STATIONARY REMOTE CONTROL TRANSMITTER

• US 20100052938A1
• Filed: 03/17/2009
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SMK Corporation
• Original Assignee: SMK Corporation
• Inventors: Miyata, Noriaki, Noguchi, Ryuhei, Otsuka, Kenji
• Granted Patent: US 8,188,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825.220
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 19/005 Electromechanical pulse generators
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 9/0235 specially adapted for remote control, e.g. of audio or video apparatus

Abstract

The rotation operation plane of the ring-shaped operation members that operate the rotation is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane so that the rotation operation of the ring-shaped operation member can be performed without holding a finger in the vertical direction. Furthermore, since the rotation operation plane is inclined with respect to the placement plane of the case, static friction on the placement plane is generated by a force component of the operation force acting on the rotation operation plane and is perpendicular to the placement plane, thus the case does not move toward the rotation operation direction during the rotation operation.

Claims

1. A stationary remote control transmitter comprising:

a case having a bottom plane as a horizontal placement plane;

an operation member installed in the case and freely rotates around a center axis that is perpendicular to the placement plane;

a rotation detection device detecting rotational angles of the operation member around the rotation center axis;

an operation signal generation device generating control data for controlling actions of the controlled device utilizing the rotation angles detected by the rotation detection device;

an RF transmission device transmitting the control data as RF signals to the controlled device; and

a rotation operation plane for rotationally operating the operation member along a tapered plane around said rotation center axis.

2. The stationary remote control transmitter of claim 1, wherein the operation member is formed in a shape of a ring around the rotation center axis.

3. The stationary remote control transmitter of claim 2, further comprising:

a display member displaying plurality of controlled contents for controlling the controlled devices and

input switches selecting a specific controlled content controlled by control data are installed on a plane of the cage body that is exposed at an opening on the center side of the ring-shaped operation member.

4. The stationary remote control transmitter of claim 2, wherein the case comprises:

a large diameter disk member having the bottom plane as the placement plane; and

a small diameter disk member installed above the plane of the large diameter disk that are formed in disk shapes around said center axis,

wherein the ring-shaped control member is installed between the first ring guide element formed downward around the outer circumference of the small diameter disk member and the second ring guide element formed upward around the outer circumference of the large diameter disk member, and freely rotates around said center axis.

5. The stationary remote control transmitter of claim 4, comprising:

a ring-shaped groove that is formed between a first guide groove having a semicircle cross-section on the plane along the outer circumference of the large diameter disk member and a second guide groove having a semicircle cross-section on the bottom plane of the ring-shaped operation member that faces the first guide groove holds a plurality of flexible spacers that are bent in an arc shape to be able to slip along the ring-shaped groove and

a plurality of balls that are separated each other by the flexible spacers and roll within the ring-shaped groove, and guiding the ring-shaped operation member in a free rotation manner around the center axis between the second ring guide member comprising the first guide element of the large diameter disk member and the balls that rotate within the ring-shaped groove, and the first ring guide element of the small diameter disk member.