JPS63177621A - Automatic tuning system for on-vehicle mobile radio receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To constitute the titled system so that even if an engine key is stopped in the course of receiving a broadcast from a certain station, a controller and a preset memory receive backup of a power source, the tuning state until now is held, and a reservation channel is selected automatically when the power source is turned on, by providing a reservation memory connected to a receiving controller of a mobile radio receiver. CONSTITUTION:A receiving controller 34 is connected to an electronic tuning type tuner 32 of a on-vehicle radio receiver, and this controller 34 is connected to an operating part 36 having a reservation key 38, a timer 44, a preset mem ory 42 and a reservation memory 40 respectively. Also, the controller 34 and the preset and reservation memories 42, 40 are connected to a on-vehicle battery 50 connected to a power source switch 46. When an engine key is stopped in the course of receiving a broadcast from a certain station, the controller 34 and the preset memory 42 receive backup, from a battery, its state is held as it is, and when the engine key is started in the next time the station which is read previously is selected.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an automatic tuning system for an in-vehicle radio receiver, and particularly relates to an in-vehicle radio receiver that automatically selects and receives broadcasts of desired stations by time zone. This invention relates to an automatic channel selection system for radio receivers.

<Prior art> Conventionally, in-vehicle radio receivers use electronic tuning tuners, and when frequency data related to one station is selected from preset frequency data, the reception frequency is set to the frequency represented by the data. Control is performed so that the received frequency changes continuously from low to high upon receiving a search command, and control is performed so that the received frequency is fixedly tuned to the received frequency when a search stop command is received. I'm doing it.

FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram of a conventional in-vehicle radio receiver.
An electronically tuned tuner 12 including a front end, an IF amplifier, a detector circuit, etc. is connected to the antenna 10. This electronically tuned tuner 12 is configured to perform band switching between AM and FM and variable control of the reception frequency by the control output of a reception controller 14 composed of a microcomputer system, and its output side is connected to an amplifier and a speaker. is connected to.

The reception controller 14 includes an operation unit 16 for performing various key manual operations necessary for channel selection, and channel selection information (including frequency data and band data, for example) regarding a plurality of broadcast stations.
A preset memory (frequency memory) 18 having a plurality of addresses for storing the frequency information and a display section 20 that displays the operating status of the receiver are connected.

Further, each part of the receiver is supplied with power from an on-vehicle battery 24 via a power switch 22 linked to the engine key. The reception controller 14 and preset memory 18 are directly connected to the vehicle battery 24 so that they are backed up even after the power switch 22 is turned off.

In the conventional in-vehicle radio receiver configured as described above, after turning on the engine key and turning on the power switch 22, when an FM band scan command is given from the operation unit 16, the reception controller 14 performs the FM band switching operation. After outputting a control signal to switch the reception mode of the electronic tuner 12 to FM, a control signal for changing the reception frequency from a low frequency to a high frequency in the FM band is output to perform a frequency search. At this time, the reception controller 14 causes the display section 20 to display the reception frequency. As a result, the broadcast will be heard from the speaker so that the received frequency matches the frequency of some broadcasting station, and when the desired station is judged from the broadcast content and frequency display, a scan stop command can be given using the operation unit 16. Then, the reception controller 14 controls the electronically tuned tuner 12 to fix the reception frequency at that time.

Separately, if you want to select a desired station with one touch, select the desired station by scanning with the operation unit 16 as described above, then give a preset memory command and specify the address of the preset memory 18. The controller 14 stores tuning control data (tuning information) including the mode being received at that time and frequency data representing the reception frequency at a designated address in the memory 18.

After performing this operation on a plurality of addresses in the preset memory 18 in advance and presetting a plurality of desired stations in the preset memory 18, when a preset reception command is issued with the operation unit 16 and an address is specified, the reception controller 14 is transferred to the preset memory 18. Tuning control data is read from the specified address of 18, and the electronic tuning tuner 12 is controlled so that the mode and reception frequency indicated by the tuning control data are set.

This allows selection of the desired station with one touch.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> By the way, even if the engine key is turned off while receiving a conventional broadcast station, the reception controller 14 and preset memory 1
8 receives battery backup and the tuning control state up to that point is maintained. Therefore, the next time the engine key is turned on, it is possible to continue receiving the station that was previously being listened to.

If you only leave your car for a short time, the broadcast content you listen to again tends to be the same as the one you listened to last time.Since you don't often change the station after you turn on the engine, you can listen to the broadcast you were listening to before. There is no problem if the station is automatically re-received. However, after being away from your car for a long time, you often want to watch a different station from the one you were listening to before, and when the station you were listening to before is re-received, you end up listening to the broadcast content you didn't want. Therefore, there was a problem in that the station had to be changed using the operation section 16.

In particular, in countries such as the United States, where riding a car to commute to work is a regular part of daily life, the time between car rides is long; The broadcast content I want changes depending on the time of day, such as a sports-based station when I get home in the evening, and a music-based station when I get home in the evening, so every time I get in my car, I re-tune to the previous station. It is necessary to perform a troublesome operation on the receiver using the operation unit 16 to switch to a desired station by searching or preset reception. Also, even if it's the same time of day, if you lend your car to someone else after listening to your desired station, and you get back in the car, the other person will often have changed the station.
I had to change to the station I wanted again.

It is conceivable to use a timer reservation method used in video recorders and the like to reduce the effort of users who perform such routine reception. In this method, it is necessary to input the program start and end times, the desired station, etc., making the operation complicated, and furthermore, a large CRT for displaying the reservation contents is required to prevent malfunctions. However, it is extremely difficult to arrange complex operation keys and a CRT in the limited panel space of an in-vehicle receiver set, and it is difficult to operate unless you are accustomed to timer reservation operations on a VTR, etc. There was an inconvenience in that it was impossible to make a reservation because attention was being focused on the service itself.

The present invention was made in view of the drawbacks of the prior art,
The purpose is to provide an in-vehicle radio receiver that can automatically select and receive preset stations according to the time of day every time you get in the car, make reservations easy, and reduce the space burden on the receiver. do.

Means for Solving the Problems> FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an in-vehicle radio receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 30 is an antenna, 32 is an electronic tuner, 34 is a reception controller, 36 is an operation unit including a reservation key 38, 40 is a reservation memory, 42
is a preset memory, 44 is a timer, and 46 is a power switch.

Function> The reservation memory 40 divides the day into morning, noon, evening, and so on, for example, from 3:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. It contains four addresses for storing data for each of the four time periods during the night.

Tuning control data of four different stations are stored in advance in four addresses of the preset memory 42, and at noon when the receiver is receiving the broadcast of one station related to the address specified following the preset reception command. , if the user wants to set the receiving station as a daytime reservation station, the reservation key 38 is pressed.

Then, the reception controller 34 determines which of the four time zones includes the time when the reservation key 38 was pressed, and stores the preset corresponding to the station currently being received in the address of the reservation memory 40 corresponding to this time zone. Write the address of the memory 42 as reserved data.

After that, after switching to another station and listening to it using preset reception, turn off the engine key and get out of the car.For example, when the engine key is turned on at noon the next day and the power switch 46 is turned on, the reception controller 34 will turn on the power switch 46 from the timer. It recognizes the time of entry and determines which time zone this time is included in. Since it is noon in this case, it corresponds to the noon time zone of the reservation memory 40.

The tuning control data is read from the address of the preset memory 42 indicated by this data with reference to the data written in the address, and the mode of the electronic tuning type tuner 32 is switched to the band indicated by this tuning control data, and the tuning control data is Electronically tuned tuner 42 to the indicated reception frequency.
control the channel selection.

As a result, the broadcast of the station that has been reserved in advance to be listened to during the daytime period is automatically selected, rather than the last station that was listened to during the previous ride.

<Embodiment> Hereinafter, an in-vehicle radio receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an in-vehicle FM/AM dual-purpose radio receiver, in which an FM/AM dual-purpose electronically tuned tuner 32 is connected to an antenna 30. This electronically tuned tuner 32 has a front end, an I
It includes an F amplifier and a detector circuit, and changes the reception frequency of FM or AM using a band switching signal among control signals input from a reception controller 34, which will be described later. The output side of the electronically tuned tuner 32 is connected via an amplifier to a speaker placed at an appropriate position in the vehicle.

A reception controller 34 made up of a microcomputer including a PLL circuit is connected to the electronic tuner 32. In the reception controller 34, a processor executes predetermined reception control processing according to the system program, various interrupt programs, etc. stored in the memory.

The reception controller 34 includes a display section 48 that displays reception information, an operation section 36 that has a reservation key 38 and various operation keys for performing search tuning and preset tuning, and a display section 48 that displays reception information, an operation section 36 that has various operation keys for performing search tuning and preset tuning, and a display section 48 that displays reception information. A preset memory 42 that stores tuning gJ control data, a reservation memory 40 that stores reservation data for each time zone, and a timer 4 that measures time.
4. A power switch 46 is connected which turns on and off in conjunction with the on and off of the engine key and supplies power from the vehicle battery 50 to the entire receiver. The reception controller 34, preset memory 42, reservation memory 40, and timer 44 are directly backed up by the in-vehicle battery 5o, and when the engine key is turned off and the power switch 46 is turned off,
It continues to operate even after it is turned off.

The preset memory 42 has, for example, four addresses A0 to
A3, and tuning control data f to f3 for four stations, which are associated with subscripts 0 to 3, can be stored at this address (see FIG. 2).

On the other hand, the reservation memory 40 stores a morning time period from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m., a noon time period from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
There are four addresses PA0 to PA corresponding to each time period divided into four parts of the day, such as the evening time period from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and the midnight time period from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 am. 9 (see Figure 3), and these addresses include O~
0 to the reservation selection data for 4 stations associated with the subscript 3.
3 is stored in each of the (see Figure 4).

In this example, k. -3 is the address data of the preset memory 42. Note that the tuning control data stored in the preset memory 42 is for band B (different between AM and FM).
and reception frequency H, as shown in FIG. 5, for example.

Receiving con!・According to the channel selection operation and reservation operation on the operation unit 36, the control unit 34 controls the selection of the reserved station immediately after the engine key is turned on, and when the channel selection operation is performed during reception. controls the selection of the station selected by the operation and receives the desired broadcast.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 7 shows the main flow of the operation of the reception controller 34.

When the engine key is turned on and the power switch 46 is turned on, the process moves to a power switch on routine (described in detail later).
Tuning control data (band, reception frequency) F (B, H) reserved for the time zone including the current time is read via the reservation memory 40 and preset memory 42.

Thereafter, the electronic tuning tuner 32 performs tuning based on the tuning control data F (B, H) (ST/100).
), the band B and reception frequency H corresponding to the tuning control data F are displayed on the display unit 48.

After that, if there is no search channel selection or preset channel selection operation, the reserved broadcast content will be received as time passes.

On the other hand, in such a state, the receiving controller 34 is instructed to give an FM band search command using the operation unit 36 for performing search tuning, and the receiving controller 34 executes the search routine shown in FIG. 8 at regular intervals while the search command continues. An interrupt is generated and the control variable 1” = (FM.

The frequency H) is increased by a constant amount and the process returns to the main flow (steps 200 to 206). Then, each time the process returns to step 100 in the main flow of FIG. 7, the receiving controller 34 controls the electronically tuned tuner 32 based on the increased control variable F, so that the receiving frequency increases and changes.

If the search continues and a search stop command is given when the desired station is reached, the reception controller 34 no longer interrupts the routine shown in FIG. 8, so that the reception state at that point will continue.

If you want to change the receiving station, including band switching, just give a search command for the desired band again and stop the search when the desired station is found.

When presetting multiple desired stations, first select the desired station, for example AM, by the above-mentioned search selection.

After entering the receiving state for 954 songs, when a preset memory command is given using the operation section 36, the reception controller 34 generates an interrupt to the preset memory routine shown in FIG. is specified, then the tuning control data (AM.

954klb) from the built-in memory f. (See FIG. 5) is written to address A of the preset memory 42 (steps 300 to 3o2).

Similarly, other addresses A1~ of the preset memory 42
A3 also contains tuning control data of different stations, for example, f,
= (AM, 12421&), f2= (FM.

80MHz),'f3= (FM, 82.5M)
It can be written as follows (see Fig. 5).

Once a plurality of desired stations are preset in the preset memory 42 in this way, the user can then select the desired stations using the operation unit 36 with a touch. That is, the reception controller 34 generates an interrupt to the preset reception routine shown in FIG. 10 when the operation unit 36 requests a preset reception command to be given, and then when the operation unit 36 specifies address A to 2, for example A3, the preset memory 42 is Tuning control data f3 is read from the address indicated by A3 and the control variable p==(3) (steps 400 to 404).

The reception controller 34 then returns to the main routine.
At step 102, the electronically tuned tuner 32 is tuned based on F. This allows 82.5MHz in the FM band.
The broadcast of the station "rFM" is received and the display section 48 shows "rFM", r8
2.51" is displayed.

When changing the receiving station, it is sufficient to specify another address in the preset memory 42.

Next, to make a reservation according to the time, first, for example, 7 in the morning.
I listen to 1,242 AM news stations by preset reception around the same time, and when I want to listen to this news station every morning during the morning hours, I operate the reservation key 38 on the operation unit 36 and give a reservation command. Receive controller 34 interrupts the reservation input routine of FIG. In this routine, the reception controller 34 first reads the current time t from the timer 44 and registers it in the time variable T (step 500
, 502).

Next, the address PAN (=to P8) of the reservation memory 40 corresponding to the time period including T is determined, and then the address PAN of the preset memory 42 in which the tuning control data related to the preset station currently being received is stored is determined. Address A, (==A,)
is the reservation data kN and the address P of the reservation memory 40 is
Write to AN (steps 504, 506).

Similarly, if you want to listen to the station that is currently being received at the same time every day during the day, evening, and night, press the reservation key 3.
8, another address PA1.
PA2. It is also possible to write reservation data (address data in the preset memory) relating to desired stations in the daytime, evening, and night, respectively, in the PA3. For example, when a user enters into a routine life on a working day, the user presses the reservation key 38 while receiving a news station by preset reception on the way to work in the morning.
In the daytime, when I go out to lunch in my car, I press the reservation key 38 while receiving preset sports stations, and on my way home in the evening, I press the reservation key 38 while receiving preset music stations, and watch a movie at night. When going out to see a music station, all reservations can be completed by simply pressing the reservation key 38 while receiving the same music station.

As a result, for example, the addresses PA0 to PA0 of the reserved memory 40 are
Addresses A, Ao of preset memory 42 in PA3
, A3. A2 is written in the reserved channel selection data as 0 to 3 (see FIG. 6).

Tuning control data of the broadcasting station you want to listen to in each time zone (
(reservation data) is set, press the power switch 46.
When the engine is turned on by operating the engine key, an interruption occurs to the power switch on routine shown in FIG. This results in
When the power switch 46 is turned on, the reception controller 34 reads the current time t from the timer 44 and registers it as a time variable T' (steps 602, 604), and then the reception controller 34 reads the time period PAN (=PA) that includes T'.
o), reads the reservation data kN (=A,) from the corresponding address in the reservation memory 40, and further reads the tuning control data f1 (=f, ), fM
After registering (=f,) in the built-in memory as a control variable F, the process returns to the main flow (steps 604 to 612).

In step 100, the receiving controller 34 switches the electronically tuned tuner 32 to the AM band and tunes the receiving frequency to 1242 kHz.

Also, in step 104 rAM'', r 12421
&J is displayed.

In this way, the news station will be automatically selected when the engine key is turned on in the morning. Similarly, when you go out for lunch in the afternoon, you turn on the engine and the sports station (AM, 9541&) is automatically selected, and when you return home in the evening, when you turn on the engine, the music station ( FM, 80MHz), and when you go out for a drive at night, the music station (FM, 80MHz) is automatically turned on.
82, 5 MHz) is selected. Therefore, when the user repeats a typical lifestyle pattern, the user is completely freed from the hassle of channel selection operations and can concentrate on driving.

Of course, if you want to change listening to another station while listening to a station that has been automatically reserved and selected as described above, follow the steps in Figure 8 or 10 by operating the operating section 36 as in the past. Search tuning or preset reception tuning can be performed, and when the engine key is turned off and the engine key is turned on again after leaving the vehicle, the original reserved tuning according to FIG. 12 is automatically performed. This is the same even if you lend your car to a third party and the receiving station is changed to a station other than the reserved station.When you get back in the car, it will automatically return to the reserved station, so you can tune to the desired station. This saves you the trouble of changing to

According to this embodiment, it is possible to input reservations by time slot extremely easily by simply operating one reservation key, and V
Unlike TR, there is no need to display the timer reservation time, so there is no space burden on the receiver's operation panel, making it possible to downsize the equipment configuration. You can listen to the desired station reserved in advance for each time zone without having to perform any channel selection operations for each ride.Furthermore, there is no end time like when reserving a VTR timer, so when the end time comes, you can listen to the desired station forcibly broadcast. There is no inconvenience that the reception ends. In addition, even if you listen to a desired station using search tuning or preset tuning when your daily life is irregular, such as on holidays, when you return to your regular life, you will always return to the regular reserved tuning, so you will have to adjust the tuning operation. Annoyance is kept to a minimum. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, since the address of the preset memory is written in each address of the reservation memory, the capacity of the reservation memory can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the time slots of the day were divided into four equal parts, but the time slots may be distributed differently depending on the lifestyle pattern of using this system (for example, as shown in Fig. 13). , do not allocate reserved memory addresses during the night as it is undefined, 4:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., 111:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m.
to 6 p.m., and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. may be applied to the four addresses PA' to PA,'. Apart from this, 2
All 4 hours may be divided into 1 hour portions, and the reserved memory may have 24 addresses. Further, in the above embodiment, the address of the preset memory is written in each address of the reserved memory, but for example, the address of the preset memory is written in each address of the reserved memory.
As shown in Figure 4, if the capacity of the reservation memory can be increased, the tuning control data itself that is transmitted to the receiving station may be written as reservation tuning data kN in each address PAN (in this case, the search time of the preset memory is The time required for the channel selection operation can be shortened by as much as t!, and the station selected by search channel selection can also be reserved.When writing the tuning control data itself to the reservation memory in this way, as shown in FIG. After step 504, the tuning control data for the station currently receiving is written as kN to the address PAN of the reserved memory corresponding to the time zone including the current time t (step 50
8) Moreover, the tuning control data read from the reservation memory after step 608 in the flow of FIG. 12 for automatic reservation selection is registered as a control variable F (step 616).

Apart from this, we have added hardware and software to display that the tuning control data has been stored in the preset memory and that the reserved channel selection data has been stored in the reserved memory, and we have added hardware and software that displays that the tuning control data has been stored in the preset memory and that the reserved channel selection data has been stored in the reserved memory. It is also possible to arbitrarily incorporate the above into the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

Also, by utilizing the fact that the receiver has a built-in timer, the display section may switch between displaying received information and time information.
In this case, the main routine shown in FIG. 15 is used instead of the main routine shown in FIG. That is, when a time display command is given from operation diagram 36, the reception controller interrupts the time display routine of FIG.
After setting CL=1, the program returns to the main routine, determines that CL=1 in step 800, inputs the current time t from the timer, registers it in the display variable HT, and displays the time (steps 802 to 806).

Then, after setting CT=CT+1, CT>KK (K
If K is a certain period of time), the process returns to the beginning and continues to display the time (steps 808 to 81).
0), if YES, CL=0 and CT=O are set to end the time display and switch to display of received information (step 812).

<Effects of the Invention> As explained above, according to the automatic channel selection system of the in-vehicle radio receiver according to the present invention, one reservation is made when the desired station is being received during the desired time slot. Reservations can be entered extremely easily by simply operating a key, and can be operated safely and reliably even while driving, and there is little space burden on the operation panel.Furthermore, when power is turned on to the radio receiver, Since the reservation and selection of stations is performed automatically, it is possible to save the trouble of selecting various stations when receiving a regular radio during a regular daily ride.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an in-vehicle radio receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the memory arrangement of a preset memory; FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of dividing time zones; Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the memory arrangement of the reserved memory, Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing how the preset memory is actually preset, and Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing how the reserved memory is actually reserved. 7 to 12 are flowcharts showing the operation of the reception controller in FIG. 1, FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of time zone division, and FIG.
15 and 16 are flowcharts 1-1 for explaining the operation in a modified example of FIG. 1. FIG. 17 is a conventional in-vehicle radio reception diagram. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the machine. 300. antenna 320. Electronically tuned tuner 340. Receiving controller 360. Operation unit 380. Reservation key 400. Reservation memory 42...Preset memory 440. Timer Patent Applicant Alpine Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Chiki Saito Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 + 2 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 16 Figure 15

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a car radio receiver that controls tuning of an electronic tuner according to a tuning command given by operating the tuning operation section, reservations are made to store reserved tuning information for each time period. a memory; a timer for measuring time; a reservation key for inputting a reservation; The tuning information of the broadcasting station is written in the reservation memory as reserved tuning information, and when the power is turned on, the reserved tuning information related to the current time zone inputted from the timer is read out from the reservation memory and the electronically tuned tuner is activated. An automatic tuning system for an in-vehicle radio receiver, comprising: a tuning control section for controlling tuning of a radio receiver. (2) The in-vehicle radio receiver includes a frequency memory that stores frequency data of one or more preset broadcast stations, and the reservation tuning information written in the reservation memory is the address of the frequency data stored in the frequency memory, The in-vehicle radio according to claim 1, wherein the tuning control section refers to the address read out from the reservation memory, reads out frequency data from the frequency memory, and performs tuning control of the electronically tuned tuner. Receiver automatic channel selection system. (3) The automatic tuning system for an in-vehicle radio receiver according to claim 1, wherein the reservation tuning information written in the reservation memory is frequency data.