JPH11154878A - Wireless remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless remote controller, with which the consumption of a battery is delayed and the degree of that consumption can be easily known as well by successively reducing a turn-on display range at the operating part or information display part of an input key, corresponding to the reduction of the output level of a built-in battery. SOLUTION: When the wireless remote controller to be turned on by the output of a built-in battery B is composed of plural input key operating parts 2 for generating a transmission code through input operation and sending a radio signal from a transmitting means 9 and a display part for displaying information or the like related to the remote control of electronic equipment for receiving the contents of operation due to the input keys 2 or the transmitted signal from the transmitting means 9, plural switches 6A-8A are provided for dividing the operating parts 2 and the display part into plural turn-on areas 6-8, and a control means 11 is provided for changing the number of turn-on areas 6-8 to be turned on, while detecting the output level of the battery B and performing on/off control to the plural switches 6A-8A corresponding to that output level.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless remote control device for remotely controlling the operation of AV equipment such as a television receiver and the like. The present invention relates to a wireless remote control device that can light up an operation unit to facilitate a handling operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a television receiver or the like is operated by operating a remote control switch (hereinafter abbreviated as a remote controller) which is a wireless remote controller. In this type of wireless remote control device, when a transmission switch is operated, a signal including a key code is transmitted from a transmission unit to a reception unit of a device main body, and a response circuit is driven. However, when the built-in battery voltage drops, the transmission operation cannot be performed, and there is a problem of causing a malfunction. Therefore, a wireless remote control device provided with a transmission confirmation display element that also serves as a check for detecting the battery voltage drop has been proposed. (See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-125791).

This wireless remote control device uses a light emitting diode as a transmission confirmation display element. When a transmission switch is operated, the light emitting diode is turned on to confirm transmission.
When the battery voltage becomes lower than the reference voltage, the light emitting diode blinks to check the battery voltage. However, since there is only one light emitting diode, it is difficult to see the transmission switch when the room is dark at night or the like.
Recently, a remote control for AV equipment has been proposed in which, when any one of a plurality of input keys is operated, an operation unit and an operation display unit of all the input keys are turned on by an output of a built-in battery because an operation error easily occurs. I have.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional remote controller, the operation unit and the operation display unit of all the input keys are turned on at once when the room is dark, not only at night, so that power consumption during lighting is inevitable. And the consumption of the internal battery was expedited. For this reason, even if the input key is operated, the transmission unit does not operate, and there remains a problem that transmission cannot be performed, a malfunction occurs, and no operation is displayed on the display unit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the battery consumption is reduced by sequentially reducing the lighting display range of an input key operation unit and an information display unit in accordance with a decrease in the output level of a built-in battery. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless remote control device that makes it possible to know the degree of wear of the wireless remote control device easily.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of input keys for generating a transmission code by an input operation and transmitting a radio signal from the transmission means. An operation unit and a display unit that displays information related to remote control of an electronic device that receives the operation content of the input key and the transmission signal of the transmission unit, and the like, a wireless remote control device that is turned on by an output of a built-in battery,
A plurality of switches for dividing the operation section and the display section into a plurality of lighting areas are provided, an output level of the battery is detected, and the plurality of switches are turned on / off according to the output level.
It is characterized by comprising control means for performing off control and changing the lighting number of the lighting area. Further, the invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is characterized in that the control means in the configuration of claim 1 performs control for sequentially reducing the number of lighting of the lighting area in accordance with a decrease in the output level of the battery. .

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a main body case of a wireless remote control device according to the present invention. This wireless remote control device is a television receiver or a video-integrated television receiver (video-integrated T
V), a remote controller of a video-integrated TV will be described in this example. This remote control is provided with a large number of pressing operation units 6 a to 8 c constituting a key operation unit 2 in a main body case 1, a liquid crystal display unit (not shown) for displaying various information, and the like. Switches 6A, 7A, 8A, transmitting unit 9,
An electric circuit including the memory 10, the control unit 11, a battery B, and the like are housed therein.

The main body case 1 has an infrared transmitter on the front side 1a, a battery receiving section formed on the back side of the rear side 1b, and various pressing operation sections 6a to 8 having different shapes on the upper side.
c is provided. A plurality of dry batteries B or rechargeable batteries B are loaded in the battery accommodating section so that a reference voltage of 4.5 V is obtained. The output from the transmission unit 9 shown in FIG. 2 is guided to the infrared transmitter, and when a signal including a key code is transmitted, a radio signal of infrared light is transmitted. When this wireless signal is received by an infrared receiver provided on the panel of the video-integrated TV, a control signal for instructing the operation is transmitted to the microcomputer of the video-integrated TV. The pressing operation units 6a to 8c are of a light-up type for operating a TV and a video, and include a display element such as a light emitting diode, a return spring, a translucent cap, and the like, and are controlled to blink by three switches 6A to 8A. It is configured to be. In the power key and the illuminating key, it is preferable that the caps of the pressing operation portions 4a and 5a are formed of a fluorescent material instead of the light emitting diode.

Each of the pressing operation sections 6a to 8c is a set of a key switch (not shown) connected to the control section 11 and a cap provided vertically movable via a return spring.
When the cap is depressed, the key switch is turned on and an operation signal is output. When the pressing operation unit 5a of the illuminating key is pressed down, the light emitting diode is driven according to the area selection of the control unit 11 and the cap emits light, so that the pressing operation units 6a to 8c are lit up. These pressing operation units 6a to 8c include a menu key 6a, a screen display key 6b, a game key 6c on the front side 1a.
And a cursor key 6d for instructing reproduction, fast-forward, stop, and rewind are defined as a first lighting area 6. A group of twelve channel keys 7a arranged in the center is a second lighting area 7. Further, a channel up / down key 8a, a volume up / down key 8b and an image quality adjustment up / down key 8c on the rear side 1b are provided in the third position.
The lighting area 8 is used. These lighting areas 6
8 includes only basic input key press operation units 6a to 8c for operating a video integrated TV,
A pressing operation section of another input key (not shown) may be inserted into the lighting areas 6 to 8 as necessary. Further, in a remote control provided with a liquid crystal display unit for displaying the operation contents of the input keys and information relating to the remote control of the video-integrated TV, this may also be configured to be lit and displayed in the lit areas 6 to 8. Of course.

FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram of the wireless remote control device. This wireless remote control device includes a key operation unit 2, a transmission unit 9, a memory 10, a control unit 11 and the like included in a general remote controller, and a first to a third for dividing the key operation unit 2 into three lighting areas. Switches 6A to 8A are provided. The key operation unit 2 is provided with any one of the pressing operation units 6a.
When the user presses .about.8c, an operation signal for operating the video integrated TV is supplied to the control unit 11. Further, the transmitting unit 9 generates a signal including a key code in accordance with the control signal output from the control unit 11 based on the operation signal, and causes the infrared transmitter to transmit an infrared light signal. Memory 10
Stores data corresponding to the voltage level of the battery B in order to determine the stage of turning off the lighting areas 6 to 8.

For example, the voltage level at which all the areas 6 to 8 are turned on is set to 2.3 V or more. When the voltage level falls below this voltage level, the first lighting area 6 is turned off, and when the voltage level drops to 2.2 V, the first lighting area 6 is turned off. The second lighting area 7 is also turned off, and when the voltage level drops to 2.0 V, the input operation by the key operation unit 2 is disabled, and only the third lighting area 8 is turned on, so that the battery B It is set to prompt exchange. In the first to third switches 6A to 8A, fixed contacts are connected to the positive electrode side of the battery B, and movable contacts are connected to light emitting diode groups included in each lighting area.
It is turned on / off by a switching signal from the control unit 11. The control unit 11 includes a voltage drop detection unit 11a that detects the output level of the battery B, controls the operation of the entire remote controller, and controls the voltage drop detection unit 11a.
By reading data from the memory 10 in accordance with the detected voltage level a, and turning on and off the plurality of switches 6A to 8A, the number of lights of the lighting areas 6 to 8 is controlled to increase or decrease. Further, when the voltage is recovered by replacing or charging the battery B, control is performed to turn on all areas again.

Next, the operation of the remote controller will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. When the user wants to watch the television at night and the room is dark, when the user presses the pressing operation unit 5a of the illumination key, the control unit 11 receives the operation signal and determines the detection voltage of the voltage drop detection unit 11a,
Even if the voltage is 4.5 V or less, if the voltage is 2.3 V or more, the first to third switches 6A to 8A are turned on. Along with this,
The output voltage of the battery B is supplied to the first to third lighting areas 6 to 8, the light emitting diode groups of the pressing operation parts 6a to 8c are driven, and each cap emits light in the color of the light emitting diode.
As shown in the figure, the operation section of the remote controller upper surface 1c is in the illuminated state. Therefore, the user can easily perform the input operation while viewing the pressing operation units 6a to 8c that shine in the darkness of the room. Thereafter, when the output level of the battery B decreases due to frequent use of the remote controller, the voltage drop detection unit 11a outputs 2.3.
When V is detected, the control unit 11 turns off the first switch 6A based on the data in the memory 10.

As a result, the first lighting area 6 is turned off,
As shown in FIG. 4, the second and third lighting areas 7, 8 remain lit. For this reason, channel keys 7a of 1 to 12
And the up / down keys 8a to 8c can be operated in an easy-to-see state, and it is possible to recognize at a glance that the voltage of the battery B has dropped. When the voltage drop detection unit 11a detects 2.2V, the control unit 11 turns off the second switch 6B based on the data in the memory 10. As a result, the second and third lighting areas 6 and 7 are turned off, and as shown in FIG. 5, only the third lighting area 8 is turned on. Therefore, when the user looks at the illumination of the up / down keys 8a to 8c, it is possible to know that the battery B is about to be replaced.

Further, when the use of the remote controller is continued and the output level of the battery B is further reduced, and the voltage drop detecting section 11a detects 2.0 V, the control section 11 disables the input operation by the full pressing operation section. And For this reason, malfunction can be avoided, and the user can be notified that the input operation cannot be performed unless the battery B is replaced. Thereafter, the user replaces the battery B and the voltage drop detecting unit 11a again outputs 4.5.
When V is detected, the control unit 11 turns on all of the lighting areas 6 to 8 when the illumination key is pressed. As described above, the lighting areas 6 to 6 according to the output level of the battery B
Since the number of lighting of the key 8 is increased or decreased, by sequentially turning off the keys from the key operation sections 6a to 8c of low importance, the output of the battery B is effectively used, and the operation command is performed without any trouble even at a low voltage. In addition to being able to send out signals, it is possible to easily know when the battery B should be replaced, when it should be charged, and the like. In the above embodiment, the video-integrated T
The remote control of V has been described.
It can be widely used for remote controls of various AV devices such as players.

[0015]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the operation part of the input key and the display part of various information are divided into a plurality of lighting areas, and the output level of the internal battery is controlled. Since the number of lights in the lighting area is changed accordingly, all lighting areas are lit to make the operation and display sections easier to see while the battery output level is maintained higher than the reference level, so that the battery output When the level is lowered, the lighting areas of lower importance are sequentially turned off, so that the operation of the input key can be easily performed without error, and the malfunction such as the transmission operation can be avoided. In the invention according to claim 2 of the present invention, the number of lights of the lighting area is sequentially reduced according to the decrease in the output level of the battery.
There are advantages in that the consumption time of the battery can be slowed to keep the usage time long, and that the degree of consumption can be easily known so that early charging and battery replacement can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a main body of a wireless remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an electric block diagram showing the wireless remote control device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which all lighting areas are turned on.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where a part of a lighting area is turned off.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where a part of a lighting area is turned on.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 to 8 lighting area 6A to 8A switch 6a to 8c operation unit 9 transmission means 11 control means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04Q 9/00 371 H04Q 9/00 371B

Claims (2)

[Claims] An operation unit of a plurality of input keys for generating a transmission code by an input operation and transmitting a wireless signal from a transmission unit, and a remote control of an electronic device for receiving an operation content by the input keys and a transmission signal of the transmission unit. A wireless remote control device in which a display unit for displaying information related to control and the like is turned on by an output of a built-in battery; a plurality of switches for dividing the operation unit and the display unit into a plurality of lighting areas; Level, and turns on the switches according to the output level.
A wireless remote control device comprising control means for performing off control and changing a lighting number of the lighting area. 2. The wireless remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the control means performs control to sequentially reduce the number of lighting areas in accordance with a decrease in the output level of the battery.