JPH08163392A - Remote commander - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve the operability by outputting the absolute position coordinates of the operation position of an operation means by the use of an AV apparatus. CONSTITUTION: When a user operates a prescribed position of a pad 14 exposed from a window 13 of the pad 14 by his finger, the electrostatic capacity of a conductive member in the area of the pad touched with his finger is changed, and this change is detected by a detection circuit 16. The detection circuit 16 discriminates whether the user depresses the pad 14 or not. When at least one or tact switches 15A to 15D is turned on, the on-state signal indicating that the tact switch 15 is turned on is generated. Absolute position coordinate data of an operated center point P and the on-state signal are synthesized to generate a transmission signal. This transmission signal is subjected to FM modulation and is outputted to a television receiver through a transmission antenna 23 by radio.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote commander suitable for remote control of a television receiver, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent television receivers and other A
The V equipment is designed to be remotely controlled by a remote commander. Normally, this remote commander is provided with a button switch corresponding to each function of the AV device to be controlled, and when a predetermined button switch is selected from a plurality of button switches, the command corresponding to that function is issued to the remote commander. Is output to the AV device, and the AV device executes the operation corresponding to the command.

However, if the remote commander is provided with the button switches corresponding to the functions as described above, the number of the button switches increases as the number of the functions increases, and it takes time to select a predetermined button switch. Not only that, but the remote commander becomes larger.

Therefore, in recent years, a predetermined function is input by displaying a menu to be selected on the display, operating a remote commander, moving a cursor on the display, and selecting a predetermined icon on the display.
The so-called OSD (On Screen Display)
A remote commander for inputting a command has been proposed in combination with y).

In such a remote commander,
When moving the cursor, the up / down / left / right direction keys are operated, or the ball is rotated in a predetermined direction. Alternatively, it is also proposed that the direction in which the remote commander points is detected optically or by using a gyro installed in the remote commander, and the cursor is moved according to the detection result.

However, in the case of using the direction keys, the movement of the cursor is limited to the up, down, left, and right directions, and in order to move the cursor to a predetermined position, it is necessary to operate the direction keys many times. Has a bad problem.

Further, in a remote commander using a ball, the amount of movement of the cursor is switched only stepwise, and some proficiency is required to move the cursor to a predetermined position.

Further, since the operation of optically detecting the pointing direction of the remote commander largely changes depending on the relative position to the receiving device (remotely operated AV equipment), a little skill is required. Will be needed.

Further, in the remote commander using the gyro, the number of menus that can be set on the display is limited in terms of accuracy.

From the above, the applicant of the present invention has disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application No. 6-98120, that when a pad is operated with a fingertip, the amount of change from the coordinates at the time of the previous sampling is corresponding to the operation. It was previously proposed to output (relative coordinates) to an AV device as a remote control signal. In this case, the AV device moves the cursor corresponding to the input relative coordinates.

[0011]

However, in the previously proposed remote commander, as in the case of the remote commander using the ball described above and the mouse used as the input device of the computer device, the coordinates at the time of sampling are changed. Since the coordinate change (relative coordinate) of is output, there is a problem in that operability is poor because the operation requires some familiarity.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and is to further improve operability. $

The remote commander of the present invention is a display unit for displaying an image (for example, the display unit 3 in FIG. 1).
In a remote commander for remotely controlling an AV device (for example, the television receiver 2 in FIG. 1) having the, an operation unit (for example, the pad 14 in FIG. 2) corresponding to the display unit of the AV device and operated by a finger, Coordinate detection means (for example, the detection circuit 16 in FIG. 5) that detects the absolute position coordinates of the operation position by the operation means, and press detection means (for example, the tact switch 15 in FIG. 5) that detects that the operation means is pressed, Output means for outputting a coordinate signal corresponding to the absolute position coordinate detected by the coordinate detecting means and a push detection signal indicating that the operating means is pushed as a remote control signal of the AV equipment (for example, the transmission module 18 in FIG. 5). ) And are provided.

A mark can be formed at a predetermined position of the operating means so that the operating position can be recognized with a finger.

The mark may be a protrusion (eg protrusion 15 in FIG. 2).

The operating means may have a substantially quadrangular shape corresponding to the display section of the AV equipment.

The pressure detecting means may be switches arranged in the four corners of a quadrangle (for example, tact switches 15A to 15D in FIG. 2).

Inward from the four sides of the quadrangle by a predetermined distance,
There can be provided an effective area in which manipulation is substantially detected.

The effective area can be different depending on whether the right hand is operated or the left hand is operated.

[0019]

In the remote commander having the above structure, the transmission module 18 outputs the absolute position coordinates corresponding to the operation position of the pad 14. Therefore, it is possible to select a predetermined icon displayed on the display unit 3 or move the cursor to an arbitrary position by one operation, and the operability is improved.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a usage state of a remote commander of the present invention. That is, in this embodiment, the remote commander 1 generates radio waves to remotely control the television receiver 2 having the display unit 3.

2 to 4 show a more detailed structure of the remote commander 1. As shown in these figures,
The remote commander 1 is composed of an upper case 11 and a lower case 12 made of plastic or the like on a substantially disk shape, and a window 13 is provided at the center of the upper case 11. A pad 14 made of an insulating material is arranged below the window 13. That is, the pad 14 can be directly touched through the window 13 with a finger.

The pad 14 has a protrusion 15 at its center.
Are formed. This protrusion 15 is provided by the user on the pad 1
When a predetermined position 4 is operated (touched), the operation position can be intuitively grasped (recognized).
The protrusion can be arranged at a predetermined position on the diagonal line of the quadrangle defined by the window 13, for example.

The pad 14 has a rectangular shape slightly larger than the window 13, and tact switches 15A to 15D are arranged at the four corners of the pad 14. When the pad 14 is pressed (when it is pressed in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2 or when it is pressed in the right direction in FIG. 3), the pressing operation is detected by the tact switch 15 (15A to 15D). It is done like this.

In addition, the pad 14 incorporates conductive members (see FIG. 10) arranged at predetermined intervals in the horizontal and vertical directions in FIG. 2, and when the pad 14 is contacted with a conductive member such as a finger. , From the change in its capacitance,
The contact position is detected by the detection circuit 16 arranged on the back surface of the pad 14.

A transmission module 18, a power supply circuit 19, and a battery 20 are arranged on the board 17.

Power switch 21 and L / R switch 22
Are switches that can be operated by the user from the outside. The transmitting antenna 23 is housed in an annular shape along the inner peripheral side wall of the case of the remote commander 1, and outputs the signal from the transmitting module 18 to the television receiver 2 by radio waves.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal electrical configuration of the remote commander 1. The change in the capacitance of the pad 14 is input to the detection circuit 16 and the contact position thereof is detected by the detection circuit 16. The outputs of the L / R switch 22 and the tact switch 15 are also input to the detection circuit 16. Detection circuit 16
Are adapted to generate signals corresponding to these inputs and output them to the transmission module 18. The transmission module 18 FM-modulates the signal from the detection circuit 16 and outputs it to the television receiver 2 via the transmission antenna 23.

When the power switch 21 is turned on, the power supply circuit 19 boosts the voltage of the battery 20 to a predetermined voltage and outputs it to the detection circuit 16 and the transmission module 18.

FIG. 6 shows an electrical connection state of the tact switches 15A to 15D. That is, these tact switches 15A to 15D are connected in parallel, and when any one of them is turned on, the detection signal is output to the detection circuit 16. As a result, even if any position of the pad 14 is pressed, this pressing can be reliably detected.

FIG. 7 shows an example of electrical configuration of the television receiver 2. The tuner 42 demodulates the broadcast radio wave received by the antenna 41, outputs the demodulated signal to the CRT 44 via the drive circuit 43, and causes the CRT 44 to display an image corresponding to the received broadcast radio wave.

The CPU 51 is adapted to execute various processes in accordance with the programs stored in the ROM 52. The RAM 53 appropriately stores data necessary for the CPU 51 to carry out various processes.
When the input unit 54 inputs a predetermined command to the CPU 51,
For example, when a predetermined broadcast channel is selected, it is operated. In addition, the receiving module 56 receives, via the antenna 55, the radio wave output from the remote commander 1 and the demodulated data is input to the CPU 51.

Next, the operation of the remote commander 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S1, it is determined whether the pad 14 has been operated with a finger or the like. When the pad 14 is touched with a finger, the change in the capacitance is input to the detection circuit 16. At this time, the detection circuit 16 releases the standby mode in step S2. That is, the detection circuit 16 controls the transmission module 18 to change to a state in which power is supplied from the power supply circuit 19. As a result, the transmission module 18 becomes operable.

Next, in step S3, a contact area detecting process is executed. Then, in step S4,
A process of calculating the coordinates of the center point P of the detected region is executed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 9, when the user operates (contacts) a predetermined position of the pad 14 exposed from the window 13 with a finger as shown in FIG. 9, as shown in FIG. Conductive member 28 in region R where pad 14 is touched with a finger
The capacitance of a large number (arranged at a sufficiently small pitch interval as compared with the size of the finger) changes, and this changes to the detection circuit 1.
6 is detected. When the region R is thus detected, the detection circuit 16 further calculates the absolute position coordinates of the point P at the center of the region R by calculation.

Next, in step S5, the detection circuit 16
Determines whether the tact switch 15 is on, that is, whether the user has pressed the pad 14. When at least one of the tact switches 15A to 15D is turned on, the process proceeds to step S6, and an on signal indicating that the tact switch 15 is turned on is generated.

Then, the process proceeds to step S7, and step S4
The absolute position coordinate data of the center point P calculated in step S4 and the ON signal generated in step S6 are combined to generate a transmission signal. Then, this transmission signal is FM-modulated, and the transmission antenna 2
The signal is output to the television receiver 2 via 3 via radio waves.

When it is determined in step S5 that the tact switch 15 is off, the process of step S6 is skipped and only the coordinate signal is output.

FIG. 11 shows a format of data transmitted from the detection circuit 16 to the transmission module 18. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, the format is constituted by 5 bytes of data of byte 0 to byte 4. The LR is arranged in the LSB of byte 0. This LR is set to 1 when the L / R switch 22 is switched to the R side, and is set to 0 when it is switched to the L side. The user switches the L / R switch 22 to the R side when operating the remote commander 1 with the right hand, and switches it to the L side when operating the remote commander 1 with the left hand. Corresponding to this switching, 1 or 0 is set in LR.

SW is arranged at the first bit of byte 0. The SW is set to 1 when any of the tact switches 15 is turned on, that is, when the pad 14 is pressed, and is set to 0 when the pad 14 is not pressed.

Byte 1 to Byte 2 X0 to X10
Represents the X coordinate of the operation point P of the pad 14, and Y0 to Y10 of the byte 3 to byte 4 represent the Y coordinate. That is, the coordinates (X, Y) of the point P are 1
It is represented by 1-bit data.

When receiving the remote control signal output from the remote commander 1 via the antenna 55, the receiving module 56 FM demodulates this and outputs the demodulation result to the CPU 51. The CPU 51 uses the signal input from the reception module 56 to determine the operation position of the pad 14 (coordinates of the point P).
Then, it is possible to determine whether the L / R switch 22 is switched to the R side or the L side, and whether the tact switch 15 is turned on.

The coordinate data of the point P is detected as absolute coordinates. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, the position on the pad 14 corresponding to the upper left corner of the window 13 is set to the origin (0, 0), and the axis to the right horizontally from there is set to the X axis, and the vertical bottom. The axis of the direction is the Y axis. The coordinates of the point P are absolute coordinates represented by the XY coordinates.

As shown in FIG. 12, the operation range of the pad 14 defined by the window 13 is formed so as to have a one-to-one correspondence with the display section 3 of the CRT 44. As a result, the regions R _{11 to} R ₃₅ of the pad 14 are the regions r _{11 to} r ₃₅ of the display unit 3.
_It corresponds to ₃₅ respectively.

For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the characters "Channel" are displayed on the display unit 3, and
It is assumed that an up icon U operated when increasing the number representing the channel and a down icon D operated when decreasing the number are displayed in the regions r ₁₃ and r ₂₃ , respectively.

In this state, for example, when the coordinate data included in the region R _{13 of the} pad 14 and the data indicating the turning off of the tact switch 15 are input, the CPU 51 determines that the up icon U is selected, and the icon Highlight U. Then, when the coordinate data of the region R _{13 and} the data indicating that the tact switch 15 is turned on are further input in a state where the icon U is highlighted,
The CPU 51 determines that the icon U is confirmed,
The tuner 42 is controlled to increment the number of the broadcast channel currently being received.

Similarly, when the coordinate data of the region R _{23 and} the data indicating that the tact switch 15 is off are input, the down icon D is displayed in reverse. When the down icon D is highlighted and the coordinate data of the area R _{23 and} the data indicating that the tact switch 15 is turned on are input, the down icon D displayed in the area R ₂₃ is confirmed. The tuner 42 is controlled, and the number of the receiving channel is decremented.

When the other areas of the pad 14 are operated while the display shown in FIG. 13 is being performed, no operation is performed because no icon is displayed in those areas. It is invalidated.

Area of pad 14 (absolute coordinates) and display section 3
The areas (absolute coordinates) correspond to one-to-one. Therefore, the user operates the position on the pad 14 that is considered to correspond to the display position of the display unit 3 to directly select the icon displayed at that position by a single operation, and further It can be confirmed by pressing.

If it is determined in step S1 that the pad 14 is not touched with a finger, the process proceeds to step S8, and it is determined whether a preset time has elapsed since the pad 14 was touched with a finger. Is determined. When the fixed time has not elapsed yet, the process returns to step S1 and it is determined again whether or not the pad 14 is in contact with the finger. If it is determined that they are in contact, the processing from step S4 is executed. If it is determined that they are not touched, the process returns to step S8 again.

As described above, in step S8,
When it is determined that the certain time has elapsed since the pad 14 was once touched with the finger, the process proceeds to step S9 to set the standby mode. That is, at this time, the detection circuit 16 controls the transmission module 18 to change it to a state in which the power supply circuit 19 does not supply the power.
This prevents power from being wastefully supplied to the transmission module 18 even though the remote commander 1 is not in use. This allows the battery 20 to last longer.

Then, in this way, the transmission module 18
Even if it is in the standby state, when the pad 14 is touched with the finger as described above, the standby mode is released in step S2, the power is supplied from the power supply circuit 19 to the transmission module 18, and the transmission module 18 is supplied. Is ready for operation.

As shown in FIG. 9, the remote commander 1 is assumed to be operated by a finger (especially thumb). When trying to operate the vicinity of the window 13 of the pad 14 with a finger (when trying to operate so that the coordinates (X, Y) of the point P become values near the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the window 13),
Since the vicinity of these sides is covered with the upper case 11, it becomes difficult for the coordinates (X, Y) of the point P to be values near the sides of the window 13.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, fixed distances L _L , L _R , L _U , and L _D from the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the window 13, respectively.
It is possible to set the range inside only as the effective area 14A and set the range in which the operation is substantially detected in this range. With this configuration, even when an icon displayed near the upper, lower, left, and right ends of the screen of the display unit 3 is selected, the icon can be surely selected.

Further, with the thumb of the right hand, the remote commander 1
When operating, it becomes more difficult to operate near the left side than when operating near the right side. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 15, the effective area 14A can be arranged at a position in the right direction of the window 13. That is, the distance L _R from the right side of the window 13 to the right side of the effective area 14A can be made smaller than the distance L _L from the left side of the window 13 to the left side of the effective area 14A. This makes it possible to reliably select not only the icon located near the right side but also the icon located near the left side.

Similarly, when operating the remote commander 1 with the left hand, as shown in FIG.
Distance L _L from the left side of the window 13 to the left side of the effective area 14A
Therefore, the effective area 14A can be set such that the distance L _R from the right side of the window 13 to the right side of the effective area 14A is larger. This makes it possible to reliably select not only the icon near the left side of the window 13 but also the icon near the right side with the thumb of the left hand.

The detection circuit 16 switches the effective area 14A to the state shown in FIG. 15 or 16 in response to the switching of the L / R switch 22.

In the above embodiment, the icon displayed in the predetermined area is selected.
It is also possible to move the cursor to the operation position.

As shown in FIG. 10, the operation point P is not selected at the center point of the area fixed in advance, but is selected from the area actually touched. Therefore, the icon or the cursor can be displayed at an arbitrary position instead of the fixed position.

In the above embodiment, the position of the display section 3 corresponding to the coordinates of the operation point is determined and the process corresponding to the position is executed. However, the trajectory of the coordinates is displayed on the television receiver 2. It is possible to store the pattern and recognize the pattern obtained from the locus in the television receiver 2 and execute the command obtained by the recognition.

In this case, the pattern can be recognized on the side of the remote commander 1, but in that case, the remote commander can be used only for the corresponding television receiver, which is not preferable. If recognition is performed on the television receiver (AV device) side, the VCR, CD player, audio tape recorder, etc. can be individually controlled by one remote commander by changing the command pattern between each AV device. It can be controlled remotely.

Further, in the above embodiment, the remote control signal is output from the remote commander 1 by radio waves, but it is also possible to use infrared rays. The AV device that is the target of remote control may be other than the television receiver.

[0062]

As described above, according to the remote commander of the present invention, the absolute position coordinates of the operation position of the operation means are output to the AV equipment, so that a desired function can be selected by one operation, It is possible to move the cursor to any position, which improves operability. Further, since the pressing detection signal of the operating means is output, the remote commander can be simplified, reduced in cost, and downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a usage state of a remote commander of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration of a remote commander 1 shown in FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

5 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration example of a remote commander 1 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a connection state of tact switches 15A to 15D of FIG.

7 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration example of the television receiver 2 of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the remote commander 1 of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state where the remote commander 1 is operated with a finger.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating points detected by the operation of FIG.

11 is a diagram showing a format of a signal supplied from the detection circuit 16 to the transmission module 18 in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a correspondence relationship between a pad 14 and a display unit 3.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a display example of icons.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a relationship between a window 13 and an effective area 14A.

FIG. 15 shows a window 13 and an effective area 14 when operated with the right hand.
It is a figure which shows the relationship of A.

FIG. 16 shows a window 13 and an effective area 14 when operated with the right hand.
It is a figure which shows the relationship of A.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Remote Commander 2 Television Receiver 3 Display 13 Window 14 Pad 15, 15A to 15D Tact Switch 16 Detection Circuit 18 Transmission Module 19 Power Supply Circuit 20 Battery 21 Power Supply Switch 22 L / R Switch 23 Transmission Antenna 41 Antenna 42 Tuner 44 CRT 55 antenna 56 receiving module 51 CPU 52 ROM 53 RAM 54 input section

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A remote commander for remotely controlling an AV device having a display unit for displaying an image, the operating unit corresponding to the display unit of the AV device, operated by a finger, and an operation position by the operating unit. Coordinate detecting means for detecting absolute position coordinates, pressing detecting means for detecting that the operating means is pressed, coordinate signals corresponding to the absolute position coordinates detected by the coordinate detecting means, and the operating means A remote commander, comprising: an output unit that outputs, as a remote control signal for the AV device, a pressure detection signal indicating that the AV device has been pressed. 2. The remote commander according to claim 1, wherein a mark is formed at a predetermined position of the operation means so that the operation position can be recognized with a finger. 3. The remote commander according to claim 2, wherein the mark is a protrusion. 4. The remote commander according to claim 1, wherein the operating means has a substantially quadrangular shape corresponding to the display section of the AV device. 5. The remote commander according to claim 4, wherein the pressing detection means is a switch arranged at each of four corners of the quadrangle. 6. The remote commander according to claim 4, wherein an effective area in which an operation is substantially detected is provided inside a predetermined distance from the four sides of the quadrangle. 7. The remote commander according to claim 6, wherein the effective area is a different area when operated with the right hand and when operated with the left hand.