JPH07135485A - Optical remote control receiver and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form the optical remote control receiver and its control method in which the direction of a device is corrected in the transmission direction simultaneously with remote control to each part of the device. CONSTITUTION:The luminous quantities of optical signals received by plural photodetectors 11-15 arranged nearly at an equal interval are compared by a reception optical signal intensity comparator circuit 16 and a photodetector of the maximum luminous quantity is selected, and each section 2 is controlled remotely by the remote control signal of the optical signal received by a usual remote control signal processing circuit 18. Then the control circuit 17 discriminates the transmission direction of the optical signal by means of the photodetector whose luminous quantity is maximum and sends a direction command signal to direct the device in the transmission direction to a direction control signal output circuit 19, which drives a driver for a motor 1 or the like to correct and revise the direction of the device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical remote control receiver for receiving an optical remote control signal, and in particular, it can perform remote control processing by a device remote-controlled by an optical signal and simultaneously correct the direction of the device. The present invention relates to an optical remote controller receiver and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional direction control method for an optical remote control receiver will be described. If you press and hold the direction change button on the optical remote control transmitter to point the conventional optical remote control receiver in the direction of the optical remote control transmitter, the optical remote control transmitter will continuously send the direction control signal and receive the optical remote control reception. The device continuously receives the direction control signal and changes the direction of the device so that the optical recommon receiver faces the receiving direction. There is a television receiver manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. that employs this method and is widely commercially available.

Another conventional direction control method for an optical remote control receiver will be described. When the optical remote control transmitter transmits the direction control signal to the optical remote control receiver, the optical remote control receiver receives the direction control signal by, for example, a plurality of light receiving elements arranged in the horizontal direction, and among the light receiving elements arranged in a plurality, The direction of the device is changed so that the direction control signal received by the central light receiving element is maximized.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional optical remote control receiver and its control method have a problem that other remote control operations cannot be performed while the direction correction operation of the device is being performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an optical remote control receiver and an optical remote control receiver capable of correcting the direction of a device in the direction in which a remote control signal is transmitted at the same time when a remote control operation is performed on each device part of the device. The purpose is to provide a control method.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems of the conventional example, in an optical remote control receiver, a plurality of light receiving elements for receiving a remote control signal as an optical signal; Comparing the intensity of the optical signal received by the light receiving element with the light amount and selecting the light receiving element with the maximum light amount, and the driving circuit that determines the transmission direction of the optical signal from the selected light receiving element and changes the direction. It is characterized by including a control circuit for outputting a direction control signal for direction control to the device, and a remote control signal processing circuit for outputting a control signal for performing remote control control of each part of the device from the received remote control signal of the optical signal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems of the conventional example, in the control method of the optical remote control receiver according to the first aspect, the comparison circuit compares optical signals received by a plurality of light receiving elements. The light receiving element with the maximum light amount is selected by comparison with the light amount, and the remote control signal processing circuit outputs a control signal for performing remote control control from the remote control signal of the optical signal to perform remote control control of each part of the device, and the control circuit selects the above. The transmitting direction of the optical signal is discriminated from the received light receiving element and a direction control signal is output to the driving device to change the direction.

According to a third aspect of the present invention for solving the problems of the conventional example, in the optical remote control receiver according to the first aspect, the remote control signal processing circuit does not change the direction added to the remote control signal of the optical signal. A circuit that detects a direction change prohibition signal and outputs the direction change prohibition signal to a control circuit, and the control circuit is a circuit that does not output a direction control signal when the direction change prohibition signal is received. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention for solving the problems of the conventional example, in the method for controlling an optical remote control receiver according to the third aspect, a remote control signal processing circuit is added to a remote control signal of an optical signal. When the direction change prohibition signal is detected, the direction change prohibition signal is output to the control circuit, and when the control circuit receives the direction change prohibition signal, the direction control signal is not output.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the remote control signals of the optical signals received by the plurality of light receiving elements are compared by the comparison circuit, and the light receiving element having the maximum light amount is selected, and the selected light receiving element is selected. The control circuit determines the transmission direction of the optical signal and outputs a direction control signal for changing the direction to the drive device,
Since the remote control signal processing circuit is an optical remote control receiver that outputs a control signal for controlling the remote control of each part of the device from the remote control signal of the optical signal, the remote control signal processing circuit performs the remote control control process by the received optical signal and drives the driving device. You can point the device in the direction of the remote control signal,
The operability of the optical remote control receiver can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the optical signals received by the plurality of light receiving elements are compared by the comparison circuit by the light amount, the light receiving element having the maximum light amount is selected, and the remote control signal processing circuit outputs the optical signals. A control signal is output from a remote control signal to control the remote control, and the control circuit determines the direction of transmission of the optical signal from the selected light receiving element and controls the drive device with the direction control signal to change the direction. Since the optical remote controller receiver control method described above is used, the remote controller control process can be performed by the received optical signal, and the driving device can be driven to direct the device in the direction of the remote controller signal transmission. The operability of can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the remote control signal processing circuit detects the direction change prohibition signal added to the remote control signal that does not change the direction of the device, and when the control circuit receives the direction change prohibition signal, the direction control is performed. Since the optical remote control receiver according to claim 1 does not output the signal and does not change the direction, only the remote control operation can be performed without changing the direction of the device, and the operability of the optical remote control receiver is improved. Can be improved.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, when the normal remote control signal processing circuit detects the direction change prohibition signal added to the remote control signal of the optical signal, the normal remote control signal processing circuit outputs the direction change prohibition signal to the control circuit. When the direction change prohibition signal is received, the direction change signal is not output and the direction change is not executed. Therefore, the control method of the optical remote control receiver is described. Therefore, only the remote control operation is performed without changing the direction of the device. It is possible to improve the operability of the optical remote control receiver.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an optical remote control receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the optical remote control receiver of this embodiment has a plurality of light receiving elements 11 to 15 for receiving optical signals.
And a received optical signal intensity comparison circuit 16 for comparing the intensities of the optical signals received by the light receiving elements 11 to 15 and outputting a selection signal for selecting the light receiving element having the maximum intensity, and a transmission direction of the optical signal from the selection signal. And a direction control signal output circuit 19 for outputting a direction control signal for driving a driving device such as the motor 1 based on the direction instruction signal, and a received optical signal. The remote control signal processing circuit 18 includes a normal remote control signal processing circuit 18 which performs a normal remote control signal processing by a remote control signal input through the intensity comparison circuit 16 and outputs a control signal to each unit 2 of the apparatus.

The drive device such as the motor 1 is used for changing the direction of the optical remote control receiver, and the drive device is driven by a specific amount by the direction control signal from the direction control signal output circuit 19 to change the direction. Is to be changed (corrected). Each device unit 2 is a device to be controlled by a remote control signal or the like, and is normally adapted to be controlled by a control signal from the remote control signal processing circuit 18.

Next, the specific configuration of each part in the optical remote control receiver of this embodiment will be described. The received optical signal intensity comparison circuit 16 selects the light receiving element having the maximum light amount among the optical signals received by the light receiving elements 11 to 15, and sends the optical signal to the normal remote control signal processing circuit 18 as a remote control signal. The number of the light receiving element having the maximum light amount is sent to the control circuit 17 as a selection signal.

The control circuit 17 discriminates the direction in which the optical signal is transmitted from the selection signal transmitted from the received optical signal intensity comparison circuit 16, and controls the motor 1 so that the optical remote control receiver faces the optical signal transmitting direction. And outputs a direction instruction signal for instructing to the direction control signal output circuit 19.

Specifically, the control processing in the control circuit 17 will be described with reference to a simple example. The direction indicating signals corresponding to the respective light receiving elements are stored in advance in the form of a command in the form of a table in the storage means such as the RAM to specify the direction. When the light receiving element of No. 1 is selected to have the maximum light amount, the command of the corresponding light receiving element is read from the storage means and sent to the direction control signal output circuit 19 as a direction indicating signal. In other words, a parameter for driving the driving device in which direction is held as a command, and the direction of the device is corrected by this parameter. In the case of the above example, the device cannot be accurately oriented in the optical signal transmitting direction, but the configuration of the control circuit 17 can be relatively simple.

Another possible control process of the control circuit 17 is, for example, in order to accurately orient the device in front of the optical signal transmission direction, first, when the optical signal is first received,
A direction indicating signal that roughly directs the device in the transmitting direction is transmitted, and when receiving the next optical signal, the light amount in the light receiving element 13 located in the center among the arranged light receiving elements is maximized. It is possible to point the device fairly accurately in the optical signal transmission direction by determining whether or not it has become the maximum, and if it is not the maximum, sending a direction instruction signal that drives the driving device more finely and repeating this operation. Is.

Further, when the control circuit 17 receives the direction change prohibition signal normally sent from the remote control signal processing circuit 18, the control circuit 17 controls so as not to send the direction instruction signal to the direction control signal output circuit 19. The direction change prohibition signal is a signal added to the remote control signal of the optical signal transmitted from the optical remote control transmitter when the direction of the device is not changed.

The normal remote control signal processing circuit 18 amplifies the analog remote control signal sent through the received optical signal intensity comparison circuit 16 and converts it into a digital signal, and sends a control signal for controlling the operation of each part 2 of the apparatus. To do. Also,
The direction change prohibition signal added to the remote control signal is detected, and the direction change prohibition signal is sent to the control circuit 17.

The direction control signal output circuit 19 is provided for the motor 1 to correct and change the direction of the equipment according to the direction instruction signal.
Is output to a drive device such as the motor 1 to drive a direction control signal of a specific amount. It is also possible to combine the control circuit 17 and the direction control signal output circuit 19 into one control circuit.

Further, the motor 1 is a drive device for changing the direction of the device in accordance with the direction control signal. For example, if a stepping motor is used for the motor, it is very easy to control the rotation direction, the rotation angle and the like. It can be carried out.

The device parts 2 are the device parts of the equipment controlled by the control signals normally sent from the remote control signal processing circuit 18. For example, each unit 2 of the device indicates a receiving channel or the like of a television receiver, and the channel or the like can be changed by a control signal.

Next, an outline of the operation of the optical remote control receiver of this embodiment will be described. The optical signals transmitted from the optical remote control transmitter and received by the light receiving elements 11 to 15 are compared in the intensity of the light amount of the optical signal by the received optical signal intensity comparison circuit 16, and the optical signal with the maximum light amount is used as the remote control signal in the normal remote control. It is sent to the signal processing circuit 18. In the normal remote control signal processing circuit 18, the remote control signal is amplified and converted into a digital signal, and a control signal is sent to control each part 2 of the device.

Further, the received light signal intensity comparison circuit 16 sends the remote control signal to the normal remote control signal processing circuit 18, and at the same time, the number of the light receiving element having the maximum light quantity compared by the received light signal intensity comparison circuit 16 is used as a selection signal. It is sent to the control circuit 17. The control circuit 17 discriminates the direction in which the optical signal is transmitted based on the selection signal transmitted from the received optical signal intensity comparison circuit 16, and outputs the direction control signal output circuit which outputs the direction control signal for instructing to change the direction of the device. Output to 19. The direction control signal output circuit 19 outputs a direction control signal suitable for correcting the direction of the device according to the direction instruction signal, and drives the motor 1 to correct the direction of the device.

Next, the direction change prohibition signal will be described. In some cases, it is desired to control only by remote control signals without changing the direction of the device. For example, there is a case where it is desired to change only the receiving channel without changing the direction of the television receiver. In such a case, the optical remote control transmitter adds a direction change prohibition signal to the remote control signal and transmits the optical signal. Then, in the optical remote control receiver, the normal remote control signal processing circuit 18 detects the direction change prohibition signal added to the remote control signal, and outputs the direction change prohibition signal to the control circuit 17. The control circuit 17 operates so as not to output the direction instruction signal to the direction control signal output circuit 19 when the direction change prohibition signal is input.

Next, a case where the optical remote control receiver of this embodiment is applied to a television receiver will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the television receiver of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the television receiver according to the present embodiment has a television receiver cabinet 26 having a cathode ray tube 5 above the cathode ray tube 28.
The light receiving elements 21 to 25 are arranged in a straight line in the horizontal direction at substantially equal intervals.
It is placed on top of 7. The turntable 27 is rotated left and right by a driving device such as a motor as shown by an arrow.

Next, an outline of the operation of the television receiver shown in FIG. 2 will be described. An optical signal is received by the light receiving elements 21 to 25, and the received optical signal intensity comparison circuit 1 of FIG.
6, the optical signals are compared, and the normal remote control signal processing circuit 1
At the same time, remote control operation such as changing the channel is performed based on the remote control signal at 8, and at the same time, the motor 1 is driven by the control circuit 17 and the direction control signal output circuit 19 to control the rotation direction and the rotation angle and rotate the turntable 27. Then, the direction of the television receiver cabinet 26 is corrected.

A case where the optical remote control receiver of this embodiment is applied to another television receiver will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a television receiver of another embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the section taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 3 as seen from above. Another example of a television receiver is
As shown in FIG. 3, 5 is placed inside the hemispherical optical remote controller light receiving portion 36 placed on the upper surface of the television receiver cabinet 37.
The light receiving elements 31 to 35 are arranged.
Specifically, of the five light receiving elements 31 to 35, the central light receiving element 33 is arranged so as to face the front of the television receiver cabinet 37, and the other light receiving elements 31, 32, 3
Reference numerals 4 and 35 are arranged on the circumference including the light receiving element 33. The operation of the television receiver shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is the same as the operation of the television receiver of FIG.

According to the television receiver of another embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the central light receiving element 33 is arranged so as to face the front of the television receiver cabinet 37, and the other light receiving elements 31, 32, 34 ,. Since 35 is arranged on the circumference including the light receiving element 33, it can also cope with an optical remote control signal from the side of the television receiver.

Although the rotation of the television receiver of FIGS. 2 and 3 is uniaxial, the television receiver of FIG. 2 has two-dimensionally arranged light receiving elements, so that the television receiver of FIG. 3 receives light. By arranging the elements three-dimensionally, the rotation of the TV receiver can be reduced by 2
It can be more than an axis.

The optical remote control receiver of this embodiment is not limited to the application to a television receiver, but can be widely applied to a device for visually displaying some information, and
It can also be applied to direction control of information transmission equipment by a light beam propagating in space.

According to the optical remote controller receiver and its control method of the present embodiment, the optical signals received by the light receiving elements 11 to 15 are compared by the received optical signal intensity comparison circuit 16, and the normal remote controller uses the optical signal with the maximum light amount. The signal processing circuit 18 controls the operation by the remote controller, and at the same time, the control circuit 17 outputs a direction instruction signal for correcting the direction of the device by the selection signal from the received light signal intensity comparison circuit 16
9 and the direction control signal from the direction control signal output circuit 19 drives the drive device such as the motor 1 to correct the device direction. The direction can be modified,
There is an effect that the operability of the optical remote control receiver can be improved.

Further, in the normal remote control signal processing circuit 18,
Detects the direction change prohibition signal added to the remote control signal,
The direction change prohibition signal is output to the control circuit 17, and the control circuit 1
In No. 7, when the direction change prohibition signal is input, the direction control signal output circuit 19 is controlled so as not to send the direction instruction signal. Therefore, when it is not necessary to correct the direction of the device, only the remote control operation is performed. Therefore, there is an effect that the operability of the optical remote control receiver can be improved.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the remote control signals of the optical signals received by the plurality of light receiving elements are compared in light amount by the comparison circuit, the light receiving element having the maximum light amount is selected, and the selected light receiving element is selected. The control circuit determines the optical signal transmission direction by the element and outputs a direction control signal for changing the direction to the driving device, and the remote control signal processing circuit outputs a control signal for performing remote control control of each part of the device from the remote control signal of the optical signal. Since it is an optical remote control receiver, it can perform remote control control processing by the received optical signal and drive the drive device to direct the device in the direction of the remote control signal transmission, improving the operability of the optical remote control receiver. There is an effect that can be made.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the optical signals received by the plurality of light receiving elements are compared by the comparing circuit in terms of light amount, the light receiving element having the maximum light amount is selected, and the remote control signal processing circuit outputs the optical signals. A control signal is output from a remote control signal to control the remote control, and the control circuit determines the direction of transmission of the optical signal from the selected light receiving element and controls the drive device with the direction control signal to change the direction. Since the optical remote controller receiver control method described above is used, the remote controller control process can be performed by the received optical signal, and the driving device can be driven to direct the device in the direction of the remote controller signal transmission. There is an effect that the operability of can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the remote control signal processing circuit detects the direction change prohibition signal which does not change the direction of the device added to the remote control signal, and when the control circuit receives the direction change prohibition signal, the direction control is performed. Since the optical remote control receiver according to claim 1 does not output the signal and does not change the direction, only the remote control operation can be performed without changing the direction of the device, and the operability of the optical remote control receiver is improved. There is an effect that can improve.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, when the normal remote control signal processing circuit detects the direction change prohibition signal added to the remote control signal of the optical signal, it outputs the direction change prohibition signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit When the direction change prohibition signal is received, the direction change signal is not output and the direction change is not executed. Therefore, the control method of the optical remote control receiver is described. Therefore, only the remote control operation is performed without changing the direction of the device. Therefore, there is an effect that the operability of the optical remote control receiver can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an optical remote control receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a television receiver of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a television receiver of another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a cross section taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 3 viewed from above.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Motor, 2 ... Device parts, 11, 12, 13, 1
4, 15 ... Light receiving element, 16 ... Received optical signal intensity comparison circuit,
17 ... Control circuit, 18 ... Normal remote control signal processing circuit, 19 ... Direction control signal output circuit, 21, 22, 2
3, 24, 25 ... Light receiving element, 26 ... Television receiver cabinet, 27 ... Rotating table, 28 ... CRT, 3
1, 32, 33, 34, 35 ... Light receiving element, 36 ... Optical remote control light receiving section, 37 ... Television receiver cabinet

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of light receiving elements for receiving a remote control signal as an optical signal, and a comparison circuit for comparing the intensities of the optical signals received by the plurality of light receiving elements by the light amount and selecting the light receiving element having the maximum light amount. A control circuit that determines the direction of transmission of the optical signal from the selected light receiving element and outputs a direction control signal for direction control to a drive device that changes the direction, and remote control of each part of the device from the remote control signal of the received optical signal. And a remote control signal processing circuit that outputs a control signal for performing the optical remote control signal. 2. A comparison circuit compares optical signals received by a plurality of light receiving elements by light amount and selects a light receiving element having the maximum light amount,
The remote control signal processing circuit outputs a control signal for performing remote control control from the remote control signal of the optical signal to control the remote control of each part of the device, and the control circuit determines the transmission direction of the optical signal from the selected light receiving element. 2. The method of controlling an optical remote control receiver according to claim 1, wherein a direction control signal is output to the driving device to change the direction. 3. The remote control signal processing circuit is a circuit for detecting a direction change prohibition signal added to the remote control signal of the optical signal for preventing the direction change, and outputting the direction change prohibition signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit is for the direction change. 2. The optical remote control receiver according to claim 1, wherein the optical remote control receiver is a circuit that does not output the direction control signal when receiving the change prohibition signal. 4. The remote control signal processing circuit outputs the direction change prohibition signal to the control circuit when the direction change prohibition signal added to the remote control signal of the optical signal is detected, and the control circuit receives the direction change prohibition signal. 4. The method for controlling an optical remote control receiver according to claim 3, wherein the direction control signal is not output.