JP3485482B2 - Electronic data processing adapter - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic card (for example, an IC card) used in various information processing systems such as an electronic money system, a medical examination system, and an electronic ticket system, and electronic data for a general-purpose personal computer. The present invention relates to an electronic data processing adapter (hereinafter simply referred to as an adapter) used for connecting to a processing device and exchanging data with each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various proposals have been made as an electronic data processing system of this kind (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-1).
No. 27832, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-509194, etc.). FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram of an adapter described in the above Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-509194.

An adapter body 1 made of a synthetic resin, which has almost the same shape as a normal 3.5-inch disk cartridge.
A card storage portion 102 for storing the IC card 101 is formed inside 00, and a contact portion 103 is provided inside thereof.

The contact portion 103 is connected to the processor 104, and the processor 104 includes a data memory 105, a magnetic interface 106, a battery 107, and a current controller 108.
Etc. are connected respectively. A stator 109 is connected to the current controller 108, and a rotor 110 is arranged so as to face the stator 109.

Power can be supplied to the IC card 101, the processor 104, and the data memory 105 from the battery 107, and also from a power generation means composed of a pair of the stator 109 and the rotor 110. That is,
When the adapter body 100 accommodating the IC card 101 is attached to a normal disk drive device, the drive device rotationally drives the rotor 110, thereby generating power and supplying power through the current controller 108. ing.

[0006]

In this data processing system, data is transferred between the IC card and the data processing device via an adapter.
For example, with the expansion of applications such as digital cameras, ICs
Flash memory cards are being applied as the capacity of cards increases.

However, since many flash memory cards are thicker than ordinary IC cards, the adapter body 1 having almost the same thickness as a 3.5-inch disk cartridge is used.
However, it is difficult to make contact with them when they are stored in 00, and this kind of adapter cannot be applied.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and to provide an adapter capable of increasing the capacity of data processing.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a disk cartridge type which has an access portion (for example, a magnetic interface assembly) to a disk drive device and is inserted into the disk drive device. An adapter body and a card holding portion having a connector portion to which an electronic card (for example, a flash memory card) is joined, and a rear end portion of the adapter body.
A connecting member is placed between the card holder and the tip of the card holder.
There are two pins at both ends of the connecting member
Aligned almost parallel, one pin of which is an adapter
-Inserted on the body side, the other pin is the card holder
Is inserted into the side to form a biaxial movable connecting means, and the biaxial
The card holder of the adapter body is
It is flexibly connected to the rear end and is movable in two axes.
Through the flexible printed wiring board to the formula connection means,
Adapter book by the flexible printed wiring board
It is characterized in that the body and the card holder are electrically connected .

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION As described above, the present invention has a structure in which a card holder is attached to the rear end of the adapter body inserted into the disk drive device, and the electronic card is connected to this card holder. Therefore, even relatively thick electronic cards such as flash memory cards can be used by connecting to the connector part of the card holder,
It is possible to cope with the large capacity of data processing.

Further, since the card holding portion is flexibly connected to the adapter body, when the adapter body is lowered in the device by inserting the adapter into the disk drive device and performing a loading operation, By the way, since the card holding portion is bent, the loading operation is not hindered.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an adapter according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the adapter, FIG. 3 is an internal plan view of the adapter, and FIG. 4 is an electronic data processing system using the adapter. Schematic configuration diagram, FIG.
6 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the connecting means of the adapter, FIG. 6 is a circuit block diagram of the adapter, and FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state in which the adapter is mounted on the disk drive device.

As shown in FIG. 4, this electronic data processing system includes an electronic card 1 such as a flash memory card.
And an adapter 2, and an electronic data processing device 3 such as a desktop or notebook general-purpose personal computer and various workstations.

As shown in the figure, by mounting the electronic card 1 on the adapter 2 and mounting it on the disk drive device 4 of the electronic data processing device 3, the adapter 2
The system is such that data is exchanged between the electronic card 1 and the electronic data processing device 3 via the.

Next, the structure of the adapter 2 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the adapter 2 is composed of an adapter body 5 having substantially the same outer shape as a general-purpose 3.5-inch disk cartridge, and a card holder 6, both of which are connected by a bendable connecting means 7. Are running.

The external dimensions of the adapter body 5 are 94 m.
m (W) × 90 mm (L) × 3.5 mm (T1), but the card holder 6 accommodates the electronic card 1 such as a large capacity flash memory card.
(Thickness T2 is about 4.
5 mm) is designed (T1 <T2).

A head access port 8 is formed at a predetermined position of the adapter body 5, and a magnetic interface assembly 10 incorporating an electromagnetic coil 9 (see FIG. 4) is mounted inside the head access port 8. Although not shown, the head access port 8 is opened and closed by a shutter like a normal disk cartridge. As shown in FIG. 3, a printed wiring board 12 having an electronic component 11 such as an IC chip mounted thereon is mounted inside the adapter body 5, and although not shown, the magnetic interface assembly 10 is connected to the printed wiring board 12. ing.

A card holding portion 6 is connected via a connecting means 7 to the side of the adapter body 5 opposite to the side where the head access port 8 is formed, that is, to the rear end side in the insertion direction of the adapter body 5. There is.

Inside the card holder 6, the electronic card 1
Is provided with a card storage section 13 for storing the card, a multi-pin connector section 14 installed so as to face the back side of the card storage section 13, and a battery storage section 15. A card insertion port 16 (see FIG. 2) communicating with the card storage unit 13 is provided on the side surface of the card holding unit 6.
A finger hook portion 17 (see FIGS. 1 and 3) cut out in a trapezoidal shape is formed in the upper and lower portions of the reference numeral 6.

As shown in FIG. 3, a battery holder 19 having a button type battery 18 mounted therein is housed in the battery housing portion 15. The electronic card 1 and the battery holder 19 are inserted from opposite sides. Thus, the connector portion 14 is arranged between the electronic card 1 and the battery holder 19.

The flexible printed wiring board 19 is installed on the upper side or the lower side of the connector portion 14, and the battery housing portion 1
5, a battery terminal portion (not shown) and a connector portion 1
4 are connected respectively. The flexible printed wiring board 19 extends to the adapter body 5 side through the connecting means 7 and is connected to the printed wiring board 12.

Next, the structure of the connecting means 7 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, notches 20 having a concave planar shape are formed at the rear end of the adapter body 5 and the front end of the card holding portion 6, and the cross-sectional shape is substantially inside thereof. An oval-shaped connecting member 21 made of, for example, aluminum is arranged.

Two pins 22 and 22 are fixed in parallel to each other at predetermined intervals at both ends of the connecting member 21, and one of the pins 22 is connected to a bearing portion 27a provided on the adapter body 5 side. One pin 2 movably inserted and the other
The reference numeral 2 is rotatably inserted in a bearing portion 27b provided on the card holding portion 6 side. The connecting member 21 and the four pins 22 constitute a biaxially movable connecting means 7.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the adapter body 5 and the card holding portion 6. As shown in the figure, the adapter body 5 includes an electromagnetic coil 9 and the electromagnetic coil 9
An analog signal processing circuit 23 for converting the coil signal induced into the MFM signal into an MFM signal, a digital signal processing circuit 24 for converting the MFM signal from the analog signal processing circuit 23 into an NRZ signal, a communication control unit 25 including a microcomputer, and On / off is linked with the movement of the shutter that opens and closes the head access port 8 (shutter open: on, shutter close:
A switch 26 for turning off) is provided.

On the other hand, the card holding portion 6 is provided with the electronic card 1, the connector portion 14 and the battery 18. The respective parts are connected as shown in the figure.

As described above, since the card holder 6 is bendable with respect to the adapter body 5, when not in use, the card holder 6 is placed on the adapter body 5 as shown by the solid line in FIG. Thus, it can be generally stored in a case or the like in the same space as the disc cartridge. By using two or more multi-axis movable connecting means 7 as in the present embodiment, even if the card holding portion 6 is thick, it can be placed on the adapter body 5 without difficulty.

When the adapter is used, the card holder 6 is expanded as shown by the dotted line in FIG.
The electronic card 1 is mounted through the card insertion slot 16 of the
4 by fitting the electronic card 1 to the adapter 2
Bind to. And as shown in FIG. 7, the adapter body 5
By inserting this portion from the cartridge insertion opening 28 of the disk drive device 4, the shutter of the adapter body 5 is automatically opened, and then the loading operation is started.

Although the card holder 6 is outside the disk drive device 4, the card holder 6 is bendable with respect to the adapter body 5, so that the adapter body can be loaded by a loading operation as shown in FIG. When the card 5 is slightly lowered, the card holding portion 6 is inclined obliquely upward from the connecting means 7 and does not hinder the lowering operation of the adapter body 5.

Even if the card holder 6 having the electronic card 1 mounted therein is outside the disk drive device 4, a part of the electronic card 1 is partially inserted into the cartridge insertion slot as shown in FIG. 7 when the loading of the adapter 2 is completed. If it is inside 28, it is prevented that the electronic card 1 is abruptly pulled out from the adapter 2 at the time of data communication. When the adapter 2 is taken out from the disk drive device 4 after the data communication is completed, the card holding portion 6 is moved to the disk drive device 4
Since it protrudes from the disk holder, it can be reliably taken out by holding the card holding portion 6, and the adapter 2 will not accidentally drop out of the disk drive device 4.

8 to 10 are views for explaining the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the adapter body, FIG. 9 is a plan view of the lower case of the adapter body, and FIG.
[Fig. 3] is an enlarged plan view of a power generator.

In the first embodiment, an example in which a battery for power supply is attached to the card holding portion 6 is shown. In the second embodiment, an example in which a power generator is installed in the adapter body 5 is shown.
Similar to a general-purpose 3.5-inch disk cartridge, a drive shaft insertion hole 32 is formed in the center of a lower case 31, and a disc-shaped rotating body 33 made of stainless steel or the like is formed inside the drive shaft insertion hole 32.
Are rotatably arranged.

As shown in FIG. 10, a square central hole 35 into which the motor shaft 34 of the disk drive device is inserted in the central portion of the rotating body 33, and the drive pin 3 of the disk drive device.
Rectangular drive pin holes 37 into which 6 are inserted are provided, respectively. These central hole 35 and drive pin hole 3
7 may be a bottomed hole or a penetrating hole. Further, the central hole 35 and the drive pin hole 37 become one, and the drive pin 36
It may be a non-circular hole that engages with.

As shown in FIG. 10, a magnet ring 38 is integrally joined to the outer circumference of the rotating body 33, and the magnet ring 38 is magnetized to have multiple poles (12 magnetic poles in this embodiment) along the circumferential direction. . A substantially annular core 39 made of, for example, a punched permalloy plate is arranged so as to surround the magnet ring 38, and a coil 40 is wound around each of a large number of radially extending magnetic pole portions. A non-magnetic body 41 made of, for example, glass is provided at a predetermined interval inside the core 39 facing the magnet ring 38, and adjacent core portions are magnetically isolated from each other.

A plurality of (four in this embodiment) large mounting holes 42 are formed integrally or in another member connected to the core 39 on the outer periphery of the core 39.
A mounting pin 43 protruding from the lower case 31 is loosely fitted therein, and a gap is formed between the mounting hole 42 and the mounting pin 43. The core 39 is formed by the mounting hole 42 and the mounting pin 43.
Is mounted so that it can be displaced in the horizontal direction to some extent, and is in positional alignment with various disk drive devices.

Outer periphery of the magnet ring 38 and the core 3
A large number of ball bearings (not shown) are interposed between the inner circumference and the inner circumference of 9 to form a fine gap G (0.3 m in the present embodiment).
m) is formed uniformly along the circumferential direction, and the magnet ring 38 (rotating body 33) is rotatably coupled (held) to the core 39.

In this generator, the magnet ring 38 is rotated by the rotation of the drive pin 36 (300 to 360r).
The rectifying / smoothing circuit rectifies and smoothes the alternating current generated by the pm), and then adjusts it to a desired voltage by the DC / DC converter, and then the analog signal processing circuit in the electronic card 1 or the adapter 2 and the digital signal processing circuit. It is supplied as a power source for a signal processing circuit, a communication control unit, and the like. Since the structure of the card holding unit 6 is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of an adapter according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In the case of the present embodiment, a notch 51 that is the same as or larger than the electronic card 1 is formed in the card holder 6, and the notch 51 serves as a storage space for the electronic card 1. A connector part 14 is built in the remaining part of the card holding part 6. The battery is attached to the adapter body 5, or the power generator is installed as in the second embodiment. This embodiment can be applied to a large-capacity electronic card 1.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the example in which the adapter and the electronic card are connected via the contact portion has been shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, signal transmission / reception may be performed between the adapter and the electronic card, respectively. It is also possible to apply a method of providing a coil for use and electromagnetically coupling the two via the coil.

[0039]

Although the flash memory card is used as the electronic card in the above-mentioned embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to other electronic cards.

[0041]

[0042]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk cartridge type adapter main body having an access section for accessing the disk drive apparatus and inserted into the disk drive apparatus, and a connector section to which an electronic card is joined. The card holding part is provided, and the card holding part is bendably connected to the rear end of the adapter body.

As described above, since the card holding portion is attached to the rear end of the adapter body inserted into the disk drive device and the electronic card is connected to the card holding portion, for example, a flash memory card or the like. Even a relatively thick electronic card can be used by connecting it to the connector part of the card holding part, and can cope with an increase in data processing capacity.

Further, since the card holding portion is flexibly connected to the adapter body, when the adapter body is lowered in the device by inserting the adapter into the disk drive device and loading operation, By the way, since the card holding portion is bent, the loading operation is not hindered. In addition, the adapter body and
2-axis movable connecting hand with parallel pins between the card holders
Since it is connected in steps, make the card holder thick
You can also stack the card holder on the adapter body.
I can do it. Furthermore, the adapter body and connector
Are electrically connected by a flexible printed wiring board
Therefore, even if the card holder can be bent,
Ensures electrical connection between adapter body and connector
I can keep it.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the card holding portion has the card storing portion for storing the electronic card, the electronic card is protected from dirt and external force.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the card holding portion is thicker than the adapter body, it is possible to connect a large-capacity thick electronic card.

In the invention according to claim 4, since the card holding portion is configured to overlap the adapter body, the card holding portion should be stacked on the adapter body when not using the adapter and stored in a small occupied area. You can

[0048]

[0049]

Since the electronic card is a flash memory card, the invention of claim 5 has a feature that the capacity can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an adapter according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the adapter.

FIG. 3 is an internal plan view of the adapter.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electronic data processing system using the adapter.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the connecting means of the adapter.

FIG. 6 is a circuit block diagram of the adapter.

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state in which the adapter is attached to a disk drive device.

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the adapter body according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a lower case of the adapter body.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view of the power generation device to which the adapter is attached.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the adapter according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventionally proposed adapter.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 electronic card 2 adapter 3 Electronic data processor 4 Disk drive device 5 Adapter body 6 Card holder 7 Connection means 8 head access port 9 electromagnetic coil 10 Magnetic interface assembly 12 Printed wiring board 13 Card storage 14 Connector part 15 Battery compartment 16 card slot 18 button type battery 19 Flexible printed wiring board 21 Connection member 22 pin 27a, 27b Bearing part

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takehiro Takahashi 1-88, Tora-Tora, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Inside Hitachi Maxell Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-5-127832 (JP, A) JP-A-8 -129619 (JP, A) JP 10-83237 (JP, A) JP 6-162747 (JP, A) JP 6-230859 (JP, A) JP 3-233790 (JP, A) ) US Pat. No. 5,321,817 (US, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06K 17/00 G06F 3/08

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A has access portion of a disk drive apparatus comprising: a disk cartridge shaped adapter body of which is inserted into the disc drive device, the card holder having a connector portion in which the electronic card is joined, the The rear end of the adapter body and the tip of the card holder
A connecting member is placed between the
Two pins are placed in parallel with each other at regular intervals.
One of the pins is inserted in the adapter body side, the other
One pin is inserted in the card holding part side and movable biaxially
The two-axis movable connecting means constitutes a cover.
The cord holder is connected to the rear end of the adapter body so that it can be bent.
And the flexible printed wiring board is attached to the biaxially movable connecting means.
Through the board, its flexible printed wiring board
The adapter body and card holder are not electrically connected.
Electronic data processing adapter, characterized in that that. 2. The electronic data processing adapter according to claim 1, wherein the card holding unit has a card storing unit for storing an electronic card. 3. The electronic data processing adapter according to claim 1, wherein the card holder is thicker than the adapter body. 4. The electronic data processing adapter according to claim 1, wherein the card holding portion is configured to overlap the adapter body. 5. The electronic data processing adapter according to claim 1, wherein the electronic card is a flash memory card. 6. The electronic data processing adapter according to claim 1, wherein a battery storage section is provided in the card holding section.