JPH0739089Y2 - Audio equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a sound quality adjusting device for an audio device such as a car stereo,
The present invention relates to a structure of an operation unit applied to a volume adjusting device, a left-right volume balance adjusting device, or other various adjusting devices for electronic devices.

[Conventional technology]

For example, in a car stereo, an operation panel is provided with an operation unit of an adjusting device for adjusting volume, sound quality, left / right volume balance, and the like. Conventionally, a slide type and a rotary knob type are widely used as the operation unit.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

However, these are of a type in which the operation target component is mechanically moved, and an operation such as pinching with two fingers is required, and the operation is troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an operation unit structure of a sound quality and the like adjustment device that can be operated with one finger and without contact.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention is provided to achieve the above object, and in an audio device in which an operation unit for adjusting at least one of sound quality, volume, and volume balance is provided on the operation panel, the operation panel is provided. A concave groove is formed on the inner surface of the concave groove, and a plurality of light receiving portions are provided side by side in the length direction of the concave groove, and a light beam is incident on each light receiving portion on the inner surface of the concave groove facing each light receiving portion. A plurality of light paths are provided in the length direction of the concave groove, which crosses the groove from the light emitting section and enters the light receiving section. A light source, a light-receiving element that outputs a signal corresponding to light incident on each light-receiving portion, and a plurality of pulse signals having mutually different phases are repeatedly output, and each light source is sequentially and repeatedly emitted in a pulsed manner. Output signal of Wherein to determine the cut-off state of each optical path,
A control means for adjusting at least one of sound quality, volume, and volume balance according to the result of the determination is provided.

[Action]

In the operation part structure of the present invention, when some operation member is inserted into the groove to block the optical path between the light emitting part and the light receiving part, the light emitted from the light emitting part does not enter the corresponding light receiving part. A predetermined signal is output from the corresponding light receiving element according to the change in the light amount of the light receiving portion.

〔Example〕

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a car stereo will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment, and 1 is an operation panel provided on the front surface of the apparatus main body A. The operation panel 1 includes a cassette insertion slot 2, a display 3, various operation buttons 4,
5, a switch / volume knob 6 and a tone control operation section 7 are provided. This operation unit 7
It forms a part of the tone control device (sound quality adjustment device) and is configured as shown in FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 9, the car stereo is usually arranged such that only the operation panel 1 is projected on the dummy board D in the vehicle E, and therefore the operation panel 1 is irradiated with external light from above. As shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel 1 is provided with a laterally extending linear groove 10, and a plurality of light emitting devices are arranged on the lower inner side surface 10A of the groove 10 in the longitudinal direction of the groove 10. As shown in FIG. 3, a light receiving portion J for receiving the light beam from each light emitting portion H is provided on the upper inner side surface 10B of the concave groove 10 facing each light emitting portion H, as shown in FIG. Thus, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of optical paths R that cross the concave groove 10 from the light emitting portion H and enter the light receiving portion J are formed at equal intervals in the length direction of the concave groove 10, and external light is upward. Even if the light is irradiated from above, it is difficult for the light to directly enter the light receiving portion J side.

In the case of this embodiment, on the back side of the operation panel 1, as shown in FIG.
Is provided, and the front light-shielding wall 15 of this operation unit base 15 is provided.
A constitutes the bottom surface of the groove 10. Part of the light guides 20 and 21 incorporated in the operating portion base 15 is exposed from the notches of the operating base 15 to the concave groove inner side surfaces 10A and 10B, and the exposed portions are the light emitting portions H. And a light receiving portion J.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the light guide 20 on the light receiving side has a concave groove.
The light-receiving portion J is formed on the lower surface of the forward projecting portion 20A of the light guide 20. The light guide 20 is made of a transparent material (may be glass) such as acrylic resin, and as shown in FIG. 4, the light emitting section H emits light to both ends (only one side is shown). A light receiving element 22 for receiving light rays is provided.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the light guide body 20 has a back surface formed in a stepped shape, and a reflecting surface 20B is provided on each step, and the reflecting surface 20B is provided on the light receiving element 22. At a close position, the inclination is steep, and as the distance from the light receiving element 22 increases, the inclination becomes gentle. In addition, the reflecting surface 20B is formed in each light emitting portion H.
The light from is reflected on the light receiving element 22. Further, the light guide body 20 also has a reflecting surface 20C at the upper edge of the tip of the protruding portion 20A, and the light reflected by this reflecting surface 20C is reflected by the reflecting surface 2C.
The light receiving element 22 receives the light reflected by 0B and emitted from each light emitting portion H toward the upper light receiving portion J. Therefore, the two light receiving elements 22 can receive light rays from a large number of light emitting portions H, and the number of light receiving elements 22 can be omitted.

Further, the light guide 21 on the light emitting side is formed of a transparent material into L-shaped small pieces, which are arranged at equal intervals along the length direction of the groove 10 as shown in FIG. Is the operation base
The light-shielding walls 15B (see FIGS. 3, 5, and 6) protruding forward from 15 are held in a light-shielding state. The upper surface of the protruding portion 21A protruding forward of the light guide 21 discharges to the inner side surface of the concave groove 10, and the exposed portion serves as the light emitting portion H.

Further, an infrared light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as an LED 23), which is a light source that supplies a light beam to the light emitting portion H, is provided at the back of the light guide body 21, and light reflected from the LED 23 is provided at the tip of the protruding portion 21A. Light rays are reflected by the reflecting surface 21B and can enter the light receiving portion J from the upper surface of the protruding portion 21A, that is, the light emitting portion H.

The LED 23 is provided for each light emitting unit H, and is configured to emit pulsed light of different phases by a light emission control unit described later. In addition, the light guide 20 and the light guide
21 is partitioned by a partition wall 15C provided on the operation unit base 15 so that light from the light guide body 20 side does not leak to the light guide body 21 side. Furthermore, each wall of the operation unit base 15 that surrounds the light guides 20 and 21 is finished in a color (white or mirror surface) that does not easily absorb light due to the plating.

Here, a circuit configuration diagram of the light emission control means described above
This will be described with reference to the drawings and FIG. 8 of the timing chart.

As shown in FIG. 7, the light emission control means X is composed of a microcomputer M which outputs a pulse signal whose phase is shifted for each LED 23 and a buffer B which supplies a current to the LED 23 according to the pulse signal generated by this microcomputer M. And the microcomputer M is
As in S1 to S4 in the figure, when a signal with a phase shift for each LED 23 is output, a pulse current is supplied to each LED 23 via buffer B, and each LED 23 sequentially emits infrared light in a pulsed manner. The infrared light pulse-emitted by each of the LEDs 23 enters the light receiving portion J, is reflected in the light guide 20 and is received by the light receiving element.
When it reaches 22, the light receiving element 22 converts the infrared light into an electric current. At this time, the light receiving element 22 also receives external light and the like, so that the current output from the light receiving element 22 as a whole increases due to the influence of the external light and the like. Therefore, a direct current, which is a current due to external light or the like, is cut by a capacitor C to extract only a current of a pulse emission due to infrared light, which is then amplified by an amplifier A, and a high pass filter F is used for noise reduction. Is cut into a pulse signal as shown by SR in FIG. 8 and returned to the microcomputer M.

Further, the microcomputer M has a discriminating function for discriminating whether or not the pulse signal has returned. Based on the result of discrimination by this discriminating function, a variable resistor or an electronic volume of a tone control circuit (not shown) or the like is displayed. The sound quality level can be selected by adjusting.

Then, for example, in FIG. 2, when the state in which the left optical path R is blocked is changed to the state in which the right optical path R is blocked, the sound quality is proportionally changed. It should be noted that the operation panel 1 is provided with light emitting elements 25 for displaying the sound quality level, which are arranged in a line, and the light emitting element 25 at a position corresponding to the sound quality level at that time is turned on.

In order to operate the operation unit 7 configured as described above, first, the main switch is put in and the device is brought into a driving state. Then, one finger is inserted into the groove 10 of the operation portion 7 as shown in FIG. 2, and the finger is moved to the position of the desired sound quality level. Then, the optical path R at that position is blocked, and the corresponding light receiving element 22
Since light does not reach the light receiving element 22, no current is output from the light receiving element 22, so that the signal supplied to the LED 23 corresponding to this optical path R does not return to the microcomputer M. That is, since the position where this signal does not return is operated, the sound quality is adjusted to a level corresponding to it.

In this way, since the operation can be performed simply by moving one finger, the operation is easy. Moreover, since there are no mechanically operating parts, the operation is stable and the life is extended.

In this embodiment, the above-mentioned operation portion structure is applied only to the tone control device, but of course it can be applied to the adjustment of the volume and the left / right sound quality balance. Further, in the present embodiment, the light received by the plurality of light receiving portions J is received by the two light receiving elements 22.
Alternatively, one light receiving element J may be provided for each light receiving portion J. Further, one LED 23 is provided and each light receiving element J has a light receiving element 2
Two may be provided. Further, the light emitting section itself may be a light source, or the light receiving section itself may be a light receiving element. Further, in the above embodiment, the light emitting portion H is provided on the lower side, and the light receiving portion J
Although it is provided on the upper side, it may be provided on the opposite side, or when the light emitting section and the light source are integrated, the light emitting section and the light receiving section may be provided alternately. In any case, the light emitting portion H and the light receiving portion J may be paired and a plurality of pairs may be provided in the lengthwise direction of the groove 10.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. In this embodiment, the operation unit 30 of the tone control device is provided around the cassette insertion opening 31. In this example, the operation panel 32 has a cassette insertion slot.
31 is formed, and the cassette insertion port 31 corresponds to the concave groove. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, a light emitting element 33 having a light emitting portion and a light source together is arranged on the lower side of the inner surface of the insertion opening, and a light receiving element (not shown) together with the light receiving portion is arranged on the upper side, Similar to the above-mentioned embodiment, the optical paths R are formed at intervals in the length direction of the insertion opening 31 and function in the same manner. In the case of this example, since the optical path R is completely blocked while the cassette is being inserted, it is distinguished from the operation by the finger.

Incidentally, as shown in the second embodiment, the concave groove in the present invention naturally includes a hole such as the cassette insertion opening.

Further, in the above embodiments, the case of the linear concave groove has been described, but the concave groove may have a curved shape, for example, an annular shape.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the car stereo has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to other audio equipments, and can also be applied to operation parts of various adjusting devices of other electronic equipments. it can.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the present invention, a signal is generated from the light receiving element corresponding to the position where the optical path is blocked by the finger, for example, by inserting one finger into the groove and moving it to the desired position. Can be made. Therefore, by setting the output level of the sound quality, the volume, and the volume balance corresponding to each light receiving element, no troublesome operation is required, and the sound quality, the volume, and the volume balance are desired without contact. Can be adjusted to the desired level, and can be accurately adjusted to a desired level as well as the control by turning the switch on and off. Further, even if there is only one light receiving element, since the light emitted from each light emitting section emits light repeatedly in a pulsed manner in sequence with different phases, it is necessary to determine each phase output from the light receiving element. Because you can identify the change in light,
There is no need to provide a light-receiving element corresponding to each light-emitting element, and it is possible to configure a small-sized and inexpensive operation unit capable of adjusting at least one of sound quality, volume, and volume balance without contact.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 8 show an embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a front view of the entire operation panel, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the operation section of the sound quality adjustment device, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the operation section, and FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the light emitting section and the light receiving section of the operation section. FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view showing the same, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line VV of FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing the timing of the input / output signals of the microcomputer, FIG. 9 is a layout drawing of a cassette tape player having the same operation portion, and FIG. 10 is an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a cassette insertion opening. FIG. 11 is a partial perspective view for explaining the operating method. 1 ... Operation panel, 7 ... Operation part, 10 ... Recessed groove, 10A, 10
B: inner side, H: light emitting part, J: light receiving part, R: optical path, 22: light receiving element, 23: infrared light emitting diode (light source), 30: operating part, 31: cassette Insertion slot (concave groove),
32: Operation panel, 33: Light emitting element, X: Light source control means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An audio device having an operation panel for adjusting at least one of sound quality, volume, and volume balance, wherein an operation panel is provided with a groove, and an inner surface of the groove is formed. A plurality of light receiving parts are provided side by side in the lengthwise direction of the groove,
A light-emitting section that allows light rays to enter each light-receiving section is provided on the inner surface of the groove facing each light-receiving section, so that the light path that crosses the groove from the light-emitting section and enters the light-receiving section is the length direction of the groove. In addition, a plurality of light sources for supplying light to each light emitting section, a light receiving element for outputting a signal according to the light incident on each light receiving section, and a plurality of pulse signals of different phases respectively are formed. The light source is repeatedly output to sequentially and repeatedly emit light in a pulsed manner, and the cutoff state of each optical path is determined from the output signal of the light receiving element, and at least one of sound quality, volume, and volume balance is determined according to the determination result. An audio device, comprising: a control means for adjusting one of the two.