JPH0728559A - Portable electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the erroneous operation of the simultaneous use of plural external apparatus by inhibiting connection of the other external apparatus having the same function as one external apparatus at the time of using this external apparatus. CONSTITUTION:When a connector cover 58 is slid to a second position, the connector cover 58 is put between a guide wall 59 and a peripheral wall 5b to cover second and third interface connectors 48 and 49 from the side, and second and third interface connectors 48 and 49 cannot be used when a track ball is used. When the connector cover 58 is slided to a first position, the connector cover 58 is put between a connector body 38 and the peripheral wall 5b to cover a first interface connector 31, and the track ball cannot be used when a mouse or an external keyboard is used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has a housing having information input means such as a keyboard, and a plurality of interface connectors for connecting a mouse, a ball point, or a type of pointing device, or an external keyboard. The present invention relates to a portable electronic device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various book-type or notebook-type portable computers in which a keyboard and a flat-panel type display unit are attached to a casing having a flat box shape have been provided.

In recent years, with the sophistication of computers, the number of external devices connected to the casing of this computer has become extremely diverse. A mouse, a ball point, or an external keyboard, which is a type of pointing device, is known as one of the external devices.

By the way, external devices for inputting information of this kind often have the same function but different connection methods to the housing. Specifically, some pointing devices such as the mouse are connected to the housing via a cable, and some are directly fitted to the housing. There are many different interface connectors for connecting to the body. For this reason, the housing of the computer is provided with a plurality of interface connectors having different connector shapes and standards so as to be able to cope with different connection methods of external devices.

[0005]

However, according to this configuration, a plurality of external devices having the same function can be connected to one computer at the same time, so that the plurality of external devices can be operated at the same time. It will be in a state.
Therefore, if you accidentally operate multiple external devices at the same time, the signals from these external devices may interfere with each other, which may cause the computer to malfunction or
Or the problem that it doesn't work arises.

The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and a portable electronic device which can prevent a plurality of external devices having the same function from being connected to the housing and prevent malfunctions in advance. For the purpose of provision.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, a portable electronic device according to a first aspect of the present invention has an upper surface and a peripheral surface continuous with the upper surface, and an information input means is arranged on the upper surface. And a plurality of interface connectors that are arranged side by side on the peripheral surface of the housing and that are connected to a plurality of external devices that have the same function but have different types of connection parts. And a connector cover that covers the interface connectors and selectively exposes a part of the interface connectors.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the connector cover covers a part of the plurality of interface connectors and at the same time exposes the remaining interface connectors at a first position and a part of the interface connector. At the same time, it is characterized in that it is slidably attached to the housing between the second position and the second position for covering the remaining interface connectors.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the casing is
An external cover movable from a position outside the connector cover to cover at least a part of the plurality of interface connectors and an open position to expose at least a part of the interface connectors; Is characterized by.

[0010]

According to the configurations described in claims 1 and 2,
The connector cover has a plurality of same functions because it selectively exposes a part of a plurality of interface connectors to which an external device having the same function is connected and prohibits all the interface connectors from being exposed at the same time. It becomes impossible to connect an external device to the housing.

Therefore, when using one external device,
It becomes impossible to connect to other external devices that have the same function,
It is possible to prevent an erroneous operation such as simultaneously operating a plurality of external devices.

Since the unused interface connector is protected from the outside by the connector cover,
At the same time, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a short circuit accident due to the adhesion of dust to the interface connector or the mixing of conductive foreign matter.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the outer cover is rotated to the closed position, the connector cover can be slid to a position for covering the interface connector detached from the outer cover. With the connector cover, all interface connectors can be covered.

Therefore, when no external device is connected, all the interface connectors can be protected from the outside, and the occurrence of a short-circuit accident due to adhesion of dust to these interface connectors or mixing of conductive foreign matter is prevented. it can.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an A4 size book-type portable computer 1. This computer 1
Includes a base unit 2 having a flat box shape and a flat panel type display unit 3.

A housing 4 forming an outer shell of the base unit 2.
Is divided into a bottom case 5 and a top cover 6. The bottom case 5 has a flat bottom wall 5a and a peripheral wall 5b connected to the bottom wall 5a. Further, the top cover 6 has a substantially flat upper wall 6a and a peripheral wall 6b continuous with the upper wall 6a. Perimeter wall 6b of top cover 6
Are continuous with the peripheral wall 5b of the bottom case 5 so as to be flush with each other. The peripheral walls 5b and 6b form the front surface, the left and right side surfaces and the rear surface of the housing 4.

In the front half of the upper wall 6a of the top cover 6,
A keyboard 8 is arranged as information input means.
The rear half of the upper wall 6a is provided with a convex portion 9. The convex portion 9 extends over the entire width of the top cover 6, and the leg mounting portion 1 formed of a depression is formed at both left and right ends of the convex portion 9.
0a and 10b are formed.

The display unit 3 is provided with a thin box-shaped housing 13 and a liquid crystal display 14 housed in the housing 13. The screen of the liquid crystal display 14 has a display window 15 on the front of the housing 13.
Is exposed through.

The housing 13 includes a pair of pivot legs 16
a and 16b are provided. These pivotal legs 16a, 1
Reference numeral 6b denotes leg mounting portions 10a and 10b of the top cover 6.
And is connected to the top cover 6 via a hinge device (not shown). Therefore, the display unit 3 is rotatable between a closed position that covers the keyboard 8 and an open position where the keyboard 8 can be operated while standing upright behind the keyboard 8 while watching the liquid crystal display 14. Has become.

As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of left and right legs 19 (only one of which is shown) are provided at the rear end of the housing 4 so as to tilt up the housing 4 so that the front side is lowered.
Are arranged.

By the way, a floppy disk drive device 20 (hereinafter referred to as FDD) and a battery 21 as a drive power source are housed inside the housing 4. FDD
20 is arranged at the right end portion of the housing 4, and this FDD
As shown in FIG. 5, the 20 includes a metal casing 22. On the front surface of the casing 22, an insertion opening 23 for inserting / removing a floppy disk and a push button 24 for pressing when the inserted floppy disk is taken out.
And are arranged. The casing 22 is covered with a bracket 25 from the upper surface to the left and right side surfaces,
The bracket 25 is provided with tongue pieces 26a to 26d projecting on the bottom wall 5a of the bottom case 5 at its four corners.

The FDD 20 as described above is placed on the bottom wall 5a with the insertion opening 23 and the push button 24 facing the front of the bottom case 5, and the tongues 26a to 26d of the bracket 25 thereof are placed on the bottom wall 5a. It is screwed to the boss portion 27 of the. Therefore, an opening 28 that exposes the insertion opening 23 and the push button 24 is formed at a position that is biased to the right side of the front surface of the bottom case 5.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 6, the bottom case 5
A first interface connector 31 for connecting a trackball 30 as an external device is arranged at the right end of the front half of the. The trackball 30 is a kind of pointing device used for designating a position on the screen of the liquid crystal display 14, and has a spherical operation unit 33 on the upper surface of a main body case 32, as shown in FIG.
The operation unit 33 is rotated by a fingertip, and a cursor or the like on the screen is freely moved by this rotation.

The body case 32 integrally includes a ball connector 34 that is directly connected to the first interface connector 31. The ball connector 34 has a pair of prismatic fitting protrusions 35a and 35b, and a contact terminal 36 is arranged between the fitting protrusions 35a and 35b.

The first interface connector 31 for receiving the ball connector 34 has a connector body 38 made of synthetic resin as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The connector body 38 is in the form of an elongated box extending in the front-rear direction of the bottom case 5, and has flange portions 39a and 39b at both end portions along the longitudinal direction thereof. As shown in FIG. 7, the connector body 38 is disposed between the FDD 20 and the peripheral wall 5b forming the right side surface of the bottom case 5. Then, the flange portion 3 of the connector body 38
9a and 39b together with a tongue piece 40 extending from the casing 22 of the FDD 20 and a screw 42 on the boss portion 41 on the bottom wall 5a.
Is fixed through.

As shown in FIG. 5, the connector body 38
Includes a fitting recess 43 into which the fitting protrusions 35a and 35b of the ball connector 34 are detachably fitted. The fitting recess 43 opposes the peripheral wall 5 b forming the right side surface of the bottom case 5, and the terminal surface of the terminal recess 44 of the ball connector 34 that contacts the contact terminal 36 of the ball connector 34.
Are arranged. The terminal board 44 is connected to a main circuit board (not shown) in the housing 4 via a flexible wiring board 45.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the FDD2
The rear half of the right side surface of 0 is located behind the first interface connector 31, and the connector board 46 is fixed to the right side surface of the bracket 25 of the FDD 20 with screws 47. The connector board 46 has a second interface connector 48 for connecting a mouse as an external device and a third interface connector 4 for similarly connecting an external keyboard as an external device.
9 and 9 are attached side by side. The second and third interface connectors 48, 49 have a cylindrical shape having a large number of pin holes (not shown), and are different in shape from the first interface connector 31.
Then, these interface connectors 48, 49 are
It is close to the inner surface of the peripheral wall 5b forming the right side surface of the bottom case 5.

As shown in FIG. 5, cylindrical connectors 50 and 51 derived from a mouse or an external keyboard are detachably connected to the second and third interface connectors 48 and 49, respectively. There is. For this reason,
First to third interface connectors 31, 48,
The external devices such as the trackball 30, the mouse, and the external keyboard connected to the device 49 have the same functions, but the structures and standards of the connecting portions to the base unit 2 are different from each other.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, the bottom case 5
A first connector lead-out port 55 and a second connector lead-out port 56 are opened in the peripheral wall 5b forming the right side surface of the. The first connector outlet 55 is for exposing the fitting recess 43 of the first interface connector 31 and the terminal plate 44, and has an elongated rectangular shape extending in the front-rear direction of the bottom case 5. Second connector outlet 56
Are the second and third interface connectors 48, 4
9 for exposing the first connector outlet 5
5 are arranged side by side.

The bottom case 5 has a connector cover 58 for opening and closing the first and second connector outlets 55, 56. The connector cover 58 has a rectangular plate shape that matches the opening shape of the first connector outlet 55. The connector cover 58 extends along the inner surface of the peripheral wall 5b of the bottom case 5, and as shown in FIG. 2A, a first position for closing the first connector lead-out port 55,
As shown in FIG. 2B, the first connector outlet 55
Is slid back and forth over a second position to open the. The connector cover 58 is the first
In the state of being slid to the position of, the connector cover 58 is separated from the inside of the second connector outlet 56, and the second connector outlet 56 is opened. vice versa,
When the connector cover 58 is slid to the second position,
The connector cover 58 advances to the inside of the second connector outlet 56 and closes the second connector outlet 56.

Therefore, the connector cover 58 has the first
Further, either one of the second connector outlets 55 and 56 is selectively opened and closed. When the connector cover 58 is slid to the first position, the connector cover 58 is held between the side surface of the connector body 38 and the inner surface of the peripheral wall 5b.

As shown in FIG. 6, inside the bottom case 5, a guide wall 59 for holding the connector cover 58 with the peripheral wall 5b is arranged. The guide wall 59 is the first
And is located between the second and third interface connectors 48, 49 and the peripheral wall 5b. In the guide wall 59, a pair of connector holes 60a and 60b are opened side by side in the front-rear direction, and the second and third interface connectors 48 and 49 face the connector holes 60a and 60b.

From this, the connector cover 58 is attached to the second
When it is slid to the position of, the connector cover 58 is inserted between the guide wall 59 and the peripheral wall 5b to cover the second and third interface connectors 48 and 49 from the side. When using 30, the second and third interface connectors 4
The use of 8,49 is prohibited. On the contrary, when the connector cover 58 is slid to the first position, the connector cover 58 is inserted between the connector body 38 and the peripheral wall 5b to cover the first interface connector 31 and use a mouse or an external keyboard. At times, the use of the trackball 30 is prohibited.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bottom case 5
An external cover 63 that opens and closes the second connector outlet 56 from the outside is supported by the. As shown in FIG. 8, the outer cover 63 is provided with shaft portions 64 at the lower ends of the left and right ends thereof, and these shaft portions 64 serve as the second connector outlet 56.
Is rotatably supported at the opening edge of the.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8A, the outer cover 63 has a closed position in which the second connector outlet 56 is closed with the shaft 64 as a fulcrum, and as shown in FIG. 8B. And is rotated to the right of the bottom case 5 to
The connector outlet 56 is opened to the open position. Then, when the outer cover 63 is rotated to the closed position, the outer cover 63 is flush with the peripheral wall 5b of the bottom case 5, and the peripheral wall 5
It constitutes a part of b.

In such a configuration, the computer 1
When the trackball 30 is connected to and used, first, the connector cover 58 covering the first connector lead-out port 55 is slid toward the second position to open the first connector lead-out port 55. . Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, the fitting recess 43 of the first interface connector 31 is exposed through the first connector outlet 55.

In this state, the ball connector 34 integrated with the trackball 30 is inserted into the first connector lead-out port 55, and the fitting protrusions 35a and 35b of the ball connector 34 are fitted into the fitting recess 43 of the connector body 38. By this fitting, the track ball 30 is directly supported by the base unit 2, and the contact terminal 36 of the ball connector 34 and the terminal plate 44 of the first interface connector 31 are also supported.
Are electrically contacted with each other, and the connection of the trackball 30 to the computer 1 is completed.

At this time, the connector cover 58 is inserted between the guide wall 59 and the peripheral wall 5b to cover the second and third interface connectors 48, 49 from the side.
A mouse or external keyboard cannot be connected to 49.

On the other hand, when connecting a mouse or an external keyboard to the computer 1, the external cover 63 is rotated to the open position to expose the second connector outlet 56 on the right side surface of the housing 4. Then, the connector cover 58 is slid toward the first position to open the second connector outlet 56. Then, as shown in FIG. 2A, the second and third interface connectors 48 and 49 are exposed through the second connector outlet 56.

In this state, the connector 50 or 51 derived from the mouse or external keyboard is inserted into the second or third interface connector 48, 49, and the mouse or external keyboard is connected to the computer 1. At this time, the connector cover 58 enters between the connector body 38 of the first interface connector 31 and the peripheral wall 5b, and the fitting recess 43 of the first interface connector 31.
Since it is hidden from the side, the trackball 30 cannot be connected to the interface connector 31.

According to such an embodiment of the present invention, a connector cover for selectively exposing a part of the first to third interface connectors 31, 48, 49 on the right side surface of the housing 4. Since 58 is attached, the trackball 30 and the mouse or the external keyboard cannot be simultaneously connected to the computer 1.

Therefore, when the trackball 30 is used, the connection of the mouse or the external keyboard is prohibited,
On the contrary, since the connection of the trackball 30 is prohibited when the mouse or the external keyboard is used, even if the computer 1 has interface connectors 31, 48, 49 for connecting a plurality of external devices having the same function, It is possible to prevent erroneous operations such as simultaneously operating a plurality of these external devices, and it is possible to eliminate erroneous operations and malfunctions of the computer 1 due to signal collision as in the related art.

Moreover, the first interface connector 3
When using 1, the unused interface connectors 48 and 49 are covered by the connector cover 58, so that these interface connectors 48 and 49 are protected from the outside by the connector cover 58. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a short circuit accident due to the adhesion of dust to the unused interface connectors 48, 49 or the mixing of conductive foreign matter.

Further, since the housing 4 of this embodiment is provided with the outer cover 63 that opens and closes the second connector lead-out port 56 from the outside, in a state where the outer cover 63 is rotated to the closed position, By sliding the connector cover 58 to the first position, the connector cover 58 and the outer cover 63
And the first to third interface connectors 31, 4
All 8,49 can be covered. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a short circuit accident due to the adhesion of dust to the interface connectors 13, 48, 49 or the mixing of conductive foreign matter without the need for an external device.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the outer cover is configured to open and close only the second connector outlet,
Both the first connector outlet and the second connector outlet may be simultaneously opened and closed by this external cover. Further, the portable electronic device according to the present invention is not limited to the book-type portable computer, and can be similarly implemented in other devices such as a word processor.

[0046]

According to the configurations described in claims 1 and 2, when one external device is used, connection of another external device having the same function is prohibited, so that a plurality of casings having the same function are used. Even if it has multiple interface connectors for connecting external devices, it is possible to prevent erroneous operations such as using these multiple external devices at the same time.
It is possible to eliminate malfunctions and malfunctions of electronic devices due to conventional signal collisions.

Further, at this time, since the unused interface connector is protected from the outside by the connector cover, the occurrence of a short circuit accident due to the adhesion of dust to the interface connector or the mixing of the conductive foreign matter is simultaneously prevented. be able to.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since all the interface connectors can be covered with the external cover and the connector cover, dust is attached to the interface connector and the conductive property is maintained even when no external device is required. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of a short-circuit accident due to the mixture of a foreign substance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a side view showing a state in which the outer cover is opened and the connector cover is slid to the first position.
FIG. 6B is a side view showing a state in which the outer cover is opened and the connector cover is slid to the second position.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the outer cover is opened and the connector cover is slid to a second position.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a portable computer.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a positional relationship between the FDD and first to third interface connectors.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a mounting structure of a first interface connector with respect to a bottom case.

FIG. 7 is a plan view partially showing a cross section of an attachment portion of an FDD and first to third interface connectors.

FIG. 8A is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an outer cover is closed. (B) is sectional drawing which shows the state which opened the outer cover.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a ball point.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 ... Housing. 8 ... Information input means (keyboard). 30 ... External device (trackball) 31, 48, 49 ... Interface connector. 58 ... Connector cover. 63 ... External cover.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A housing having an upper surface and a peripheral surface continuous with the upper surface, the information input means being arranged on the upper surface, and a housing arranged side by side on the peripheral surface of the housing and having the same function, And a plurality of interface connectors to which a plurality of external devices having different connection parts are connected, and a connector cover provided on the housing for covering the interface connectors and selectively exposing a part of the interface connectors. And a portable electronic device. 2. The connector cover according to claim 1, wherein the connector cover covers a part of the plurality of interface connectors and at the same time exposes the remaining interface connectors. A portable electronic device, which is attached to the housing so as to be slidable between a second position that covers a part of the exposed interface connector and a second position that covers the remaining interface connector. 3. The structure according to claim 2, wherein the housing is
An external cover movable from a position outside the connector cover to cover at least a part of the plurality of interface connectors and an open position to expose at least a part of the interface connectors; A portable electronic device characterized by: