 20 can be displayed on the screen. It can be displayed above. Moreover, the light receiving unit 2 can be commonly used in the two receivers 3 and 4, and the number of parts can be reduced.

Further, since the remote controller generally has a large amount of data that can be transmitted and the interface such as RS-232C has a large amount of data that can be transmitted, the configuration of this embodiment in which a command is transmitted from the remote controller and data is transmitted from the data communication device According to this, the optical communication device can be appropriately configured according to the information to be transmitted.

In this embodiment, the case where the communication is performed by the infrared ray has been described, but it is clear that the present invention can be similarly applied to the case where the communication is performed by the light other than the infrared ray.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the common light receiving means is provided, and the conversion means for converting the light receiving output of the light receiving means into the original data or the command is provided, so that the number of parts is reduced. In addition to being controllable, there is an effect that the data to be displayed can be transmitted from a remote location.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an optical communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing an internal configuration of an infrared modulation circuit 21 in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional optical communication device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional optical communication device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 data receiver 2 light receiving unit 3 remote control signal receiving circuit 4 start / stop signal receiving circuit 5 control unit 10 remote controller 20 data communication device 21 infrared modulation circuit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A first transmitter for optically transmitting a command, a second transmitter for optically transmitting data to be transmitted, and a common reception of the light transmitted from the first and second transmitters. A receiver having common light-receiving means, first conversion means for converting the common light-receiving output into an original command, and second conversion means for converting the common light-receiving output into original data. An optical communication device comprising: 2. A common light receiving means for commonly receiving light transmitted from a first transmitter optically transmitting a command and a second transmitter optically transmitting data to be transmitted, and a common light receiving output. An optical communication device, comprising: a receiver having a first conversion means for converting the common light reception output into original data and a second conversion means for converting the common light reception output into original data. 3. The active unit of the first and second conversion units is the first conversion unit, and the active unit is the second conversion unit in response to a switching command optically transmitted from the first transmitter. 3. The switching control means for switching to the first conversion means when the specific data is transmitted from the second transmitter after the switching, and the switching control means is further provided. Optical communication device. 4. The active one of the first and second conversion means is the first conversion means, and the active one is the second conversion means in response to a switching command optically transmitted from the first transmitter. 3. The optical communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a switching control means for switching to the converting means and switching the working to the first converting means after a lapse of a predetermined time from the switching. 5. The receiving device is a display device, the command is a command for controlling the display device, and the data is display data to be displayed on the display device. 4. The optical communication device according to any one of 4. 6. The optical communication device according to claim 1, wherein the light is infrared light.