JPH10227601A - Tape measure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tape measure which enables simply recording of measuring dimensions of an object to be measured. SOLUTION: A mechanism for recording and reproduction is incorporated into a body case 2 of a tape measure and a gauge member 3 is pulled out of the body case 1 to measure the length of an object to be measured. With a recording button 6 depressed, a measured value is read aloud. A data of the read sound is caught by a microphone 5 to be recorded into a built-in memory. A plurality of measured values can be continuously recorded. After the end of the measurement, by depressing a reproduction button 8, the measured values are outputted sequentially from a speaker 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a tape measure. In particular, it relates to a tape measure capable of recording measured values as audio data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A tape measure is widely used in various scenes of daily life, a construction site, a case of dressmaking, and the like. By the way, in the conventional tape measure, when a plurality of dimensions are measured, there is a trouble that the measured value must be memorized or written down every time the measurement is performed.

For example, when measuring the size of a chest,
It measures width, height and depth, but it is difficult to memorize the three dimensions accurately. Therefore, it is troublesome to measure the width and take note of its dimensions, measure the height and take note of it, and measure the depth and take note of it.

[0004]

Therefore, when measuring the dimensions of an object to be measured with a tape measure, it is convenient if the measured values can be easily recorded. The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a tape measure that can easily record a measured dimension of an object to be measured.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tape measure capable of recording a read voice when a measured value of an object to be measured is read aloud.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a tape measure including a main body case and a measuring member provided so as to be able to be pulled out from the main body case, a microphone provided in the main body case,
Recording operation means for operating the microphone, recording means for recording audio data input from the microphone, reproduction means for reproducing the audio data recorded on the recording means, Reproduction operation means for bringing the means into an operating state.

According to the present invention, every time the length of the object to be measured is measured by the measuring member, the measured value is read out. At this time, the reading is performed while operating the recording operation means. Then, the read voice data is picked up by the microphone and recorded by the recording means. If the recording means has a capacity capable of recording a plurality of measured values, a plurality of dimensions can be measured continuously and recorded as audio data.

The measured values can be sequentially output from a reproducing means such as a speaker or an earphone by operating the reproducing operation means. Therefore, the measurement value heard from the reproducing means may be written down on a recording paper or the like. Therefore, according to the present invention, a plurality of measurement values can be measured continuously, and it is not necessary to take notes each time one measurement value is measured.

Further, by reading out the measured dimensions of the object to be measured, it is possible to prevent a careless mistake or the like in which a measured value is erroneously recognized. For example, if the measured value is "2m
At the time of “53 cm”, there may be a case where “2 m 35 cm” is erroneously recognized. In particular, if the user is tired when trying to instantaneously grasp the measurement value without reading out the measurement value, reading errors may occur. According to the invention,
Since the measured value read by the eye is read aloud, the recognition of the measured value again at the time of reading has the advantage that measurement errors can be reduced.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a tape measure with a recording function according to an embodiment of the present invention. The tape measure includes a main body case 1 and a length member 3 that can be pulled out from a length material outlet 2 formed in the main body case 1. The side shape is L at the tip of the shank 3
A letter-shaped locking piece 4 is attached.

When measuring the dimensions of the object to be measured, for example, the locking piece 4 is hooked to the end of the object to be measured, and
Is moved along the object to be measured, the measuring material 3 is pulled out from the main body case 1, and the length to the other end of the measuring object is measured by reading the scale engraved on the measuring material 3. This operation is the same as that of a conventionally known tape measure. The tape measure is characterized in that the main body case 1 is provided with a record button 6 for activating the microphone 5, a speaker 7, and a play button 8 for activating the speaker 7. Record button 6 and play button 8 when unnecessary
Is provided with a lock switch 9 for preventing the switch from operating.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a button for winding up a measuring material. A feature of the tape measure according to this embodiment is that by reading out the measured length, the read-out voice data (measured value) can be recorded (recorded), and can be reproduced later. The tape measure has a structure in which a plurality of measured values can be recorded, and the plurality of measured values can be reproduced from the speaker 7 later. Thus, for example, when measuring the size of a chest, it is possible to obtain a reproduced output of "width 180 cm, height 203 cm, depth 64 cm", and write down the dimensions while listening to it.

FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram showing a characteristic configuration of the tape measure according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, the recording and reproducing functions provided on the tape measure are realized by a circuit mainly composed of the microcomputer 11. Specifically, the microphone 11 and the speaker 7 described above are connected to the microcomputer 11. Further, the above-mentioned recording button 6 and reproduction button 8 for inputting a signal to the microcomputer 11 are connected. Further, a lock switch 9 for inhibiting a signal input from the recording button 6 and the reproduction button 8 to the microcomputer 11 is provided in association with a signal line of the recording button 6 and the reproduction button 8.

Further, a power battery 12 for supplying drive power to the circuit can be mounted on the tape measure. The microcomputer 11 has a built-in memory 13 for recording voice data. Memory 1
3, as shown in FIG. 3, the audio data to be recorded is stored in order from address 00 to address XX,
When the address XX is reached, the voice data is overwritten from address 00.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control operation for recording and reproducing audio data executed by the microcomputer 11 in the tape measure.
Next, how to record and reproduce audio data will be described along the flow of FIG. 4 in association with the usage of the tape measure. The length member 3 is pulled out from the main body case 1 shown in FIG. 1 and the length of the measured object is measured. The user measures the length by the scale engraved on the scale member 3, and reads out the measured length at this time. The reading is performed with the lock switch 9 turned off and the recording button 6 pressed (the recording button 6 is turned on) (steps S1 and S2 in FIG. 4). At the time of reading out, the mouth is brought close to the microphone 5 and the length is read out. In addition to the length, information on what the length is, for example, "width of chest of 120 cm" or "length of sleeve 86 cm" can be recorded together. The read voice data is taken into the microcomputer 11 through the microphone 5 and is stored in the memory 13.
(Step S3).

When the pressing of the recording button 6 is stopped, the recording is stopped, and the address pointer indicating the address of the memory area is updated (step S4). By updating the address pointer, a memory area to start recording next is specified. Therefore, a recording that overlaps with the previous data is not performed. On the other hand, when the lock switch 9 is in the off state,
When the play button 8 is pressed, the contents of the memory 13 are read while the button is pressed, and the contents are output from the speaker 8 (steps S5 and S6). Accordingly, the user can collectively listen to the measured length later from the speaker 7 and record the heard length on paper or the like.

That is, when measuring the length with a tape measure, the length can be sequentially blown into the tape measure, and the recorded length can be reproduced later. It is not necessary to make a note, and multiple lengths can be measured efficiently. Also, the measured length can be correctly written down later. When the reproduction button 8 is pressed, the address pointer for reproduction is updated (step S7). At the time of the next reproduction, reproduction from the address indicated by the address pointer is performed.

In the above-described embodiment, the tape measure provided with the speaker 7 is taken as an example, but an earphone jack may be provided instead of the speaker 7. In the case of the embodiment in which the earphone jack is provided as compared with the speaker 7, since the power consumed during the operation is small, the tape measure can be operated for a long time with a small battery. In the above embodiment,
It has been described that the recording start position and the reproduction start position in the memory area are recorded and reproduced from the addresses indicated by the address pointer for recording and the address pointer for reproduction, respectively. It is also possible to arrange a plurality of IC memories so that the IC memories used for each recording operation are sequentially switched. In this case, similarly, each time the reproduction operation is performed, the IC memory to be read may be sequentially switched. With this configuration, for example, a plurality of inexpensive IC memories having a short recording time of about several seconds to 10 seconds can be used, and an inexpensive control chip can be used.

In the above-described embodiment, a button for deleting recorded contents is not provided, but a delete button for deleting recorded contents at once may be provided. Further, in general, a microphone and a speaker have substantially similar configurations. If the output is small, the microphone can be used as a speaker, and conversely, the speaker can be used as a microphone. Therefore, instead of separately providing a microphone and a speaker, a tape measure incorporating a switchable microphone / speaker element that is used as a microphone and a speaker may be used.

Further, the recording means for recording the audio data may use a micro-cassette tape or the like instead of the above-mentioned IC memory. Further, in the above-described embodiment, in FIG. 1, a tape measure in which the locking piece 4 is provided at the tip of the measuring material 3 and the measuring material 3 is made of, for example, a metal is taken as an example. It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a tape measure used for dressmaking of cloth or the like.

In addition, the present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the claims, and is not limited to the above embodiments.

[0022]

According to the present invention, when measuring a plurality of lengths, there is no need to write down the length each time the length is measured, and a tape measure that can be measured smoothly and accurately can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a tape measure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an electrical configuration block diagram illustrating a characteristic configuration of a tape measure according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative view showing a recording and reproducing order of a memory used in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a microcomputer 11 in the circuit of FIG.
5 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the first embodiment.

[Explanation of Signs] 1 (case of tape measure) main body case 3 measure material 5 microphone 6 record button 7 speaker 8 play button 9 lock switch 11 microcomputer 13 memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tape measure including a main body case and a measuring member provided so as to be able to be pulled out of the main body case, a microphone provided in the main body case, recording operation means for activating the microphone, and a microphone Recording means for recording the audio data input from, and reproduction means for reproducing the audio data recorded in the recording means,
And a reproducing operation means for setting the reproducing means to an operating state.