JP2000187537A - Usb port hub - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate connection of equipment which transmits data by using optical signals by mounting an optical port which can transmit optical signals to the main body of a universal serial bus(USB) port hub. SOLUTION: The USB port hub 10 is mounted with the optical port 16. A USB controller 15 is connected to the optical port 16 through a format conversion part 17. This format conversion part 17 converts optical signals inputted from the optical port 16 into USB signals, and converts USB signals inputted from the USB controller 15 into optical signals and sends them to the optical port 16. Thus, by providing the format conversion part 1, not only the USB signals but also various optical signals can be transmitted to the computer main body 13 after converting the optical signals into USB signals. Consequently, the data of a portable terminal 18 are easily transmitted to the computer main body 13 and an input device such as a radio mouse can be connected to the computer main body 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a USB port hub, and more particularly, to a USB port hub that enables data transmission (transmission, reception, and transmission / reception) using an optical signal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this kind of USB port hub is shown in FIGS.
It will be described according to.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a USB port hub, on which an up port 2 and down ports 3 and 3 are mounted. The up port 2 is connected to a computer body such as a personal computer, and the down ports 3 and 3 are connected to various devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a printer and a scanner.

When a device connected to the down ports 3 and 3 is operated, the data of the device is transmitted to the computer via the USB controller 4, and the data of the device is input to the computer.

When a device connected to the down port 3 is operated by a computer, data is transmitted from the computer body to the device connected to the down port 3 via the USB controller 4 and transmitted from the computer body. Data and commands are transmitted to the device.

Accordingly, the USB (Universal S)
Since it is possible to transmit and receive data by connecting various devices to a connector port of the same standard called an “irial bus”, connection operation of various devices connected to a personal computer or the like is facilitated.

[0007]

In recent years, personal computers and various devices that adopt the USB standard have been manufactured, and various devices such as a printer and a keyboard can be connected to the personal computer through the same connector port. And a computer such as a personal computer to transmit and receive data. Therefore, the use of the USB port hub facilitates the connection work of the device.

[0008] However, there are devices that use an optical port for data transmission and reception of the computer.
Since transmission and reception of optical data using a port hub is impossible, it is necessary to use a separate device to transmit and receive the optical data, and it is easy to perform data transmission of a device using an optical signal. Can not.

Therefore, without using other devices, the USB
A technical problem to be solved arises in order to facilitate transmission / reception of data by a device which transmits / receives optical data at a port hub and transmits / receives data using an optical signal, and the present invention solves the problem. The purpose is to solve.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed to achieve the above object, and a keyboard, a mouse, a printer and the like can be connected by the same connector.
It is provided with an up port and a down port of an SB port, and further, a USB controller is provided between the up port and the down port, and data of a computer connected to the up port and various devices connected to the down port are provided. USB port hub that can transmit and receive
A USB port hub in which an optical port capable of transmitting an optical signal is mounted on the main body of the SB port hub, and a format conversion unit provided between the optical port and the USB controller;
The present invention provides a USB port hub that can convert data used in the optical port and data used in the optical port to each other.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a USB port hub. The USB port hub 10 has an up port 11 and down ports 12, 12 of USB ports.
A computer body 13 such as a personal computer is connected to the up port 11, and a printer 14 is connected to the down port 12.

Therefore, when data is output from the printer 14 connected to the down port 12, the data is transmitted to the computer main unit 13 via the USB controller 15.
And the data transmitted by the printer 14 is input to the computer main body 13. The printer 14 sends various signals and commands to the computer main body 13.
Can be recognized.

When data is transmitted from the computer body 13 to the printer 14 connected to the down port 12, the data is transmitted from the computer body 13 to the printer 14 connected to the down port 12 via the USB controller 15. Sent. Therefore, various data can be transmitted to the printer 14 from the computer main body, and the data can be output by the printer 14.

An optical port 16 is mounted on the USB port hub 10. Although the optical port 16 is configured to transmit and receive optical data by infrared rays, it should not be limited to infrared rays.

The optical port 16 has a format converter 17
Is connected to the USB controller 15 via the. The format converter 17 converts the optical signal input at the optical port 16 into a USB signal and converts the signal into a USB signal.
And converts the USB signal input from the USB controller 15 into an optical signal and transmits the optical signal to the optical port 16. Therefore, by providing the format conversion unit 17, not only USB signals but also various optical signals input from the optical port 16 can be converted into USB signals and transmitted to the computer body 13.

In this way, when the optical signal is transmitted from the optical port 19 of the portable terminal 18 to the optical port 16 of the USB port hub 10, the optical signal is
The USB signal is converted to a B signal, and the USB signal is transmitted to the computer main body 13 via the USB controller 15.

Therefore, since the data of the portable terminal 18 is input to the computer body 13 via the USB port hub 10, the data of the portable terminal 18 can be easily transmitted to the computer body 13. In addition, the mobile terminal 18
In addition, an input device such as a wireless mouse can be connected to the computer main body 13 via the USB port hub 10.

The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and it goes without saying that the present invention extends to the modified ones.

[0020]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since an optical port is mounted on a USB port hub, data can be transmitted by connecting a device for transmitting data using an optical signal to the USB port hub. . Therefore, since the transmission of the optical signal can be performed without using a separate device for transmitting the optical signal, the connection operation of the device for transmitting the data using the optical signal is significantly facilitated.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a format converter is provided between the optical port of the USB port hub and the USB controller, and the format converter converts an optical signal input to the optical port into a USB signal. The configuration is such that the USB signal is transmitted to a USB controller, and the USB signal input from the USB controller is converted into an optical signal and transmitted to an optical port.

Therefore, by providing the format conversion unit, various types of optical signals input / output to / from the optical port and the US
It is possible to easily connect the computer body to a device that transmits data using various optical signals such as a PDA by mutually converting the B signal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a USB port hub.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of a USB port hub.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a conventional USB port hub.

FIG. 4 is a circuit block diagram of a conventional USB port hub.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 USB port hub 11 Up port 12 Down port 13 Computer body 14 Printer 15 USB controller 16 Optical port 17 Format conversion unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] An up port and a down port of a USB port for connecting a keyboard, a mouse, a printer and the like with the same connector, and a USB controller is provided between the up port and the down port to provide an up port. U that enables data transmission and reception between a computer connected to the network and various devices connected to the down port
A USB port hub, wherein an optical port capable of transmitting an optical signal is mounted on a main body of the USB port hub. 2. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a format converter is provided between the optical port and the USB controller so that data used in the USB and data used in the optical port can be mutually converted. USB port hub as described.