Electronic volume device and remote controller thereof

• US 7,457,424 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2003
• Issued: 11/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Access Corp. (Honda Motor Company), Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Hino, Masashi, Katayama, Mutsumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin; Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Faulk; Devona E.
• Application Number:
  US10/661,534
• Publication Number:
  US 20040058654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,898 Days
• Field of Search: 381102-109, 381/311, 455/41.2, 455/420, 455/430
• US Class Current: 381/105
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 1/02 Remote control of amplification, tone or bandwidth combined with remote tuning or selection of resonant circuits H03J
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/202 by remote control

Abstract

An electronic volume device of an invention includes a common volume I/O 371 for receiving an i-th common volume level Dcom[i] (i=1 to N) on a common scale of N steps, a volume converter 373 for converting the Dcom[i] into a j-th unique volume level Dvol[j] on a unique scale of n steps; and a volume controller 372 for controlling an electronic volume based on the unique volume. The volume converter 373 includes a volume memory for storing an offset between the Dcom[i] and the Dvol [j] and a volume controller that controls at least one of the Dvol[j] and the offset such that the received Dcom agrees with the sum of the Dvol[j] and the offset and controls the Dvol[j] on a higher priority than the offset.

Claims

1. An electronic volume device remotely controlled by a remote controller, the electronic volume device comprising:

means for receiving an i-th common volume level Dcom[i] (i =1 to N) on a common scale of N steps;

means for converting received Dcom[i] into a j-th unique volume level Dvol[j] on a unique scale of M steps (M<

N); and

means for controlling an attenuation factor based on the Dvol[j], wherein the converting means includes;

means for storing an offset value Doffset between the Dcom[i] and the Dvol[j]; and

means for adjusting at least one of the Dvol[j] and the Doffset such that the received Dcom[i] agrees with a sum of the Dvol[j] and the Doffset, wherein the adjusting means adjusts the Dvol[j] on a higher priority than the Doffset, wherein when the common volume level Dcom[i] is transmitted in a mute state, the saved offset value Doffset is recovered and the unique volume level Dvol[j] is set at a value obtained by subtracting the Doffset from the transmitted Dcom [i].

2. The electronic volume device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for previously transmitting a sum of the unique volume level Dvol[j] and the offset value Doffset to the remote controller.

3. The electronic volume device as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the common volume level Dcom[i] transmitted from the remote controller is a predetermined mute level, a present offset value Doffset is saved and the common volume level Dcom[j] is decreased to a predetermined level.

4. The electronic volume device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electronic volume device conducts radio communications with the remote controller according to a communication procedure complying with a Blue tooth standard.