KR20010102273A - Television receiver remote control system with television audio - Google Patents

Abstract

A television receiver remote control system includes a receiver for receiving an audio signal portion of a signal carrying a television channel, an audio transmitter for transmitting an audio signal portion of a selected channel among the channels received by the receiver, and A remote controller for remote operation of the TV and a remote operation of the receiver for selecting the audio signal portion of the desired channel for transmission. The remote controller includes an audio receiver for wireless reception of the audio signal portion of the selected channel transmitted by the transmitter, and an audio speaker for converting the received audio signal portion into sound. The system makes it possible to listen to the audio signal portion of any selected channel by the remote controller via the speaker without changing the selected channel on that TV.

Description

Television receiver remote control system with television audio {TELEVISION RECEIVER REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM WITH TELEVISION AUDIO}

In the past, TVs were able to watch only one television channel at a time. Today, however, many TVs are equipped with a picture in picture (PIP) system that allows two or more television channels to be viewed simultaneously.

Most of these PIP-equipped TV designs are capable of listening to audio of only one television channel at a time. Some TV designs are equipped with a PIP that allows audio from two or more television channels to be heard simultaneously through the TV speakers. Unfortunately, different audio programs originating from the same TV's speakers at the same time interfere with each other and make listening very difficult.

Therefore, there is a need for a system capable of listening to audio of a second channel without disturbing the audio and video of the first channel turned on in that TV.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hand-held television receiver (TV) remote controller and, in particular, does not disturb the functionality of conventional TV and video recording devices and the audio and video of the first channel on the TV. A TV remote control system with TV audio comprising a hand held audio receiver and a speaker controller having an audio receiver for listening to an audio signal portion of a second channel without the use of the same.

It is to be understood that the drawings are intended to illustrate the concept of the invention and are not drawn to scale.

1 is a schematic diagram of a TV remote control system with TV audio according to one embodiment of the invention.

2 is a schematic plan view of a remote controller used in the hand of the system of the present invention.

3A is a schematic front view of a TV audio receiver / transmitter base unit of the system of the present invention.

3B is a schematic rear view of a TV audio receiver / transmitter base unit of the system of the present invention.

4A is a schematic diagram of a TV remote control system with TV audio according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

4B is a schematic block diagram illustrating details of a modification to the VCR used in the second embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a schematic diagram of a TV remote control system with TV audio according to a third embodiment of the invention.

6 is a schematic diagram of a TV remote control system with TV audio according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

A television receiver remote control system includes a receiver for receiving an audio signal portion of a signal carrying a television channel, an audio transmitter for transmitting an audio signal portion of a selected channel among the channels received by the receiver, and A remote controller for remote operation of the TV and a remote operation of the receiver for selecting the audio signal portion of the desired channel for transmission. The remote controller includes an audio receiver for wireless reception of the audio signal portion of the selected channel transmitted by the transmitter, and an audio speaker or a headset connection for converting the received audio signal portion into sound. The system may enable listening to the audio signal portion of any selected channel by the remote controller through the speaker without changing the selected channel on that TV.

Advantages, features and various additional features of the present invention will be apparent from a more complete examination of the exemplary embodiments to be described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings below.

1 shows a TV remote control system 10 with TV audio according to a first embodiment of the invention. The system 10 includes a handheld remote controller 12 and a TV audio receiver / transmitter base unit 14.

As shown in Fig. 2, the remote controller 12, which is used in a hand, is conventionally used with a keypad 16, an infrared transmitter 18, and the remote controller 12 as a standard TV. And electrical circuits 20 and other related components that make it possible to operate a universal television remote controller having a VCR function. According to the present invention, the remote controller 12 includes an antenna 22 and an audio receiving circuit 24 for wireless reception of an audio signal transmitted by the TV audio receiver / transmitter base unit 14 (see FIG. 1), It further comprises an audio speaker 26 and an associated signal amplification circuit 24 for converting the audio signal into sound. The configuration and operation of the audio receiving and signal amplifying circuit 24 used in the remote controller 12 are known. The remote controller 12 is also equipped with an audio function keypad 28 and corresponding electrical circuit 30 for operating the TV audio receiver / transmitter via the infrared transmitter 18. Audio keypad 28 is typically a volume control function 32 for audio generated by remote controller 12, and a three-way switch for selecting among television, video cassette recorder (VCR), and remote control audio. (3-way switch) 34, and power button 36 for the three functions (TV, VCR, and audio). The remote controller 12 may further be provided with an earphone jack 38 and a rechargeable battery pack (not shown) for using the standard headset 39.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the TV audio receiver / transmitter base unit 14 receives wireless and cable television signals carrying UHF and VHF channels, and adjusts and selects certain channels of these channels via a remote controller. Known components and circuitry 40 for transmitting the audio signal portion of the selected channel to the remote controller. An antenna 42 is provided for receiving a wireless television signal and for transmitting the audio signal portion of the selected channel to the remote controller 12. Coaxial cable connection 44 is also provided for connecting base unit 14 to a coaxial cable (not shown) that carries a television signal.

The TV audio receiver / transmitter base unit 14 has an AC power cord connection 46 for electrically connecting the base unit to a standard electrical outlet, enabling channel selection and turning on / off the power of the base unit 14. It further includes an infrared remote sensor 48 for receiving an infrared control signal from the remote controller 12 for turning off. The base unit 14 incorporates a charging station 50 (see FIG. 1) for holding the remote controller 12 stationary when not in use and for recharging the battery pack. The charging unit 50 includes an AC-DC conversion power supply 52 and a known battery charging control circuit 54. Channel display 56 may also be provided for displaying the channel selected by the remote controller.

The TV remote control system of the present invention advantageously uses the remote controller 12 that the user holds in hand to use the audio of a television channel selected from any position within the transmission range of the TV audio receiver / transmitter base unit 14. Makes it possible to listen to The system 10 also allows the user to access the audio (channel and channel) of the second television channel through the remote controller 12 and the base unit 14 without disturbing the audio and video of the selected first channel on that TV. Audio channels between channels). Thus, the use of the present system 10 equipped with a television receiver including a PIP system (not shown) gives audio to the second image.

4A shows a TV remote control system 60 with TV audio according to a second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment of the present system 60 combines the remote controller 12 of the first embodiment with a video recording apparatus such as a conventional VCR 62, and the audio signal portion of the selected channel on the VCR 62 is selected. It is modified by the prior art audio transmitter unit 64 which transmits to the audio receiver 24 (refer FIG. 2) of the remote controller 12. FIG. An independent free standing charging station 66 may be provided to hold the remote controller 12 stationary when not in use and to recharge its rechargeable battery pack. The charging section typically includes a cradle 68 for holding the remote controller 12, an AC-DC conversion power supply 70, and a known battery charging control circuit (not shown). A digital channel display 78 may be provided on the front portion of the VCR 62 to display the selected audio channel. The modified VCR 62 may be used alone as a tuner to allow audio of any selected television channel to be heard through the remote controller 12. However, more generally the modified VCR 62 can be connected to a TV (not shown), allowing the user to connect the remote controller 12 without disturbing the audio or video of the selected television channel being shown on the TV. It allows to listen to the audio of any selected television channel.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the audio transmitter 64 is connected to an audio preamplification circuitry 72 of the VCR 62. The audio transmitter 64 includes an antenna 74 for receiving wireless TV signals. The control circuitry 76 of the VCR is adapted to enable or disable the audio transmitter 64.

5 shows a TV remote control system 80 with TV audio according to a third embodiment of the invention. This embodiment of the system 80 is substantially the same as the system 60 of the second embodiment except that the audio transmitter is an external unit 82 that is directly attached to the audio terminal 84 on the back of the VCR 86. same. The external audio transmitter 82 may be provided with a manual on / off switch 83 to be operable. In addition, an infrared sensor 85 for remote operation may be provided to the external audio transmitter 82 through the infrared transmitter 18 of the remote controller 12.

6, the remote controller 12 of the first embodiment and the charging section 66 of the second and third embodiments are coupled to a TV 91 equipped with a PIP having two tuners 92, 93. A TV remote control system 90 with TV audio according to a fourth embodiment of the invention is shown.

In such a system 90, one of the two tuners 92, 93 of the TV 91 provides the same reception function as the TV audio receiver / transmitter unit of the first embodiment, i.e., delivers UHF and VHF channels. Receives wireless and cable television signals and can be tuned to specific channels via remote controller 12. An audio transmission function is provided by transforming the TV 91 into an audio transmitter 94 and an antenna 96 that transmits the audio portion of the selected television channel to the remote controller 12. The TV 91 may be modified by the audio transmitter 94 in substantially the same way as the VCR in the second or third embodiment of the present invention.

Thus, the system 90 of the fourth embodiment does not allow a user to disturb the audio and video of the first channel selected on the TV 91 by the other one of the two tuners 92, 93. It is possible to listen to the audio of the second television channel (or the audio surf between the channel) via the tuner and remote controller 12 of one of the two tuners 92, 93 of 91.

It should be noted that the various receiver and transmitter components and electrical circuits used in the TV remote control system of the present invention may be suitably adapted to the sound reproduction component of monaural, high definition stereo, or any other audio signal. do. In addition, various such receiver and transmitter components and electrical circuits are well known in the art and commercially available. Thus, detailed descriptions of such components and electrical circuits are unnecessary and are not provided herein. In addition, a receiver for receiving an audio signal portion of a signal carrying a television channel may be implemented with any conventional video recording and / or playback device such as, for example, a digital video disk (DVD), wherein the DVD may be a television channel. It can be modified or adapted to selectively transmit the audio signal portion of the signal to be transmitted to the remote controller.

Although the foregoing detailed description has been described with reference to the above embodiments, various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, all such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of the appended claims.

As described above, the present invention provides a hand-held television receiver (TV) remote controller, in particular the functionality of a conventional TV and video recording device, and audio and video of the first channel on that TV. The present invention can be used in a TV remote control system equipped with a TV audio including a remote controller used in hand with an audio receiver and a speaker device capable of listening to the audio signal portion of the second channel without disturbing.

Claims (14)

Receivers 40, 62, 86, 92 for receiving an audio signal portion of a signal carrying a television channel; An audio transmitter (40, 64, 82, 94) for transmitting the audio signal portion of the selected one of the channels received by the receiver; A remote controller 12 for remote operation of the receiver and a remote operation of the TV for selecting the desired audio signal portion of the television channel to be transmitted by the transmitter, the audio signal portion of the selected channel being transmitted by the transmitter A remote controller 12 comprising an audio receiver 24 for receiving and transmitting said audio signal portion to an audio speaker 26 for converting said received audio signal portion into sound; A television receiver remote control system 10, 60, 80, 90 that includes The audio signal portion of any selected channel is audible by the remote controller through the speaker. The television receiver remote control system of claim 1, wherein the remote controller (12) comprises the audio speaker (26). 3. The television receiver remote control system (10, 60, 80) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the remote controller (12) further comprises an external connection (38) for a headset. 90). The television receiver remote control system of claim 1, wherein the audio signal portion of the selected channel is audible without changing the selected channel on the TV. The television receiver remote control system (10) of claim 1, wherein the receiver and the audio transmitter (40) are components of independent upright base units (14). The charging station 50 of claim 5, wherein the base unit 14 holds the remote controller 12 when not in use and recharges a battery pack included in the remote controller 12. And a television receiver remote control system (10). The television receiver remote control system (90) of claim 1, wherein the receiver (92) and the audio transmitter (94) are components of a two-tuner TV (91) with two tuners. The television receiver remote control system (60) of claim 1, wherein the receiver (62) and the audio transmitter (64) are components of a video recording device. The television receiver remote control system (90) of claim 1, wherein the audio transmitter is an external unit (94) connectable to at least one output of a television (91) or a recording device. The television receiver remote control system of claim 1, wherein the remote controller 12 further comprises a keypad 28 that provides an audio function associated with the audio receiver 24 and the speaker 26. 10, 60, 80, 90). A television receiver remote controller 12 having television audio for remotely controlling a receiver receiving an audio signal portion of a signal carrying a television channel and for operating the TV remotely, The remote controller 12 is configured for reception of an audio signal portion of a selected channel transmitted by an audio transmitter associated with the receiver and for transmission of the audio signal portion to an audio speaker 26 for converting the audio signal into sound. An audio receiver 24, Wherein the audio signal portion of any selected channel is audible by the remote controller (12) via the speaker (26). 12. The television receiver remote controller of claim 11, wherein the remote controller (12) comprises the audio speaker (26). 12. The television receiver remote controller (12) of claim 11, wherein the remote controller (12) further comprises an external connection (38) for a headset. 12. The television receiver remote controller (12) of claim 11, further comprising a keypad (28) for providing audio functionality associated with said audio receiver (24) and said speaker (26).