EP2080083A1

EP2080083A1 - Control input means

Info

Publication number: EP2080083A1
Application number: EP07835394A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jonas Norberg; Daniel Wallner
Original assignee: Tonium AB
Current assignee: Idebyran S AB
Priority date: 2006-11-08
Filing date: 2007-11-01
Publication date: 2009-07-22
Also published as: EP2080083A4; SE0602373L; WO2008057038A1

Abstract

The inventive control input means (1; 10; 43) has a circular shape, comprising peripheral sensor means (11) arranged to detect a circular movement along the circumference of the circular shape, and processor means (3; 21; 45) arranged to receive at least one input signal from the peripheral sensor means (11), to determine a direction of the circular movement based on the input signal and control a function of a set of functions in dependence of the direction of the circular movement. The inventive control input means (1; 10; 43) also comprises central sensor means (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) for detecting an outwards direction of a movement from the centre of the circular shape towards the circumference of the circular shape and in that the processor means (3; 21; 45) is arranged to select the function to be controlled in dependence of the outwards direction.

Description

CONTROL INPUT MEANS

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a control input means according to the preamble of claim 1. The invention also relates to a music device according to the preamble of claim 6 and a computer program product according to the preamble of claim 9.

Background and Related Art

Music devices used to store music tracks and play them back either to earphones or to loudspeakers are becoming more and more popular. To make them easily portable such devices should be kept small. At the same time it would be desirable to enable the same control functions as in larger devices, for example related to equalizing functions. In recent years small music devices providing disc jockey functions have been proposed, i.a. in International Patent Application No. PCT/SE2006/050030 by the same applicant. Such devices should be able to control at least two music tracks at the same time, and at least two sound outputs, while handling functions related to, for example, playback speed, equalization and gain.

To be able to handle as many functions as possible without increasing the size of the music device there is a need for compact control input devices for controlling the functions of the music device.

Object of the Invention

It is an object of the invention to provide a single compact control input means enabling the control of a number of functions, in particular functions related to the playback of music tracks.

Summary of the Invention

This object is achieved according to the present invention by a control input means as defined by the characterizing portion of claim 1. The object is also achieved by a music device as defined by the characterizing portion of claim 6 and a computer program product as defined by the characterizing portion of claim 9.

This control input means enables control of a music playing device in a way that is flexible both with regard to the magnitude of the control and the functions that can be controlled. The inventive control input means presents a compact solution in that several functions can be controlled by means of one single control input means.

The peripheral sensor means may comprise a plurality of sensor elements distributed along the circumference of the circular shape.

The central sensor means preferably comprises at least a first sensor element arranged substantially in the centre of the circular shape. Alternatively, the central sensor means comprises sensor elements distributed between the central sensor means and the peripheral sensor means, and the processing unit comprises sensor detection means for detecting the direction of movements from the centre to the circumference.

The peripheral and/or central sensor means may also be implemented as one sensor element of a type that is arranged to detect movement over only one sensor element, such as a touchpad type sensor element.

In a preferred embodiment the processing unit comprises means for detecting the direction of the movement based on input from the central sensor means and from a part of the peripheral sensor means.

The music device according to the invention may further comprise one or more control buttons for use together or one by one for selecting one or more sets of functions to be controlled by the input control means. In this way the inventive control input means can be arranged to control more functions while keeping the central sensor elements detecting different directions sufficiently apart to avoid selection of the wrong function because of too closely spaced sensor elements.

Preferably the control input means is arranged on the device slightly depressed, a tapered edge being provided around the control input means to provide tactile guidance to the user. The tapered edge may comprise sensor elements, or all sensor elements may be arranged inside of the tapered edge.

The computer program product may be arranged to run on one or several processors.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be described in more detail in the following, by way of example and with reference to the appended drawings in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a first embodiment of the control input means according to the invention.

Figure 2 illustrates a second embodiment of the control input means according to the invention.

Figure 3 illustrates a general embodiment of the processing means according to the invention. Figure 4 illustrates an algorithm for a computer program product according to the invention.

Figure 5 illustrates a music device comprising a control input means according to the invention.

Detailed Description of Embodiments

The basic principle of the invention is that the circular shape of the control input means enables the use of two different movements of finger over the control input means. According to the invention a first direction of movement of a finger from the centre of the control input means towards its circumference is used to select a function to be controlled. A second direction of movement along the circumference, clockwise, or counter-clockwise, is used to determine in which way the function should be controlled. For example, a clockwise movement may mean that the function is to be increased and a counter-clockwise movement may mean that the function should be decreased.

The number of first directions, that is, from the centre outwards, should be selected so that a number of functions can be controlled while at the same time the first directions should be spaced sufficiently apart that there is no risk that the user will select another function than the intended one. In this document, four directions are used. These four directions, up, down, left, right, are easily recognized by the user and sufficiently spaced apart to avoid a mixup of functions.

In a preferred embodiment three of the four directions correspond to the three equalizer functions, treble, middle and bass, and the fourth direction corresponds to gain. For example a movement of the finger from the centre upwards on the control input means will lead to the selection of treble as the function to be controlled. After the upwards movement the user can move his finger in a clockwise direction or a counter-clockwise direction to increase or decrease the treble, respectively. A movement to the right followed by a clockwise or counter-clockwise movement along the circumference will select the middle and increase or decrease it. A downwards movement will select the bass as the function to be affected in the same way by clockwise or counter-clockwise movement. In this case a movement to the left will enable gain control. While these associations between direction and function are of course only intended as examples, they are considered to be intuitively logical and hence preferable.

Figure 1 illustrates schematically a first embodiment of the control input means 1 according to the invention. The control input means has a circular shape. Depending on the type of sensor used the control input means may be covered by a material (not shown) that will enable the detection of a movement of a finger over the control input means. Other sensors do not require a covering material. For the detection the control input means comprises a number of sensor elements, each providing an input signal to a processing unit 3. In Figures 1 and 2 the connections between most of the sensor elements and the processing means have been left out, for clarity.

In Figure 1 a first group 5 of sensor elements is used as a central sensor means to detect the movement of the finger from the centre of the control input means to the circumference of the control input means. In Figure 1 this first group 5 of sensor elements comprises at least one sensor element arranged substantially in the centre of the control input means, so that it will detect the presence of a finger in the centre of the control input means. This detection is reported as input data to the processing unit 3, which is arranged to detect a direction of movement of the finger from the centre to the circumference of the control input means. To enable the detection of the direction of movement, the first group of sensor elements also comprises at least one sensor element between the centre and the circumference in each direction of movement that has been associated with a function to be controlled, as explained above.

Figure 1 shows a number of sensor elements forming a path 6, 7, 8, 9 in each of the four possible directions, that is, up, right, down and left, respectively. Of course the sensor elements may be distributed across the whole circular shape if desired.

Instead of several sensor elements, one sensor element having a suitable shape may be used. In the latter case, a touchpad type sensor will be suitable.

The processing means 3 will use the input from each of the at least one sensor element 5 arranged in the centre and the input from the at least one sensor element defining paths 6, 7, 8, 9 between the centre and the circumference to determine the direction of movement of the finger. This direction of movement is then used to select the function to be controlled.

Further, a peripheral set 11 of sensor elements is arranged around the circumference of the control input means. This peripheral set of sensor elements is arranged to detect a circular movement of the finger, in the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. The processing unit 3 is arranged to receive input data from each of the sensor elements in the peripheral set 11 and to determine the direction of the movement of the finger based on this input data, specifically if the movement is clockwise or counter-clockwise. The direction is then used by the processing means to determine if the selected function should be increased or decreased.

In Figure 2 a modified embodiment of a control input means 10 is shown. The set 11 of peripheral sensor elements are as in Figure 1 , but the first set 5 of sensor elements comprises only one or more sensor elements arranged in the centre of the circular shape. The direction of the movement is determined by the processing means on the basis of the finger touching the central sensor element 5 and then touching the peripheral sensor elements 11 in a defined part of the circumference. In this way it can be determined if the finger was moved left, right, up or down and the function may be selected accordingly, before the movement along the circumference is used to determine how the function should be controlled.

Instead of the central sensor element a number of sensor elements, for example, four, might be arranged on the circular shape between the centre and the circumference in such a way that they will detect the presence of a finger moving from the centre towards the circumference in a particular direction. The input from these sensor elements may be used by the processor to determine a direction of the movement.

Regardless of the actual design of the inventive control input means an additional button may be provided on the apparatus to select a second set of functions to control. If this button is pressed the processor will detect this and, when a finger is moved over the control means, select one of another set of functions to be controlled. The control will be performed in the same way, by clockwise or counter- clockwise movement of the finger along the circumference of the control input means. The second set of functions may comprise, for example, sound effects to be added to the sound output. Of course, several such additional buttons may be provided, to select various sets of functions.

The sensor elements used with the present invention may be of any kind that is suitable to detect the presence or movement of a finger. For example mechanical, resistive or conductive sensor elements may be used. The sensor elements should be spaced apart such that a finger will be detected if placed anywhere in the relevant area. For example the central sensor elements should be able to detect the presence of a finger placed in a sufficiently large area around the centre of the control input means. The peripheral sensor elements should be placed at a distance small enough to detect the presence of a finger placed anywhere on the circumference. It may be feasible, especially in connection with the embodiment shown in Figure 2, to have sensor elements more closely spaced near the parts of the circumference corresponding to the directions of movement, that is, preferably upper, lower, left and right (corresponding to 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock). One sensor element that is able to detect movement using only one sensor and having a suitable shape may also be used.

To facilitate the selection the centre of the circular shape and the position of the peripheral sensor elements may be indicated on the cover material. The control input means may be implemented slightly depressed in the apparatus so that the edge of the control input means may assist the user in finding the peripheral sensor elements in a tactile way. This edge will preferably be tapered.

Figure 3 is a logical diagram illustrating the functions of a processor 21 that may be used with a control input means according to the invention. Although described here as one processor, of course the functions of processor 21 could be divided between two or more processors if this is considered feasible. The processor 21 comprises a sensor input unit 23 comprising a number of inputs for receiving signals from each of the sensor elements used in the control input means. The sensor input unit 23 first evaluates the sensor element signals related to the movement of the finger from the centre towards the circumference. The evaluation result is forwarded to a function selection unit 25 which selects the function to be controlled in dependence of the detected direction of movement. The function selection unit 25 may also be arranged to receive a selection control signal from a control button (not shown) which may be provided to select a different set of functions to be controlled, to enable the control input means to control twice as many functions, in this example eight functions instead of four. This selection control signal is represented by a dashed arrow 27 to the function selection unit. The result of the selection made by the function selection unit 25 is fed to a calculating unit 29. As stated above, more than one function selection unit may be provided to enable selection between several sets of functions.

The sensor input unit 23 then evaluates the movement of the finger along the circumference of the control input means based on input signals from the peripheral sensor elements. The result of this evaluation is a magnitude signal fed to the calculation unit 29 which will calculate a sound control signal for the sound output signal controlling the selected function by an amount determined on the basis of the magnitude signal. This sound control signal is the output signal from the processing unit and is represented as a solid arrow 31.

Optionally the music playing device controlled by the control input means may be arranged to handle more than one sound output, or more than one music track. Such a music playing device is disclosed, i.a. in International Patent Application No. PCT/SE2006/050030. In this case, the processing unit preferably also comprises a channel selection unit 33 for selecting an output channel from the music player that is to be controlled. This may be done, for example, by pressing a button on the music player which will provide an input signal to the channel selection unit 33. This input signal is represented in Figure 3 as a dashed arrow 35. Both the channel selection unit 33 and the function selection unit 25 are shown as dashed squares in Figure 3, to indicate that they are optional units. Figure 4 is a process chart of a computer program implemented in the processing means, which, as mentioned above, may be implemented as one or more processors. In a first process Pl the function is selected based on the input from the first set of sensor elements and, if applicable, input from the function selection unit. In a second process P2 the direction and magnitude, or distance, of the movement along the peripheral sensor elements are determined based on the input from the peripheral sensor elements. In a third process P3 the control signal for the sound output is produced based on the selected function and the determined direction and magnitude.

Figure 5 illustrates, schematically, a music device 41 comprising a control input device 43 according to the invention. The control input device 43 is controlled by a processing means 45, which may comprise both the control functions discussed above and also other control functions needed for the music device. In Figure 5, the processing means is shown to control a display unit 47 and a sound output 49 of the music device. The processing means is also connected to a memory 51 unit holding music tracks to be played by the music device. The music device also has one or more function selection buttons 53 as discussed above, for selecting between different sets of functions to be controlled by the control input device 43. The music device may also comprise further sound outputs and/or other functions which are left out here for clarity.

Claims

1. A control input means (1 ; 10; 43) having a circular shape, comprising peripheral sensor means (11) arranged to detect a circular movement along the circumference of the circular shape, and processor means (3; 21 ; 45) arranged to receive at least one input signal from the peripheral sensor means (11), to determine a direction of the circular movement based on the input signal and control a function of a set of functions in dependence of the direction of the circular movement, said control input means (1 ; 10; 43) being characterized in that it comprises central sensor means (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) for detecting an outwards direction of a movement from the centre of the circular shape towards the circumference of the circular shape and in that the processor means (3; 21 ; 45) is arranged to select the function to be controlled in dependence of the outwards direction.

2. A control input means according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral sensor means (11) comprises a plurality of sensor elements distributed along the circumference of the circular shape.

3. A control input means according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the central sensor means (5) comprises at least a first sensor element arranged substantially in the centre of the circular shape.

4. A control input means according to the preceding claim, wherein the processing unit (3; 21 ; 45) comprises means for detecting the direction of the movement based on input from the central sensor means (5) and from a part of the peripheral sensor means (11).

5. A control input means according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the central sensor means (5) comprises sensor elements (6, 7, 8, 9) distributed between the central sensor means and the peripheral sensor means, and the processing unit (3; 21 ; 45) comprises sensor detection means (23) for detecting the direction of movements from the centre to the circumference.

6. A device for playing back at least one music track, said device comprising a memory (51) arranged to store music tracks and sound output means (49) for playing the at least one music track and being characterized in that it comprises a control input means (1 ; 10; 43) according to any one of the preceding claims for controlling the playback of the at least one music track.

7. A device according to claim 6, further comprising at least one control button (53) for selecting at least a first alternative set of functions to be controlled by the input control means.

8. A device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the control input means is arranged on the device slightly depressed in the apparatus, a tapered edge being provided around the control input means to provide tactile guidance to the user.

9. A computer program product for use in a control input means for a music device, which, when executed in a processing unit of the control input means will cause the processing unit to perform the following steps:

Receive input from at least a central sensor means related to a first movement of a finger over the central sensor means;

Select a function of the music device to be controlled on the basis of the first movement; Receive input from a peripheral set of sensors related to a second movement of a finger over the peripheral set of sensors;

Determine a direction and a magnitude of the second movement;

Calculate a control signal in dependence of the selected function and the determined direction and magnitude; and Output the control signal to control a sound output of the music device.