JPH05128028A - External storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to easily load a prescribed data or program from a remote place through a telephone line or the like even when an external storage device is not carried along, by accessing a storage device by external communication control processing and sending necessary data through a line. CONSTITUTION:At the time of receiving a detection signal indicating the connected state of an external computer from a connection existence detecting circuit 10, an MPU 3 is turned to an operating state and sets up to a monitoring state for a signal outputted from an access detection circuit 11. At the time of receiving an interruption signal corresponding to a terminating call from a communication controller 7, the MPU 3 starts a data transmission processing program and is set up to a data transmitting/receiving processing state to/from a communication equipment connected through a line connector 8 and a line. When the status is set up, the MPU 3 decodes an instruction outputted from the communicating equipment connected through the line and reads out/writes data from/in a hard disk device 2 in accordance with the decoded result. The controller 7 transmits data modulated by a modem 7a based upon RS-232C to the communication equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an external storage device, and more particularly, it is used as a storage device by incorporating a communication control device, which can be accessed from the outside through a telephone line, and can be directly connected through a connector. The present invention relates to an external storage device that can perform.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Computers, particularly hard disk devices and floppy disk devices, are commonly used as external storage devices such as workstations and personal computers. This type of external storage device is less portable and less mobile than an external storage device such as a memory card. In particular, a hard disk device is usually connected to a computer and used in a fixed installation state because it is susceptible to shock. By the way, in recent years, notebook personal computers (hereinafter,
Notebook type personal computers) and laptop type personal computers have become widespread, and as the functions thereof have increased and the capacity of programs used therein has increased, it has become essential to install a hard disk device. Therefore, laptop computers with this built-in are also on sale. In particular, many notebook type personal computers have a built-in hard disk device of about 2.5 inch type, which is relatively light and small in view of the importance of mobility, or it can be built therein. Then, due to the increase in the capacity of the software used and the increase in the amount of data to be processed, even notebook computers and the like can download and upload programs and data through a telephone line. Moreover, the capacity of the main memory of a personal computer such as a laptop computer is usually 640 kbytes or several M
Limited to the size of a byte. Due to this relationship, the data or program to be processed is individually arranged in the external storage device, and the necessary number is loaded into the main memory more frequently, and the storage capacity of the external storage device tends to increase more and more.

[0003]

However, the storage capacity of the hard disk device built into a notebook computer or the like is
At present, it is about 20 Mbytes to 60 Mbytes, and even if more than that is developed, it is considered to be about 100 Mbytes. Further, the hard disk drive is originally designed to be shock-resistant, and the higher the recording density of the built-in hard disk drive and the larger its storage capacity, the more easily the data stored therein will be destroyed, making it suitable for carrying. It's not like that. The large storage capacity makes the data recovery difficult. Incorporating such a hard disk device into a portable notebook computer or the like becomes a serious problem from the viewpoint of data protection as the capacity of the hard disk device increases. Moreover, it is not possible at present to incorporate an external storage device having a large storage capacity such as an optical disk device or a magneto-optical disk device into a notebook computer. Also,
When a hard disk device is built into a laptop computer or laptop personal computer, the number of expansion slots is reduced accordingly, making it difficult to mount multiple expansion memory boards, interface boards that add various functions, and interface boards such as printers and fax machines. It is not easy to use. Moreover, recently, it is becoming essential to install an expansion memory board.

On the other hand, an increase in the storage capacity of a hard disk device or the like increases the weight of the notebook computer itself, and from the viewpoint of improving portability and mobility, it is preferable that the hard disk device and the like are light and do not have a built-in hard disk device. Just because,
A memory card, etc. does not have sufficient storage capacity, and therefore cannot handle various business processes such as graphics and graphic processing. Also, the display processing of icon menus, guidance, etc. becomes poor, and laptop computers Etc. do not fulfill the man-machine interface function sufficiently.
In addition, since the notebook personal computer generally secures its portability and mobility, various processing functions are not sufficient, and a communication function for connecting to the host computer of the center is required to complement it.

By the way, there is a high possibility that a memory card, a memory cartridge or the like having a large capacity corresponding to a hard disk drive will appear in the future. However, when considering the storage capacity per unit price, it is considered that it does not reach the hard disk drive, optical disk drive, magneto-optical disk drive, etc., and is a general storage device that can handle large-capacity programs and data at low cost. Don't go out. The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. A communication control device is built in an external storage device having a relatively large capacity such as a hard disk device so that it can be accessed using a line or the like. It is also an object of the present invention to provide an external storage device that can be used as an external storage device of a computer.

[0006]

The features of the external storage device of the present invention that achieves such an object are a first connector connected to an information processing device as an external storage device, an arithmetic processing device, and a first processing device. Of a hard disk device, an optical disk device, a magneto-optical disk device or the like connected to the connector and the arithmetic processing unit, a communication control device having a modem, and a line connection connected to the modem. And a detection circuit that detects whether or not the first connector is connected to the information processing apparatus, and includes an arithmetic processing device, a storage device, a communication control device, and a detection circuit. And are housed in one housing, and when the arithmetic processing device receives a detection signal from the detection circuit and the first connector is not connected to the information processing device, the signal is output from the communication control device. Flip is to transmit data via the communication control device to an information processing apparatus connected via a line to access the storage device. Another aspect of the invention of an external storage device is an access detection circuit for detecting access to a storage device of an information processing device connected to a first connector, instead of the detection circuit, for detecting the access. It is provided.

[0007]

As described above, the arithmetic processing unit such as a microprocessor, the modem, and the communication control unit are connected to the hard disk device,
An external storage device built in a storage device such as an optical disk device or a magneto-optical disk device. When the storage device is not accessed from the outside (including when it is not connected), the arithmetic processing device performs communication control and access processing. By accessing the storage device to obtain the necessary data and sending it out via the line, this external storage can be sent from a remote place via a line such as a telephone line without carrying the external storage device. The device can be accessed, and predetermined data and programs can be easily obtained. In addition, it becomes possible to download. Moreover, the information processing apparatus can directly use the information processing apparatus as an external storage device via the first connector. Furthermore, particularly in a notebook computer or laptop personal computer, the slot of the expansion board for expansion is opened, and it becomes possible to construct a system that is easy to use.

[0008]

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an external storage device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view as seen from the back side thereof, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of its usage form. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an external storage device (see FIG. 2 for its external appearance), which incorporates a hard disk device 2. Reference numeral 3 is a microprocessor (MPU) that accesses the hard disk device 2, and is a SCSI connected to its bus 3a.
It is connected to the hard disk device 2 via the interface controller 3b and the SCSI bus 4. Therefore, the hard disk drive 2 has a SCSI interface controller 2a therein. 5 is
It is a buffer memory that is connected to the bus 3a of the MPU 3 and temporarily stores data transferred from the outside and data transferred to the outside.

Reference numerals 6a and 6b denote connectors (see FIG. 2) connected to the SCSI bus 4, and these connectors enable so-called daisy chain. 7
Is a communication control device that performs processing in a transmission procedure in accordance with the RS-232C standard, and has a built-in modem 7a.
Is connected to the telephone line via the line connector 8. Further, the communication control device 7 includes a bus 3a and a connector 6c.
When the external computer is connected to the connector 6c in addition to the control by the MPU3,
It preferentially receives a control signal from an external computer connected to the connector 6c and performs a communication control operation as a device connected to this external computer.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a power supply circuit section, which is turned on in the state where the power switch 9a is turned "OFF" in addition to the power switch 9a. When the power switch 9a is turned on, the power supply circuit section 9 generates a standby signal for each circuit. Then, a standby switch 9b for setting each circuit except the modem 7a to a standby state is provided. Even in the standby state, only the modem 7a is always in operation so that the signal can always be received through the line, the power supply circuit 9 operates according to the incoming signal of the modem 7a, and the MPU 3 and the communication control device 7 are operated. And each circuit becomes operational. 10 is SCSI bus 4
Of the pins of the connector 6a (which may be the connector 6b) to which an external computer is connected, a specific pin (for example,
A connection presence / absence detection circuit that is connected between bus lines connected to ground pins, shield pins, specific control signal pins, etc., and detects whether or not an external computer is connected by detecting the impedance between the lines. Is.

Reference numeral 11 is connected to the SCSI bus 4 and monitors the change state of the logical level of the control signal and the data to monitor whether or not the hard disk device 2 is accessed from the external computer and detect the access state. This is an access detection circuit, and is enabled when the connection presence / absence detection circuit 10 receives a signal detecting the connection state. In addition,
Reference numeral 12 indicated by a dotted line indicates an external computer when the external storage device 1 is attached to a computer (as an example of an information processing device).

Next, the operation will be described by taking as an example the state in which the standby switch 9b is turned on. The MPU 3 is normally in the standby state and receives a signal from the power supply circuit section 9 in response to an incoming signal from the line, or The operation state is entered in response to a signal from the connection presence / absence detection circuit 10. MPU3
When it receives a detection signal (for example, a HIGH level signal) indicating that the external computer 12 is connected from the connection presence / absence detection circuit 10, it enters the operating state and enters the signal monitoring state of the access detection circuit 11. Further, when there is no access from the external computer 12, when the incoming signal is received via the line, it becomes active, and when the MPU 3 receives the interrupt signal according to the incoming from the communication control device 7, the data transmission processing program is executed. Upon activation, the line connector 8 enters a state of transmitting / receiving data to / from the other party (external computer) connected via the line. When this state is entered, the MPU 3 decodes the instruction of the other party (external computer) connected via the line and reads / writes the hard disk device 2 accordingly.

The communication control device 7 modulates the transmission data by the modem 7a in accordance with RS-232C and sends it to the other party's line destination. The received data is demodulated and sent to the MPU 3. As the processing, for example, when a data transmission request is received from the other party, it is decoded,
A transmission request for a transmission file or transmission program name is sent to the other party's computer at the line destination. When the transmission file or the transmission program name is received from the destination computer via the line, the hard disk device 2 is accessed in accordance with the transmission file or the data of the matching file name or program name is transmitted to the destination computer. Also, if there is a write request, it decodes it, sends a send request of the send file or send program name to the other party's computer, and sends the data sent next under that name to the hard disk. Stored in device 2. The data transmitted in this way is written in the hard disk device 2, and the data read out from the hard disk device 2 is transmitted to the other party.

The data transmitted and received in this case is monitored by monitoring the signal of the access detection circuit 11, and is accessed when the external computer 12 is not accessed or when the external computer 12 is not connected. The requested data is read out from a predetermined address of the hard disk device 2 as a nonexistent one, and is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 5
It is stored in the memory and is transferred to the communication control device 7 as data to be transmitted thereafter. Also, when writing,
The data obtained from the line via the line connector 8 is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 5 via the communication control device 7, and the data transmitted to the hard disk device 2 is written during the idle time when the external computer 12 does not access. And
In order to perform such processing at high speed, the MPU 3 has a DM
The A controller may be built in.

As a result, when the external storage device 1 is being accessed by the external computer 12, or is being accessed, the MPU 3 is
The bus 4 is opened to the external computer 12 side, and the external computer 12 can freely access the hard disk device 2 as its own external storage device. Also, when there is an external computer connected to the line destination, it can access the data of the hard disk device 2 via the line similarly under the control of the MPU 3.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a usage state of such an external storage device 1, and FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the external storage device 1 is used as an external storage device by the notebook computer 13. Therefore, the hard disk device 2 built in by the connector 6a is in a state of being connected to the notebook computer 13 by the SCSI interface. (B)
6 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the notebook computer 13 is used as a communication control device, in which the communication control device 7 incorporated by a connector 6c is connected to the notebook computer 13. FIG. (C) is a public telephone line 14,
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the notebook computer 13 is used as an external storage device via a line via a modem 15, and a hard disk device 2 built in by a line connector 8 is a notebook via a communication control device 7 and an MPU 3. 1 shows a state in which the model personal computer 13 is connected. When the external storage device 1 is used with the standby switch 9b in the "ON" state, the line connector 8 is used while being connected to the public telephone line. With this configuration, since the access detection circuit 11 is provided, it is possible to always access the external computer 12 from the line side with the connector 6a being connected to the external computer 12. Of course, this may be the case where the external computer 12 is not connected.

By the way, in this embodiment, the connection presence / absence detection circuit 10 and the access detection circuit 11 are provided, but only one of them may be provided, and the connection presence / absence detection circuit 1 may be provided.
When the number is 0, the MPU 3 exchanges data with the other party connected by the line when the external storage device 1 according to the present invention is not connected to the external computer 12. Therefore, when the external storage device 1 is connected to an external computer, for example, the MPU 3 sends a control signal for setting the state of a telephone line or the like to the communication in progress state to the communication control device 7, and the external storage device 1 And the computer at the other end of the line are not connected. Further, the connection between the external storage device 1 and the external computer 12 and the disconnection thereof are performed by securing the connection with the connector 6a and turning the bus driver provided on the SCSI bus 4 “ON / OFF” by a switch or the like. And become easy.

As described above, the embodiment shows an example in which a hard disk device is built in as a large-capacity and inexpensive storage device, but this is a storage device such as an optical disk device or a magneto-optical disk device. Good. In the case of an optical disk device, it is limited to reading data. Also, in the embodiment, a buffer memory is provided,
Data may be read from and written into the hard disk device using a register, RAM, etc. provided inside the MPU, and it is not always necessary to provide a buffer memory.

[0019]

As can be understood from the above description, according to the present invention, an arithmetic processing unit such as a microprocessor, a modem and a communication control unit are provided in a storage device such as a hard disk device, an optical disk device or a magneto-optical disk device. Built-in external storage device, and when this storage device is not being accessed from the outside, the arithmetic processing unit performs communication control and access processing to access the storage device to obtain the necessary data and send it out via the line. Since this is done, it is possible to access this external storage device from a remote place through a line such as a telephone line without carrying the external storage device, and easily obtain predetermined data and programs. be able to. In addition, it becomes possible to download. Moreover, the information processing apparatus can directly use the information processing apparatus as an external storage device via the first connector.

As a result, it is not necessary to incorporate a storage device having a large storage capacity as an external storage device in the notebook type personal computer and the like, so that it is possible to provide more mobility.
When necessary, this external storage device can be connected in an office or home to use data stored as a normal external storage device. In addition, the slot of the expansion board is opened, which makes it possible to construct a system with good usability. Furthermore, if the communication control device can be independently connected to an external device, it can be used as a communication control device with a built-in modem. In addition, it is possible to realize a multifunctional external storage device that allows a large number of people to use a large amount of stored information anywhere.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an external storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view as seen from the back surface side.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of its usage pattern.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... External storage device, 2 ... Hard disk device, 3 ... Microprocessor (MPU), 4 ... SCSI bus, 5 ... Buffer memory, 6a, 6b, 6c ... Connector, 7 ... Communication control device, 8 ... Line connector, 9 ... Power circuit section, 10 ...
Connection presence / absence detection circuit, 11 ... Access detection circuit, 12 ... External computer.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first connector connected to an information processing device as an external storage device, an arithmetic processing device, and a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or a magneto-optical disk connected to the first connector and the arithmetic processing device. A storage device having a relatively large storage capacity such as a device, a communication control device having a modem, a second connector for line connection connected to the modem, and a first connector are connected to the information processing device. A detection circuit for detecting whether or not the operation processing device is in the open state, and the arithmetic processing device, the storage device, the communication control device, and the detection circuit are housed in one casing, and the arithmetic processing device is When the detection signal is received from the detection circuit and the first connector is not connected to the information processing device, the storage device is accessed according to the signal from the communication control device to access the storage device. An external storage device, which sends data to the information processing device connected via a line via the communication control device. 2. The arithmetic processing unit receives the detection signal from the detection circuit and stores the storage device in response to a signal from the communication control unit when the first connector is not connected to the information processing unit. The external storage device according to claim 1, wherein the external storage device is accessed and data is exchanged with an information processing device connected via the line. 3. A first connector connected to an information processing device as an external storage device, an arithmetic processing device, and a hard disk device, an optical disk device or a magneto-optical disk connected to the first connector and the arithmetic processing device. A storage device having a relatively large storage capacity such as a device, a communication control device having a modem, a second connector for line connection connected to the modem, and the information connected via the first connector An access detection circuit that detects whether or not a processing device is in an access state with respect to the storage device, and the arithmetic processing device, the storage device, the communication control device, and the access detection circuit are included in one housing. The arithmetic processing device receives the signal from the access detection circuit and is stored when the storage device is not accessed by the information processing device. An external storage device, which accesses a storage device and exchanges data with an information processing device connected through the line.