Abstract:
A fast control method controls the time of switch on-off and the stand-by operation of a projection television. The method with control units including state-assigned flags, state-completed flags and delay of a time control unit quickly carries out state transformations of the system to shorten the period turning on/off the system and to prevent the system from suffering.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a method, especially, to a method using control unit with state flags to control switch-on/off and stand-by operations of a projection television.  
         [0003]     2. Background of the Related Art  
         [0004]     A projection television includes mainly a power supply, a display, a lamp, fans and their control units. The power supply provides the power, and images show on the display, and the lamp provides the display with light, and the fan take out the heat from the lamp. The off mode of a television is a stand-by or waiting mode but a real off state. During the stand-by or waiting mode of a projection television, an infrared control unit is supplied with current by a stand-by circuit portion, that is, the power supplier supplies with part current to the stand-by circuit portion to switch on projection television.  
         [0005]     The shock wave occurs as user switches on the projection television, and the shock wave suffers the machine. The procedure to switch on the projection television needs a delay to steady the current and subsequently switches on lamp and fan.  
         [0006]     The lamp generates much heat as it radiates light. The fan is responsible for removing the heat during the operation and remains running for a period to avoid suffering the system from the high temperature.  
         [0007]     Users often mistake the power button in manipulating the system, and the system will shut down consequentially. User has to wait for a long time till the off procedure finishes and turns it on again. It suffers user&#39;s impression on the product severely and wastes user&#39;s life.  
         [0008]     Prior art provides two-phase switching off procedure. The video display shuts down for two periods. During the first period, the system turns off the display but the lamp, fans and circuit remain energized. In this interval, the user&#39;s order is granted, that is, the user presses another button will trigger the video display to reinitiate. After the delay of the first period, the second period starts, and the user&#39;s order will be discarded. That is, the lamp, fans and circuits are de-energized in second period, and the user waits for the time to shut down only.  
         [0009]     Another prior art provides a timer switch, and the timer switch turns off the system after a specified period, that is, the timer switch transforms the stand-by mode to off mode of a television. The user has to switch on the power supply manually after the system shuts down due to the power supplier does not provide power.  
         [0010]     Another prior art developes a procedure to cool quickly the lamp of a television as the system shuts down. The system remains running for a period as the user turns off the system. During the time interval, maybe 5 minutes, the lamp is de-energized but the fan speeds up to remove rapidly the heat of the lamp till the temperature falls down to a specified temperature. The center control unit handles the whole procedure. It will not continue the procedure if the center control unit enters a subroutine with bugs.  
         [0011]     It still is a main subject to provide a method to shorten the time interval to shut down, to cope with the user&#39;s mistaking order and to redeem the procedure from user&#39;s regret for turn-off order on a projection television.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]     This present invention provides a method to switch on/off and the stand-by operation of a projection television to solve the problems mentioned above. Each unit of the system is taken a subsystem with an independent control unit to avoid a bug generated by some subroutine to obstruct the procedure. The independent control unit has a state-completed flag indicating whether the control unit completes assigned state or not. The system precedes the procedure to switch on-off and stand-by operations according to the state-completed flags of the system.  
         [0013]     A projection television includes a plurality of state-assigned flags, state-completed flags and switches corresponding to button control unit, power control unit, lamp control unit, heat-dispersant control unit and television procedure control unit, and switches implemented by electrical circuit or software programs. Each state-assigned flag indicates the assigned state, and the flag-completed flag indicates whether the assigned state is finished or not, and the switch executes specified actions.  
         [0014]     The television procedure control unit includes further a timer control unit except the control unit includes, and the timer control unit is also a control unit. The timer control unit supplies a delay to complete an action of a control unit. Switching on the projection television needs the delay to steady the voltage and switching off needs the delay to remove the heat generated by the lamp of the projection television, that is why the system has to have the timer control unit.  
         [0015]     The television procedure control unit checks the state-completed flags of the control unit and timer control unit to perform actions according to a predetermined priority of the flags designed validly to conciliate the on-off and stand-by operations of a projection television. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0016]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of a projection television according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 2  shows a main flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 3  shows a flow chart to switch on the system according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  shows a flow chart to switch off the system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0020]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram to explain the relationship of the different units of a projection television. The Infrared control unit (denoted IR)  110  is connected wirelessly to and the button control unit (denoted BUTTON)  120  is connected electrically to the television procedure control unit (denoted TV)  200 , and the IR  110  and the BUTTON  120  provide the user operative interface. A display handled by display control unit (denoted DISPLAY)  130  connected to the TV  200  shows the image, and the lamp controlled by lamp control unit (denoted LAMP)  220  provides the display with light, and the heat dispersant controlled by heat-dispersant control unit (denoted HEAT-DISPERSANT)  210  removes the heat generated by the lamp. A power button on the BUTTON  120  or on the IR  110  is pressed to trigger the transformation from a state to another state indicated by a state-assigned flag, and the power supplier controlled by the power control unit (denoted POWER)  230  supplies power to projection television. TV  200  switches on or off HEAT-DISPERSANT  210 , LAMP  220  and POWER  230  by a predetermined order as the power key is pressed to start a new transformation.  
         [0021]     Each control unit among IR  110 , BUTTON  120 , DISPLAY  130 , HEAT-DISPERSANT  210 , LAMP  220  and POWER  230  includes a state-assigned (denoted OnOff) flag, a state-completed (denoted OnOffOk) flag and a switch. TV  200  includes further a timer control unit (called TIMER)  240  except the control unit aforementioned includes, and TIMER  240  is also a control unit.  
         [0022]     The state-assigned flag includes two exclusive states “ON” indicating on state and “OFF” indicating the off state of the correspondent control unit. The state-completed also includes two exclusive values “OK” and “!OK” (pronounced not OK) indicating whether the assigned state complete or not. SWITCH implemented by a circuit or by a software program executes specified actions. TIMER  240  provides the delay. The state-completed flag of TIMER is OK to indicate the delay is complete and !OK to be not complete.  
         [0023]     A projection television includes two stable states one is on state and the other off state represented by ON and OFF of the state-assigned flag of the TV  200  respectively as its state-completed is OK. A projection television also includes two transformations switching on transforming from off to on state and switching off transforming from on to off state, and the power button on the IR  110  or on the BUTTON  120  is pressed to trigger those transformations, and the projection television is in a transformation as the state-completed flag of TV  200  is !OK. TV  200  checks recursively whether the power button is pressed or not in a stable state, and checks recursively state-completed flag of TV  200  presenting OK or !OK in a transformation.  
         [0024]     The goal of the delay is to prevent the system, especially the lamp, from suffering. Switching on procedure delays turning on the lamp and the heat dissipative system for a specified time interval after the power starts, and the voltage on the system reaches the stable state during the time interval. Similar to the switching on procedure, switching off procedure delays turning off the heat dissipative system for an interval after the power and lamp shuts down, and the heat dissipative system cools the lamp to a given temperature during the interval. In generally the lamp is a light bubble, and it will reach very high temperature as it radiates. Fans to take the heat away from the light bubble implement the heat dissipative system. Controlling the speed of the fans controls the heat-dissipative rate.  
         [0025]     A main recursion is responsible for checking whether the power button is pressed in a stable state or not and verifying the state-completed flag of TV  200  in a transformation. Switching on and Switching off are responsible for turning on and off the units of the system in a predetermined order and setting the state-completed flag, and TV  200  determines the transformation is complete or not by verifying the state-completed flag.  
         [0026]      FIG. 2  shows the main flow illustrating the main recursion according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0027]     Referred to step  310 , the system starts, and the system is initiated in step  311 .  
         [0028]     Referred to step  320  and  321 , TV verifies the state-completed flags of IR and BUTTON. OK means the system is in a stable state and !OK in a transformation.  
         [0029]     Referred to step  322 , TV checks whether the power button is pressed or not in a stable state. YES indicates the power button is pressed and the system will enter a transformation. NO indicates the system stays still in a stable state.  
         [0030]     Referred to step  330 , TV triggers the control units of the system set state-assigned (OnOff) flag and state-completed (OnOffOk) flag as the system will enter a transformation. The values of state-assigned flags of the control units are set oppositely to the origin value (expressed OnOff=!OnOff). The values of the state-completed flags of the control units are set to !OK (expressed OnOffOk=!OK), and it means the system does not reach the assigned state.  
         [0031]     Referrer to step  331 , TV checks the OnOffOk flag of TIMER as the system is in a transformation. OK means the delay is complete, and !OK means the system waits for completing the delay.  
         [0032]     Referrer to step  332 , TV checks OnOffOk flag of itself as the delay is complete. The system enters a stable state as the value is OK, and the system starts a transformation as the value is !OK.  
         [0033]     Referrer to step  333 , TV reads the value of the OnOff flag of TV as the system starts a transformation. The system enters the switching on procedure as the value is ON, and enters the switching off procedure as the value is OFF.  
         [0034]      FIG. 3  shows a flow chart illustrating the switching on procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention. The procedure turns on POWER, LAMP and HEAT-DISPERSANT sequentially.  
         [0035]     Referred to step  410 , POWER verifies the OnOffOk flag. OnOffOk=OK means POWER has been turned on and it continues to turn on LAMP. OnOffOk=!OK means POWER starts turning on.  
         [0036]     Referred to step  411 , POWER sets OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently switches on the lamp, and subsequently triggers TIMER to start.  
         [0037]     Referred to step  412 , TIMER sets !OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently starts to count time for a delay, and subsequently sets OK to OnOffOk flag after the delay is complete.  
         [0038]     Referred to step  420 , LAMP verifies the OnOffOk flag. OnOffOk=OK means LAMP has been turned on and it continues to turn on HEAT-DISPERSANT. OnOffOk=!OK means LAMP starts turning on.  
         [0039]     Referred to step  421 , LAMP sets OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently switches on the lamp, and subsequently triggers TIMER to start.  
         [0040]     Referred to step  422 , TIMER sets !OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently starts to count time for a delay, and subsequently sets OK to OnOffOk flag after the delay is complete.  
         [0041]     Referred to step  430 , HEAT-DISPERSANT verifies the OnOffOk flag. OnOffOk=OK means HEAT-DISPERSANT has been turned on and it continues to set OK to the OnOffOk flag of TV. OnOffOk=!OK means HEAT-DISPERSANT starts turning on.  
         [0042]     Referred to step  431 , HEAT-DISPERSANT sets OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently switches on the heat dissipative system, and subsequently triggers TIMER to start.  
         [0043]     Referred to step  432 , TIMER sets !OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently starts to count time for a delay, and subsequently sets OK to OnOffOk flag after the delay is complete.  
         [0044]     Referred to step  440 , HEAT-DISPERSANT sets OK to OnOffOk flag of TV as TIMER completes its delay, and TV sets OK to OnOffOk flag of BUTTON and IR. It means the switching on procedure is complete and the system enters a running state (or called on state).  
         [0045]      FIG. 4  shows a flow chart illustrating the switching off procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention. The procedure turns on LAMP, HEAT-DISPERSANT and POWER sequentially.  
         [0046]     Referred to step  510 , LAMP verifies the OnOffOk flag. OnOffOk=OK means LAMP has been turned off and it continues to turn off HEAT-DISPERSANT. OnOffOk=!OK means LAMP starts turning off.  
         [0047]     Referred to step  511 , LAMP sets OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently switches on the lamp, and subsequently LAMP triggers TIMER to start.  
         [0048]     Referred to step  512 , TIMER sets !OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently starts to count time for a delay, and subsequently sets OK to OnOffOk flag after the delay is complete.  
         [0049]     Referred to step  520 , HEAT-DISPERSANT verifies the OnOffOk flag. OnOffOk=OK means HEAT-DISPERSANT has been turned off and it continues to turn off POWER. OnOffOk=!OK means HEAT-DISPERSANT starts turning off.  
         [0050]     Referred to step  521 , HEAT-DISPERSANT sets OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently switches on the heat dissipative system, and subsequently triggers TIMER to start. During the delay, to speed the heat dissipative system up removes the heat quickly, and cools down to a given temperature, which user can switch on the system immediately.  
         [0051]     Referred to step  522 , TIMER sets !OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently starts to count time for a delay, and subsequently sets OK to OnOffOk flag after the delay is complete.  
         [0052]     Referred to step  530 , POWER checks the OnOffOk flag. OnOffOk=OK means POWER has been turned off and it continues to set OK to the OnOffOk flag of TV. OnOffOk=!OK means POWER starts turning off.  
         [0053]     Referred to step  531 , POWER sets OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently turns off power gradually, and subsequently triggers TIMER to start.  
         [0054]     Referred to step  532 , TIMER sets !OK to OnOffOk flag, and subsequently starts to count time for a delay, and subsequently sets OK to OnOffOk flag after the delay is complete. During the delay, the system could show messages on screen to hint user the process of the system.  
         [0055]     Referred to step  540 , POWER sets OK to OnOffOk flag of TV as TIMER completes its delay, and TV sets OK to OnOffOk flag of BUTTON and IR. It means the switching off procedure is complete and the system enters a shutdown state (or called off state).  
         [0056]     The delay of the switching off procedure is long enough to cool down to a given temperature, which user can start the system again immediately, or user can press other button to restore state from the transformation during the delay.  
         [0057]     Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that other modifications and variation can be made without departing the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.