KR20000003677A - Touch pad typed remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control of an electronic device, and includes a touch pad 100, a system controller 200, a graphic processor 300, a storage unit 400, a transmitter 500, and a key input unit 100. Providing a pad type remote controller, the software can remotely control all the electronic devices that were implemented in hardware in the conventional remote controller, thereby improving the convenience and user convenience of the electronic devices and functions to be controlled remotely. There is.

Description

Touch pad type remote control

The present invention relates to a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller) of an electronic device, and more particularly, to a touch pad type remote controller suitable for a device that integrates and controls a plurality of different types of devices or has a complicated function control. will be.

As is well known, the remote control is a key input means configured to control a remotely located electronic device by transmitting a key signal corresponding to a user's key operation to the electronic device using an infrared light emitting diode.

Such remote controllers are being adopted in many electronic devices due to the convenience of remotely controlling a desired operation. In particular, the remote control, which is conventionally used only for limited electronic devices such as TV (Television) or VCR (Video Cassette Recoder), is gradually expanding its use range such as air conditioner, fan, and audio.

As described above, the remote controller is individually provided for each electronic device in accordance with the expansion of the electronic device using the remote control, so that the number of remote controllers that a user needs to manage increases, which makes it inconvenient to distinguish and manage the remote controller for each electronic device. In order to solve such a problem, an integrated remote controller capable of remotely controlling a plurality of electronic devices with a single remote controller has been developed and used.

On the other hand, the remote control, which previously supported only a simple function such as power on / off, volume control, channel change, play / stop, etc., has gradually expanded its supporting functions such as screen setting, reservation mode, pause, and volume reduction. Is in.

However, as described above, in order to configure a plurality of electronic devices to be remotely controlled by a single remote controller or to support a plurality of extended functions, the size of the remote controller is inevitable. That is, even though the function keys commonly used in the integrated electronic devices are used in common, the number of function keys included in the remote controller may increase due to the keys according to each unique function. To accommodate all, the size of the remote control is bound to grow. As the remote control becomes larger in size, the ease of portability, which is one of its advantages, is reduced.

In order to solve the above problems, a method of using a multilayer structure and a method of separating modes are currently used.

In other words, the multi-layer structure is a method in which the remote controller is configured in two stages of the upper and lower portions, and the function keys frequently used are arranged in the upper part, and the extended function keys are arranged in the lower part.

However, the method of using the multilayer structure in this way is limited in its expandability, and also has a lot of difficulties in making the instrument.

On the other hand, the method of separating modes is a method configured so that one function key performs a plurality of functions corresponding to each mode.

However, in this method of separating modes, since one function key describes a plurality of functions, the method of use is complicated, and it is troublesome to perform a plurality of key operations to perform one function.

In addition, since the above-described conventional remote controllers are provided with respective function keys mechanically, when adding a remote control function for a new electronic device or adding a function to an electronic device currently used, the conventional remote controller is a new electronic device. There is a problem that cannot be supported for the addition or addition of.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a touch pad type remote controller which can implement a function key necessary for controlling a plurality of electronic devices in software using a touch pad.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a remote control for remotely controlling a function supported in each of a plurality of electronic devices, the selection screen having a plurality of function keys corresponding to the function, respectively, A touch pad configured to sense whether there is a physical contact on the selection screen, and generate coordinate data corresponding to the detected portion when a physical contact is detected from the outside; A storage unit configured to store image data and coordinate data of each function key displayed on the touch pad, and a key code corresponding to each of the coordinate data; A graphic processor configured to reconstruct the image data into a selection screen based on the coordinate data and provide the image data to the touch pad; A transmitter for converting the key code into a wireless key signal that can be received by the electronic device and transmitting the key code; When the coordinate data is generated in the touch pad, a key code corresponding to the coordinate data is searched. If the searched key code is a key code for requesting a new selection screen, the video screen and coordinate data corresponding to the key code are retrieved. The graphics processor to control the graphics processor to reconfigure the selection screen corresponding to the data, and to transmit a radio signal corresponding to the key code if the searched key code is a function key code for controlling the electronic device. A control unit for generating a transmission control signal; It provides a touch pad type remote control comprising a.

1 is a block diagram of a touch pad type remote controller according to the present invention;

2 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a main selection screen shown on a touch pad according to one embodiment of the present invention;

3 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a sub-selection screen shown in a touch pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

100: touch pad 110: liquid crystal display device

120: contact position detection unit 130: digitizer

200: system control unit 300: graphic processing unit

400: storage unit 500: delivery unit

600: key input unit

Hereinafter, a touch pad remote controller according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying FIG. 1.

1 is a block diagram of a touch pad type remote controller according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the touch pad type remote controller according to the present invention includes a touch pad 100, a system controller 200, a graphic processor 300, It is composed of a storage unit 400, a sending unit 500 and a key input unit 600, the function of each member is as follows.

First, the touch pad 100 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) 110 for displaying a selection screen, and a touch position detecting unit 120 for detecting physical contact positions from the outside using analog coordinates. It consists of a digitizer for converting analog coordinates into digital signals. In the touch pad 100 configured as described above, a predetermined selection screen is displayed on the liquid crystal display 110 based on data on the selection screen provided from the graphic processor 300 to be described later, and the user displays the liquid crystal with a pen or a finger. When the physical contact with a predetermined position among the selected screen displayed on the device 100, the contact position detection unit 120 detects the physical contact from the outside as an analog signal, such as xy coordinates, and provides it to the digitizer 130, The provided analog signal is converted into an analog signal by the digitizer 130 and provided to the system controller 200 to be described later. At this time, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, in order to broaden the selection range of the selection means for physically contacting the function keys displayed on the touch pad and selecting a predetermined function key, an overlay digitizer called 'direct contact resistance digitizer' or ' It would be more desirable to use an underlay digitizer called 'transparent resistance digitizer'.

The system controller 200 controls the overall operation of the touch pad type remote controller based on the digital signal provided from the digitizer 300 provided in the key input unit 100 or the touch pad 200, which will be described later. The digital signal provided from 100, that is, a key code corresponding to the coordinate information of the contact position is retrieved from the storage unit 400 described later. If the searched key code is a key signal for requesting a new selection screen, the image data and coordinate data for the new selection screen are extracted and provided to the graphic processing unit 300 to be described later. The graphic processor 300 is controlled to reconstruct the image data into the selection screen. On the other hand, if the found key code is a key signal for controlling the electronic device, the transmitter 500 to be described later is controlled to transmit a wireless key signal corresponding to the found key code.

The graphic processing unit 300 reconfigures the image data provided from the system control unit 200 to match the coordinate data provided by the system control unit 200 based on the system control unit 200, and configures the selection screen. Data is displayed on the LCD 110 of the touch pad 100. In this case, the selection screen includes a plurality of function keys for controlling the functions of all electronic devices remotely controlled by the touch pad type remote controller, and when the user makes physical contact with a predetermined portion of the touch pad 100, In order to perform a predetermined function accordingly, the position of each function key disposed in the selection screen must exactly match the coordinate data provided from the system controller 200.

In the storage unit 400, image data and coordinate data of each function key for display on the touch pad 100, and key codes corresponding to each of the coordinate data are preset and stored. In this case, since each key code uses a unique key code for each company manufacturing the electronic device, a unique code of each electronic device to be remotely controlled should be set in the first stage of using the remote controller. On the other hand, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, by using the storage unit 400 as a plurality of memory cards individually corresponding to each electronic device, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of initially setting the unique code of each electronic device, Whenever the electronic device to be remotely controlled is added, the memory card containing the unique code of the electronic device may be easily expanded. In this case, each memory card may store not only a unique code but also image data indicating a function key of a corresponding electronic device and a key code of the function key. Meanwhile, in another embodiment of the present invention, another electronic device or another function key may also be used by a method of adding only data of each code to the storage unit 400 by an upgrade method commonly used in a computer or a mobile communication terminal. It will be easily extensible.

The transmitter 500 is used in a conventional remote controller, and converts the key code extracted from the storage unit 400 into a wireless key signal that can be received by an electronic device under the control of the system controller 200 and transmits the same.

The key input unit 600 includes an on / off key, and generates an on / off key signal corresponding to a user's key operation, and provides the generated key signal to the system controller 200.

Hereinafter, an operation process of the touch pad type remote controller including each component member that performs the above function will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In this case, the key code stored in the storage unit will be described as an example of a state in which a unique code of each electronic device to be remotely controlled in the initial setting step is set or a memory card corresponding to each electronic device is used as the storage unit.

2 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a main selection screen shown on a touch pad according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a sub selection screen shown on a touch pad according to an embodiment of the present invention. to be.

First, when a user manipulates a power on key provided in the key input unit 100, the key input unit 100 provides a power on key signal corresponding to the power on key to the system controller 200.

The system controller 200 receiving the power-on key signal from the key input unit 100 controls the power supply unit (not shown, for example, a battery) to apply main power to each component of the pad touch type remote controller. Do it. At this time, the system control unit 200 will be always powered. In addition, the graphic processor 300 is controlled to provide the touch pad 100 with data about a previously selected previously selected screen or a preset initial screen, and the graphic processor 300 is controlled by the system controller 200. By providing data about the previously selected previously stored screen or the preset initial screen to the liquid crystal display device 110 provided in the touch pad 100, a predetermined selection screen will be displayed on the liquid crystal display screen. For example, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a main screen including electronic devices to be controlled will be initially displayed.

At this time, a predetermined key among the function keys illustrated in the main screen illustrated in FIG. 2, for example, an audio key, is touched with a pen or a finger. In this case, the touch position detecting unit 120 detects the coordinates of the portion where the pen or the finger is in contact, that is, the portion where the audio key is displayed, and provides the detected coordinates to the digitizer 130 as an analog signal, and the digitizer ( 130 converts the analog coordinates provided from the contact position detecting unit 120 to digital coordinates and provides them to the system control unit 200.

The system controller 200 retrieves a key code corresponding to the digital coordinates provided from the digitizer 130 provided in the touch pad 100 from the storage 400. In this case, the key code may be a key signal for requesting a selection screen for audio. As such, when the key code retrieved from the storage unit 400 is a key signal for requesting a new selection screen, the system controller 200 again outputs an image of the corresponding selection screen from the storage unit 400, that is, the selection screen for audio. The data and coordinate data are extracted and the extracted data is provided to the graphic processing unit 300. Also, the graphic processor 300 is controlled to match the extracted image data with the coordinate data to reconstruct a predetermined selection screen.

The graphic processor 300 reconstructs the image data provided from the system controller 200 into a new selection screen by matching the coordinate data under control of the system controller 200, and reconstructs the data for the reconstructed selection screen into touch pads. By providing to the liquid crystal display device 110 included in the 100, the liquid crystal display device 110 displays a selection screen as shown in FIG. 3, that is, a sub screen for audio.

Subsequently, when a predetermined digital coordinate, for example, a digital coordinate for a cassette mode selection key is applied to the system controller 200 by the same process as the above-described audio key selection process, when applied to the system controller 200, The system controller 200 retrieves a key code corresponding to the applied digital coordinates from the storage 400. In this case, since the key code retrieved from the storage unit 400 is a key signal for controlling the audio in the cassette mode, the system controller 200 controls the key code retrieved from the storage unit 400, that is, the audio in the cassette mode. The transmitting unit 500 is controlled to transmit a key code for transmitting the wireless key signal.

The transmitter 500 converts and transmits a key code for controlling the audio to a cassette mode under the control of the system controller 200 into a wireless key signal that can be received by an audio receiver (not shown).

According to the present invention described above, by implementing the function keys of the various electronic devices to be remotely controlled using the touch pad in software, even a small remote control can be remotely controlled according to the storage capacity of the storage unit 400 Functions can be expanded in various ways and conveniently, and additional control of electronic devices is easy, and remote control of all electronic devices can be implemented in software without changing mechanically. That is, compared with the conventional remote control, the scalability and convenience are enhanced.

Claims (4)

In the present invention, in the remote control for remotely controlling the functions supported by each of the plurality of electronic devices, Displays a selection screen having a plurality of function keys respectively corresponding to the function, detects whether there is a physical contact on the selection screen from the outside, and, if a physical contact is detected from the outside, coordinate data corresponding to the detected portion Generating a touch pad; A storage unit configured to store image data and coordinate data of each function key displayed on the touch pad, and a key code corresponding to each of the coordinate data; A graphic processor configured to reconstruct the image data into a selection screen based on the coordinate data and provide the image data to the touch pad; A transmitter for converting the key code into a wireless key signal that can be received by the electronic device and transmitting the key code; When the coordinate data is generated in the touch pad, a key code corresponding to the coordinate data is searched. If the searched key code is a key code for requesting a new selection screen, the video screen and coordinate data corresponding to the key code are retrieved. The graphics processor to control the graphics processor to reconfigure the selection screen corresponding to the data, and to transmit a radio signal corresponding to the key code if the searched key code is a function key code for controlling the electronic device. Touch pad type remote control including a control unit for generating a transmission control signal. The touch pad of claim 1, wherein the touch pad includes a liquid crystal display for displaying the selection screen, a touch position sensing unit for sensing a contact position from the outside with analog coordinates, and a digital signal for the analog coordinates detected by the touch sensing unit. Touchpad type remote control, characterized in that consisting of a digitizer (digitizer) to convert to. The touch pad type remote controller of claim 2, wherein the digitizer is an underlay and an overlay digitizer. The touch pad type remote controller according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the storage unit is a plurality of memory cards that individually correspond to respective electronic devices.