JP2961894B2 - Sound equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cassette tape recorder having a muting function, a CD player, and a DA.
It relates to an acoustic device such as T.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a function of lowering a volume level by a predetermined amount, for example, 20 dB, by pressing a muting button, such as a cassette tape recorder for a vehicle,
Some have a so-called muting function. When the muting state is entered by pressing the muting button, characters such as "MUTE" are displayed on a display device constituted by, for example, a liquid crystal display element, so that the user can visually recognize that the user is in the muting state. There is something to inform.

[0003]

Generally, a display device includes:
At the same time as "MUTE" is displayed, "R" indicating repeat performance is displayed.
EPEAT], "INTRO" indicating intro performance, etc.
Other function displays are also performed. In this case, there is no particular difference between the display of "MUTE" and the display of the other functions, and there is a disadvantage that it is difficult for the user to recognize that the user is in the muting state.

In view of the above, the present invention proposes an audio device that allows a user to easily visually recognize that the user is in a muting state.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a volume increase key, a volume decrease key, and a muting key are provided, and a volume level set by operating the volume increase key and the volume decrease key is determined according to the number of display. A sound device provided with a volume level display unit in which a plurality of display segments are arranged, wherein when a muting key is operated, a set volume level is reduced by a predetermined amount to a muting state. Controls the whole or part of the display segment to blink without changing the number of display segments on the display unit, and when the volume increase key is operated in the muting state, the muting state and the blinking state of the display segment And set the volume level according to the operation of the volume increase key, and display the display segment. There is one having a controller for controlling such that the number corresponding to the volume level is the setting.

[0006]

When the device is in the muting state, the volume level of the display blinks. "M" confusing with other function displays
Since the display is not a character display such as "UTE" and also serves as a volume level display relating to the volume level, the muting state is visually emphasized, and the user can easily recognize it. Further, when the volume increase key is operated in the muting state, the muting state and the blinking state of the volume level of the display are released, and the volume level is set according to the operation of the volume increase key and the set level is set. A volume level display corresponding to the volume level is performed. Therefore, there is no need to perform an operation of releasing the muting state by using the muting key before increasing the volume level by operating the volume increase key, and the operation of the user can be simplified.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this example. This example uses FM / AM tuner, CD
This is an example in which a (compact disk) player unit and a DAT (Digital Audio Tape Recorder) unit are provided, for example, applied to a vehicle-mounted acoustic device. In FIG. 1, 1 is an FM / AM tuner section, 2 is a CD player section, 3
Is a DAT unit.

The operations of the FM / AM tuner 1, CD player 2 and DAT 3 are controlled by a controller 4 having a microcomputer. An operation unit 5 having various operation buttons is connected to the controller 4.

FIG. 2 shows a front panel 1 of the acoustic device of this embodiment.
00, various operation buttons are provided. 101 is FM / AM (radio input / band switching)
Button. By pressing the FM / AM button 101, the FM / AM tuner 1 can be set to the receiving state,
Pressing repeatedly can switch between FM band and AM band. Reference numeral 102 denotes a CD (CD play / pause) button. By pressing the CD button 102, the CD player unit 2 can be set to a playing state, and by repeatedly pressing the button, the playing state and the pause state can be alternately switched. 103 is DAT (DAT playback /
Pause) button. By pressing the DAT button 103, the DAT unit 3 can be set to the reproduction state, and by repeatedly pressing the DAT button 103, the reproduction state and the pause state can be alternately switched. 10
Reference numeral 4 denotes an off (power off) button.
By pressing 4, the reception in the FM / AM tuner 1, the performance in the CD player 2, or the reproduction in the DAT 3 can be stopped.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a DAT cassette eject button. By pressing the eject button 105,
The DAT cassette can be taken out from the DAT cassette insertion slot 106. 107 is an FM / AM tuner unit 1,
This is an operation button unit whose operation content differs depending on which of the CD player unit 2 and the DAT unit 3 is in the operation state (the operation content is omitted in each button in the figure). For example, when the FM / AM tuner unit 1 is operating, a tuning operation or the like can be performed. When the CD player unit 2 or the DAT unit 3 is operating, an operation such as an intro performance or a repeat performance can be performed. Can do it.

Reference numeral 108 denotes an adjustment content selection button. By repeatedly pressing the selection button 108,
Plus "+" button 109 and minus "-" button 11
The content to be adjusted with 0 can be selected. For example,
Volume, bass and treble sound quality can be selected. 11
Reference numeral 1 denotes a muting button. By pressing the muting button 111, a volume level output from a speaker described later can be reduced by a predetermined amount, for example, 20 dB. However, in the muting state (volume level lowered state), the muting state can be released by pressing the muting button 111 again. A display unit 112 displays various operations and functions.

Returning to FIG. 1, the FM / AM tuner unit 1
The audio signal output from the CD player unit 2 or the DAT unit 3 is supplied to a volume control circuit 7 after being amplified by an amplifier 6. The operation of the volume control circuit 7 is controlled by the controller 4. That is, when the volume is selected by the adjustment content selection button 108 shown in FIG. 2 and the “+” button or the “−” button is pressed, the controller 4
Controls the volume control circuit 7 so that the volume level is increased or decreased, respectively.

The muting button 1 shown in FIG.
When 11 is pressed and muted,
The volume control circuit 7 is controlled by the controller 4 to lower the volume level by a predetermined amount, for example, 20 dB. When the above-described volume adjustment is performed in the muting state, when the volume level is adjusted in a lower direction, the adjustment is performed in the muting state, and when the volume level is adjusted in a higher direction, the adjustment is automatically performed. The muting state is released and adjusted.

The audio signal output from the volume control circuit 7 is amplified by the power amplifier 8 and supplied to the speaker 9, and the speaker 9 outputs the audio at the level adjusted by the volume control circuit 7.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a display device constituted by, for example, a liquid crystal display element. The display 11 provides a display according to the operating state of the FM / AM tuner 1, CD player 2, or DAT 3. The display on the display 11 is performed by controlling the display driver 10 by the controller 4. The display 11 is provided on a display 112 of the front panel 100 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a display example on the display unit 11. This example is for when the DAT unit 3 is in the reproducing state. In the figure, 11a is a display of a program number (PGM No.) which is a music number in the DAT cassette, and 11b is a display of a program time (PGM TIME) which is an elapsed time of the music being reproduced. Also,
The “START ID” of 11c indicates that the DAT unit 3 has detected the start ID indicating the beginning of the song, and 11d
“48K” indicates that the sampling frequency at the time of recording is 48 KHz, and the mark of 11e indicates that reproduction is being performed.

Reference numeral 11f denotes a bar (volume bar) indicating the volume level, which is displayed in a length proportional to the volume level. FIG. 3A shows a non-muting state, and the volume bar 11b is displayed in a non-flashing state. On the other hand, in the muting state, the entire volume bar 11f is displayed in a blinking state (shown in FIG. 3B). The length of the volume bar 11f is maintained equal to the length before the muting state.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when in the muting state, the volume bar 11f displayed on the display 11 is made to blink, thereby indicating that the apparatus is in the muting state. The volume bar 11f is not a character display such as "MUTE" but has a difference from other similar function displays and is a display related to the volume level.
Blinking indicates that a muting state for forcibly lowering the volume level is visually emphasized and has an advantage that the user can easily recognize it.

Further, since the volume bar 11f is blinked, that is, the volume bar 11f is also used to indicate that it is in the muting state, a segment dedicated to displaying the character "MUTE" is displayed as in the prior art. It is no longer necessary to provide the segment in the display 11. This allows the reduced segment to be allocated to another display, or the cost can be reduced by reducing the number of segments.

In the above embodiment, the volume level is indicated by the volume bar 11f. However, the shape of the volume level is not limited to this. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the entire volume bar 11f blinks, but the same operation and effect can be obtained by blinking only a part thereof. Further, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and can be similarly applied to an audio device having a display for displaying at least a volume level and having a muting function.

[0021]

According to the present invention, the volume level display of the display is flickered when in the muting state, and is different from other similar function displays instead of character display such as "MUTE". And the display is also used as a volume level display related to the volume level, so that the muting state forcibly lowering the volume level is visually highlighted to facilitate user recognition. There are advantages that can be done. Further, according to the present invention, since the volume level display is also used for the display of the muting state, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated segment for displaying the muting state on the display, and the reduced segment is allocated to another display. Cost can be reduced by reducing the number of segments. According to the present invention, when the volume increase key is operated in the muting state, the blinking state of the muting state and the volume level of the display is released, and the volume level is set to the volume level according to the operation of the volume increase key. And a volume level display corresponding to the set volume level is performed. Therefore, there is no need to perform an operation of releasing the muting state by using the muting key before increasing the volume level by operating the volume increase key, and the operation of the user can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a block configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram in which the appearance of a front panel is partially omitted.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a display device.

[Description of Signs] 1 FM / AM tuner section 2 CD player section 3 DAT section 4 Controller 5 Operation section 7 Volume control circuit 9 Speaker 11 Display 11f Volume bar 100 Front panel section 111 Muting button 112 Display section

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display apparatus comprising a volume increase key, a volume decrease key, and a muting key, and a plurality of display segments each representing a volume level set by operating the volume increase key and the volume decrease key by the number of display segments. A sound device comprising a volume level display unit comprising: a muting state for lowering the set volume level by a predetermined amount when the muting key is operated; Controlling the whole or a part of the display segment to blink without changing the display number of the display segment, and when the volume increase key is operated in the muting state, the muting state and the blinking of the display segment Release the status and set the volume level according to the operation of the volume increase key, and Sound apparatus displaying the number of segments and having a controller for controlling such that the number corresponding to the volume level is the setting.