1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide operation apparatus having a box body thereof in which a movable unit is disposed for movement when an operating element thereof is operated or manipulated, the slide operation apparatus being used for setting the volume or other parameter in a system mounted with the slide operation apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a slide operation apparatus such as a fader mounted on a mixer or other system. The slide operation apparatus generally includes a box body in which a movable unit is disposed for movement. The movable unit can be moved, for example, by a user by grasping and manually operating an operating element fixed to the movable unit. The mixer or the like mounted with the slide operation apparatus detects the moving position of the movable unit, and sets the volume or other parameter based on the detected position.
Generally, the movable unit is adapted for movement in the box body longitudinally thereof by being guided by a round bar or other movement guide which is disposed in and longitudinally of the box body.
Also known is a slide operation apparatus capable of adjusting a sliding resistance between the movable unit and the movement guide during movement of the movable unit (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-8907). This slide operation apparatus includes a squared U-shaped spring disposed to sandwich the movement guide with a sandwiching force appropriately settable by a screw, whereby the sliding resistance (sliding frictional force) can be adjusted.
As described above, however, the slide operation apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-8907 requires the provision of the U-shaped spring and the screw for friction generation, resulting in a complicated construction of the friction generating mechanism, which poses a problem. Another problem is that the friction generating mechanism is not easy to assemble because the U-shaped spring must be mounted such as to sandwich the movement guide, and the screw must be attached.
In recent years, a slide operation apparatus has been known that does not include a brush-type detection device but includes a magnetic detection device or other non-contact detection device for position detection of the movable unit (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-49302). This type of slide operation apparatus cannot utilize the sliding resistance between the movable unit and the position detection brush for the holding of the movable unit. As a result, the movable unit is freely movable and hence there is a fear that the movable unit is unintentionally moved such as being fallen from its original location depending on the mounting angle of the movable unit relative to the apparatus. To obviate this, the above described friction generating mechanism or other mechanism must be additionally provided to thereby apply an appropriate sliding resistance to the movable unit during the movement thereof.
The movable unit of the slide operation apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-49302 includes a position sensor adapted to output a signal representing the position of the movable unit. A flexible flat cable for transmission of the detected signal is extended from the movable unit to the outside of the apparatus via a guide through hole formed in a housing of the apparatus. This type of slide operation apparatus includes a ground line through which is discharged a high voltage, if any, applied from the operating element operated by a user charged with static electricity.
Recently, a mixer or other signal processing system mounted with a plurality of slide operation apparatuses has been demanded to have a “touch sense function” to permit the mixer or other system to recognize which one of the slide operation apparatuses is currently operated. With the touch sense function, a channel in the mixer corresponding to one of the slide operation apparatuses which is currently operated or manipulated by a user is made active, or the data rewriting is enabled upon operation of the apparatus, for example. To realize the touch sense function, a ham noise detection line, for example, is provided in each of the slide operation apparatuses. The ham noise detection line is at the same electrical potential as the operating element of the slide operation apparatus, and is ungrounded. Upon detection of ham noise generated in the ham noise detection line when the user touches the operating element of any of the slide operation apparatuses, the touching to the currently operated operating element is detected.
On the other hand, however, the operating elements cannot electrically be grounded in order to achieve the touch sense function. In that case, when the user charged with high-voltage static electricity touches any of the operating elements, the slide operation apparatus can erroneously operate or become faulty, which poses a problem.
The present invention provides a slide operation apparatus capable of preventing a movable unit from being unintentionally moved in a box body, while being easy to assemble and simple in construction.
The present invention provides a slide operation apparatus capable of realizing a touch sense function to recognize a currently operated operating element, while ensuring the provision of a discharge path through which static electricity applied to the operating element can be discharged.
According to a first aspect of this invention, there is provided a slide operation apparatus comprising a box body having a slid portion, a movable unit having engaging portions and held in the box body to be movable longitudinally of the box body, an operating element fixedly mounted to the movable unit and adapted to be operated, and a plate spring having opposite ends thereof formed with engaged portions to correspond to the engaging portions of the movable unit, wherein the plate spring is adapted to be maintained in a curved state by having the engaged portions thereof engaged with the engaging portions of the movable unit, the plate spring having a curved convex portion thereof adapted to be in substantial sliding contact with the slid portion of the box body during movement of the movable unit.
The slide operation apparatus according to the first aspect of this invention can prevent the movable unit from being unintentionally moved in the box body, while being easy to assemble and simple in construction.
In the present invention, the slide operation apparatus can include an elongated movement guide provided as the slid portion in and longitudinally of the box body, the movable unit can be supported for sliding movement by the movement guide, and the curved convex portion of the plate spring can be adapted to be in substantial sliding contact with the movement guide during movement of the movable unit.
In that case, the movement guide has both a guide function and a sliding contact function, making it possible for the slide operation apparatus to have a much simpler and compact construction.
An insulation member can be assembled to the plate spring.
The curved convex portion of the plate spring can be adapted to be in sliding contact via the insulation member with the slid portion of the box body.
The slide operation apparatus can include an elongated movement guide provided as the slid portion in and longitudinally of the box body, and the insulation member can have a longitudinally center portion thereof formed with a through hole and disposed at the curved convex portion of the plate spring in contact with the movement guide, and friction can be generated by the contact between the longitudinally center portion of the insulation member and the movement guide, whereby the movable unit can be prevented from being unintentionally moved.
According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided a slide operation apparatus comprising a box body made of an electrically conductive material and adapted to be grounded, a movable unit held in the box body to be movable longitudinally of the box body, an operating element including an electrically conductive knob and fixedly mounted to the movable unit, the operating element being adapted, when operated, to move the movable unit, a box body-side conductive part fixed relative to the box body and electrically conductive to the box body, a movable unit-side conductive part provided in the movable unit, the movable unit-side conductive part being ungrounded and electrically conductive to the electrically conductive knob of the operating element, and an insulation member provided in one of the box body-side and movable unit-side conductive parts and made in substantial sliding contact with another thereof to maintain a constant close distance between the box body-side and movable unit-side conductive parts during movement of the movable unit.
With the slide operation apparatus according to the second aspect of this invention, a touch sense function to recognize which one of operating elements is currently operated can be realized, while ensuring the provision of a discharge path through which static electricity applied to the operating element can be discharged.
The movable unit-side conductive part can be comprised of a plate spring, and the box body-side conductive part can be comprised of an elongated movement guide adapted to hold the movable unit for movement.
The insulation member can be formed with a through hole to which the movable unit-side conductive part is fitted.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the attached drawings.
The present invention will now be described in detail below with reference to the drawings showing a preferred embodiment thereof.
As shown in
Generally, a plurality of slide operation apparatuses are mounted as fader apparatuses in desired orientations to a mixer or other system. For convenience of explanation, vertical and lateral directions referred to hereinbelow are determined as seen from the sub case 40, with a knob 81 of an operating element 80 disposed on the upper side of the apparatus. Specifically, the direction toward the knob 81 is referred to as the “up direction”, the direction toward a motor 59 (see
As shown in
Support holes 20, 21 for holding the upper guide bar 78 are formed on the upper side of the left- and right-side plates 13, 14 of the main case 10, and support holes 22, 23 for holding the lower guide bar 79 are formed on the lower side thereof. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The sub case 40 (see
As shown in
Furthermore, a flat cable 30 is attached to the circuit board 72. The flat cable 30, which is disposed in the main case 10, includes a cable proximal portion 31 thereof fixed to the circuit board 72 and an extended portion 32 thereof extending from the cable proximal portion 31. The extended portion 32 is extended rightward from the cable proximal portion via a cable run-off portion 96a of a right wall 96 of the gondola 71, and is then folded back leftward to extend to the outside via a cable insertion hole 24 (see
As shown in
The gondola 71 has its left and right walls 95, 96 each formed with one upper through hole and one lower through hole extending therethrough in the left-to-right direction. The upper guide bar 78 extends through the upper through holes, and the lower guide bar 79 extends through the lower through holes, whereby the gondola 71 can slidably be moved relative to the upper and lower guide bars 78, 79. Thus, the movement of the gondola 71 is guided by the guide bars 78, 79.
A mechanism for detecting the position of the movable unit 70 is provided, which is similar to a known mechanism disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-49302. Specifically, as shown in
Although not shown, a whirl-stop mechanism for the upper guide bar 78 is provided at an appropriate portion of the box body, which is a housing of the slide operation apparatus, whereby the magnetic pole surface 88 of the upper guide bar 78 can always be directed downward. The whirl-stop mechanism can be realized, for example, by forming the above described through hole, not shown, of the gondola 71 through which the upper guide bar 78 extends or the support holes 20, 21 of the main case 10 to have a sectional shape similar to that of the upper guide bar 78, which is circular in section with the flat lower surface. The sensor 73 (see
With movement of the movable unit 70, the sensor 73 is moved relative to the magnetic pole surface 88 of the upper guide bar 78 and outputs a pulse signal each time the sensor 73 passes through a boundary between N and S poles of the magnetic pole surface 88. Based on the number of pulse signals, an amount of movement of the movable unit 70 can be detected. The magnetic poles formed on the magnetic pole surface 88 are arranged, for example, in two rows. The magnetic poles disposed in one of the rows are shifted by π/2 in terms of phase relative to those disposed in another row in the longitudinal direction of the upper guide bar 78, and two series of pulse signals which are shifted in phase are output from the sensor 73. Thus, the moving direction (right or left) of the movable unit 70 can be detected based on the direction of the phase shift in pulse signals. The current position of the movable unit 70 is detected based on the detected amount and direction of movement and position information indicating a position before movement and stored in a control circuit of the mixer, not shown. Needless to say, the movement of the movable unit 70 can be detected by the sensor 73 even when the movable unit is manually moved.
As shown in
As shown in
The sliding contact assembly 60 is comprised of the plate spring 61 and the insulation sheet 64 which are assembled together. The plate spring 61 is made of an electrically conductive metal, and includes a barrel portion 62 thereof formed at its longitudinal opposite ends with pawls 63. The plate spring 61 per se has a peculiar of being curved (being convex upward in the example shown in
The insulation sheet 64 is integrally formed by an insulating material such as resin. As shown in
The sliding contact assembly 60 mounted to the fixture portion 82 is curved to an extent that it is in contact with the lower guide bar 79. Specifically, a longitudinally center part (where the through hole 65 is formed) of the insulation sheet 64 is a convex portion of the sliding contact assembly 60 and in contact with the lower guide bar 79 (see
A friction force produced between the sliding contact assembly 60 and the lower guide bar 79 is determined depending on the degree of curvature and length of the sliding contact assembly 60, the spring constant of the plate spring 61, and so on. For example, the friction force is set to have a magnitude that permits the movable unit 70 to be retained at its original location without being fallen therefrom, even when the slide operation apparatus is mounted to the mixer with the lower guide bar 79 vertically disposed.
In the slide operation apparatus, there are provided a power supply line 92, three signal lines 93 (93-1 to 93-3) for transmission of signals output from the sensor 73, and a ham noise detection line 94. These lines 92 to 94 are contained in the flat cable 30 shown in
In the circuit board 72, the power supply line 92 and the three signal lines 93 are connected to the sensor 73. When the slide operation apparatus is in use, a voltage of +5 V is applied to the power supply line 92. Pulse signals output from the sensor 73 are drawn via the signal lines 93, whereby the current position of the movable unit 70 is detected. The ham noise detection line 94 is electrically connected via a connection line, not shown, to the fixture portion 82, whereby the line 94 and the fixture portion 82 are always at the same potential.
In an electrical path formed by the electrically conductive plating 28, the knob 81, the fixture portion 82, the sliding contact assembly 60, the lower guide bar 79, and the main case 10, there is an electrically insulative part, which extends over a distance corresponding to the thickness of the insulation sheet 64, only between the plate spring 61 of the sliding contact assembly 60 and the lower guide bar 79, as described above. That part of the electrical path extending from the electrically conductive plating 28 of the operating element 80 to the plate spring 61 is in an electrically conductive state and is ungrounded. On the other hand, the main case 10 is electrically grounded via the mixer on which if the slide operation apparatus is mounted. The lower guide bar 79 is also grounded since the lower guide bar 79 is always in contact with the main case 10.
A touch detection circuit 37 is provided in each of the slide operation apparatuses, and a CPU 99 is provided in the mixer. The touch detection circuit 37 includes an OSC (oscillator) 38 that generates a sinusoidal wave signal, and various circuits 39 including a full-wave rectifier, a differential amplifier, an A/D converter, etc., which are not shown individually.
As shown in
Specifically, when the user touches the operating element 80 (more specifically, the grasped portion 34 thereof), there is produced a change in the electrostatic capacitance of a system, including the user's body to the ham noise detection line 94, due to the presence of resistance and capacitance of the user's body, thereby changing the amplitude level of output of an LPF (low pass filter), not shown, in the OSC 38 (see
With the above described arrangement, when the user charged with static electricity operates or manipulates the operating element 80, a high voltage is instantaneously applied to the plate spring 61 via the electrically conductive plating 28 of the grasped portion 34, the knob 81, and the fixture portion 82 of the operating element 80. If an excessively high voltage (for example, equal to or higher than 5 kV) is applied to the plate spring 61, a spark is generated in the through hole 65 between the plate spring 61 and the lower guide bar 79, and is discharged via the lower guide bar 79 and the main case 10.
According to the present embodiment, during the entire movement process of the movable unit 70, the curved convex portion of the plate spring 61 of the sliding contact assembly 60 is in sliding contact with the lower guide bar 79. Due to the friction between the convex portion of the plate spring 61 and the lower guide bar 79, the movable unit 70 is prevented from being unintentionally moved within the box body of the apparatus no matter what posture the slide operation apparatus takes. Furthermore, the sliding contact assembly 60 comprised of the plate spring 61 and the insulation sheet 64 (see
In particular, the sensor 73 which is of a non-contact type does not produce physical resistance to the movement of the movable unit 70, and is thus suitable for use with a friction generating mechanism comprised of the sliding contact assembly 60. It should be noted that the sensor 73 can be of any type other than a non-contact type including a magnetic or optical sensor.
A combination of the sliding contact assembly 60 and the lower guide bar 79 achieves both the movement guiding function for the movable unit 70 and the braking function based on sliding contact, thereby preventing the construction from being complicated and easily making the apparatus compact.
Moreover, according to the present embodiment, the plate spring 61 of the sliding contact assembly 60 is always out of contact with the lower guide bar 79 during the entire movement process of the movable unit 70, making it possible to realize a touch sense function. In addition, during the entire movement process of the movable unit 70, the insulation sheet 64 of the sliding contact assembly 60 is in sliding contact with the lower guide bar 79 so that the plate spring 61 is always disposed close to the lower guide bar 79 with a constant distance corresponding to the thickness of the insulation sheet 64. As a result, a discharge path through which static electricity applied to the operating element 80 can be discharged is always ensured by the through hole 65 formed in the insulation sheet 64, making it possible not only to realize the touch sense function but also to reduce a fear of erroneous action and faulty of the apparatus caused by a high voltage generated when a user charged with high-voltage static electricity touches the operating element 80 of the apparatus.
Various modifications can be made as described below with reference to
In the above described embodiment, the insulation sheet 64 of the sliding contact assembly 60 functions to maintain a constant close distance between the plate spring 61 and the lower guide bar 79. Only from the viewpoint of ensuring the provision of the discharge path, however, the electrically conductive part to be kept apart at a constant distance from the lower guide bar 79 is not limitative to the plate spring 61, but may be any electrically conductive part which is at the same potential as the conductive plating 28 of the operating element 80 (see
Also with the arrangement according to the second modification, a discharge path for high-voltage static electricity applied to the operating element 80 is formed between the tip end 67a of the electrically conductive member 67 and the lower guide bar 79 in the hole 165 formed in the insulation member 164 of the sliding contact assembly, whereby the effect of ensuring the provision of the discharge path, which is similar to that attained by the above described embodiment, can also be achieved in the second modification.
In the above described embodiment, the sliding contact assembly 60 is comprised of the insulation sheet 64 and the plate spring 61 which are assembled together, but this is not limitative.
In the above described embodiment, the sliding contact assembly 60 is adapted to be in sliding contact with the lower guide bar 79. However, in a case where the movable unit 70 is not required to have both the movement guide function and the sliding contact-based braking function, the sliding contact assembly 60 can be made in sliding contact with any part of the apparatus that is fixedly disposed relative to the main case 10 and electrically conductive to the main case 10, as exemplarily shown in
In the above described embodiment, the insulation sheet 64, as an insulating part to achieve an insulating function in an electrical path extending from the operating element 80 to the main case 10, is disposed on the movable unit 70 side, i.e., on the moving side of the apparatus. However, as exemplarily shown in
A sliding plate spring 260 equivalent to the sliding contact assembly 60 of the embodiment is only comprised of a plate spring, without having the insulation sheet 64 assembled thereto. The sliding plate spring 260 is mounted to the fixture portion 82 of the operating element 80, with its curved convex side directed rearward, i.e., toward the main plate 12 of the main case 10. During the entire movement process of the movable unit 70, the convex portion of the sliding plate spring 260 is in sliding contact with both the insulating parts 97A, 97B and maintained at a distance, corresponding to the thickness of the insulating parts 97, from the main plate 12.
With the above described arrangement, a discharge path for high-voltage static electricity applied to the operating element 80 is formed by the slit 98 between the sliding plate spring 260 and the main plate 12, whereby the effect of ensuring the provision of discharge path, similar to that attained by the above described embodiment, can be achieved.
The insulating parts can be provided on both the moving and stationary sides of the apparatus, as shown in
In the above described embodiment and modifications, the pawls 63 are formed in the plate spring 61, and the notches 83a and the engagement holes 86 are formed in the fixture portion 82 of the operating element 80, thereby permitting the sliding contact assembly 60, 160, or 260 to be mounted to the fixture portion 82 of the operating element 80. However, this is not limitative so long as the sliding contact assembly 60 or the like can be maintained in a curved state. For example, instead of the notches 83a and the engagement holes 86, recesses or the like can be formed. The plate spring 61 can be formed with notches or engagement holes, and the fixture portion 82 can be formed with pawls. Two or more pawls or other engaged portions can be provided in each of left and right sides of one of the plate spring 61 and the fixture portion 82, and a corresponding number of notches or engagement holes or other engaging portions can be formed in another of the plate spring 61 and the fixture portion 82.
In a case where the touch sense function is not required, countermeasure for static electricity noise can easily be provided by maintaining the operating element 80 and the main case 10 at the same potential by, for example, removing the insulation sheet 64 from the sliding contact assembly 60.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2007-061795 | Mar 2007 | JP | national |
2007-061796 | Mar 2007 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20060114221 | Sakurai et al. | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20070002488 | Kato | Jan 2007 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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49-38761 | Oct 1974 | JP |
55-105911 | Aug 1980 | JP |
H2-24434 | Feb 1990 | JP |
2000-074041 | Mar 2000 | JP |
2000-132328 | May 2000 | JP |
2002-008907 | Jan 2002 | JP |
2003-021541 | Jan 2003 | JP |
3102188 | Jul 2004 | JP |
2000-049302 | Feb 2006 | JP |
2006-209464 | Aug 2006 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20080224994 A1 | Sep 2008 | US |