Variable digital control for electronic device with rotary switch control

A control apparatus for providing a variable volume control signal to an electronic radio comprising:

• a digital rotary switch movable to a plurality of positions and having a plurality of digital outputs to represent said positions;
• memory means for storing control increments which correspond to a plurality of rates of rotation of the rotary switch;
• means for periodically sampling the switch output to detect switch movement;
• means for determining the direction of rotation of said switch from a sequence of the digital outputs;
• means for counting a number of changes in position of the switch over a sampling time so as to generate a rate of rotation of the switch;
• means for looking up an amount of change in the volume control signal from the memory means as a function of the rate of rotation of switch movement;
• and
• means for changing the volume control signal by the amount of change, wherein in the volume control signal is changed at an increasing rate as the rate of rotation of the switch movement increases.

A control apparatus for providing a tuner control signal to an electronic radio comprising:

• a digital rotary switch movable to a plurality of positions and having a plurality of digital outputs to represent said positions;
• memory means for storing control increments for a plurality of predetermined rates of rotation of the switch;
• means for periodically sampling the switch output to detect switch movement;
• means for determining a direction of switch rotation from a sequence of the digital outputs of the switch;
• means for counting changes in position of the switch over a sampling time so as to determine a rate of rotation of the switch;
• means for looking up an amount of change in the tuner control signal that corresponds to the rate of rotation of the switch from the memory means;
• and
• means for changing the tuner control signal by an amount as a function of the amount of change, wherein the tuner control signal is changed at an increasing rate as the rate of change of rotation of the switch increases.

A method for variably controlling a control signal for an electronic device in response to a rotary switch comprising:

• storing control increments in memory which correspond to amounts of rotation and rates of rotation of the rotary switch;
• manually rotating a digital rotary switch to a plurality of positions which have a plurality of digital outputs to represent said positions so as to control functions for the electronic device;
• periodically sampling the switch output to determine switch movement;
• determining the direction of switch rotation from a sequence of the digital outputs produced by the switch;
• counting the number of changes in switch position over a sampling time to determine the rate of change of the switch movement;
• looking up an amount of change in the control output from the memory based upon the number of changes in position and rate of rotation of said switch;
• and
• changing the control signal by the amount of change in the control signal, where the rate of changing the control signal increases as the rate of change of the switch movement increase.