JPH01272014A - Foot switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To aim at ensuring good operability, prevention of missed operation and reliable operation by checking the operation of a foot switch that is brought into action with voice, prior to its output. CONSTITUTION:A foot switch 1 is composed of a pedal 4 operated with a foot, a push-switch 5 that is turned on by being pressed when the pedal 4 is depressed, a voice synthesizer 6 that comes into action through an output signal from a switch 5, a timer 7 capable of being triggered repeatedly that is brought into action through the output signal from the push-switch 5, and an AND-gate 10 of an open collector output (OC) that derives a logical product from the outputs of the timer 7 and push-switch 5. The data in the PROM 11 are so prepared that activating the foot switch 1 to output a voice 'Open', the timer 7 is so delayed in operation for a certain time after the switch 5 is turned on, that is a time required for allowing repetition of the voice more than once, and then the output of the timer is switched over to 'high'. With this procedure, it is possible to judge by the voice which switch is operated, thereby enabling to prevent, by withdrawing pedal operation based on the judgement, the output from being turned on by mistake.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a foot switch, and more particularly to a foot switch having a function of confirming the switching operation of the switch.

[Prior Art] Various types of software switches are widely used for starting and stopping machine tools, medical equipment, and the like.

For safety reasons, these foot switches are equipped with covers to prevent malfunctions caused by falling objects, and
Some are equipped with an interface/link mechanism that can only be operated while operating other switches.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, as the number of foot switches to be operated increases, there has been a problem that these foot switches may be operated by mistake. For example, when operating a surgical laser scalpel, the surgeon needs both hands to operate the scalpel and must be very careful.
Switching between "mixing" and the like must be done using a foot switch. Moreover, since the operator is staring at the affected area, the operator cannot visually confirm the foot switch. In such cases, the operator has to use his or her intuition to decide which foot switch to press, and there is always the possibility of making mistakes. These problems can be solved equally by using protective covers and interlock mechanisms.
Can not do it.

It is an object of the present invention to solve this problem and to prevent errors in the output of the foot switch.

The structure of the present invention that achieves the above object will be described below.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The foot switch of the present invention includes a switch that is switched by operating a pedal, and a sound generating means that generates a confirmation sound in synchronization with the switching of the switch. and a delay output means for outputting the state of the switch to the outside after a predetermined period of time has elapsed due to the generation of the sound.

Here, the foot switch may be of normal momentary operation or may be of toggle operation. Furthermore, a device that operates in two stages or three stages may be used.

Further, the switch, the sound generating means, and the delay output means may be housed in the same housing, or may be constructed separately as long as they are compatible with a conventional foot switch from the viewpoint of the control device.

[Function] When the switch of the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration is switched, when the switch is switched by operating the pedal, the sound generating means generates a confirmation sound accompanying the switching of the switch, and the user is given an audio confirmation. prompt. Furthermore, the state of the switch after a predetermined time has elapsed due to the generation of the sound is outputted to the outside by the delay output means. Therefore, the foot switch of the present invention waits for the user to confirm the switch to be operated by voice before outputting the switch to the outside.

[Embodiments] In order to further clarify the structure and operation of the present invention described above, preferred embodiments of the foot switch of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a foot switch 1 as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of this foot switch 1 and two other foot switches 2 and 3. . )・Int switch 1. 2.
3 is used for operating a laser scalpel, and has the same configuration except for voice data in a voice synthesizer, which will be described later. Therefore, the configuration of the foot switch 1 will be described below.

As shown in the figure, this foot switch 1 includes a pedal 4 that is operated by a user's foot, a button switch 5 that is pressed and turned on when the pedal 4 is pressed down, and an output signal of this switch 5. a retriggerable timer 7 that starts operation according to the output signal of the bush switch 5, and an oven collector output (OC) that takes the logical product of the output of the timer 7 and the output of the bush switch 5. and an AND gate 10. The speech synthesizer 6 is a well-known ADCPM system, and outputs prepared speech to the speaker 12 by sequentially reading data written in the built-in PROMI 1. The foot switches 1, 2, and 3 are used to operate the laser scalpel, and in this embodiment, FROM II data is prepared for the foot switch 1 so that it outputs the sound "incision." Note that the foot switch 2 is provided with audio data for "coagulation," and the foot switch 3 is provided with audio data for "mixing." Note that these audio data may be configured so that they can be recorded.

The timer 7 delays the output of the bushing switch 5 from off to on for a certain period of time, in this case the time required for the sound "incision" to be repeated at least once, and then sets the output to a high level. invert it. This situation is shown in Figure 3 (A).

This is shown in the timing chart in (B).

The user of the laser scalpel depresses the pedal 4 of the foot switch 1 to 3, listens to the sound emitted during the delay time of the timer 7 ("incision", "coagulation" or "mixing"), and selects the desired sound. If it is a foot switch, continue operating it (keep pressing the pedal). In this case,
When the delay time of the timer 7 has elapsed, the output of the footswitch 1 is turned on, as shown in FIG. 3(A).

On the other hand, if it is determined by the voice that the wrong foot switch has been operated, the foot switch that was being stepped on is immediately stopped. As a result, the output of the AND gate 10, which performs logical product with the output of the timer 7, remains in the off state as shown in FIG. 3(B).

As explained above, according to the foot switch of this embodiment, the user can determine by voice which foot switch was operated by the pedal, and can stop pedal operation accordingly. Otherwise, the outputs from foot switches 1 to 3 will not be turned on. Therefore, even when the user must concentrate on the affected area and cannot visually check the foot switch, such as when operating a laser scalpel, the user can operate the laser scalpel without any difficulty. As a result,
It is possible to achieve both good operability using a foot switch and high reliability that prevents erroneous operation.

Next, a foot switch as a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the configuration of this foot switch. The footswitch Sochi of this embodiment is composed of switch sections 20, 30, and 40 and a logic control section 50. The switch units 20, 30, and 40 each include a momentary type switch, and output the output thereof to the logic control unit 50. This output is input to input terminals A, B, and C of the decoder 52 of the logic control section 50, respectively, and is also input to the speech synthesizer 60 and the OR gate 65. The output of the OR gate 65 is manually input to the trigger terminal of the timer 67 as in the first embodiment, and when any of the switch sections 20, 30, and 40 is turned on,
Timer 67 is activated and inverts its output to the on state after a predetermined delay time.

The output of the timer 67 is connected to the enable terminal E of the decoder 52.
It is man-powered by n. Therefore, the switch portions 20.30.
After a predetermined delay time has elapsed since any of the outputs of switch units 20 . One of the outputs DO to D7 determined by the output state of 30°40 becomes high level.

The speech synthesis device 60 in this embodiment also includes a dedicated controller 71. RAM backed up by battery 73? 5. Manual port door that manually generates a 4° level signal. It consists of an output door that drives the speaker 77. This dedicated controller 71 is
It is equipped with a terminal to which a microphone 80 can be directly connected, and can store up to eight voices for a total of 30 seconds in the RAM 74 as digital data, and can select and read out the data as appropriate. In the example, four types of sounds are memorized: ``Incision'', ``Coagulation'', ``Mixing'', and ``The switch is not pressed correctly''. Further, a recording switch 82 is connected to the manual port door 5 along with output signals from the switch sections 20, 30, and 40.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a voice control routine executed by the dedicated controller 71 of the voice synthesizer 60. As shown in the figure, the dedicated controller 71 first reads the state of the recording switch 82 via the human power port, and
It is determined whether the recording switch 82 is on or off (step 100).

When this switch is on, the audio is recorded manually via the microphone 80 (
Step 110).

Human-generated audio data is stored in the backed-up RAM74
is stored in a predetermined area A (step 120). Here, A indicates the first address of the address where data is stored, and is updated to a larger value by a predetermined address a each time one piece of data is stored (step 130). The sounds that can be memorized are
In this embodiment, since there are only four types, it is determined whether or not the upper limit LA has been exceeded (step 140). If it has exceeded the upper limit LA, the area A is set to the initial value INTA (step 15).
0). After that, or if the number of stored audio data is four or less, the process directly exits to "rNEXT" and ends this control routine once.

On the other hand, when the recording switch 82 is off, the switch section 20. 30. 40 manually (step 210), and it is determined whether there is any switch section that is on (step 220). Switch section 20.
30. Repeat this check until at least one of 40 is turned on. If it is determined that there is a switch section that is on, a process is performed in which the audio corresponding to that switch section is played once (step 230), and "N
Exit to EXTJ and temporarily end this control routine. still,
When two or more switch/switch parts are operated at the same time, another voice prepared in advance, for example, "The switch is not pressed correctly" is output.

The foot switch of this embodiment configured as described above is
In addition to producing the same effects as the first embodiment, this embodiment has the advantage of being highly versatile because desired audio can be recorded. Furthermore, the logic control unit 5 controls the voice synthesizer and timer provided in each of the three foot switches in the first embodiment.
Since the number of parts is 0, it is possible to reduce the number of parts.

Furthermore, in the foot switch of the first embodiment, when two foot switches are operated at the same time, two or more outputs are made at the same time, whereas in this embodiment, the decoder 52 is used. , no output is made corresponding to any switch section.

Therefore, the reliability is higher, and the configuration of the device that uses the outputs of the individual foot switches can be simplified. still,
When two or more switch units are operated, the speech synthesis device 60 may not output any sound.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not equally limited to these embodiments, and for example, a configuration including an adjustment circuit that can vary the delay time by a timer, etc., may be used without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course, it can be implemented in various ways within the scope.

As detailed above, according to the foot switch of the present invention, it is possible to confirm the foot switch operated by voice before outputting the output, and it is possible to prevent errors in output. It has excellent effects. Therefore, it is possible to satisfy both the good operability of the front switch and the reliability of preventing erroneous operation. If the foot switch of the present invention is used in a device such as a laser scalpel that requires concentration on the affected area, the advantages will be significant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a footswitch 1 as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of this footswitch 1 and two other footswitches 2 and 3. , FIG. 3(A) and FIG. 3(B) are timing charts showing the operation of the foot switch, FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the foot switch according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the operation of the foot switch according to the second embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the processing of a speech synthesis device. 1, 2. 3... Foot switch 4...
Pedal 5... Bush switch 6.60... Voice synthesizer 7.67... Timer 7 10... AND gate 12.77... Speaker 50... Logic control unit 52... Decoder Agent: Patent attorney Tsutomu Sadatsu (2 idiots) (A) Figure 83 (B)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A switch that can be switched by operating a pedal, a sound generating means that generates a confirmation sound in synchronization with the switching of the switch, and a predetermined period of time associated with the generation of the sound. A footswitch comprising: delay output means for outputting the state of the switch to the outside after the elapse of time.