This application claims the benefit of priority of Japanese Application No. 2004-328361 filed Nov. 12, 2004, the disclosure of which also is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for improving the display of the mode of dubbing between recording/playback units in a recording/playback apparatus disposed with plural recording/playback units.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP-A-2001-250369 discloses a recording/playback apparatus disposed with a control panel where plural light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are arranged between displays representing recording/playback units, such as for compact discs (CDs) and minidiscs (MDs). The dubbing direction is displayed by sequentially moving, in accordance with the dubbing direction, the lighted portion of the LEDs beginning with the LED closest to the dubbing source (i.e., the playback source) and ending with the LED closest to the dubbing destination (i.e., the recording destination). When dubbing is conducted at twice the ordinary speed, the LEDs are lighted at twice their ordinary speed to visually indicate the dubbing speed.
JP-A-2001-325139 discloses technology that displays, on a computer screen, the status of the progress of transfer of a data file from an imaging device to the computer.
When plural types of information representing the status of dubbing are displayed at the time of dubbing, the user can easily grasp the status of dubbing, which is useful. But when plural types of information are displayed separately, there is the problem that the display of these types of information becomes small and the visibility is poor because the display screen of the recording/playback apparatus is limited.
It is necessary to provide an apparatus that improves the visibility of the dubbing mode display.
A recording/playback apparatus pertaining to the present invention is disposed with a first recording/playback unit, a second recording/playback unit, and a display unit. The display unit includes a first display representing the first recording/playback unit, a second display representing the second recording/playback unit, and plural light-emitting elements disposed between the first display and the second display. The recording/playback apparatus is also disposed with an input unit to which is inputted a start instruction of dubbing for transmitting and receiving data between the first recording/playback unit and the second recording/playback unit. When the start instruction is inputted to the input unit and dubbing is started, the display unit displays the direction of dubbing, the speed of dubbing, and the percentage of completion of dubbing by lighting the plural light-emitting elements.
An information processing apparatus pertaining to the invention is disposed with a first information processing unit, a second information processing unit, and a display unit. The display unit includes a first display representing the first information processing unit, a second display representing the second information processing unit, and plural light-emitting elements disposed between the first display and the second display. When data is transmitted and received between the first information processing unit and the second information processing unit, the display unit displays the direction of data transmission and the percentage of completion of data transmission by lighting the plural light-emitting elements.
An embodiment of a recording/playback apparatus according to the present invention will be described below using FIGS. 1 to 9C.
Although a fluorescent display tube is used in this example, liquid crystal may be used instead. Also, in this example, “Play” and “REC” are used for the playback display 7 and the recording display 8 of DVD recording/playback unit and for the playback display 9 and the recording display 10 of the HDD recording/playback unit, but the displays are not limited thereto. For example, other characters, or symbols or marks representing playback/recording, may also be used.
The operational procedure of the user for dubbing signals in an ordinary speed mode from the HDD recording/playback unit 104 to the DVD recording/playback unit 105 will be described. FIGS. 3 to 6 show menus displayed by the monitor 109.
When the enter button 107g on the remote control transmitter 107 is pressed by the user, the recording/playback control CPU unit 103 controls the HDD recording/playback unit 104 and the DVD recording/playback unit 105 in accordance with a control signal from the system CPU unit 102 so that data is dubbed from the HDD recording/playback unit 104 to the DVD recording/playback unit 105. The drive IC unit 101 lights the HDD recording/playback unit display 6, the DVD recording playback unit display 5, the playback display 9 of the HDD recording/playback unit, the recording display 8 of the DVD recording/playback unit, the dubbing display 14, which indicates that dubbing is in progress, and the recording rate display 11 of the fluorescent display tube 1. When the dubbing operation is started, the recording/playback control CPU unit 103 acquires, from the HDD recording/playback unit 104, the playback time of the program (contents) to be dubbed and displays this on the playback time display 12. The system CPU unit 102 acquires, from the HDD recording/playback unit 104, the recording time of the program (contents) to be dubbed, calculates the percentage of completion from the recording time and the playback time of the program, and computes the number of illumination bars to be used for lighting. Then, the system CPU unit 102 controls the drive IC unit 101 to drive the fluorescent display tube 1 to sequentially light illumination bars of a number corresponding to the percentage of completion, beginning with the illumination bar 13j closest to the HDD recording/playback unit display 6 and moving towards the DVD recording/playback unit display 5. At this time, the system CPU unit 102 controls the drive IC unit 101 to drive the fluorescent display tube 1 to change the speed at which the illumination bars are made to blink or to sequentially light plural illumination bars in accordance with the dubbing speed.
Thus, the percentage of completion of dubbing, the dubbing direction, and the dubbing speed can be displayed by the illumination display unit 13. Thus, the display can be enlarged in a limited display screen of a recording/playback apparatus, and the visibility can be improved. It will be noted that in the example shown in
Next, an example of the display of the illumination display unit 13 in the fluorescent display tube 1 when data is dubbed in the ordinary speed mode from the HDD recording/playback unit 104 to the DVD recording/playback unit 105 will be described in detail using
An example of the display of the fluorescent display tube 1 when the percentage of completion of dubbing has reached the second stage (percentage of completion 2) will be described using
When the percentage of completion of dubbing reaches the third stage (percentage of completion 3), display is conducted using the illumination bars 13h, 13i and 13j, as shown in
As described above, when data is dubbed between the HDD recording/playback unit 104 and the DVD recording/playback unit 105, the illumination bars of the illumination display unit 13 are used so that the percentage of completion of dubbing is displayed by the number of lighted illumination bars, the dubbing direction is displayed by sequentially lighting illumination bars of a number corresponding to the percentage of completion of dubbing, beginning with the illumination bar closest to the dubbing source and moving towards the illumination bar closest to the dubbing destination, and the dubbing speed is displayed by the time of switching of the sequentially lighted illumination bars. Thus, by displaying the dubbing direction, the dubbing speed, and the percentage of completion of dubbing using one illumination display unit, the display can be enlarged even when the display screen is limited, and the visibility can be improved. It will be noted that the information displayed by the illumination display unit is not limited to the dubbing direction, the dubbing speed, and the percentage of completion of dubbing as described above. For example, the illumination bars may also be arranged so that their colors alternate (e.g., so that 13j is red, 13i is blue, and 13h is red), and the colors may be changed by causing the illumination bars to alternately light in accordance with the recording rate or the like, whereby other information such as the recording rate or the like is also displayed.
A second example of the display at the time of dubbing will be described.
In this example, power consumption can be reduced because it suffices for the illumination bars to be lighted one at a time. For example, the invention may be configured so that display is ordinarily conducted with the method shown in
A third example of the display at the time of dubbing will be described.
In this example, illumination bars of a number corresponding to the progress are lighted, and one of those illumination bars is caused to blink on and off. Thus, information relating to the dubbing, such as the percentage of completion, can be displayed in a manner that is more easily viewable.
In this example, the invention was configured so that the sequentially lighted portion was moved within the number of illumination bars corresponding to the percentage of completion in order to display the dubbing direction, but the invention may also be configured so that illumination bars of a number corresponding to the percentage of completion are first lighted, then after a predetermined period of time, the sequentially lighted portion is moved using all or some of the illumination bars to display the direction, and then the display again returns to the display of the progress and is thereafter repeated.
As described above, plural types of information, such as the dubbing direction, the dubbing speed, and percentage of completion of dubbing, can be displayed using one illumination display unit. Thus, information relating to dubbing can be displayed in a manner that is more easily viewable, even when the display screen of the recording/playback apparatus is limited. In the preceding examples, the invention was configured to display plural types of information at one time, but the invention may also be configured so that the illumination display unit switches between percentage of completion display/direction display and speed display/display information in accordance with an operation by the user or every predetermined period of time.
In the preceding examples, the recording media of the recording/playback units were a HDD and a DVD, but the recording media are not limited to these. For example, the recording media may also be tapes, discs, or memory cards. Moreover, the recording/playback unit displays may also be increased in accordance with the number of recording/playback units disposed in the recording/playback apparatus. For example, when there are three recording/playback units, such as a HDD, a DVD and a D-VHS, the recording/playback apparatus may be disposed with a HDD recording/playback unit display, a DVD recording/playback unit display and a D-VHS recording/playback unit display, and illumination display units may be disposed between these displays.
It will be noted that although the multi-display unit was described using examples of displays by a fluorescent display tube, the multi-display unit is not limited to this. For example, display on a monitor screen and display using an LED as the illumination display unit can also be done.
As described above, an apparatus can be provided which improves the visibility of dubbing mode display and which improves usability.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-328361 | Nov 2004 | JP | national |