JPH0351275B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Technical Field The present invention relates to a dimming control device that controls the brightness of lighting equipment for stages, television studios, etc. This invention relates to a dimming control device using a crossfade method that automatically and smoothly changes the light when changing to a different scene.

Background technology Conventionally, on stage or in a TV studio, lights were changed manually from one scene to the next using a manual crossfade. This operation is performed as shown in Figure 10, when the light level of the current scene changes from 80% to the next scene's light level of 20%, by operating the crossfader, the light of the current scene changes as shown by reference mark l1. The light in the next scene changes as shown by reference numeral 12. By adding them, the light level of the current scene is changed from 80% to the light level of the next scene as shown in reference mark l3.
This allows for smooth changes to 20%. Referring to FIG. 11, the crossfader A is
Each fader level is scaled in reverse,
When feeder A1 is 100%, feeder A2 is 0%, and when feeder A1 is 0, feeder A2 is
It is 100%. For example, if you move the operation knobs B1 and B2 of cross fader A from the top to the bottom in Figure 11, the fader level of fader A1 will decrease from 100% to 0%, and the fader level of fader A2 will decrease from 0% to 100%. go up to Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, the preset faders 1a to 1a under the fader A1
The fader level of 1d is the product of the individual fader level and the fader level of the fader A1, and the fader levels of the preset faders 2a to 2d under the fader A2 are also the same.
This is the product value of each fader level and the fader level of fader A2. Therefore, each operation knob B1, B2 of crossfader A (Fig. 11)
is at the top, preset fader 1a
If the level of only ~1d is output, and if the operation knobs B1 and B2 are at the bottom, then the level of only the preset faders 2a to 2d will be output, and if the operation knobs B1 and B2 are in the middle, , each added level of the multiplied levels is output.

Conventionally, the manual crossfade method as described above has been the basic method, but in response to the demand for further automation of this crossfade operation, an automatic crossfade device 3 as shown in FIG. 12, for example, has been devised. That is, the pulse output from the clock generator 4 is applied to the motor control unit 5, which rotates the gear 7 that drives the pulse motor 6, and angularly displaces the gear 8 meshing with the gear 7 around the axis to automatically move the crossfader A. It is what drives it. However, such a crossfade method has disadvantages in that the motor drive unit is large and costly, and the crossfade level output and crossfade time for driving the pulse motor 6 are inaccurate.

Therefore, an automatic crossfade device 9 as shown in FIG. 13 has been devised in which manual operation and automatic operation are completely separated. That is, the crossfade A and the timer counter 10 which derives a signal representing the illumination level as time passes are switched by switches S1 and S2. Such a crossfade method has a drawback that the position of the crossfade A does not necessarily match the actual illumination level.

Purpose An object of the present invention is to accurately set the crossfade time during automatic crossfade, set the illumination level to be reached at the time of the crossfade to a desired value, and to It is an object of the present invention to provide a dimming control device having an automatic crossfade function that can be operated with a sense of operation.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is an electrical circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the operating section 12. This dimming control device 13 basically includes a plurality of illumination lights L.
1, L2, ..., Ln and a pair of operation knobs 14,
15, and when the operation knobs 14 and 15 are simultaneously moved in one direction, each fader F1 and F
a crossfade 16 that derives a signal in which the illumination level of each scene increases or decreases in opposite directions;
Preset fader PA1~PAn;PB that sets the illumination level of illumination lights L1~Ln for each scene.
1 to PBn, a dimming control means 20 provided for each of the first and second scenes, which increases or decreases the illumination level in opposite directions at a predetermined rate of time elapsed as time passes, and an illumination light L1 using a crossfade 16. ~
The lighting lamp L is set at the smaller lighting level of the lighting level of Ln and the lighting level of the dimming control means 20.
1~Central processing circuit 1 as means for energizing Ln
7. The outputs of the crossfade 16 and preset faders PA1-PAn; PB1-PBn are applied to an analog/digital conversion circuit 21, and via a line 22 to a central processing circuit 17 realized by a microcomputer or the like.
The light is also supplied to the dimming control means 20 via a line 23. The dimming control means 20 includes a time setting counter 25 to which a clock pulse from a clock generation circuit 24 is input, and dimming control counters C1 and C.
It consists of 2. Line 23 is connected to digital/analog conversion circuit 27 via branch line 26 . The dimming signal from the digital/analog conversion circuit 27 is individually input to the dimmer 28, and the dimmer 28 controls the energization angle of the illumination lights L1 to Ln.

The operation section 12 of the present dimming control device 13 includes a second
As shown in the figure, the operating knobs 14 and 15 of the crossfader 16 are mounted so as to be movable vertically, and scales 29 and 30 are displayed in reverse on the sides thereof, and Light emitting diode (LED) rows 31 and 32 are provided, respectively, for monitoring the progress of the automatic crossfade. Above the operation knobs 14 and 15, a manual/automatic switching push button 33 and time setting push buttons 34 to 37 are provided. When the time setting push buttons 34 to 37 are selectively pressed, the times set by these push buttons 34 to 37 are, for example, 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 7 seconds, and 10 seconds. This time is displayed on the display section 38.

The time setting counter 25 constituting the dimming control means 20 is a kind of frequency divider and is connected to the central processing circuit 1.
7, the clock pulse from the clock generation circuit 24 is divided by the set frequency division ratio, and the dimming control counter C1 is counted up or down. The dimming control counter C2 is counted down or counted up. The dimming signals from the dimming control counters C1 and C2 are sent to the central processing circuit 17.
is input, and the calculation shown by the first equation is performed.

Pi=C1a×PAi+C2a×PBi……(1) (i=1, 2, 3,…, n) Here, PAi represents the level of the i-th preset fader under crossfader F1, and PBi is under the crossfader F2
Represents the level of the th preset fader. Further, C1a represents the level of the cross fader F1, and C2a represents the level of the cross fader F2. In this way, the lighting lamp L1~ shown by the first equation
In the following explanation, the calculation for calculating each illumination level of Ln will be simplified and abbreviated as cross calculation.

The operation of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Fader F1, F
Assume that the operation knobs 14 and 15 of No. 2 are both at the lowest position in FIG. 2 and are moved toward the highest position in FIG. During manual operation, first press the manual/automatic switching push button 33 to switch the crossfade operation to manual. At this time, the process moves from step S2 to step S3, and if a flag indicating manual operation is set, for example, logic "1," the process moves from step S7 to step S12. Thereafter, the process moves to step S13, where the level of the fader F1 is entered into the dimming control counter C1, and the level of the fader F2 is entered into the dimming control counter C2. At this time, time is not displayed on the display section 38. Central processing circuit 1
7 is analog/digital converted fader F
When the levels of 1 and F2 are read, they are taken in as they are as cross fader levels, and the process moves from step S13 to step S20, where subsequent cross calculations are executed.

Next, during automatic operation, first press button 3 for time setting.
Select one from 4 to 37 and press. step
Proceeding to S4, for example, when the time setting push button 34 is selected and the fade time is 3 seconds, the display section 38 displays "3". 100% Faeda F1
Assuming that the output data of the analog/digital conversion circuit 21 becomes "100" in the state of
The value n shown by the second and third equations is set.

3/0.1ms×n=100 counts/s……(2) n=3×10 ⁴ /100=300 counts……(3) If the time setting push button 34 is not pressed in step S4, step Move on to S5. Step S5
In this case, when the time setting push button 35 is pressed to set the fade time to 5 seconds, from the third equation above,
“500” is set in the time setting counter 25.
If the time setting push button 35 is not pressed, the process moves to step S10. In step S10, when the time setting push button 36 is pressed to set a fade time of 7 seconds, "700" is placed in the time setting counter 25. If the time setting push button 36 is not pressed, the process moves to step S11. When the time setting push button 37 is pressed to set a fade time of 10 seconds in step S11, "1000" is placed in the time setting counter 25.

On the other hand, the clock generation circuit 24 sends the clock pulse shown in FIG. 4 to the time setting counter 25.
give to This clock pulse is, for example, 0.1
It has a period of ms. Time setting counter 25
divides the clock pulse by a predetermined frequency division ratio in steps S8 to S11, and when the time setting counter 25 is set to, for example, "300", the clock pulse is divided as shown in FIG.
Derive a clock pulse with a period of 0.30 seconds. This means that the time setting counter 25 is
This means that each illumination level of the dimming control counters C1 and C2 is increased or decreased by one step every 300 clock pulses. In this way, the illumination level of the current scene can be changed from the 0th stage (the darkest state) to the 100th stage (the brightest state) at the time set in any one of steps S8 to S11.

In steps S8 to S11, when a count value, for example, "300" is set in the time setting counter 25, the process moves from step S12 to step S14, and when the operation knobs 14 and 15 are at the lowest position in FIG. , the time setting counter C1 corresponding to the fader F1 counts up one step at a time from the 0th step for each value set in the dimming control counter 25. Further, the dimming control counter C2 corresponding to the fader F2 counts down to the 100th step for each value set in the time setting counter 25, or one step each time it receives an output pulse from the time setting counter 25. To go.

Next, the process moves to step S15, and the central processing circuit 17 reads the count values of the dimming control counters C1 and C2. For example, if the operator selects time t0 in Figure 5,
If you quickly operate the operation knob 14 of the fader F1 and move it to, for example, scale 5 (the 50th step), the analog/
The output data after digital conversion becomes "50" instantly, but since the dimming control counter C1 counts pulses every 30.0 msec, the line in Figure 5 is As shown by l4, it never exceeds "50".

Proceeding to step S16, it is determined whether the following formula 4 holds true for each fader level of the fader F1 and the dimming control counter C1.

F1≧C1……(4) When it is determined that this holds true, the process moves to step S18. If it is determined that this is not true, proceed to step S17.
Then, the smaller value, F1, is stored in the dimming control counter C1.

In step S18, it is determined whether the following formula 5 holds true for each fader level of the fader F2 and the dimming control counter C2.

F2≦C2 (5) When it is determined that this holds true, the process moves to step S20. If it is determined that this is not true, proceed to step S19.
Then, the larger value, ie, F2, is stored in the dimming control counter C2.

The central processing circuit 17 outputs 1.5 in step S20.
Until seconds have elapsed, the data of the dimming control counters C1 and C2 shown by line 14 in FIG. 5 are taken in as the levels of the faders F1 and F2, and a cross calculation is performed. Focusing on fader F1, the level of fader F1 becomes smaller after 15 seconds have elapsed, so the central processing circuit 17 takes in the output data "50" after analog/digital conversion as the level of fader F1 and performs cross calculation. .

Next, referring to Fig. 6, when 3 seconds have elapsed from time t0, fader F1 is operated to move from stage 50 to stage 50.
Assume that there is a sudden shift to 100 stages. In this case, in step S14 again, the dimming control counter C1 is counted up one step at a time at a time change rate (3 seconds) corresponding to the time setting pushbutton 34, so that line l6 in FIG.
A dimming change as shown in is obtained. after that,
When time t45 is reached, the count content of dimming control counter C1 changes to the number set by fader F1.
The fader level reaches 100, and the fader level at this time is maintained. The dimming control counter C2 also counts down by subtracting the illumination level one step at a time at a time change rate (3 seconds) corresponding to the time setting push button 35 in step S14. The operation knob 15 of the fader F2 is at the 0th stage, so that the dimming control counter C2 counts down until it reaches the 0th stage.

FIG. 7 shows a pulse waveform derived from the time setting counter 25 when the time setting push button 35 is pressed and then the time setting push button 36 is pressed two seconds later. Referring also to FIG. 8, at time t0, operate the time setting push button 35 to set the fade time to 5.
Assume that the fade time is changed to 10 seconds by setting the seconds and operating the time setting push button 37 after 2 seconds have elapsed. Focusing on the fader F1, the operating procedure is to quickly move the fader 1 from the lowest position to the highest position in FIG. 2, and after 2 seconds have elapsed, press the time setting push button 37. If the fade time is 5 seconds, time setting counter 2 will read “500”.
is set. That is, one pulse is output every 50 msec. Dimming control counter C1 until 2 seconds elapse.
counts clock pulses every 50ms, so it will be "40" after 2 seconds have elapsed. When the time setting push button 37 is pressed after 2 seconds have elapsed, the central processing circuit 17 sets only the data of the time setting counter 25 to "100".
Rewrite it to . That is, after 2 seconds have elapsed, one pulse is output every 100 msec. After 2 seconds have elapsed, the automatic crossfade continues with a remaining crossfade time of 6 seconds, as shown by line l8 in FIG.

In this way, while the automatic crossfade is progressing, the automatic crossfade does not advance beyond the intermediate level of the faders F1 and F2, so the difference between the positions of the operation knobs 14 and 15 of the faders F1 and F2 and the actual dimming level It is possible to realize automatic crossfade without Furthermore, in the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the progress of automatic crossfade can be monitored by displaying the data taken in by the central processing circuit 17 on a light emitting diode or a time display section, thereby making it possible to prevent malfunctions.

Effects As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately set the time to automatically crossfade from one scene to another, and the illumination level to be reached during the automatic crossfade can be set more accurately than the conventional manual crossfade. Similarly to the operation, a dimming control device is obtained which can be set by means of a crossfader.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an electrical circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a flowchart for explaining the operating state of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of the operating section 12, and FIG.
5 to 8 are operational waveform diagrams according to the present invention, and FIGS. 9 to 13 are diagrams for explaining the prior art. 13...Dimmer control device, 16...Cross fader, 17...Central processing circuit, 20...Dimmer control means, 25...Push button for time setting, 33...Push button for manual/automatic switching, 34-37... ...Push button for time setting,
F1, F2...Feeder, PA1~PAn; PB1~
PBn...Preset fader, C1, C2...Dimming control counter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of illumination lights L1, L2..., Ln, and the illumination lights L1, L for each of the first and second scenes.
2,...,Ln preset faders PA1, PA2, PA3,...; PB1,
PB2, PB3,... and a pair of operation knobs 14, 15, and the preset faders PA1, PA2, PA3,...; PB
1, PB2, PB3, . . . , a pair of signals each representing a control level for performing crossfate control from one to the other of the illumination levels of the first scene and the second scene set in PB1, PB2, PB3, . . .
a crossfader 16 configured such that when the signals 4 and 15 are simultaneously moved in one movement direction, the control level represented by one of the pair of signals increases, and the control level represented by the other signal decreases; Time setting means 34 for setting the time to crossfade from one of the first and second scenes to the other
37, and the time set in the time setting means 34 to 37.
Pulse generating circuits 24 and 25 are divided into a plurality of predetermined intervals and generate pulse signals for each interval, and a pair of counters C1 and C2 are provided for each scene, one of which generates a pulse signal. The counters C1 and C2 count so that the counted value increases, and the other counts so that the counted value decreases, and the direction in which the counted value increases or decreases can be switched; In response to a pair of signals, each control level represented by the signal is converted into a digital value, and the direction in which the count value of each counter C1, C2 increases or decreases is switched to a direction that follows the control level from the cross fader 16, and each Count values for each scene and preset faders PA1, PA
2, PA3,...; Multiply the lighting level for each scene set in PB1, PB2, PB3,... by the converted digital value, and set the illumination light at the lighting level corresponding to the sum of the multiplication results for each scene. L1, L2,
..., Ln to perform crossfade control.