Pioneer Electronic Corporation

Yoshio Aoyagi

Toshiyuki Kimura

Hiroyuki Abe

Fumio Endo

Kazuhiro Kiyoura

Yoshiya Nonaka

Seiji Kato

Alex Bradshaw

Koichiro Haraguchi

Takayuki Iijima

Akio Namiki

Chiaki Hirano

Akira Haeno

Kiyoshi Furukawa

Osamu Yoshizawa

Masanori Kurosaki

Yoshihiko Watanabe

Hiroshi Wakimoto

Akira Kawahara

Yoshiharu Ueki

Yukihiro Kaneko

Minoru Motohashi

Susumu Niinuma

Keiichi Matsumoto

Manabu Sawaki

Shigetoshi Kato

Tsuneyoshi Nagashita

Isamu Nomura

Kimito Kobayashi

Isao Matsumoto

Kazuto Shimokawa

Kazunari Nakamura

Fumihiko Yokogawa

Kiyoshi Morikawa

Hiroyuki Hirano

Yoshinori Yamada

Tatsuya Fukuda

Akira Hayama

Shozaburo Sakaguchi

Yasunao Go

Tsuneo Ishii

Naoto Arifuku

Shizuo Kakiuchi

Takashi Sato

Minoru Yoshioka

Youichi Ogawa

Youichi Yamazaki

Yoshiro Nishi

Shigeto Mori

Mayumi Satoh

Shosaburo Sakaguchi

Yoshinori Saito

Susumi Niinuma

An audio apparatus having a detachable control panel or operating-part main unit includes a microcomputer for detecting an OFF state of an ACC position of the ignition key, or the attached/detached state of the operating-part main unit. When such states are detected, normal operations of the microcomputer; namely, the operations to turn on an SWD V.sub.DD terminal and an A/D port and to set a KEY DATA terminal into a standby mode, are stopped intermittently in order to execute a low consumption process in which electric power is consumed only for holding information in memory in the microcomputer. When the microcomputer detects the OFF state of the ignition key or the OFF state of an installation detection switch and, an alarm ON state is set in the memory in the microcomputer, then an alarm sound is generated from a speaker for a predetermined time. When the alarm sound is unnecessary, the state of the memory in the microcomputer can be updated to an alarm OFF state by depressing a function button and operating the ignition key. When the installation detection section detects the removal of the operating-part main unit, on the basis of a decrease in voltage value of an installation detection switch section and CPU recognizing the removal of the operation-part main unit, a control section sends control signals to a power supply limiting circuit and a data transmission switch section.

Car-stereo with removable control panel, alarm, and power conservation

Disclosed is a CD player that ensures a setup operation and reproduction of information even when a partially recorded CD-R is set therein. The CD player sequentially performs the setup operation, starting from the first setup position located at the innermost periphery of the CD, predetermined for the setup operation, until the setup operation is complete at any of n-th (n=2, 3, . . . ) setup positions lying outwardly of the first setup position. If the setup operation is not completed even at an n-th setup position located at the outermost periphery of the CD, the CD player performs the setup operation again at at least one setup position lying inwardly of the n-th setup position. Also disclosed is a CD player that can discriminate a partially recorded, additionally recordable CD-R, and can execute the reproduction control for the PRD. This CD player discriminates a set disk as an additionally recordable one when a mirror-finished portion is detected in the control to detect the lead-in area or when the lead-in area cannot be detected and the TOC information cannot be read.

Method and apparatus for executing a CD playback setup operation in a CD

Method and Apparatus for playing a CD are designed to allow playback of a partially recorded disk of CD-Rs (CD-Recordable) having the DRAW (direct read after write) capability. It is determined if a target disk is a partially recorded CD-R recording medium. When a reverse command to return to a predetermined address of the recording medium to execute playback is input, the absolute time for information being reproduced is detected and it is then determined if the absolute time is within a predetermined actual pause period. When the absolute time is determined to be within the actual pause period, the reverse command is canceled. It is therefore possible to properly operate a servo system within that recording area of the recording medium where information has already been recorded, thereby allowing a return to a predetermined address associated with the reverse command. This prevents the loss of control of the servo system. When the pickup position is in a lead-in area of the partially recorded CD-R recording medium, thus ensuring the proper reading control.

Method and apparatus for reproducing information from a partially

A liquid crystal display includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix. The matrix is formed by five rows and three columns. A pixel at a predetermined position is bisected.

Alphanumeric symbol formed by a 3.times.5 matrix with two longitudinally

A CD player capable of detecting the recording end of a partially recorded CD-R (PRD) during playback. When an unrecorded area (URA) is detected, an address immediately before that of the URA is held and a setup is performed at the position of that detection. If the setup is unsuccessful, a setup is performed at a reference setup position, and when this setup operation is complete, playback starts from the held address position. When the playback from the position and detection of the URA are repeated a predetermined number of times, the held address position is discriminated as the recording end. According to a method of searching for the last piece of recorded information in the program area on a PRD, when reading failure occurs in a search, the pickup is moved back to a previous jump position to the occurrence of the reading failure. Then a search is conducted through a jump over tracks equal to or less in number than the number of tracks of a predetermined smallest amount of information from that jump position, and the last piece (e.g., song) is detected by a sub code acquired at a jump position immediately previous to the re-occurrence of reading failure. A CD player capable of ensuring reproduction of all the pieces of recorded information during playback of a PRD updates the last track number to the newly detected track number when detecting a next track number in an area following an area of a memorized last track number during playback of a PRD.

CD player capable of playing back partially recorded CD

A playing apparatus for a compact disc on which TOC information comprising at least first to third point data has repetitively been recorded in a lead-in area. A reading point by a pickup is moved in the lead-in area from the disc outer rim side in accordance with a TOC information reading command. When it is detected that the reading point was positioned to a recording track of third point data locating on the disc inner rim side in each of the TOC information, the reading point is jumped to the disc inner rim side by at least only two tracks. After that, the reading point is moved toward the disc outer rim side along the track, thereby reading the TOC information including the first, second, and third point data.

CD playing apparatus

Method and apparatus for discriminating type of disks positioned on a CD

An operation mode is first selected in which tunes recorded in a digital audio disk are sequentially reproduced. Reproduction-undesired tunes are selected by operating a manipulator for stopping reproduction of a currently reproduced tune and starting the next tune during every reproduction of the reproduction-undesired tunes so that their numbers are stored in a memory. In subsequent reproductions, the number of each tune going to be reproduced is compared with the numbers of the reproduction-undesired tunes stored in the memory and the tune is skipped if its number is included in the stored numbers.

Reproducing method for excluding undesirable tunes by operating a single

An on-vehicle electronic device includes a main body which is fastened to a vehicle and has a first terminal, and an operation unit which is detachably mounted in the main body and which has a second terminal electrically connected to the first terminal when the operation unit is mounted in the main body. The main body includes a reference power source applying a reference voltage to the first terminal, and a voltage detection unit for detecting a voltage applied to the first terminal. The main body further includes a mounting detection unit. The mounting detection unit determines, based on a difference between a first detection voltage detected by the voltage detection unit when the operation unit is mounted and a second detection voltage detected by the voltage detection unit when the operation unit is not mounted, whether or not the operation unit is mounted and electrically connected to the main body via the first and second terminals.

On-vehicle electronic device

An electronic device has an operating section having a plurality of input keys. The operating section is detachably connected to a body of the device in such a manner that the contacts of the operating section are electrically connected to the contacts of the body when the operating section is connected to the body. The body includes a connection detecting section for detecting the connection of the operating section to the body to output a connection detection signal; and a control section for making the connection of the contacts of the body and the contacts of the operating section effective a predetermined period of time after provision of the connection detection signal.

Electronic device including improved connection device

A method for controlling the operation of a disk player pickup control system includes the steps of reading position data representing the present position of a pickup from a disk, calculating the distance from the present position to the home position of the pickup according to the position data thus read, and moving the pickup to the home position according to the distance thus calculated. The above-described method for operating the control system is particularly advantageous in that it allows the pickup of a disk player, which does not include a mechanical limit switch, to be moved to the home position.

Disk player pickup control system

An information reproduction apparatus comprises a display switching part which performs control for automatically displaying, in an indicator part, the total number of the pieces of music recorded on a recording medium during search for a piece of music intended to be reproduced. This control causes display of the number of a music piece intended to be reproduced on the display device together with the total number of music pieces and permits the operator to know the position of the music piece intended to be reproduced out of the total number of music pieces.

Information reproduction apparatus having a display including dual

A method of operating a disk player that reproduces information recorded on a disk. Programs on the disk are addressed from a directory in a memory and the programs are sequentially accessed according to the order in the directory. The directory can be filled by inserting random numbers or by scanning through the programs or over the tracks. A table of contents at the beginning of the disk is read if possible. The tracks can be scanned and only tracks having new programs are reproduced. Also a playback position servo operates with a dead-zone in the drive voltage.

Record information reproducing method with content identifiers

A system for storing information representing at least one data item selected for playback from a plurality of data items recorded on a recording medium. The system includes playing back one of the plurality of recorded data items for a predetermined period of time at a fast playback speed which is greater than a normal playback speed used during normal playback of a data item to determine if the data item being played back at the fast playback is to be subsequently played back at the normal playback speed, storing information representing the data item being played back in a memory only if the played back data item is to be subsequently played back at the normal playback speed, and repeating the playing back and storing for each of the plurality of recorded data items so that information representing each of the plurality of recorded data items which is to be subsequently played back at the normal playback speed is stored in the memory.

Reproduction system for selecting recorded information based on preview

A rotation control system for disk player in which the player detects the size of a disk housed in the player, varies the starting torque to be given to the disk motor in response to the detected size, and controls the disk motor so as to require substantially the same length of time before a prescribed rotational frequency is attained, irrespective of the size of the disk.

Rotation control system for disk player

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Yoshio Aoyagi