JPH1153079A - Mobile terminal / extension device system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a portable device / extended device system that can take both forms of keyboard input and screen input with one extended device. SOLUTION: Expansion connectors 61 and 62 for connecting a mobile terminal 1 and an expansion device 2 are formed to be insertable upside down, and terminal pins (6A) of both connectors 61 and 62 are connected in accordance with a fitting state of the expansion connectors. ~ 6S ', 6A' ~ 6S ') is provided with a relay circuit for changing the connection state, and by changing the electrical connection state by the relay circuit according to the fitting state, the portable terminal can be connected to one type of expansion device 2. A portable device / extended device system that can be connected face-up or face-down and can automatically change the connection destination and switch the screen display direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a portable terminal having a screen input unit with a handwriting input function and a display unit, and an extension device for connecting the portable terminal to an external device such as a LAN / printer / modem. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable terminal / extended device system having improved usability in accordance with a use state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, portable small computers (hereinafter, referred to as portable terminals) having a touch panel or other contact type input means arranged on a display unit such as an LCD have become widespread. It is used as a public relations support device for business and outside sales.

[0003] Examples of the use of inventory management in the distribution industry include inventory management operations for inputting and managing the inventory status of merchandise in stores and warehouses using a portable terminal such as a POS terminal. Various types of portable work such as handwritten input of a signature on a slip in a courier service are included. Examples of external support such as outside sales are various presentations using electronic data at contractors / contract data / negotiation data /
Search / confirmation of stock data / order data, input operation, and the like.

[0004] The portable terminal used for these tasks is characterized in that it can be carried and carried in any case, and the small size and light weight of the portable terminal are decisive factors. In general, it has only the minimum required functions such as devices, and the number of electronic components to be mounted such as devices and connectors is reduced as much as possible.

On the other hand, in an office or a work base, data input in the above-mentioned various operations needs to be transferred / printed to a host computer. Therefore, an extension device for mechanically and electrically connecting a portable terminal to a portable terminal is required. Prepare and mount a device that can be connected to an AC power supply / LAN / printer, etc. to this expansion device, and connect it to an external device to perform desktop tasks such as data exchange / communication / battery-charging. Satisfaction with scalability and extensibility is being performed.

[0006] In addition, such a portable terminal / extension device system uses a portable terminal as an extension device so that the same portable terminal can be used in an office or a work base in terms of unifying operation methods for users. It is demanded to use it while connected.

Next, a description will be given of a work mode for fixing the portable terminal / extended device system according to the prior art in an office or a work base.

(1) Fixing work form when the portable terminal is placed vertically This work form is to improve the visibility by installing the portable terminal vertically so as to be suitable for work on a table and to improve the visibility. Are connected to facilitate the operation, and the following two schemes can be cited as typical structures.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, there is a vertical extension device 2 that supports the upper and lower back surfaces of a portable terminal 1. The portable terminal 1 has a display screen 11 having both a display function such as an LCD and a contact-type input function such as a touch panel, a switch 10 for adjusting the brightness and the like of the display screen 11, and transmission and reception of data with the outside. The expansion device 2 includes a receiving stand 25 for holding the mobile terminal 1 and an expansion connector 6 for connecting to the connector 61 of the mobile terminal 1.
2 is provided with a tilde mechanism 22 that rotatably supports 2, a keyboard 3, an external connection cable 41 such as an AC power supply / LAN / printer, and a power supply connection cable 42 (not shown).

In this system, the portable terminal 1 is placed on the receiving stand 25 of the extension device 2 with the extension connector 61 facing upward, and the terminal 1 is pointed to by an arrow A while the extension connector 62 is rotated upward by the chilling mechanism 22. The portable terminal 1 and the extension device 2 are mechanically and electrically connected by tilting the extension connector 62 in the direction and closing the extension connector 62 in the direction of arrow B by the chilled mechanism 22. Therefore, in the present system, the mobile terminal 1 is located in front of the expansion device 2 after the connection, and the display screen 11 faces the front of the worker, thereby improving the operability of the user.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, there is a vertical extension device 2 that supports the lower surface of the portable terminal 1. This mobile terminal 1
Is the same as the above-described configuration, and the expansion device 2 is provided with an expansion connector 62 on a receiving stand 25 for holding the portable terminal 1 as compared with the above-described configuration. The terminal 1 and the extension device 2 are connected mechanically and electrically.

(2) Fixing work mode when the portable terminal is placed horizontally This work mode is to install and display the portable terminal on a flat surface so as to be suitable for work mainly including handwriting input and data input by pointing. The screen is facing up.

In this system, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), an extension connector 62 is provided laterally on the receiving base 25 of the extension device 2, and the portable terminal 1 is inserted into the extension connector 62 from the plane direction in the direction of arrow A. Thus, the display screen 11 is arranged so that data can be input with the touch pen 5 with the display screen 11 facing upward as shown in FIG. 3A.

After this system is connected, the portable terminal 1 is located at the front of the extension device 2 (located at the operator's hand), and the display screen 11 is directed upward. Note that, similarly to the above-described example, the external connection cable 41 and the power connection cable 42 for the AC power supply / LAN / printer and the like are located on the back surface of the expansion device 2 and do not hinder the operation.

A document describing the technology relating to the above-mentioned portable terminal / extended device system is disclosed in JP-A-6-23.
No. 2567 and the like.

[0016]

In the portable terminal / expansion device system according to the prior art described above, when the portable device and the extension device are connected to each other and the work is performed, the extension device has only one of a screen input and a keyboard input. When the actual use situation was taken into consideration, there was a problem in usability as described below.

(1) The systems shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are suitable for keyboard input, but since the display screen 11 is farther from the table and the screen 11 is almost perpendicular to the table,
In order to perform screen input using a touch pen, the hand must be raised to the screen position, which causes a considerable burden for long-time work, and it is particularly difficult to operate using handwriting recognition was there.

Although the system shown in FIG. 1 can firmly hold the portable terminal 1, there is a problem that the expansion device 2 itself becomes large. The system shown in FIG. 2 is different from the system shown in FIG. However, since the mechanical connection is performed only with the expansion connector, the mechanical support strength is weak, and there is a problem that the expansion connector may be damaged when an external force is applied to the mobile terminal 1. Was.

(2) The system shown in FIG. 3 does not have a tilde function unlike the system shown in FIG. 1, so that the structure can be simplified and the size of the expansion device itself can be reduced. However, since this structure is a connection structure assuming only the screen input, there is a problem that the keyboard input is a difficult operation to work while looking into the screen from above.

Above, the failures of the three types of portable terminal / extension device systems have been described in detail, but none of the systems support both screen input and keyboard input.
There was a problem that two types of expansion devices were required to perform both input operations.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, and to provide a portable terminal / extended device system which can easily perform a keyboard input operation and a screen input operation using a kind of extended device. It is to be.

[0022]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a portable terminal / expansion apparatus system according to the present invention comprises a portable terminal including an input unit and a display unit, and a portable terminal and an electric device.
In a portable terminal / extension device system including an extension device for mechanically connecting and exchanging data, a portable terminal and an extension device for making a predetermined electrical connection between the portable terminal and the extension device and mechanically connecting the portable terminal and the extension device. A first feature is that the two expansion connectors for the device are configured to be fittable in forward and reverse directions while maintaining the predetermined electrical connection.

In the portable terminal / expansion apparatus system according to the present invention, the extension connector for the portable terminal or the extension apparatus detects an insertion direction of a mating extension section connector and electrically changes an internal electrical connection state. And the expansion connector for the mobile terminal or the expansion device,
A third feature is that the vertical direction of the display unit is inverted when the insertion direction of the mating extension connector is detected.

[0024]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a portable terminal / expansion apparatus system according to the present invention. <Overall Configuration> First, the connection state of the portable terminal / expansion apparatus system according to the present embodiment includes a form in which the portable terminal 1 is placed vertically and attached to the extension apparatus 2 as shown in FIG.
With the portable terminal 1 placed horizontally as shown in FIG.
And the form attached to it.

In the portable terminal / expansion apparatus system according to the present embodiment, the portable terminal 1 is connected between the extension connectors so that the switch 10 is in the two directions shown in FIGS. 4A, electrical connection between the two devices is ensured regardless of the connection state, and when the device is connected vertically as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4 (b), the display screen 11 is inverted so that the display screen 11 is displayed horizontally.

The portable terminal 1 according to the present embodiment has a display screen 11 having an input function such as a touch panel and a C
A storage device such as PU / main board / disk / battery, etc. is mounted. In this case, if the orientation of FIG. Chilled base 24 of expansion device 2
Are connected by fitting to the extension connector 62 disposed at Further, a control board / power supply unit including a device driver circuit for expansion is mounted inside the expansion device 2, and a plurality of external connection cables 41 / power supply input cables 42 are pulled out from the side or the back via connectors from external devices. Is configured.

<Chilling Mechanism> The securing of the electrical connection and the inversion of the display screen in the both connection states described above are performed by the chilled base 24 including the extension connector which is a feature of the present embodiment described below. The details of the tilde mechanism will be described with reference to FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the chilled mechanism according to the present embodiment comprises a pair of rotatable torque hinges 21.
A pair of chilled fixing plates 23 attached to the hinges 21; a chilled base 24 fixed to the fixing plate 23 together with the guide pins 26; and an expansion connector arranged at the center of the chilled base 24. 5, the electrical connection is mainly performed by fitting the extension connector 61 at the lower part of the portable terminal 1 and the extension connector 62 of the extension device 2 as shown in FIG. The guide pins 26 are fitted into the fixed guide holes 15 and a pair of holding portions 25 projecting from the left and right sides of the chilled base 24 are configured to perform mechanical connection by holding the lower part of the mobile terminal 1. .

That is, in the chilled mechanism according to the present embodiment, the holding portion 25 of the chilled base 24 holds the portable terminal 1
In addition, by fitting the extension connectors 61 and 62 and fitting the guide pins 26 and the fixed guide holes 15, the portable terminal 1 and the extension device 2 are electrically and mechanically connected, and the portable terminal 1 is connected to the torque hinge. It is configured to be rotatably supported by 21.

<Mechanical Connection Structure> Next, a fixing structure for performing mechanical coupling will be described with reference to FIG. In the mechanism on the expansion device side of this structure, as shown in FIG. 6, a guide pin 26 on a chilled base 24 is made of metal, and a groove 27 is provided at the tip of the guide pin 26. On the other hand, the mechanism on the portable terminal side has a slide bracket 16 having a ring-shaped notch 19 that fits into a groove 27 at the tip of a guide pin 26 that has penetrated the fixed guide hole 15, and guides the movement of the slide bracket 16. Guide hole 16a and screw 16b, and slide fitting 1
The spring 17 urges the notch portion 6 of the fixed guide hole 15 so as to be positioned in the fixed guide hole 15, and the notch portion 19 of the slide bracket 16 has the fixed guide hole 1 against the urging force of the spring 17.
And a lever for moving in a direction away from the lever.

When the guide pin 26 of the extension device 2 is inserted into the fixed guide hole 15 of the portable terminal 1, the notch 19 of the slide bracket 16 and the groove 2 of the guide pin 26
By fitting with 7, both mechanisms can be mechanically connected. When the extension device 2 is detached from the mobile terminal 1, the lever 18 is pressed to remove the notch 19 of the guide pin 26 from the groove 27 of the guide pin and release the lock. In addition, these parts are installed in two places at both ends of the lower part of the portable terminal 1.

<Electrical Connection Structure> Next, the electrical connection structure will be described with reference to FIGS. In the expansion connector structure according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the expansion connector 61 is a male type and the expansion connector 62 is a female type.

Extension connector 61 mounted on portable terminal 1
Are the center terminal pins 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6P, 6
It is composed of blocks of Q, 6R, 6S and two guide pins 63 protruding at diagonal positions of the connector, and is formed by an insulating mold. The terminal pins 6P and 6Q constitute a short-circuit that is short-circuited, and the terminal pins 6R and 6S are open (not connected).

The extension connector 62 mounted on the extension terminal 2
Are a plurality of spring-like pins 6A ', 6B', 6C ', 6
D ', 6P', 6Q ', 6R', 6S '(flat copper plate)
And two holes 63 ′ that fit with the two guide pins 63 of the expansion connector 61 described above.
Are fitted into the holes 63 'to guide the connection of the connectors, so that the pins of both extension connectors are electrically contacted. Further, the connector 62 has a relay circuit inside as described later, and is configured to change a connection state with each pin of the expansion connector 61 according to a connection direction of the connector. In addition, both extension connectors can reverse the fitting direction.

Next, the electrical connection structure of the expansion connector will be described with reference to FIG. 8 shows the wiring in the expansion connector 61 on the portable terminal 1 side and the wiring in the expansion connector 62 on the expansion device 2 side. FIG. 8A shows the terminal pins of each connector shown in FIG. (For example, pin 6
A shows a state in which A is connected to a pin 6A ′).
(b) is a diagram showing a state of the reverse connection.

First, the wiring in the expansion connector 61 of the portable terminal 1 forms a through circuit in which the pin 6 and P6Q are short-circuited as described above, and the pins 6R and 6S are opened.
The other pins are wired so as to be connected to an electric circuit inside the portable terminal 1.

The expansion connector 62 on the expansion device 2 side
Open pins 6P 'and 6Q' and connect power supply VC to pin 6R '.
Connect the C, multiple relay coil L ₁ ~L ₄ of relay circuit which is driven by electric power supplied to the pin 6S 'and the coil L ₁ ~
And a plurality of relay switches L ₁ '~L _4' for changing the connection state in accordance with the conduction state of L _4. In addition, the extension connector 61 connects the wiring via the relay switches of the pins 6A 'to 6D' as shown in the drawing, and connects the connection line to the terminal 8A.
To 8D are connected to circuits inside the expansion device 2.

Now, the extension connector 61 configured as described above.
And 62, the connection of the terminal pins 6P and 6P 'when the respective terminal pins of the respective connectors shown in FIG. 8A are connected in a corresponding manner to the symbols (for example, this is a vertical connection in FIG. 4A). In addition, connection between the terminal pins 6Q and 6Q 'is performed. Since the terminal pin 6P '/ 6Q' / 6R / 6S is open in this bound state, no power is supplied to the relay coil L ₁ ~L _4, the mobile terminal 1 signals from the terminal pins, 6A → 6A '→ 8
A, 6B → 6B ′ → 8B, 6C → 6C ′ → 8C, 6D →
Connect to 6D '→ 8D. That is, each terminal pin of the mobile terminal 1 is connected to the code (for example, the pin 6A is connected to 8A and the pin 6B is connected to 8B), and an electrical connection is made according to the vertical installation of the mobile terminal.

Next, the expansion connectors 61 and 62 are
When the connection of each connector shown in (b) is reversed (for example, this is a horizontal connection in FIG. 4B), the connection states of the terminal pins are 6P ′ and 6S, 6Q ′ and 6R, 6A 'and 6D, 6B' and 6C, 6C 'and 6B, 6D' and 6A, 6
R 'and 6P, 6S' and 6Q are connected respectively. That is, in this connection state, the terminal pins 6A to 6D and the terminal bins 6A 'to
The connection with 6D 'is reversed.

[0040] However, the terminal pin 6R 'power VCC supplied from the pin 6P and 6Q and 6S' is supplied to the Rerikoiru L ₁ ~L ₄ through the relay switch L
_{Since 1} ′ to L ₄ ′ operate, the connection state between the terminal pins 6A ′ to 6D ′ and the terminals 8A to 8D is inverted, and the signal from the terminal pin on the mobile terminal 1 side is converted to 6A → 6D ′ → 8A, 6B → 6
C '→ 8B, 6C → 6B ′ → 8C, 6D → 6A ′ → 8D
Connect to. That is, the connection state between each terminal pin of the portable terminal 1 and the terminals 8A to 8D of the expansion device 2 is connected in the same manner as in the vertical installation described above.

As described above, the portable terminal / expansion apparatus system according to the present embodiment can electrically and mechanically connect the portable terminal to the extension apparatus in the vertical and horizontal arrangements shown in FIG. Thus, a connection can be made in accordance with the convenience of the user using the keypad or using the touch pen. That is, the portable terminal / expansion apparatus system according to the present embodiment can easily perform the keyboard input operation and the screen input operation.

Further, since the portable terminal / expansion device system according to the present embodiment wants to use the chilled mechanism shown in FIG. 5, when the portable terminal is installed vertically, the screen angle can be changed arbitrarily. At the same time, when the portable terminal is installed horizontally, the mobile terminal can be tilted to a flat surface and tilted to a position for handwriting input.

The inversion of the display screen shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) means that the portable terminal 1 monitors an electric circuit or a mechanical connection for monitoring the power application state between the terminal pins 6P-6Q of the extension connector 61. A mechanism for monitoring the state by fitting pins or the like is provided, and the portable terminal 1 controls the inversion of the display screen according to the installation direction based on the detection result. For this detection, an electric circuit for monitoring the power supply from the voltage VCC or a mechanical monitoring mechanism using the pins is provided on the extension device 2 side, and the extension device 2 side instructs the portable terminal 1 to indicate the screen display direction. You may comprise. Similarly, it is needless to say that the portable terminal 1 also detects handwritten characters from the touch panel by inverting upside down according to the connection state.

[0044]

As described above, the portable terminal according to the present invention
The extension device system has an extension connector that connects the portable terminal and the extension device in a shape that can be inserted upside down, and a relay circuit that changes the connection state of the terminal pins of both connectors according to the fitted state of the extension connector. By changing the electrical connection state by the relay circuit according to the fitted state, the portable terminal can be connected to one type of expansion device either face up or face down, changing the connection destination and switching the screen display direction. Automatically, and without preparing multiple expansion devices,
It is possible to provide a portable terminal / extended device system capable of performing both input modes of a keyboard input and a screen input.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional portable terminal / extension device system of a vertical type.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a conventional portable terminal / expansion device system of a vertical type.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of a conventional portable terminal / extension device system of a horizontal type.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining vertical and horizontal usages of the mobile terminal / expansion apparatus system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a chilled mechanism according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining a mechanical coupling mechanism according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary view for explaining an expansion connector according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an exemplary view for explaining a wiring state of the extension connector according to the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

1: mobile terminal, 11: display screen, 15: fixed guide hole,
16: slide bracket, 17: spring, 18: lever, 19: ring-shaped notch, 2: expansion device, 2
1: torque hinge, 22: chilled mechanism, 23: chilled fixing plate, 24: chilled base, 25: clamping portion, 26: guide pin, 27: guide pin groove, 3: keyboard, 41:
External connection cable, 42: power input cable, 5: input pin, 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6P, 6Q, 6R,
6S: terminal pins of the extension connector 61, 6A ', 6B',
6C ', 6D', 6P ', 6Q', 6R ', 6S': terminal pins of the extension connector 62, 61: extension connector (portable terminal 1 side), 62: extension connector (extension device 2 side), 6
3: guide pin, 64: screw hole, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8
D: connection terminal of the extension connector 62 terminal pin to the internal circuit, L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ , L ₄ : relay coil, L ₁ ′,
L ₂ ′, L ₃ ′, L ₄ ′: relay switch.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masaharu Teshima 1 Ikegami, Haruoka-cho, Owariasahi-shi, Aichi Prefecture Inside Hitachi Asahi Electronics Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A portable terminal / extension device system comprising: a portable terminal including an input unit and a display unit; and an extension device electrically and mechanically connected to the portable terminal to exchange data. The two expansion connectors for the mobile terminal and the expansion device for making a predetermined electrical connection between the terminal and the expansion device and mechanically connecting the terminal and the expansion device can be freely fitted in forward and reverse directions while maintaining the predetermined electrical connection. A portable terminal / expansion device system, comprising: 2. The expansion connector for a portable terminal or an expansion device detects an insertion direction of a mating expansion unit connector and electrically changes an internal electrical connection state. Mobile terminal and expansion device system. 3. The display device according to claim 2, wherein the extension connector for the portable terminal or the extension device inverts the vertical direction of the display unit upon detecting the insertion direction of the extension connector of the other party. The portable terminal / expansion device system described in the above.