JPH0740721B2 - Remote control controller - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for operating a remote control of a television receiver and an improvement in a method for operating a device connected to the television receiver.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a remote control (hereinafter, abbreviated as remote controller) transmitter for controlling a television receiver has a key corresponding to each operation, and each key has each operation function (for example, power on / off, channel・ Up, channel down, volume up, volume down, etc.) were assigned to correspond one-to-one with each operation function.

Also, when other devices (for example, video tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as VTR), video disc player, etc.) are connected to the television receiver, each device is equipped with a remote control transmitter and used individually. I am trying.

Here, FIG. 6 shows the configuration of a VTR and a television receiver to which the VTR can be connected. In FIG. 6, 9 is a television receiver, 9-15 is an antenna input terminal, 9-1 is a distributor that divides an RF television signal into two, 9-2 is a tuner,
9-3 is a video intermediate frequency amplifier circuit (hereinafter abbreviated as VIF), 9-4 is a channel selection section, 9-5 is a signal processing section, 9-7.
Is a cathode ray tube (hereinafter abbreviated as CRT), 9-8 is a control signal generating section for controlling the tuning section 9-4, 9-9 is a signal switching section, and 10 is a television for encoding and transmitting a remote control signal. Remote control transmitter for image receiver, 9-10 is a remote control amplifier for amplifying remote control signals, 9-11 is a waveform shaping section, 9-12 is a code decoding section for judging coded remote control signals, 9-16 Is an output terminal for one output signal of the distributor 9-1, and 9-19 and 9-20 are video signal input terminals, respectively.

Further, 11 is a VTR, 11-18 is a signal input terminal from the output terminal 9-16, 11-1 is a two-way divider, 11-2 is a tuner, 11-3
Is a VIF, 11-4 is a signal processing unit, 11-5 is a recording processing unit, 11
-6 is a recording head, 11-7 is a channel selection section, 11-9 is a signal switching section, 11-10 is a reproduction processing section, 11-11 is a reproduction head, and 11-12.
Is a control signal generator, 12 is a VTR remote control transmitter, 11-1
3 is a remote control amplifier, 11-14 is a waveform shaping section, and 11-15 is a code decoding section. Since the operation of each unit is well known, the description thereof will be omitted.

Here, each device (TV receiver and VT in this example)
R) requires separate remote control transmitters 10 and 12, respectively. FIG. 7 shows the key structure of the remote control transmitter 10 for the television receiver, and FIG. 8 shows the key structure of the remote control transmitter 12 for the VTR.

The problem to be solved by the invention is that in such a conventional remote control device, when another device is connected to the television receiver, the remote control transmitter attached to each device must be used. The operability was poor.

The present invention solves such a problem, and proposes a remote control control device which is inexpensive, has good operability, and is capable of controlling other devices with one remote control transmitter.

Means for Solving the Problems The remote control control device of the present invention has various types of television receivers and other devices connected to the television receivers when the remote control transmitter has only eight operation keys, for example. It is possible to control the operation function of.

Therefore, on the CRT screen of the television receiver, first, display the device menu of the television receiver and other devices connected to this television receiver in an easy-to-understand pattern, move the cursor up and down, left and right, When you select the device you want to operate (stop the cursor on the device pattern and operate the input command key), the operation function of the selected device (for example, VTR) will be displayed on the CRT screen. Nonetheless, the desired function is operated by moving the cursor on the desired operation function pattern display and operating the input command key in the same manner as when selecting the device.

Effects The remote control control device of the present invention has a small number of operation keys on the remote controller and can operate all the functions of a plurality of devices, and the menu of each device and those on the CRT screen of the television receiver. The contents to be operated are displayed so that it is very easy to see, and the operation guide type makes it easy for anyone to operate. One remote control transmitter allows not only a TV receiver but also a VTR and a video disc. It is possible to operate other devices such as a player.

Examples Hereinafter, one example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a remote control controller according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is an antenna, 2 is a television receiver, 2-1 is a distributor,
One of the RF input signals from the antenna 1 is the tuner 2-2
, And the other is transmitted via the output terminal 2-16 to other devices connected to the television receiver 2.

Reference numeral 2-3 is a video intermediate frequency amplification section (VIF) which converts the RF signal from the tuner 2 into a composite video signal. The composite video signal is the video signal switching unit 2-
The signal processing unit 2-5 performs demodulation and signal processing via 9,
The switching unit 2-6 superimposes either the character pattern signal from the character generation unit 2-13 or the character pattern signal from the memory 2-15 and outputs it to the cathode ray tube (CRT) 2-7. To be done. Further, 2-4 is a channel selection unit for controlling the tuner 2-2, 3 is a remote control transmitter, and FIG. 2 shows a detailed front view of the remote control transmitter 3.

In FIG. 2, 5-1 is a power source of the television receiver 2.
ON / OFF control key, 5-2,5-6,5-3,5-5 is CRT2-
A key for moving the cursor (6-5 in FIG. 3) displayed on the screen of 7 up, down, left and right, 5-4 is an input command key, and operates the function corresponding to the character pattern matching the cursor. Enter if you want to. Reference numeral 5-7 is a key for turning on or off the menu display, and 5-8 is a key for turning on or off the cursor display.

The remote control amplifier 2-10 receives the coded remote control signal transmitted from the remote control transmitter 3 in FIG.
The waveform shaping section 2-11 creates a pulse waveform, and the code decoding section 2-
The code is discriminated at 12 according to which key of the remote control transmitter 3 is operated, and the character generator 2-13 generates a character pattern as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 through the control signal generator 2-8. To do.

First, the menu display key 5-7 is operated to display the character pattern screen of the device menu shown by 6 in FIG. 3, and the cursor movement keys (5-2, 5-6, 5 of the remote control transmitter 3 in FIG. 1 are displayed. −
3, 5-5) to move the cursor 6-5 to the character pattern of the device to be operated. When the input command key 5-4 shown in FIG. 2 is operated in this state, the CRT screen is changed to the character pattern screen 7 of the television shown in FIG. Similarly, the cursor 6-5 is moved onto the character pattern to be operated and the input command key 5-4 is input. In the example of FIG. 4, the cursor 6-is displayed on the character pattern 7-4 of channel 2.
Since there is 5, when the input command key 5-4 is operated, channel 2 is selected. At the same time, this character pattern 7
The color of the frame of -4 is changed to the color of other character patterns (shown by the diagonal lines in FIG. 4) to indicate that two channels are currently being received.

In FIG. 3, 6-1 indicates a character pattern of a television receiver and an AVCS device connected to the television receiver, and 6-2 indicates a television receiver 6-3.
VTR and 6-4 are VHD character patterns.

In FIG. 4, 7-1 indicates a character pattern indicating the operation contents of the television receiver, and 7-2 indicates a power source.
ON-OFF, 7-3 to 7-14 are channel numbers, 7-15, 7-2
1 is volume up / down, 7-16,7-22 is up / down of brightness, 7-17,7-23 is up / down of color, 7-18,7-24 is up / down of tint, 7-
20 is mute ON / OFF, 7-26 is off timer ON
And a character pattern that means OFF.

Further, 7-27 is a character pattern indicating the end, and when this is selected, the character pattern screen 7 indicating the operation contents of the television receiver disappears and the screen returns to the device menu pattern screen 6 shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a character pattern screen showing the operation contents of the VTR when the cursor 6-5 is aligned with the VTR character pattern 6-3 of FIG. 3 and the VTR is selected.

In FIG. 5, 8-1 is a character pattern that means that it is the operation content of the VTR, 8-2 is a power ON-OFF, 8-4
~ 8-15 is a channel number, 8-16 is play, 8-17 is stop, 8-18 is recording, 8-19 is pause, 8-20 is a character pattern showing the operation contents of the VTR for frame advance. is there. Further, the "end" character pattern 8-3 is a character pattern to be selected when the character pattern screen 8 is no longer needed, and the cursor 6-5 is moved to this character pattern to move the input command key 5-of FIG. If entered at 4, the screen returns to the character pattern screen 6 of the device menu in FIG.

Also, returning to FIG. 1, 4 indicates a VTR.

The RF signal from the distributor 2-1 of the television receiver 2 is input to the distributor 4-1 from the input terminal 4-18 of the VTR 4 via the output terminal 2-16. Then, the tuner 4-2 converts the signal into an IF signal, the VIF 4-3 converts it into a composite video signal, and the signal processing unit 4-4 demodulates and processes the signal.
Further, recording processing is performed by the recording processing unit 4-5 and recording is performed on the VTR tape via the recording head 4-6. Further, the information from the tape is taken out by the reproducing head 4-11, passed through the reproduction processing section 4-10, further through the signal switching section 4-9, and through the output terminal 4-20, and then the television receiver 2 From the input terminal 2-19 to the signal processing unit 2-5 via the signal switching unit 2-9.
Is input to and displayed on the CRT2-7 as described above.
Further, 4-7 is a channel selection unit for controlling the tuner 4-2.

When the VTR character pattern 6-3 is selected by the remote control transmitter 3 on the device menu character pattern screen 6 in FIG. 3, the remote control signal is transmitted to the code decoding section via the remote control amplifier 2-10 and the waveform shaping section 2-11. The data is decoded at 2-12 and sent from the control signal generator 2-8 to the control signal generator 4-12 in the VTR 4 from the terminal 4-21 via the terminal 2-18 and the bidirectional data bus line. The control signal generator 4-12 controls the character generator 4-10 so as to generate the character pattern screen 8 showing the operation contents of the VTR shown in FIG. 5 by the control signal sent. Then, the data signal of the generated character pattern is transmitted through the control signal generation unit 4-12, the terminal 4-21 through the bidirectional bus line, and the terminal 2-18 of the television receiver 2, It is sent to the control signal generator 2-8. This data signal is used for the memory (RANDAM ACC
It is sent to the switching unit 2-6 via ESS / MEMORY) 2-15 and displayed on the CRT of 2-7.

Next, in the VTR character pattern screen 8 of FIG. 5, when the reproduction character pattern 8-16 is selected by the remote control transmitter 3,
The remote control signal is remote control amplifier 2-10, waveform shaping section 2-1
1 is decoded by the code decoding unit 2-12 via the control signal generation unit 2-8 via the terminal 2-18, and via the bidirectional bus line from the terminal 4-21 via the control signal generation unit 4-in the VTR 4. Sent to 12. The control signal generation unit 4-12 switches the signal switching unit 4-9 to the lower side in accordance with the transmitted control data to perform reproduction processing, and displays the reproduction image of VTR4 on the CRT 2-7.

Here, the terminals 2-17 and 2-18 of the television receiver 2 are through-in / through-out terminals for connecting to other devices, and the terminals 4-21 and 4-22 of the VTR 4 are also similar terminals.

Also, the remote control amplifier 4-13 in the VTR, the waveform shaping section 4-1
4, the code decoding unit 4-15 may be omitted in this example. or,
The control signal generator 4-12 controls the character generator 4-16 and each function of the VTR 4, and further performs input / output data processing of signals to the data bus.

The control signal generator 2-8 of the television receiver 2 also controls each part of the television (including the memory 2-15) and processes input / output data of signals to / from the data bus.

Further, 2-14 and 4-17 are memories (READ / ONLY / MEMORY) for storing character patterns.

In the conventional example, since two remote control transmitters shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 are required, a television receiver and a VTR are required.
The number of keys needed to be 47 by just operating, but the remote control transmitter 3 in Fig. 2 can operate all the functions of each device with 8 keys, and the operability is much better. It will be good. Even if the VHD function is added, the transmitter in Fig. 2 can still be operated with 8 keys.

Also, by installing a memory 2-15 (RANDAM, ACCESS, MEMORY for time axis adjustment) in the television receiver 2, the function menu character pattern screen data of other equipment connected to the television receiver can be received. Since it can be used in the receiver, the memory (READ, ONLY, MEMORY) installed in the receiver can be simplified, and the cost can be distributed, and the memory 2-14 does not need to be changed each time another device is added. This makes it possible to provide a system that is inexpensive and easy to handle.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, the remote control control device of the present invention has many controlled devices and can operate a small number of keys even if it has a large number of operation functions, and the operation content is greatly displayed on the CRT screen. Since it is easy to understand, it is possible to make an inexpensive system without having a remote control transmitter for each device separately.

In addition, the memory (READ / ONLY
・ MEMORY) does not need to have a character pattern that indicates the operation content of other devices, so memory reduction, cost distribution,
Further, it is possible to provide a system that makes it possible to easily and inexpensively deal with other new devices.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a remote control controller in one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed plan view of the remote control transmitter shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a front view showing a character pattern screen of an equipment menu. FIG. 4 is a front view showing a function menu character pattern screen of a television receiver, FIG.
FIG. 6 is a front view showing a function menu character pattern screen of a VTR, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional example, FIG. 7 is a detailed plan view of one remote control transmitter shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a detailed plan view of the other remote control transmitter shown in FIG. 6. 2 ... Television receiver, 2-1 ... Distributor, 2-2
…… Tuner, 2-3 …… VIF, 2-4 …… Channel selector, 2
-5 ... signal processing unit, 2-6 ... switching unit, 2-7 ... cathode ray tube, 2-8 ... control signal generating unit, 2-9 ... signal switching unit, 2-10 ... remote controller Amplifier, 2-11 ... Waveform shaping section, 2-12 ... Code decoding section, 2-13 ... Character generation section, 2-14 ... Memory (READ / ONLY / MEMORY), 2-15
...... Memory (RANDAM ・ ACCESS.MEMORY), 3 …… Remote control transmitter, 4 …… Video tape recorder, 4-1 …… Distributor, 4-2 …… Tuner, 4-3 …… VIF, 4-4 …
... signal processing unit, 4-5 ... recording processing unit, 4-6 ... recording head, 4-7 ... tuning unit, 4-9 ... signal switching unit, 4
-10 ... Reproduction processing unit, 4-11 ... Reconstruction head, 4-12 ...
Control signal generator, 4-16 Character generator, 4-17
memory.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Tadashi Yamada 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-60-147827 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A remote control transmitter for remotely controlling a television receiver or an external device connected to the television receiver, and a code decoding unit for receiving and decoding a signal from the remote control transmitter. A control signal generation unit that inputs a signal from the code decoding unit and outputs a command signal, and a terminal that outputs the signal of the control signal generation unit to the external device or inputs a signal from the external device, A first memory for storing a pattern signal indicating the operation content of the television receiver, and a display means for displaying character pattern data from the pattern signal stored in the first memory upon receiving a signal from the control signal generator. And a character generation unit that outputs the character pattern data indicating the operation content input from the external device to the terminal, and outputs the character pattern data to the display unit. And a second memory for selecting the character pattern data displayed on the display means using a signal transmitted from the remote control transmitter to operate the devision receiver or the external device. Characteristic remote control control device.