Patent
1994-04-25
1998-07-07
Lee, Thomas C.
395884, G06F 1314
Patent
active
057782547
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to recording devices for mounting a plurality of recording mediums such as floppy disk drives, optical disks, RAM cards, etc., and more particularly, it relates to a recording device in which a plurality of recording mediums may be controlled from an external information processing device or the like through a single cable or a set of cables.
Various recording mediums including floppy disks, optical disks such as a CD-ROM, and RAM card or ROM card in the form of a card are used as an external storage device of an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer. Some recording devices for effecting recording, regeneration and erasing on these recording mediums have been developed as a single recording device with a plurality of recording mediums mounted thereon. In the recording mediums and the recording device for handling digital data, for example, since reduction in size of the mediums or the device is making a progress because of improved recording density, etc., it is now possible to mount a recording device having a thin type 5.25-inch FDD and a 3.5-inch FDD in a space where a floppy disk drive (FDD) of 5.25-inch type has conventionally been mounted in. Also, it is possible that a plurality of thin type 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch FDDs, or a 5.25-inch FDD and a 3.5-inch FDD are mounted in the space where a plurality of the conventional 5.25-inch FDDs have been mounted in so that a vacant slot thereof is used for a recording device such as a CD-ROM. Not only one combining a plurality of FDDs but also a recording device having a combination of FDD, CD-ROM, etc., mounted thereon is possible.
FIG. 9 shows how a 5.25-inch FDD and a 3.5-inch FDD are combined and are connected to a computer on a host side. In general, since power interface connectors and/or signal interface connectors are of different types between a 5.25-inch FDD and a 3.5-inch FDD, a power interface connector 17 and a signal interface connector 16 for a 5.25-inch FDD are provided for the host system which corresponds to the 5.25-inch FDD. Accordingly, if 3.5-inch FDD is to be connected thereto together with the 5.25-inch FDD, it is necessary to connect the 3.5-inch FDD through an adapter board 13. A card edge 15 and a connector 14 which are respectively identical to an interface card edge 5 and a power interface connector 4 of a control board 11 of the 5.25-inch FDD are provided on one end 13a of adapter board 13. Further, provided on the other end 13b of adapter board 13 are a connector corresponding to a signal interface connector 7 of a control board 12 of the 3.5-inch FDD and a connector corresponding to a power interface connector 6. Thus, by connecting connecting end 13b of adapter board 13 and the 3.5-inch FDD to each other through a power interface cable 18 and a signal interface cable 19, the 3.5-inch FDD may be connected to the host system by means of connectors 16 and 17 which are compatible with the 5.25-inch FDD.
Shown in FIG. 10 is a recording device in which thin types of a 5.25-inch FDD and a 3.5-inch FDD are attached to and incorporated into an outer frame (front bezel) 3. An FDD device having such a dual construction is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No.63-11792 in which the basic construction is similar to that of the recording device shown in FIG. 9. To achieve a compatibility of the connector on the host side corresponding to 5.25-inch FDD with a 3.5-inch FDD 2, adapter board 13 is mounted on a 5.25-inch FDD 1. In the recording device shown in FIG. 10, two signal interface connectors 5 and 15 and two power interface connectors 4 and 14 are provided for two drives of the recording mediums respectively of 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch.
In the conventional recording device having a 5.25-inch FDD and a 3.5-inch FDD as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, two cables, a power interface cable and a signal interface cable, are necessary for each FDD to be connected to the host side.
When the recording device shown in FIG. 9 or 10 is to be connected, a
REFERENCES:
patent: 4686506 (1987-08-01), Farago
patent: 4858038 (1989-08-01), Kazama
patent: 4890179 (1989-12-01), Baker
patent: 4894739 (1990-01-01), Kobayashi
patent: 5041924 (1991-08-01), Blackborow et al.
patent: 5051850 (1991-09-01), Takahashi
patent: 5097439 (1992-03-01), Patriquin et al.
patent: 5133060 (1992-07-01), Weber et al.
patent: 5293601 (1994-03-01), Tsuyuguchi et al.
patent: 5327549 (1994-07-01), Nissimov et al.
patent: 5335338 (1994-08-01), Proesel
patent: 5420998 (1995-05-01), Horning
Koizumi Kazuhiko
Nobutani Tsutomu
Ohtsuka Tadashi
Chen Anderson I.
Lee Thomas C.
Seiko Epson Corporation
Watson Mark P.
LandOfFree
Recording device with connection means to first and second recor does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Recording device with connection means to first and second recor, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Recording device with connection means to first and second recor will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1217024