Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a speaker apparatus placed in front of a television set. 
         [0002]    In recent years, as described in JP-A-2009-267956, a speaker apparatus including a horizontally elongated housing has often been placed below a television screen. Such a speaker apparatus including a horizontally elongated housing may be used by being placed in front of a television set so as to be separated therefrom (hereinafter, such a speaker apparatus is called a “bar speaker”). 
         [0003]    However, a television set is often provided at its lower part with a light receiver for receiving an operation signal such as infrared rays outputted from a remote control device (hereinafter referred to as a “remote control”). Since the bar speaker is placed in front of the television set, the light receiver of the television set is unfortunately hidden by the bar speaker. Accordingly, the television set cannot receive an operation signal from the remote control. 
         [0004]    Therefore, as described in JP-A-09-275591, for example, a relay apparatus (which may also be referred to as a “repeater apparatus”) for relaying an operation signal from a remote control is conceivably interposed between the remoter control and television set. When the remote control is operated by a user and an operation signal is transmitted to the relay apparatus, the relay apparatus transmits, to the television set, the operation signal received from the remote control. 
         [0005]    On the other hand, in recent years, information of an operation signal transmitted from a remote control has been learned by a speaker apparatus, and the apparatus has also been operated in accordance with the operation signal from the remote control. In this case, a user can operate a plurality of apparatuses by using the single remote control. 
         [0006]    When a user listens to sounds of a television set by using a speaker apparatus such as the bar speaker provided separately from the television set, it is preferable that a sound level of the television set is reduced and the user mainly listens to sounds of the speaker apparatus. Suppose that the speaker apparatus relays a received operation signal and learns information of the operation signal from a remote control, and the apparatus is also operated in accordance with the operation signal as mentioned above. In that case, for example, when the user operates the remote control with the intention of increasing a sound level of the speaker apparatus, not only the sound level of the speaker apparatus but also the sound level of the television set is increased, thereby exerting an adverse influence on acoustic effects. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a speaker apparatus that prevents an adverse influence on acoustic effects even when the speaker apparatus relays an operation signal and the apparatus is also operated in accordance with the operation signal. 
         [0008]    In order to achieve the object, according to the invention, there is provided a speaker apparatus comprising: a speaker operable to emit a sound; a receiver operable to receive an operation signal for operating an external apparatus; a relay section; a storage operable to store correspondence between operation information and operation signals that includes a first operation signal and a second operation signal; and a controller: when the operation signal received by the receiver is the first operation signal, operable to cause the relay section to transmit the operation signal received by the receiver to the external apparatus, and operate the speaker apparatus in accordance with operation information that corresponds to the first operation signal; and when the operation signal received by the receiver is the second operation signal, operable to prevent the relay section from transmitting the operation signal received by the receiver to the external apparatus. 
         [0009]    The second operation signal may correspond to operation information for increasing a sound level. 
         [0010]    The second operation signal may correspond to operation information for canceling a quiet mode. 
         [0011]    When the second operation signal is received and then an operation signal is continuously received before a given period of time elapses, the controller may prevent the relay section from transmitting the continuously received operation signal. 
         [0012]    The controller may receive a learning mode and associate an operation signal, which is received during the learning mode, with operation information, which is received during the learning mode, to update the correspondence stored in the storage. 
         [0013]    The relay section may include a delay section operable to delay output of the received operation signal. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]      FIGS. 1A and 1B  are schematic diagrams illustrating how a speaker apparatus and a television set are placed. 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating components of the speaker apparatus. 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating operations of the speaker apparatus. 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating operations of the speaker apparatus according to an application of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating components of a speaker apparatus according to a variation of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0019]      FIGS. 1A and 1B  are schematic diagrams illustrating how a speaker apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a television set are placed.  FIG. 1A  is a perspective view, and  FIG. 1B  is a side view. A speaker apparatus  1  described in the present embodiment is a bar speaker having a rectangular parallelepiped housing  10  whose size is large in a lateral direction and small in a height direction. The speaker apparatus  1  is placed in front of a television set  2 . 
         [0020]    The television set  2  includes a light receiver  102  for receiving infrared rays (light signal) serving as an operation signal. The light receiver  102  receives infrared rays transmitted from a remote control  200  for the television set  2 . The light receiver  102  is provided at a panel located below a display screen  101  included in a housing  100 . Further, the housing  100  is provided at its lower right and left parts with a speaker  103 R and a speaker  103 L. The remote control  200  emits infrared rays corresponding to, for example, operation signals for turning ON/OFF the power of the television set  2 , and operation signals for increasing/reducing sound levels of the speakers  103 R and  103 L. In the present embodiment, since the speaker apparatus  1  is placed in front of the television set  2 , the light receiver  102  is blocked by the speaker apparatus  1 , and the light receiver  102  cannot directly receive the infrared rays from the remote control  200 . 
         [0021]    The speaker apparatus  1  includes a plurality of speakers (two speakers in the present embodiment), i.e., a speaker  11 R and a speaker  11 L, at a front face of the housing  10 . The speaker apparatus  1  is connected to the television set  2  via unillustrated wiring, thus receiving a sound signal from the television set  2  and emitting sounds of the television set  2  from the speakers  11 R and  11 L. 
         [0022]    At positions below an approximate center of the front face of the housing  10 , the speaker apparatus  1  includes two light receivers, i.e., light receivers  12  and  13 , for receiving infrared rays from the remote control  200 . The speaker apparatus  1  is placed so that a path between the light receiver  102  of the television set  2  and the remote control  200  is blocked; hence, when a user operates the remote control  200  while pointing the remote control  200  at the television set  2 , the light receivers  12  and  13  will receive infrared rays from the remote control  200 . 
         [0023]    The speaker apparatus  1  further includes a light emitter  20  at aback face of the housing  10 . Upon reception of infrared rays from the remote control  200  by the light receiver  12 , the speaker apparatus  1  outputs, from the light emitter  20 , the infrared rays received by the light receiver  12  (in other words, the infrared rays are passed through the speaker apparatus  1 ) as indicated by solid arrows in  FIG. 1B . As a result, the speaker apparatus  1  functions as a relay apparatus for relaying an operation signal from the remote control  200 . 
         [0024]    Moreover, the speaker apparatus  1  has a so-called “remote control learning function” in which upon reception of infrared rays from the remote control  200  by the light receiver  13 , the speaker apparatus  1  transmits the infrared rays to a microcontroller  52  (see  FIG. 2 ) of the speaker apparatus  1 , and the speaker apparatus  1  is also operated in accordance with an operation signal outputted from the remote control  200 . 
         [0025]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating components of the speaker apparatus  1  (concerning the relaying function and the remote control learning function). In addition to the light receivers  12  and  13  and the light emitter  20 , the speaker apparatus  1  includes the microcontroller  52 , a memory  53  and a pass-through circuit  55 . 
         [0026]    The memory  53  serves as a rewritable storage and stores, for example, an operation program for the microcontroller  52 , and a table in which correspondences between operation signals and operation information are provided. 
         [0027]    The microcontroller  52  reads the operation program from the memory  53  and expands the program into a RAM (not illustrated), thereby performing various operations. In the present embodiment, the microcontroller  52  receives an operation signal outputted from the remote control  200  and received by the light receiver  13 , makes reference to the above-mentioned table stored in the memory  53 , and allows the speaker apparatus  1  to execute an operation corresponding to the operation signal outputted from the remote control  200 . For example, a power ON/OFF operation signal from the remote control  200  and operation information thereof are provided in the table in the memory  53  so that the operation signal and the operation information are associated with each other; thus, when the power ON/OFF operation signal is received from the remote control  200 , the microcontroller  52  makes reference to the table, thus performing an operation for turning ON/OFF the power of the speaker apparatus  1 . 
         [0028]    The above-mentioned table is created upon designation of a learning mode by the user. Upon designation of a learning mode by the user, the microcontroller  52  associates an operation signal, which is subsequently received from the remote control  200 , with operation information thereof to update the information stored in the memory  53 , and thus learns the operation signal outputted from the remote control  200 . For example, an unillustrated power button provided at the housing is pressed and held, and thus the microcontroller  52  receives designation of a learning mode. Subsequently, for example, when the power button at the housing is pressed down, a power learning mode is established; then, upon reception of infrared rays by the light receiver  13 , the received operation signal is associated with a power ON/OFF operation, and the table in the memory  53  is updated. Thus, the microcontroller  52  learns the power ON/OFF operation signal emitted from the remote control  200 . Then, upon reception of the infrared rays corresponding to the power ON/OFF operation signal by the light receiver  13  during normal operation, the microcontroller  52  makes reference to the table in the memory  53  using the operation signal and performs an operation for turning ON/OFF the power of the apparatus. Note that in the speaker apparatus  1 , correspondences between operation signals, used for remote controls provided by various television set manufacturers, and operation information thereof may be registered in the table in advance. In that case, an operation for allowing the microcontroller  52  to learn an operation signal from the remote control  200  upon designation of a learning mode is not essential. 
         [0029]    On the other hand, the microcontroller  52  performs control to turn ON/OFF a switch of the pass-through circuit  55  serving as a switch circuit. 
         [0030]    The switch of the pass-through circuit  55  is turned ON in accordance with the control performed by the microcontroller  52 ; thus, an operation signal (infrared rays), outputted from the remote control  200  and received by the light receiver  12 , is passed through the pass-through circuit  55  to the light emitter  20 , and the infrared rays are relayed to the light receiver  102  of the television set  2 . 
         [0031]    As described above, the speaker apparatus  1  according to the present embodiment relays an operation signal, outputted from the remote control  200  and received by the light receiver  12 , to the television set  2 , and receives the operation signal by the light receiver  13  so that the speaker apparatus  1  is also operated in accordance with the received operation signal. For example, upon reception of the power ON/OFF operation signal, the speaker apparatus  1  and the television set  2  are operated as follows. When the speaker apparatus  1  and the television set  2  are in standby states, both of the speaker apparatus  1  and the television set  2  each make a transition to a power ON state upon reception of the power ON/OFF operation signal; on the other hand, when the speaker apparatus  1  and the television set  2  are in the power ON states, both of the speaker apparatus  1  and the television set  2  each perform a power OFF operation (or make a transition to the standby state) upon reception of the power ON/OFF operation signal. Thus, the power of the speaker apparatus  1  and the power of the television set  2  are allowed to be turned ON/OFF in conjunction with each other. 
         [0032]    In this embodiment, as for particular operation signals such as an operation signal for enabling/disabling a mute mode and an operation signal for increasing the sound level, the microcontroller  52  turns OFF the switch of the pass-through circuit  55 , thereby preventing the operation signals from being relayed. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the television set  2  is provided with the speakers  103 R and  103 L, and sounds of the television set  2  are also emitted from the speakers  103 R and  103 L. Accordingly, sounds emitted from the speakers  11 R and  11 L of the speaker apparatus  1  are mixed with sounds emitted from the speakers  103 R and  103 L of the television set  2 , thus creating an unfavorable situation in terms of acoustic effects. Therefore, in general, it is preferable that the sound level of the television set  2  is reduced and the user mainly listens to sounds of the speaker apparatus  1 . However, in a case where an operation signal received by the speaker apparatus  1  is relayed, information of an operation signal from the remote control  200  is learned, and the speaker apparatus  1  is also operated in accordance with the operation signal, the following problem might occur. For example, when the user operates the remote control  200  with the intention of increasing the sound level of the speaker apparatus  1 , not only the sound level of the speaker apparatus  1  but also the sound level of the television set  2  might be increased, thereby exerting an adverse influence on acoustic effects. Or in a case where the television set  2  is put in a mute mode and the user listens to only sounds of the speaker apparatus  1 , the following problem might occur. When the user operates the remote control  200  with the intention of putting the speaker apparatus  1  in a mute mode, the speaker apparatus  1  is put in the mute mode, but the mute mode of the television set  2  might be cancelled, so that sounds will be emitted from the television set  2 . 
         [0033]    To cope with the above problems, as for the particular operation signals such as an operation signal for enabling/disabling the mute mode and an operation signal for increasing the sound level, the microcontroller  52  turns OFF the switch of the pass-through circuit  55 , thereby preventing the operation signals from being relayed as mentioned above. As a result, unintentional increase in the sound level of the speaker apparatus  1  and cancellation of the mute mode are prevented, thus preventing an adverse influence on acoustic effects. 
         [0034]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating operations of the speaker apparatus  1  (microcontroller  52 ). Upon reception of infrared rays by the light receiver  13 , the microcontroller  52  performs the operations illustrated in the flow chart. 
         [0035]    First, the microcontroller  52  determines whether or not an infrared ray pass-through function is enabled (s 11 ). When the pass-through function is turned OFF by the user by using an operation section (not illustrated) provided at the housing of the speaker apparatus  1  or a dedicated remote control (not illustrated) of the speaker apparatus  1 , the microcontroller  52  turns OFF the switch of the pass-through circuit  55  to make settings so that an operation signal received by the light receiver  12  will not be relayed (s 15 ). 
         [0036]    On the other hand, upon determination that the pass-through function is enabled (i.e., upon determination that the pass-through function is turned ON by the user), the microcontroller  52  determines whether or not a learning function is enabled (s 12 ). When the learning function is turned OFF by the user by using the operation section (not illustrated) provided at the housing of the speaker apparatus  1  or the dedicated remote control (not illustrated) of the speaker apparatus  1  similarly to the above description, the microcontroller  52  turns ON the switch of the pass-through circuit  55  to make settings so that an operation signal received by the light receiver  12  will be relayed (s 14 ). In this case, only the relaying function of the speaker apparatus  1  is enabled; hence, even when the speaker apparatus  1  receives an operation signal from the remote control  200 , the speaker apparatus  1  does not perform an operation corresponding to the operation signal. 
         [0037]    Upon determination that the learning function is enabled, the microcontroller  52  makes reference to the table in the memory  53  using the operation signal received by the light receiver  13 , and determines whether or not the operation signal is a particular operation signal, e.g., whether or not the operation signal corresponds to an operation for increasing a sound level in this embodiment (s 13 ). When the received operation signal is not the particular operation signal, the microcontroller  52  turns ON the switch of the pass-through circuit  55  to make settings so that the operation signal received by the light receiver  12  will be relayed (s 14 ). 
         [0038]    On the other hand, upon determination that the received operation signal is the particular operation signal, the microcontroller  52  turns OFF the switch of the pass-through circuit  55  to make settings so that the operation signal received by the light receiver  12  will not be relayed (s 15 ). Thus, the relay of the operation signal is interrupted, thereby preventing increase in the sound level of the television set  2  and cancellation of the mute mode. 
         [0039]    Note that the microcontroller  52  performs a determination process in which reference is made to the memory  53 , for example; hence, it might take time to perform the determination process, and an operation signal might be transmitted from the light emitter  20  before the relay of the operation signal is interrupted. Further, in general, a particular operation such as an operation for increasing the sound level is often performed by pressing and holding a button of a remote control, and therefore, operation signals are often outputted in a continuous manner. In this case, when it is determined whether or not each of the operation signals, which are continuously received, is the particular operation signal, it might eventually be impossible to interrupt the relay of the operation signals. 
         [0040]    To cope with such problems, when the particular operation signal is once received, the microcontroller  52  preferably performs operations illustrated in  FIG. 4  (note that steps similar to those in  FIG. 3  are identified by the same reference characters and the description thereof will be omitted). In the operation flow of  FIG. 4 , upon determination that the learning function is enabled, the microcontroller  52  then performs the operation of s 21 . Specifically, until a given period of time elapses since a time at which the reception of the last particular operation signal has been determined, the microcontroller  52  turns OFF the switch of the pass-through circuit  55  without performing any determination process, and thus interrupts the relay (s 21 ). In other words, it is assumed that the same operation signals are continuously received until the given period of time elapses. The given period of time is set to a time (e.g., about 0.5 seconds) in which a different button is not pressed down by the user. 
         [0041]    As described above, when the particular operation signal is once received, the microcontroller  52  determines that the operation signals, continuously received before the lapse of the given period of time, are outputted by pressing and holding of a button of the remote control  200  by the user, and the microcontroller  52  interrupts the relay of the operation signals without making reference to the table in the storage, thus making it possible to prevent the relay of the particular operation signals. 
         [0042]    Note that although an example in which the light receiver  13  for remote control learning is provided separately from the light receiver  12  for the relaying function has been described in the present embodiment, only a single light receiver may be provided. When a single light receiver is provided in the block diagram of  FIG. 2 , infrared rays received by the light receiver may be inputted to the microcontroller  52  and the pass-through circuit  55  through branched paths. Alternatively, the microcontroller  52  may also perform functions of the pass-through circuit  55 . For example, the microcontroller  52  may regenerate an operation signal having the same encoded information as that of an operation signal of the remote control  200 , and may allow the light emitter  20  to emit the regenerated signal. Also in that case, the microcontroller  52  can implement functions similar to those of the pass-through circuit  55 . 
         [0043]    Note that in the present embodiment, a received operation signal is immediately passed through the pass-through circuit  55  when the switch of the pass-through circuit  55  is ON. However, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , which is a block diagram according to a variation of the present invention, the speaker apparatus  1  may include, in the pass-through circuit  55 , a buffer  551  for temporarily storing an operation signal to delay output of the operation signal, and the buffered operation signal may be prevented from being passed through the pass-through circuit  55  until a determination on whether or not the operation signal is the particular operation signal has been made by the microcontroller  52 . In that case, the relay of an operation signal is delayed, but an operation signal that should be interrupted can be interrupted with reliability. Furthermore, also when the microcontroller  52  regenerates an operation signal having the same encoded information as that of an operation signal of the remote control  200  and allows the light emitter  20  to emit the regenerated signal, the regeneration may be delayed until the determination is ended, thus making it possible to implement functions similar to those of the pass-through circuit  55 . 
         [0044]    According to an aspect of the invention, the particular operation signal such as an operation signal for increasing a sound level or an operation signal for canceling a quiet mode (i.e., canceling a mute state) is not relayed to the external apparatus. Thus, even when the external apparatus is a television set including a speaker, an unintentional increase in sound level of the television set will be prevented, thereby making it possible to prevent an adverse influence on acoustic effects. 
         [0045]    In general, a particular operation such as an operation for increasing the sound level is often performed by pressing and holding a button of a remote control, and therefore, operation signals are often outputted in a continuous manner. Since the controller is operated to determine whether or not there is information relevant to the particular operation signal by making reference to the storage, the operation signal might be relayed before transmission to a transmitter is stopped. In that case, when the controller determines whether or not each of the operation signals, which have been continuously received, is the particular operation signal, it might eventually be impossible to interrupt the relay of the operation signals. Therefore, in the invention, when reception of the particular operation signal is once determined, the relay of the operation signals, which are subsequently transmitted in a continuous manner, is stopped without making reference to the storage, thus making it possible to prevent the relay of the particular operation signal. 
         [0046]    Further, the storage may store correspondences between several operation signals and operation information in advance. Alternatively, the controller may receive a learning mode and associate an operation signal, received during the learning mode, with received operation information to update the information stored in the storage, thus allowing the speaker apparatus to be adaptable to any remote control. 
         [0047]    According to an aspect of the invention, even when the speaker apparatus relays an operation signal and the apparatus is also operated in accordance with the operation signal, the speaker apparatus is capable of preventing an adverse influence on acoustic effects.

Technology Category: 3