Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-07
2002-12-10
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S166000, C439S956000, C273S14800B
Reexamination Certificate
active
06491550
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an entertainment system using a operation device connected thereto.
An entertainment system to be used by connecting to the external display is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-313730. The entertainment system comprises, as shown in
FIG. 1
, a machine body
10
having an optical disk reproducing section
1
, and an operation device
20
for accepting the user's operations connected thereto. A processing unit within the machine body
10
receives a game program and image information etc. recorded in the optical disc from the optical disk reproducing section
1
and displays the image on the external display. The processing unit communicates with the operation device
20
, to accept contents of the user's oprations, executes a game program according to the accepted user's controls, and changes the display images etc.
The operation device
20
comprises a operation body
22
having switches
24
-
29
arranged thereon for receiving the user's operations, a cable
23
, and a connector
21
. The operation unit
20
is connected with respect to each other by inserting the connector
21
into the connecting portions
4
a
and
4
b
of the machine body
10
as shown in
FIG. 1
,
FIG. 2
, and FIG.
3
.
The connector
21
comprises nine pins
601
therein as shown in
FIGS. 5A
,
5
B, and
5
C. On the upper surface of an inserting portion
501
of the connector
21
, there are provided retaining portions
502
,
503
, and
504
for preventing the connector
21
from being detached from the connecting portions
4
a
and
4
b
of the machine body
10
as shown in FIG.
4
. The retaining portions
502
,
503
, and
504
are recesses to engage with the metal projection provided within the connecting portions
4
a
and
4
b
. A grounding metal
505
is inserted on the bottom surface of the recess of the retaining portion
503
located in the center, and is exposed from the bottom surface of the retaining portion
503
. The grounding metal
505
is supplied with a ground potential when it comes into contact with the metal projection at the ground potential provided on the machine body
10
to be engaged therewith. Therefore, the retaining portion
503
located in the center serves not only as a retaining portion, but also as a grounding terminal.
The machine body
10
is also provided with receiving portions
3
a
,
3
b
for a card-type external memory device device
30
to be mounted thereon, and switches
11
,
12
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, the development of the operation device
20
has been pursued to produce a new model by making improvement to the operation device
20
described above, for example, by increasing the number of operations that are accepted by the switches
24
-
29
of the operation device body
22
, or by increasing communication speed between the operation device
20
and the machine body
10
. However, since it is preferable to ensure compatibility between the operation device of the new model and that of the conventional model in order to enhance convenience, the connector of the operation device for the new model should have the same configuration as that of the connector of the conventional operation device
20
.
On the other hand, the machine body cannot support all the communication modes for each model, unless the machine body can discriminate whether the connected operation device is the conventional model or the new model. In general, a pin is added to the new model for discriminating the new model from the conventional one. However, adding such a pin to the operation device of the new model changes the configuration of the connector, whereby the compatibility cannot be established. In order to ensure the compatibility as well as discrimination of the model, there requires such a structure that can discriminate the model types while maintaining the configuration of the connector as it was in the conventional model.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an entertainment system that can discriminate the models between the compatible operation devices.
In order to achieve the object described above, the following entertainment system is provided according to the present invention. That is, an entertainment system comprising an operation device having a connector, and a machine body having a connecting portion to be connected to said connector wherein:
the connector is provided with a plurality of recesses on the peripheral surface thereof, said plurality of recesses including the first recess and the second recess;
the connecting portion is provided with a plurality of metal projections to be engaged with the plurality of recesses respectively, the plurality of metal projections including the first metal projection to be engaged with the first recess and the second metal projection to be engaged with the second recess;
the connector includes a metal plate, and the metal plate is exposed inside of at least the first recess and the second recess; and
the machine body has a supplying portion for supplying a predetermined potential to the first metal projection for supplying the predetermined potential to the metal plate and a detecting portion for detecting whether a potential of the second metal projection is equal to the predetermined potential or not in order to detect whether the operation device connected to the connecting portion is said operation device or not.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5759100 (1998-06-01), Nakanishi
patent: 0940162 (1999-09-01), None
patent: 1134853 (2001-09-01), None
patent: 6274137 (1994-09-01), None
patent: 9212446 (1997-08-01), None
patent: 10187342 (1998-07-01), None
patent: WO 96/12250 (1996-04-01), None
Hyeon Hae Moon
Lerner, David, Littenberg, Krummholz & Mentlik, LLP
Sircus Brian
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
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