JPH08182083A - Direction changing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a direction change device by which a direction of an electronic device is automatically changed. CONSTITUTION: A remote control 30 is operated to provide the output of a control signal. The control signal is received by remote control light receiving sections 7a-7f. A direction of the control signal is detected by a microcomputer 33 based on reception signals Pa-Pf. Furthermore, a motor control signal MS to drive the direction of the electronic device in the detected direction is generated. The motor control signal MS is fed to a motor diver section 34 to obtain a motor drive signal MD and it is fed to a motor section 12. The drive by the motor section 12 is started by the motor drive signal MD to change the direction of the electronic device. Then the supply of the motor control signal MS is stopped to stop the drive by the motor section 12. The direction of the electronic device is set to a direction of the control signal received from the remote commander 30. When the electronic device is, e.g. an acoustic device, a correct sound image is easily obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a direction changing device for automatically controlling the direction of an electronic device such as an audio device or an image display device by a signal output from a remote control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, audio signals of a plurality of channels, for example, audio signals of left and right channels and audio signals of left and right channels for surround are respectively supplied to predetermined speakers, and a stereophonic sound field effect is produced by reproduced sounds output from the speakers. Sound devices and the like that can be obtained are known.

[0003]

By the way, in such an audio device, since the audio signals of a plurality of channels are converted into reproduced sounds by respective predetermined speakers and outputted,
The listener is at a position corresponding to the playback sound output from the speaker,
That is, a sufficient stereoscopic sound field effect cannot be obtained unless the reproduction sound of the left channel is output from the left direction and the reproduction sound of the right channel is output from the right direction to obtain a correct sound image.

For this reason, a sufficient stereoscopic sound field effect cannot be obtained on the side surface or the rear surface of, for example, a CD radio cassette recorder (hereinafter referred to as "CD boombox"), and therefore the direction of the CD boombox must be manually changed each time. However, the operation was troublesome.

Similarly, in the image display device as well, in order to make the screen easy to see, it is necessary to manually change the orientation of the screen of the image display device or to allow the viewer to sit in front of the screen.

Therefore, the present invention provides a direction changing device capable of automatically changing the direction of an electronic device such as an audio device or an image display device.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a direction changing device which includes a plurality of receiving means for receiving a signal output from a remote control device and a remote control means based on the receiving signals from the plurality of receiving means. It has a discriminating means for discriminating the supply direction of the signal output from the control device, and a direction changing means for controlling the orientation of the electronic device based on the direction discriminated by the discriminating means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a direction changing device based on a plurality of receiving means for receiving a signal output from a remote control device having a plurality of position changeover switches and a receiving signal from the plurality of receiving means. The remote control device has a discriminating means for discriminating the operated position changeover switch and a direction changing means for controlling the direction of the electronic device in correspondence with the position changeover switch discriminated by the discriminating means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the direction changing device according to the first or second aspect, wherein the receiving means has a substantially conical hood portion.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a turning device according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the signal output from the remote control device controls lighting of an infrared light emitting diode. To generate.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the turning device according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the signal output from the remote control device is generated by controlling lighting of a laser diode. It is a thing.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the direction changing device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the receiving means is a signal output from the remote control device and an operation switching signal for switching the operation of the electronic device. Is to receive.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a turning device according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, wherein the electronic device whose direction is controlled by the turning means is a sound device.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a turning device according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, wherein the electronic device whose orientation is controlled by the turning means is an image display device.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the discriminating means discriminates the supply direction of the signal output from the remote control device on the basis of the received signals from the plurality of receiving means for receiving the signal output from the remote control device. At the same time, the direction of the electronic device is controlled by the direction changing means based on the determined direction. Therefore, by operating the remote control device to output a signal, it is possible to change the direction of the electronic device from a distant position to a desired direction.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the position changeover switch operated by the remote control device is operated based on the received signals from the plurality of receiving means for receiving the signals output from the remote control device having the plurality of position changeover switches. Is discriminated by the discriminating means, and the orientation of the electronic device is controlled in correspondence with the discriminated position changeover switch. Therefore, it is possible to easily change the direction of the electronic device to a desired direction simply by operating one position changeover switch.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the receiving means has a substantially conical hood portion. For this reason, reception of a signal from the remote control means supplied from a direction other than the opening direction of the hood portion having a substantially conical shape is restricted by the reception means, so that the supply direction of the signal can be correctly determined by the determination means. Become.

In the fourth aspect of the invention, the signal output from the remote control device is generated by controlling the lighting of the infrared light emitting diode. Therefore, for example, a remote controller can be easily configured.

In the invention of claim 5, the signal output from the remote control device is generated by controlling the lighting of the laser diode. Since the signal output from this laser diode has high directivity, it is rare that the signals are simultaneously received by a plurality of receiving means.
It is possible to correctly determine the signal supply direction by the determination means.

In the sixth aspect of the invention, the receiving means receives the signal output from the remote control device and the operation switching signal for switching the operation of the electronic device. For this reason, it is not necessary to provide a receiving means for each signal, and it is possible to configure at low cost.

According to the seventh and eighth aspects of the invention, the supply direction of the signal output from the remote control device is determined by the determination means based on the received signals from the plurality of reception means, and the direction changing means determines the electronic direction. The orientation of the device is controlled. Therefore, for example, when the electronic device to be controlled is an audio device, it is possible to easily obtain a correct sound image because the audio device is controlled to face the front by simply operating the remote control device. . Further, when the electronic device is an image display device, the image display device is controlled so that the direction of the image display device faces the front only by operating the remote control device, so that an easily viewable image can be obtained.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the turning device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance when the direction changing device is applied to, for example, a CD radio-cassette.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a CD radio-cassette,
On the front side of this CD boombox 1, there is a cassette tape loading section 3
And a speaker unit 4 for outputting reproduced sound. Further, on the upper surface, a disc mounting portion 5 for mounting a compact disc and an operation portion 6 for switching the operation of the CD radio-cassette are provided. Further, on the upper side surface of the cabinet 2, for example, six remote control light-receiving parts 7a to 7f are arranged at equal intervals all around the side surface of the cabinet 2.
Here, FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line II ′ in which the remote control light receiving unit 7a is arranged.

The remote control light receiving portion 7a is attached to the mounting portion 8a of the cabinet 2 in which the substantially conical hood portion 9a is formed. At this time, the remote control light receiving portion 7a is assumed to be located at the center of the substantially conical hood portion 9a. Although not shown, the remote control light receiving parts 7b to 7f are also mounted on the cabinet 2 in the same manner.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a schematic sectional view taken along line II-II 'of the CD radio-cassette 1. The cabinet 2 is fitted to the lower cabinet 10. In this lower cabinet 10,
A convex portion 10B is provided around the rotary shaft portion 10A.
A chassis 11 is attached to the lower cabinet 10. A motor unit 12 is attached to the chassis 11, and a reduction gear unit 13 is rotatably attached to the chassis 11. At this time, the upper gear 13A of the reduction gear unit 13 is meshed with the first gear 12A of the motor unit 12.

A guide groove 20B is formed in the base 20 centering on the mounting hole 20A. Also, in the base 20,
The base gear 21 is attached to the center of the base gear 21 and the mounting hole 20A.
It is fixed in a state where the centers of the two match.

The lower cabinet 10 is rotatably attached to the base 20 with an attaching screw 25. At this time, the lower gear 13B of the reduction gear unit 13 and the base gear 2
1 is meshed. Also, the convex portion 10B of the lower cabinet 10
Is brought into contact with the guide groove 20B of the base 20 in a state where the cross section is in a substantially point contact state.
Is rotated about the rotating shaft portion 10A, the convex portion 10B of the lower cabinet 10 is guided by the guide groove 20 of the base 20.
It is supposed to slide B. At this time, since the cross section of the convex portion 10B is in contact with the cross section in a substantially point contact state, the convex portion 10B can move smoothly with less friction.

Next, the structure of the direction changing device is shown in FIG.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 30 is a remote control device for switching the operation of the CD radio-cassette 1. In the remote controller 30, for example, when the operation switch unit 31a for switching the operation of the CD radio-cassette 1 is operated as shown in FIG. 5, a control signal which is an operation switching signal coded according to the operation is transmitted to the remote controller 30. Is output from. This control signal is an optical signal coded to control lighting of an infrared light emitting diode (not shown) of remote control device 30. Also,
Reference numeral 31b is a position changeover switch for changing the direction of the CD radio-cassette 1. When the position changeover switch 31b is operated, the infrared light emitting diode is turned on and a control signal which is a non-coded constant level position changeover signal is output.

The control signal, which is the position switching signal output from the remote control device 30, is transmitted to the remote control light receiving parts 7a to 7f.
Is received by any of. This remote control light receiving section 7a-7
At f, the control signal, which is an operation switching signal for switching the operation of the CD radio-cassette 1, is received together with the control signal, which is a position switching signal. For this reason, it is not necessary to separately provide a remote control light-receiving unit that receives a control signal that is a position switching signal and a remote-control light receiving unit that receives a control signal that is an operation switching signal.

A reception signal is output from the remote control light-receiving unit that has received this control signal. For example, remote control light receiving unit 7
When the control signal is received in a, the remote control light receiving unit 7
The reception signal Pa is supplied from a to the microcomputer 33. Similarly, when the control signals are received by the remote control light receiving units 7b to 7f, the reception signals Pb to Pc are supplied to the microcomputer 33.

The microcomputer 33 determines the direction in which the control signal is supplied based on the received signal supplied, and
A motor control signal MS for changing the direction of the CD boom box 1 in the determined direction is generated. Motor control signal M
S is supplied from the microcomputer 33 to the motor driver unit 34. In the motor driver unit 34, the motor control signal MS
The motor drive signal MD is generated based on By supplying this motor drive signal MD to the motor unit 12, the first gear 12A of the motor unit 12 shown in FIG. 3 is rotated.

Next, the operation will be described. When the position changeover switch 31b of the remote control device 30 is operated, a control signal, which is a position changeover signal from the direction B shown in FIG.
When supplied to the radio-cassette 1, the control signal is received by the remote control light-receiving parts 7a, 7b, 7c and received signals Pa, Pb, P are received.
c is supplied to the microcomputer 33.

In the microcomputer 33, the supplied reception signal P
Based on a, Pb, and Pc, it is determined that the control signal is supplied from the direction of the remote controller light receiving unit 7b located at the center among the remote controller light receiving units 7a, 7b, and 7c that output this reception signal. Further, in order to change the direction of the CD radio-cassette 1 from the current A direction to the B-direction which is the direction of the remote control light receiving unit 7b, a motor control signal MS for rotating the CD radio-cassette 1 by 60 degrees in the clockwise direction is generated. To be done.

The motor control signal MS is supplied to the motor driver section 34 to be a motor drive signal MD and then supplied to the motor section 12. Therefore, the motor unit 1
The first gear 12A of No. 2 receives the supplied motor drive signal MD
Is rotated counterclockwise as shown in FIG.

When the first gear 12A is rotated counterclockwise, the upper gear 13A of the reduction gear portion 13 meshed with the first gear 12A is rotated clockwise and the lower gear 13B is also rotated clockwise. To be rotated. By the way, the reduction gear portion 13 is rotatably attached to the chassis 11 attached to the lower cabinet 10, and the base gear 21 meshing with the lower gear 13B is fixed to the base 20. Therefore, as the lower gear 13B rotates clockwise, the lower cabinet 10 also rotates clockwise,
The position FP of the lower cabinet 10 showing the front position of the CD boombox 1 is moved from the A direction to the B direction. After that, when the position FP is rotated clockwise by 60 degrees, the rotation of the first gear 12A of the motor unit 12 is stopped, so that the front position of the CD radio-cassette 1 is set to the B direction.

Further, G located in the middle of the A direction and the B direction
When the control signal is supplied to the CD radio-cassette 1 from the direction, the control signal is received by the remote control light receiving units 7a and 7b and the reception signals Pa and Pb are supplied to the microcomputer 33.

In the microcomputer 33, the supplied reception signal P
Based on a and Pb, it is determined that the control signal is supplied from the direction located in the middle of the remote control light receiving units 7a and 7b that output the received signal, that is, from the G direction. Also CD
In order to change the orientation of the boombox 1 from the current A direction to the G direction, a motor control signal MS for rotating the direction of the CD boombox 1 by 30 degrees clockwise is generated. Based on this motor control signal MS, the position FP of the lower cabinet 10
Is rotated clockwise by 30 degrees, and the front position of the CD radio-cassette 1 is set to the G direction.

Further, when the control signal from the remote control device 30 is supplied from the C direction, the D direction, the E direction, the F direction or a direction in the middle thereof, it is processed in the same manner, and C
The direction of the D boombox 1 is automatically switched.

Since the mounting portions 8a to 8f of the cabinet 2 to which the remote control light receiving portions 7a to 7f are mounted are formed with substantially conical hood portions as shown in FIG. 2, they are substantially conical hood portions. The control signal supplied from a direction other than the opening direction is limited by the hood portion. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the control signal from being erroneously received by the remote control light receiving unit which is not located in the supply direction of the control signal supplied from the remote control device 30, and the control signal received by the remote control light receiving unit can be prevented. It is possible to correctly detect the supply direction of the control signal based on the signal level. Further, if the cone angle γ of the hood portion is set to be narrow, the control signal is received by one remote control light receiving portion. Therefore, the direction of the remote control light receiving portion that has supplied the received signal should be the front position of the CD radio-cassette 1. You can

In the remote controller 30, when the operation switch section 31a is operated, the infrared light emitting diode outputs a control signal, which is an operation switching signal coded according to the operation, and the position changeover switch 31b operates. When operated, the same infrared light emitting diode outputs a non-coded constant level control signal from the infrared light emitting diode, so that the remote control device can be easily configured. The signal output from the remote control device is not limited to the infrared light output from the infrared light emitting diode. For example, if a laser diode is used and the signals of the laser light output from this laser diode are received by the remote control light receiving units 7a to 7f, the control signals are output from the plurality of remote control light receiving units because the directivity of the laser light is high. Will never be received. Therefore, the microcomputer 3
In 3, it is not necessary to judge the direction in which the control signal is supplied based on the plurality of received signals supplied, and the direction in which the control signal is supplied is correctly detected depending on which remote control light receiving unit receives the control signal. can do.

Next, the second embodiment will be described. Second
In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of position changeover switches (for example, five position changeover switches 32b to 32f) are provided in a position changeover switch section 32 of a remote control device 30a corresponding to the remote control device 30, and these positions are set. A control signal, which is a coded position change signal that differs depending on the operation of the changeover switch, is output, and the orientation of the CD radio-cassette 1 is controlled according to the plurality of position changeover switches.

Here, for example, the CD radio-cassette 1 is F in FIG.
When facing the direction and the remote control light receiving unit 7b is located in the front, when the position changeover switch 32b of the position changeover switch unit 32 of the remote control device 30a is operated, a coded control signal corresponding to this operation is output. To be done. This control signal is received by any of the remote control light receiving units 7a to 7f, and the received signal is supplied to the microcomputer 33. Microcomputer 3
In 3, it is determined that the CD radio-cassette 1 is facing the F direction on the basis of the coded received signal supplied, and the direction of the CD radio-cassette 1 is changed from the current F direction to the A direction. A motor control signal MS for rotating the direction of the CD radio-cassette 1 by 60 degrees in the clockwise direction is generated. After that, the motor unit 12 is driven based on the motor control signal MS, and the front position of the CD radio-cassette 1 is set to the A direction.

In addition, the CD radio cassette 1 is in the B direction, the C direction,
Even when facing the D direction and the E direction, the position changeover switch unit 3 corresponding to the remote control light receiving unit located in the front is provided.
By operating the position changeover switch No. 2, the CD radio-cassette 1 can be easily turned to the front.

Although the six remote control light receiving parts 7a to 7f are arranged in the cabinet 2 in the above-described embodiment, the number of remote control light receiving parts can be reduced when the variable range of the orientation is small. Further, by increasing the number of remote control light receiving parts, the direction of the CD radio-cassette 1 can be further subdivided and controlled.

By the way, the microcomputer 33 is supposed to generate the motor control signal MS for rotating the direction of the CD radio-cassette 1 in accordance with the detected direction. However, a position sensor for detecting the direction of the CD radio-cassette 1 is provided. Then, if the orientation of the CD radio-cassette 1 is controlled based on the sensor signal from the position sensor, the orientation can be controlled more easily.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the remote controller 30 is operated to supply the control signal regardless of the position of the CD radio cassette player, as shown in FIG. Since the direction of the CD boombox can be changed automatically by detecting the supply direction of the control signal, the correct sound image can be easily obtained.

In the present embodiment, a CD radio-cassette is used as the audio device, but it goes without saying that the audio device is not limited to the CD radio-cassette. Further, the electronic device is not limited to the acoustic device, and an image display device can easily obtain an easily viewable image. Further, in the case of an air conditioner or the like, the wind direction can be automatically changed, so that a comfortable environment can be easily obtained.

[0048]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the supply direction of the signal output from the remote control device is determined based on the received signals from the plurality of receiving means for receiving the signal output from the remote control device. The direction of the electronic device is controlled by the direction changing means based on the determined direction. Therefore, by operating the remote control device and outputting a signal, the direction of the electronic device can be changed from a distant position to a desired direction.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the operated position switching of the remote control device is performed based on the reception signals from the plurality of receiving means for receiving the signals output from the remote control device having the plurality of position changeover switches. The switch is discriminated by the discriminating means, and the orientation of the electronic device is controlled in correspondence with the discriminated position changeover switch. For this reason, the direction of the electronic device can be easily changed to a desired direction simply by operating one position changeover switch.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the receiving means has a substantially conical hood portion. For this reason, reception of a signal from the remote control means supplied from a direction other than the opening direction of the substantially conical hood portion is restricted by the reception means, and thus the supply direction of the signal can be correctly determined by the determination means.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the signal output from the remote control device is generated by controlling the lighting of the infrared light emitting diode. For this reason,
For example, the remote control device can be easily configured.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the signal output from the remote control device is generated by controlling the lighting of the laser diode. Since the signal output from this laser diode has high directivity, it is unlikely that a plurality of receiving means receive the signal at the same time. Therefore, the determining means can correctly determine the supply direction of the signal.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the signal output from the remote control device and the operation switching signal for switching the operation of the electronic device are received by the receiving means. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a receiving means for each signal, and the cost can be reduced.

According to the inventions of claims 7 and 8,
The determining means determines the supply direction of the signal output from the remote control device based on the received signals from the plurality of receiving means, and the direction changing means controls the orientation of the electronic device. Therefore, for example, when the electronic device to be controlled is an audio device, it is possible to easily obtain a correct sound image because the audio device is controlled to face the front by simply operating the remote control device. . When the electronic device is an image display device, the image display device is controlled so that the direction of the image display device faces the front only by operating the remote control device, so that an easily viewable image can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of an embodiment of a direction changing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I ′.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line II-II ′.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example.

5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a remote control device 30. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a remote control device 30a.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the operation of the turning device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CD radio cassette recorder (CD radio cassette player) 2 Cabinet 3 Cassette tape mounting part 4 Speaker part 5 Disk mounting part 6 Operation part 7a to 7f Remote control light receiving part 8a to 8f Mounting part 9a to 9f Hood part 10 Lower cabinet 10A Rotating shaft part 10B Convex part 11 Chassis 12 Motor part 13 Reduction gear part 13A Upper gear 13B Lower gear 20 Base 20A Mounting hole 20B Guide groove 21 Base gear 25 Mounting screw 30,30a Remote control device 31a Operation switch part 31b, 32b to 32f Position change switch 32 Position change Switch unit 33 Microcomputer 34 Motor driver unit

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display area H04B 10/105 10/10 10/22 H04N 5/00 A

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of receiving means for receiving a signal output from a remote control device, and a determination for determining a supply direction of a signal output from the remote control device based on received signals from the plurality of receiving means. A direction changing device comprising means and direction changing means for controlling the direction of the electronic device based on the direction determined by the determining means. 2. A plurality of receiving means for receiving a signal output from a remote control device having a plurality of position changeover switches, and an operated position of the remote control device based on the received signals from the plurality of receiving means. A direction changing device comprising: a determining unit that determines a changeover switch; and a direction changing unit that controls the orientation of an electronic device in correspondence with the position changeover switch determined by the determining unit. 3. The turning device according to claim 1, wherein the receiving means has a substantially conical hood portion. 4. The turning device according to claim 1, wherein the signal output from the remote control device is generated by controlling lighting of an infrared light emitting diode. . 5. The turning device according to claim 1, wherein the signal output from the remote control device is generated by controlling lighting of a laser diode. 6. The receiving device according to claim 1, wherein the receiving means receives a signal output from the remote control device and an operation switching signal for switching the operation of the electronic device. Turning device. 7. The turning device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an audio device. 8. The direction changing device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an image display device.