JPS5915985A - Operation mode indication method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of displaying an operation mode in devices such as a computer.

As a method of displaying the operating mode of a video tape recorder, etc., the operation buttons on the panel surface are made of a translucent material, and an LED (light emitting diode) or lamp is provided inside each operation button, and when the operation button is pressed, A method has been used in which an LED or lamp inside the operation button lights up to indicate that the operation mode is in operation.However, this method does not work well when the light emitted from the LED etc. is low, so In addition to the problem that it is difficult to distinguish which operation buttons are lit in bright places, many LEDs, etc. are required and the installation part for LEDs, etc. becomes complicated, which causes high cost. There are also problems such as large size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of these problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an operation mode display method that allows easy identification of the operating mode in operation, does not increase cost, and consumes less power.

Instead of providing a light emitting means such as an LED in each operation button (instead of providing a light emitting means such as an LED in each operation button), the present invention provides an LCD (liquid crystal element) divided into a plurality of element patterns at an appropriate location of the device, preferably on the front surface where it can be easily seen. The above object is achieved by configuring the device so that when an operation button is pressed, one of the element patterns of the LCD, or one of the patterns formed by combining the element patterns, is displayed in response to the operation button. That is.

An embodiment of the present invention will be explained below.

FIG. 1 shows a front panel of a video tape recorder in an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the video tape recorder. 1
8 are operation buttons for ejecting the cassette, rewinding, playing, and other operations, and 9 is an LCD. The LCD 9 is divided into triangular and rhombic element patterns, and these element patterns are combined to form a pattern corresponding to each of the operation buttons 1-8.

Further, each of the operation buttons 1 to 8 has a term representing the respective operation mode and the same pattern as the pattern formed on the LCDg corresponding to each operation mode.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit that controls the display on the LCDg by operating the operation buttons 1-8. 10 is a control circuit including a logic circuit;
When operation buttons 1 to 8 are pressed, signals are sent to drive the motor, head, and other drive units (collectively represented by symbol 11 in the figure) according to the operation mode, and the display is driven. A signal is sent to circuit 12 representing the selected mode of operation. The display drive circuit 12 has a number of output terminals equal to the number of element patterns of the LCD 9 (14 in this case), and these output terminals are connected to each element pattern of the LCD 9, respectively. When the display drive circuit 12 receives a signal from the control circuit 10, it sends out a signal from a predetermined output terminal to turn on a predetermined element pattern of the LCDg.

Now, it is assumed that the output terminals of the display drive circuit 12 that are turned on via the control circuit 10 when the operation buttons 1 to 8 are turned on are set as shown in the table below.

For example, when the playback operation button 3 is pressed, the output terminals 1, 2.4 of the display drive circuit 12 are turned on by a signal from the control circuit 10, and the pattern shown in FIG. 3 fbl is displayed. . For example, if the fast-forward operation button 4 is pressed, the output terminal 1 of the display drive circuit 12 is pressed in the same way.
．． 2.4, 8, and 9.11 are turned on, and the pattern shown in FIG. 3 fc) is displayed. In this way, operation button 1
Examples of patterns displayed on the LCDg by one of the works of 8 to 8 are shown in FIGS. 3(b) to 3(k). fa) in the same figure is LCDg
, the cue may be either fgl or (i), and the review may be fh) or (j).

The pattern of this embodiment is a simple pattern, and since the same pattern as that displayed on the LCDg is attached to the operation buttons 1 to 8, it is easy for the user to memorize the pattern of each operation mode. It is.

As described above, the present invention is configured to display the operating mode in operation in a pattern on the LCD, so that the operating mode display is concentrated on the LCD and can be quickly determined. Since it does not have a display means, it has a simple mechanism and low cost, and because it has an LCD display, it can be clearly distinguished even in bright places such as outdoors.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the panel surface of a video cheap player according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram for display control in the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an operation It is a figure which shows an example of the display pattern corresponding to a mode. 1 to 8;・Operation buttons, 9...LCD (liquid crystal element),
10... Control circuit, 12... Display drive circuit. Patent applicant Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Devices are provided with liquid crystal elements that are divided into elemental patterns, and the element patterns or patterns obtained by combining the element patterns are displayed in association with each operation mode of the device. An operation mode display method characterized by: