HK1081341A - Remotely controlling sound system in enclosure - Google Patents

Description

Remote control of sound system in enclosure

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to remote controlled sound reproduction and, more particularly, to apparatus and techniques for remotely controlling a sound system in an enclosure that includes at least a radio and also a CD player, the enclosure preferably not including all manual selectors and at least not including volume control selectors, tuning selectors, CD play/pause selectors, and CD track selectors.

Background

For background purposes, the commercially available Bose * Wave * radio/CD is incorporated herein by reference.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the present invention, a sound reproducer has a base enclosure including left and right speakers and a radio. The base closure does not include at least manually selectable controls (controls) for volume and station tuning. Embodiments that also have a CD player in the base enclosure also do not include at least manually selectable play/pause controls, stop/eject controls, and track controls. There is a remote control, typically an infrared remote control, having all manually selectable controls for controlling the sound played back by the base enclosure. Preferably, the base closure does not include all manually selectable controls.

Drawings

Various other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a commercially available Bose * Wave * radio/CD;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a radio/CD that does not include all of the manually selectable controls according to the present invention;

fig. 3 is a plan view of a remote control for remotely controlling the functions used by the radio/CD of fig. 2.

Detailed Description

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of a commercially available Bose * Wave * radio/CD that includes a base enclosure 11 having a clock radio and CD player, and left and right speakers behind a front grill 11F. On the top plate 11T there are a plurality of manually selectable controls 11C, which are duplicated on the remote control 12.

Referring to fig. 2, there is shown a perspective view of a clock radio/CD base closure 13 according to the present invention, which does not include manually selectable controls at all. This embodiment also includes a CD player having a slot 13S on the front panel 13F for accepting and ejecting a CD. Behind the front grille 13F are left and right loudspeakers, preferably comprising an acoustic waveguide loudspeaker system.

Referring to fig. 3, there is shown a plan view of a remote control for controlling the radio/CD of fig. 2. The remote control 14 includes 26 pressure-sensitive switches labeled according to respective functions. The play mode is used to select the shuffle and repeat CD play mode. The alarm On/Off switch is used to turn On or Off the alarm. The wake-up switch sets the broadcast radio or CD as an alarm. When the alarm time switch is pressed once, the alarm time setting mode is entered; when the alarm time switch is pressed for at least one second, the system setup menu is entered. The time-sum time + switch sets the clock time and sets the alarm time in the alarm set mode. The search switch looks for the next broadcast station with a strong signal.

The tune/track switch jumps to the next/previous stored radio frequency or to the next/previous CD track. The play/pause switch plays the CD or pauses a playing CD. Stopping the playing CD when the stop/eject switch is pressed once; when pressed again, the stopped CD is ejected. The pre-conditioner stores radio stations for quick recovery when pressed and held after storage, and recovers stored radio locations when pressed. Muting an audible sound (audio) when the mute switch is pressed; and when the mute switch is pressed again, the audible sound is restored. The FM/AM switch turns the radio on and switches between FM and AM when pressed again. The CD switch turns on the CD player. When the AUX switch is pressed, a sound from an external source (external source) can be heard. The On/Off switch turns the power On or Off and stops the sounding alarm. The sleep switch sleeps the sounding alarm and sets the unit to automatically switch off after a predetermined number of minutes.

The invention is embodied in Bose * Wave * radio/CD II, which is commercially available at the end of the filing date of this application.

It is an important object of the present invention to encourage a radio/CD user to listen to the sound reproduction system at a location which is at a distance from the base enclosure and at which it is believed that the received sound quality is superior to that received when the user is in close proximity to the base enclosure.

It is apparent that those skilled in the art may now make numerous uses and modifications of, and departures from, the apparatus and techniques disclosed herein without departing from the inventive concepts. The invention accordingly is to be construed as embracing each and every novel feature and novel combination of features shown and described in connection with the apparatus and techniques disclosed herein and limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims (5)

1. A sound reproduction system having at least a remote radio and left and right speakers in a base enclosure, the sound reproduction system comprising:

a remote control having at least manually selectable controls constructed and arranged to control volume and radio tuning,

the base enclosure does not include at least manually selectable controls constructed and arranged to control volume and tuning.

2. A sound reproduction system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base enclosure does not include all manually selectable controls,

and the remote control includes all manually selectable controls constructed and arranged to control all manually controllable parameters of the radio.

3. A sound reproduction system as defined in claim 1, wherein the base enclosure further includes a CD player and the remote control further includes at least manually selectable controls constructed and arranged to control play/pause and stop/eject of the CD player, the base enclosure not including manually selectable controls constructed and arranged for play/pause and stop/eject control.

4. A sound reproduction system as defined in claim 3, wherein the base enclosure does not include all manually selectable controls, and the remote control includes manually selectable controls constructed and arranged to also operate all functions of the CD player.

5. Each feature shown or described in the devices and techniques disclosed herein, and novel combinations of such features.