Noncontact information transmitter

Details Noncontact information transmitter Noncontact information transmitter

1999-05-26

2003-07-01

Pascal, Leslie (Department: 2733)

Optical communications

Optical communication over freee space

Transmitter and receiver

C398S129000, C398S118000, C398S156000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06585431

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a noncontact information transmitter for transmitting information between an information appliance such as a notebook personal computer or a portable information terminal and an appliance connected for expanding the function of such information appliance.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Portable information terminals, such as various notebook personal computers (hereinafter called notebook PC), a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a personal intelligent communicator (PIC), have recently come into widespread use. These information appliances (or information processing devices) are designed mainly for the purpose of portable use, and when expanding their functions, they are often connected to function expansion devices such as a docking station, a docking unit, a port replicator, and an expansion box. The information appliance, such as the notebook PC, and the function expansion device are physically connected by terminal or the like, and information is transmitted between the devices by the physical connection.
The function expansion devices include a hard disk device, a CD-ROM device, a CR-R device, a PD device, a DVDROM device, a DVDRAM device, other external memory devices, a board mounting CRT display circuit, a board mounting a circuit to be connected to a network, a board mounting a modem circuit to be connected to a telephone circuit, and a board mounting a circuit to extend the signal. A peripheral device can also be connected to the function expansion device. Some of the function expansion devices have a function of supplying power to the notebook PC, built-in peripheral device, an externally connected peripheral device, or built-in circuit board.
Hitherto, as the function expansion device of personal computer, a detachable information processing device as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open patent No. 6-289955, and many others have been known. In such detachable information processing device, a power source is cut off when connecting and manipulating the transmission route, and the power source is turned on after connection, or when cutting off the connection of the detachable information processing device by pressing the eject button, it is necessary to cut off connection after turning off the power source, but the invention is intended to be manipulated by the operator without considering on or off of power source when detaching or attaching.
In the following explanation, the expansion box, docking station, docking unit, and port replicator are commonly called the function expansion device.
A constitution of a conventional function expansion device is shown in FIG.
1
l. In
FIG. 11
, the notebook PC
10
and function expansion device
20
are connected by connecting the mutual connectors.
Inside the notebook PC
10
, system parallel buses
211
are provided. The system parallel buses
211
refer, for example, to 32-bit peripheral component interconnect bus (PCI bus), 16-bit industry standard architecture bus (ISA bus), etc. Of the system parallel buses
211
, a signal necessary for function expansion (hereinafter function expansion signal)
212
is connected to the PC connector
213
through an input and output buffer
216
. The system parallel buses
211
are connected to the internal hard disk device
214
and LCD display device
215
.
Inside the function expansion device
20
, a function expansion connector
221
and function expansion interface
223
are provided. The function expansion connector
221
is connected to the function expansion interface
223
composed of LSI and circuit, through a function expansion signal
222
. The function expansion interface
223
is connected to a peripheral device
224
provided in the function expansion device
20
and a peripheral device
225
provided outside the function expansion device
20
. More specifically, the peripheral device
224
is a hard disk drive device or data backup device of high speed and large capacity, and the peripheral device
225
is a camera, printer, or the like.
The operating principle is briefly described below. The notebook PC
10
has basic functions of personal computer alone, and is portable, and is hence used anywhere. On the other hand, the function expansion device
20
has a fixed environmental peripheral device inside or outside by wiring, and it does not function alone, but when connected with the notebook PC
10
, it enhances the function of the notebook PC
10
so as to function by processing at larger capacity and higher speed. The notebook PC
10
is connected electrically to the function expansion device
20
through the PC connector
213
and function expansion connector
221
. The data stored in the built-in hard disk device
214
is put into the function expansion connector
221
as function expansion signal
212
through system parallel bus
211
and PC connector
213
, and, for example, the data is backed up in the peripheral device
224
which is a data back-up device through the function expansion interface
223
. On the other hand, a video signal
226
entering from a peripheral device
225
containing a camera passes through the function expansion interface
223
, and is reproduced as a camera image in the LCD display device
215
by way of the function expansion connector
221
, PC connector
213
and system parallel bus
211
.
In the embodiment shown in
FIG. 11
, the notebook PC
10
and function expansion device
20
are electrically connected to each other. Accordingly, when connecting or disconnecting the notebook PC
10
and function expansion device
20
, it was necessary to connect or disconnect after once turning off the power source of the notebook PC
10
and the power source of the function expansion device
20
.
To eliminate this inconvenience, a detachable information processing device is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 6-289955. It is intended to turn off the power source automatically by detecting the connecting or disconnecting operation. It is briefly described below while referring to FIG.
12
.
In
FIG. 12
, the notebook PC
10
and function expansion device
20
are connected electrically between the input and output buffers
216
and
231
. Depending on connection or disconnection of the input and output buffers
216
,
231
, a tri-state or open state is established. To realize this, by an interrupt signal
217
s
emitted from a connection/disconnection detecting device
217
, interrupt processing is carried out in a microprocessor
218
, and the input and output buffer
216
is set in tri-state by the input and output buffer control signal
218
s
. Similarly, inside the function expansion device
20
, by the input and output buffer control signal
230
s
emitted from the connection/disconnection detecting device
230
, the input and output buffer
231
is set in tri-state or open state. Hence, it is possible to attach or detach without being conscious of power feed or cut-off state.
In this method, the internal processing of the notebook PC
10
may be continuous, and from the viewpoint of software, it does not guarantee the entire operation of the application software.
To improve this point further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,488 is disclosed. It is characterized by using the serial interface system called the IEEE1394. In other example, it is also attempted to connect by using universal serial bus (USB). These examples are explained in FIG.
13
.
In
FIG. 13
, the connector of USB is connected at the contact point(s) by means of a receptacle
241
fitted to the notebook PC
10
side and a plug
242
fitted to the function expansion device
20
side. The connector of IEEE1394 is connected at the contact point(s) by means of a socket
243
fitted to the notebook PC
10
side and a plug
244
fitted to the function expansion device
20
side. In the IEEE1394 and USB, by using a twist pair, it is intended to connect plural devices by serial bus. More specifically, the IEEE394 is intended to supply two pairs of power source and signal line to the function expansion device
20
, and the USB is int

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