JPH0626361B2 - Communication adapter - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a communication adapter capable of adapting to an arbitrary communication protocol.

[Technical Background of the Invention and Problems Thereof] Recently, the number of personal computers equipped with a communication function as an option is increasing. In this system, a telephone line is connected to a modem card with an NCU (network control unit) inserted in an option slot built in a personal computer and communication is performed using a CPU of the personal computer. There is also one in which a telephone line is connected to a communication adapter and communication is performed from the communication adapter by using an RS-232C cable interface and using a CPU of a personal computer.

However, in the former method, it is necessary to design a modem card with NCU according to the type of personal computer CPU.
Further, since the CPU of the personal computer is used, there is a drawback that the load of the CPU of the personal computer increases when the communication amount is large. According to the latter method, a communication adapter, RS-232C
By using the standard, the problems shown in the former are solved, but the program R that defines the communication protocol
Since M is built into the communication adapter, it has the drawback of lacking versatility.

[Object of the Invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a general-purpose communication adapter that can reduce the burden on the user and can adapt to various communication protocols.

[Outline of Invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an RM built in a communication adapter as an IC card, prepares an IC card in which various communication protocol programs are stored, and replaces the IC card to perform various communication. It is configured to support.

As a result, various communication systems can be supported, and even if a new communication protocol is announced in the future, the new system can be supported by a simple procedure of storing the communication protocol program in the IC card.

Example of Invention

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a communication adapter for connecting the telephone line 15 and the RS-232C cable 12. Communication adapter
11 is RS-232C cable 12 and RS- built-in personal computer
It is connected to the personal computer CPU 14 via the 232C interface 13. The communication adapter 11 has an IC card connector 16 and its outer shape is as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the IC card 17 stores the respective communication protocol programs in the ROM so that it can be adapted to, for example, captains, Japanese teletex, facsimiles, etc.
It is prepared.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the communication adapter 11 . In the figure, 111 is an NCU unit (network control unit) that performs off-hook detection, relay control, incoming call detection, dial signal transmission, and the like. 112 is a modem section. The modem unit 112 performs modulation / demodulation of communication. 113 is SI
It is a part (Serial Input Output) and controls input / output of communication data. Reference numeral 114 denotes an input / output controller, which includes the NCU unit 111, the modem unit 112, and the SI unit 113.
Control. 115 is a CPU interface unit, which is an RS232C interface in FIG.
It may be a bus interface of a personal computer or a GPIB interface. 116 is an interrupt controller, 117 is a DMA controller (DMAC), 118 is RAM, and 119 is a microprocessor (μCP) that is the control center of this communication adapter.
U). The SI unit 113 and the input / output controller 11
4, CPU interface 115, interrupt controller 11
6, the DMA controller 117, the RAM 118, and the IC card connector 121 described later are commonly connected to the internal bus 120 of the microprocessor 119.

122 is an IC card. A communication program is mounted on the IC card 122 in ROM, and the IC card connector 121
And is coupled to the internal bus 120. It becomes possible to adapt to various communication protocols by preparing a plurality of the IC cards 122 and inserting and removing the IC cards 122 to replace them. still,
130 is the computer body.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 4, the communication protocol control program used for communication is stored in the RM built in the IC card 122. Therefore, when communicating, this IC card 122
The microprocessor 119 reads a communication protocol program from the built-in RM and controls communication. When performing communication using different protocols, select an appropriate one from the IC cards containing the RM in which programs are stored by various communication protocols prepared as shown in FIG.
Communication is performed by replacing the IC card 122 with the IC card connector 121 in the communication adapter 11 .

A CPU is connected between the personal computer body 130 and the telephone line 15.
Interface 115, SI section 113, modem section 112, NC
The data communication performed via the U unit 111 is well known and is not directly related to the gist of the present invention, and therefore, description thereof is omitted here to avoid redundancy.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, various communication systems can be supported only by the simple operation of replacing the IC card. Further, even if a new communication protocol is announced in the future, the new system can be supported by the easy procedure of storing the new communication protocol program in the IC card, and the versatility is increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an appearance of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a system of an IC card in which various communication protocol programs are RM-mounted, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the communication adapter. 11 …… Communication adapter 12 …… RS232C cable 15 …… Telephone line 119 …… Microprocessor (μCPU) 120 …… Internal bus 121 …… IC card connector 122 …… IC card

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A communication adapter between a telephone line and a host CPU for controlling data communication according to a program of the host CPU, wherein the host CPU is
By connecting via the RS232C interface, using the processor unit it owns as the control center, connecting the card connector to the internal bus of the processor unit, and exchanging and inserting the memory card with the communication protocol defined in the card connector. A communication adapter characterized by performing communication conforming to an arbitrary communication protocol.