Audio-visual system

Abstract: An audio-visual system having a plurality of audio-visual components, a detector (35) for detecting the status of the plurality of audio-visual components by inputing to the components an operating signal which causes them to perform specified operations, a switch (29) for switching the audio-visual components to the status required to perform the specified operations and an apparatus (9) for sending remote control code which generates a signal to operate each of the audio-visual components by converting the operating signal into a remote control code signal and sending it to the audio-visual component.

Description: The present invention relates to an audio-visual system. In an audio-visual (AV) system a plurality of audio-visual components are systematically arranged with each other by using an AV center (or AV amplifier). When the AV center is used, a plurality of switching operations for input and output signals are centralized. However, a user must operate a plurality of switches when uing the AV center. Shown in FIGURE 1 is a flowchart showing the procedure for starting a video reproducing operation of a VCR in such an AV system as described above. First, a user turns ON both the AV center and a television receiver (Steps 601, 602). Then, he sets the input mode switch of the television receiver to "VCR" position (Step 603) and the function switch of the AV center to "VCR1" position (Step 604), turns ON the VCR (Step 605), and presses the VCR PLAY button (Step 606). Then, the video reproducing operation of the VCR starts. Thus, on the conventional AV system it was required to turn ON numerous switches or press the operation button when starting the video reproducing operation or other required operations. EP-A-0371749 discloses an audio-visual system with a TV and a VCR connected together. The system includes means for permanently storing information relating to the status of the components and, when a command is given, e.g. to play the VCR, the VCR and TV are controlled such that they take the correct operating status, e.g. the TV is switched on and switched to VCR mode. EP-A-0325331 discloses a signal distribution cable network for an audio-visual system, with a central controller which transmits control signals to devices such as TVs. The present invention therefore seeks to provide an AV system which is capable of having AV components perform their required operations by means of simple operations. According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an audio-visual system comprising: a plurality of audio-visual components; means for detecting the status of the plurality of audio-visual components by inputting to the components an operating signal which causes them to perform specified operations and by determining whether the components perform the specified operations in response to the operation signal; means for switching the audio-visual components to the status required to perform the specified operations; a remote control code sending means for generating the operating signal, to operate each of the audio-visual components, in the form of a remote control code signal, and sending it to the audio-visual components; and characterized in that the system further comprises means for registering the respective manufacturers of each of the plurality of audio-visual components by automatically transmitting previously memorised codes which cause components of various manufacturers to perform known operations, until the known operation is performed by a component and thereby determining the manufacturer of that component, wherein the remote control code sending means subsequently sends out a remote control code corresponding to the respective registered manufacturer. Preferably, the means for detecting the status of the components comprises means for separating and detecting a horizontal or vertical video synchronizing signal in an output from said component. For a better understanding of the present invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIGURE 1 is a flowchart showing a video reproducing operation starting operation in a conventional AV system; FIGURE 2 is a block diagram showing the construction of the AV system according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIGURE 3 is an oblique view of the rack 11 and the television receiver 13 of FIGURE 2; FIGURE 4 is a functional block diagram of the AV system according to the present invetion; FIGURE 5 is a flowchart which shows a process of a registering operation of a manufacturer of a television receiver FIGURE 6 is a table showing an example of registered manufacturers of AV components; FIGURE 7 is a diagram showing an example of on-screen display of the television receiver 13 when registering data; and FIGURES 8 and 9 are flowcharts which together show a process of a video reproducing operation. The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the FIGURES 2 through 9. Throughout the FIGURES 2 through 9, same or equivalent reference numerals or letters will be used to designate like or equivalent elements for simplicity of explanation. FIGURE 2 is a block diagram showing a construction of an AV system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIGURE 2, the AV system comprises an AV center 1, a power amplifier 3, a connection unit 5, a speaker system 7, a rack 11 with a remote control optical signal radiator 9, a television receiver 13, a laser disc player 15, and a video cassette recoder (VCR) 17. The connection unit 5 is provided for operatively coupling the AV center 1, the remote control optical signal radiator 9, the television receiver 13, the laser disc player 15 and the VCR 17 with each other. The speaker system 7 includes a pair of front left and front right AV speakers and a pair of rear left and rear right speakers. Shown in FIGURE 3 is an oblique view of examples of the rack 11 and the television receiver 13. As shown in FIGURE 3, the television receiver 11 is settled on the rack 11. On the front top end of the rack 11, one of the optical signal radiators 9 is provided. Numeral 19 in FIGURE 3 shows a space in the rack 11 which is able to accommodate a TV-game machine. FIGURE 4 is a block diagram which functionally illustrates the AV system. A remote control unit 21 transmits required operating signals. A control panel 23 of the AV center also transmits required operating signals. The first signal processor 25 processes signals sent from the remote control unit 21 or the control panel 23 of the AV center for transferring key data to a second signal processor 29 which is in the form of a CPU incorporated in the connection unit 5. The function of the first signal processor 25 is also implemented by another CPU incorporated in the AV center 1. Functions of the registering processor 27, the second signal processor 29, the command generator 31, the remote control signal generator 33, and the status detector 35 are implemented by the CPU incorporated in the connection unit 5. The registering processor 27 comprises a ROM which stores different remote control codes employed by every manufacturer of the AV components, a remote control data converter for measuring an external remote control signal to convert the signal into a digital data and a remote control data controller for controlling write/read operations of the data. The second signal processor 29 determines a control sequence of the AV components according to the key data applied from the first signal processor 25, and then reads out a required remote control data from the registering processor 27 to transfer the remote control data to the remote control signal generator 33 in reference to status signals of the AV components detected by a status detector. The remote control signal generator 33 generates a remote control code signal corresponding to the output signal from the second signal processor 29 and transmits it to the remote control optical signal radiator 9. The remote control optical signal radiator 9 transmits a remote control signal to each AV component for performing required operation. The status detector 35 detects the status of each AV component. The status detector 35 has a synchronous separator for the video signals. The status detector 35 then detects, for instance, whether the power source is ON or the input mode of the television receiver 13 is set at "VCR" and transmits the detected status to the second signal processor 29 in accordance with a presence of horizontal or vertical synchronous signal obtained in the synchronous separator. Next, the operations of manufacturers of components of this AV system will be explained. Shown in FIGURE 5 is a flowchart showing the operations of the registering processor 27 to register a manufacturer of television receivers. First, a "REGISTER" switch of the AV center 1 is turned ON (Step 401). An automatic detection mode for detecting manufacturers is thus activated by the turn ON operation of the "REGISTER" switch, and a detecting operation for searching a television receiver, a satellite tuner (BS tuner), a laser disc player and a VCR is initiated. In this example, it is assumed that all the components are initially turned OFF. In the operation, "power ON" codes of television receivers of manufacturers which are previously registered as shown in FIGURE 6 are read out in a predetermined order. Such a "power ON" code is converted into a power ON command by the remote control signal generator 33 and transmitted through the remote control optical signal radiator 9 (Step 402). Then, the status detector 35 determines whether the television receiver is turned ON in response to the power ON command transmitted in the Step 402 (Step 403). When the turn ON state of the television receiver is detected, the operation procedes to the Step 404. If the television receiver is not turned ON, it is determined whether any "power ON" code of the television receiver of the registered manufacturers still remains (Step 405). If such code is found, the operation returns to the Step 402 for reading out and transmitting the code. When the codes of all the registered manufacturers have been transmitted but still the television receiver is not turned ON, a notice indicating that the relevant code is not found is displayed on a display of the control panel of the AV center. Then the operation proceed to a learning mode of "TV power ON code" (Step 407). Here, the user presses a TV power ON key on the remote control unit associated with the television receiver. Then an infrared remote control data transmitted from the remote control unit is processed in the registering processor 27 (Step 408) and registered into the RAM as a new power ON code of the television receiver (Step 409). Now, the registering operation of the codes of the manufacturer of the television receiver is completed and the operation procedes to another registering operation for BS tuners (Step 406). When the television receiver has been turned ON, the manufacturer associated with the remote control unit used in the above-mentioned learning mode is registered as the manufacturer of the television receiver (Step 404), thus the operation procees to the registering operation for the BS tuner. Hereinafter, these registering operations are executed for BS tuners, laser disc players and VCRs in the order as shown in the flowchart. When these registering operations are completed, manufacturers of all components incorporated together are displyed on the screen of the television receiver, as shown in FIGURE 7. Hereinafter, system control for every AV component will be explained by using the remote control codes of the manufacturers of the registered AV components. FIGURES 8 and 9 are a flowchart illustrating the operations to start the video reproducing operation in this embodiment. A user presses the VCR key on the control panel 23 of the remote control unit 21 or the AV center (Step 501). The operation of the VCR key indicates the video reproducing operation. This VCR key signal is transmitted to the AV center 1 via the first signal processor 25 and the AV center 1 is turned ON (Step 502). Then, the second signal processor 29 checks whether the television receiver 13 is turned ON via the status detector 35 (Step 503). If the the television receiver 13 is not turned ON, the second signal processor 29 directs the command generator 31 to create a command to turn ON the television receiver 13. The command generator 31 creates a command to turn ON the television receiver 13 and transmits this command to the remote control signal generator 33, which in turn converts it to a code signal corresponding to the manufacturer of the television receiver 13 and transmits it to the remote control optical signal radiator 9, and a signal to turn ON the television receiver 13 is transmitted from the remote control optical signal radiator 9 (Step 504). Next, the second signal processor 29 checks whether the input mode of the television receiver 13 has been set at "VCR" via the status detector 35 (Step 505) and if the input mode is not "VCR", the second signal processor 29 directs the command generator 31 to generate a command to set the input mode of the television receiver 13 to "VCR". This command signal is converted into the specified manufacturer code by the remote control signal generator 33 and is transmitted from the remote control optical signal radiator 9 to switch the input code of the television receiver 13 to "VCR" (Step 506). Then, the second signal processor 29 performs the on-screen display (Step 507). This on-screen display is to display such a specified operation as "VCR1 PLAY" on the screen of the television receiver 13. Then, the second signal processor 29, after setting the function switch of the AV center 1 to "VCR1" (Step 508), checks whether the video coupling terminal could have been detected via the status detector 35 (Step 509). If not, second signal processor 29 checks whether either the S-VHS terminal connection or the VHS terminal connection is selected via the command generator 31, the remote control signal generator 33, and the remote control optical signal radiator 9, and the VCR is connected (Step 510). Next, the second signal processor 29 checks whether the VCR 17 is turned ON (Step 511) and if not, transmits a signal to turn ON the VCR 17 via the command generator 31, the remote control generator 33, and the remote control optical signal radiator 9 (Step 512). Then, the "PLAY" signal is transmitted from the remote control optical signal radiator 9 to the VCR 17 (Step 513). Thus, in this embodiment of the present invention the video reproducing operation is performed only by the VCR key signal from the remote control unit 21 or the control panel 23 of the AV center. Further, although the video reproducing operation starting operations have been explained in this embodiment, the present invention is also applicable to the play starting operations of the laser disc player 15 or the recording process starting operations of the VCR 17. In addition, although the television receiver 13, laser disc player 15 and VCR 17 have been mentioned as AV components, needless to say, any other component than the above component can be included in AV components. On the AV system provided by the present invention, when a relatively small number of operating signals are input, the status of the AV components are detected. The AV components are switched to the status to perform the required operations. Then signals for operating the AV components are sent out as the remote control code signals. Thus, it is possible to have the AV components perform the required operations by a small number of operating signals. As explained in detail in the above, according to the present invention it is possible to provide an AV system which is capable of having AV components perform required operations by using only two or three key operations. As described above, the present invention can provide an extremely preferable audio-visual system. While there have been illustrated and described what are at present considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the present invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teaching of the present invention without departing from the central scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention, but that the present invention include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims: An audio-visual system comprising: a plurality of audio-visual components; means (35, 29, 33) for detecting the status of the plurality of audio-visual components by inputting to the components an operating signal which causes them to perform specified operations and by determining whether the components perform the specified operations in response to the operation signal; means (29) for switching the audio-visual components to the status required to perform the specified operations; a remote control code sending means (9) for generating the operating signal, to operate each of the audio-visual components, in the form of a remote control code signal, and sending it to the audio-visual components; and characterized in that the system further comprises means (27) for registering the respective manufacturers of each of the plurality of audio-visual components by automatically transmitting previously memorised codes which cause components of various manufacturers to perform known operations, until the known operation is performed by a component and thereby determining the manufacturer of that component, wherein the remote control code sending means (9) subsequently sends out a remote control code corresponding to the respective registered manufacturer. An audio-visual system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the means for detecting the status of the components comprises means (35) for separating and detecting a horizontal or vertical video synchronizing signal in an output from said component.

Inventors: INOMATA KANAME, NOGUCHI YUTAKA, INOMATA, KANAME, NOGUCHI, YUTAKA, INOMATA, KANAME, C/O INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DIV., Noguchi, Yutaka, c/o Intellectual Property Div.
Applicants: TOSHIBA KK, KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
Application year: 1991
Main classification: H04B1
IPC codes: H04B1