JPH05241994A - Data processing communication control equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a communication control circuit which prevents malfunction, etc., from occurring by permitting communication when a data communication terminal is located at a prescribed position. CONSTITUTION:This equipment is data processing communication equipment in which data transfer is performed between a data processing terminal provided with a light emitting means and a data processor 35 which processes data light-emitted from the terminal, and provided with a current detecting means 41 which detects a charge current running when the terminal is located at the prescribed position, an optical connector 34 which receives an optical signal outputted from the light emitting means of the terminal when external light is cut off by the terminal located at the prescribed position, and HAND gates 44, 45, and 46 which permit data transfer received with the optical connector 34 by the detection signal of the detecting means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing communication control apparatus suitable for a small data processing terminal equipped with a data input / output means for storing product data and a storage means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a portable data processing terminal called a handy terminal is used when conducting a product inventory survey.

In this data processing terminal, the operation of each part such as data input / output means and storage means is controlled by a rechargeable battery inside the terminal. When using this terminal to survey the inventory of products in a supermarket, for example, the data input means of this terminal is used to input the product data and inventory quantity data in the display shelf from a keyboard or the like and stored in the storage means. The inventory survey will be carried out. The product data stored in the storage means of the terminal is transmitted to a data processing device such as a personal computer, and the data processing device collects the received product data and manages the data.

When the data transmission between the data processing terminal and the data processing device is performed by directly connecting the communication cable, the work of connecting the communication cable is required every time the data is transmitted, and the operability is poor. For that reason, it is known to perform the data transmission by optical communication using infrared rays.

When performing such optical communication, some data processing devices are always in a reception standby state so that transmission from the data processing terminal can be performed at any time.

[0006]

However, when the receiving side is always in a reception standby state in which data can be communicated, external light noise due to sunlight, fluorescent lamps, and other light rays is easily received by the receiving side light receiving element, There is a problem that it may cause malfunction due to external light noise.

According to the present invention, in which data is transmitted between a data processing terminal and a data processing apparatus by interposing it between the data processing terminal and the data processing apparatus, the data processing terminal is located at a predetermined position. It is an object of the present invention to provide a data processing communication control device that detects a situation and enables data transmission when the detection signal is output, and prevents occurrence of malfunction.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a data processing terminal for storing input data, processing the stored data and outputting it as optical data from a light emitting means, and optical data output from the terminal. In a device for performing data transmission between the terminal and the data processing device, which is interposed between a data processing device that receives and processes the data, a detection unit that detects that the terminal is located at a predetermined position, External light is blocked by the terminal located at the predetermined position and light receiving means for receiving optical data output from the light emitting means of the terminal, and data transmission received by the light receiving means by a detection signal of the detecting means The data processing communication control device is provided with a transmission control means for enabling the above.

[0009]

With such a communication control device, when the data processing terminal is located at a predetermined position, this state is detected by the detecting means, and the external light to the light receiving means is blocked and detected. The signal enables the data transmission between the terminal and the data processing device.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a communication adapter of a portable data processing terminal (hereinafter referred to as a terminal) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the terminal 1 shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 will be described. A keyboard 2 for inputting data and a display 3 for displaying the input data are provided on the surface of the case of the terminal device 1, and a bar code reading port 4 for reading a bar code is provided on the tip side. A connection terminal 5 for charging the rechargeable battery 8 inside the terminal 1 is provided on the end side. An opening (not shown) of an optical connector 6 as a light emitting means having an infrared light emitting element and a light receiving element is provided on the back surface of the terminal 1, and a power switch 7 is provided on the side portion.

In the terminal 1, the CPU 9, the ROM 11, the RAM 12, the keyboard controller 13, the display controller 14, the bar code reader controller 15, and the communication interface 17 (in the figure, communication I / O) are connected to the CPU 9 via the bus line 10. (Denoted as F) are connected. The keyboard 2 is the keyboard controller 1
3, the display device 3 is operated by the display controller 14, and the bar code reader 16 is operated by the bar code reader controller 1.
5, the optical connector 6 is controlled by the communication interface 17. The rechargeable battery 8 of the terminal 1 is charged via the connection terminal 5, and the CPU 9, ROM 11, keyboard controller 13, display controller 14, bar code reader controller 15, communication interface 17 via the power switch 7. Is supplying power to. Further, the RAM 12 is directly connected to the rechargeable battery 8, and the data input from the keyboard 2 or the barcode reader 4 is retained even when the power switch 7 is opened. The barcode reader 16 is arranged inside the barcode reading port 4 of the terminal 1.

Next, a communication adapter 31 as a data processing communication control device will be described with reference to FIGS. The communication adapter 31 mounts the terminal device 1, charges the rechargeable battery 8 inside the terminal device 1, and performs data transmission by optical communication of an infrared signal.
The communication adapter 31 has a recess 32 as a predetermined position where the terminal 1 is placed on the upper surface, and the rear end side of the recess 32 is placed on the rear end. A charging terminal 33 for connecting the connection terminal 5 of the terminal 1 and energizing the rechargeable battery 8 is provided, and has a light-receiving element and a light-emitting element at a substantially central bottom of the recess 32 to transmit and receive infrared rays to perform communication. Is provided as an optical connector. In addition, an RS for communicating with a data processing device 35 such as a personal computer is provided below the tip of the communication adapter 31.
A communication connector 36 for 232C and a power supply connector 38 to which an external power supply 37 used for charging the rechargeable battery 8 provided in the terminal 1 is connected are provided. A light emitting diode 39 is provided at the rear end of the communication adapter 31. The light emitting diode 39 blinks when the rechargeable battery 8 is being charged, and continues to be lit when the charging is completed.
Is extinguished when removed from the recess 32.

When the terminal 1 is mounted in the recess 32 of the communication adapter 31, the connection terminal 5 of the terminal 1 and the charging terminal 33 of the communication adapter 31 are connected, and the optical connector of the terminal 1 is connected. 6 and the optical connector 34 of the communication adapter 31 are positioned so as to face each other and are optically connected, and the terminal 1 blocks the external light.

Next, the electrical control circuit in the communication adapter 31 will be described.

One terminal of the power supply connector 38 provided in the communication adapter 31 is connected to the emitter of the PNP type transistor Q1 and the other terminal is grounded.
The collector of the transistor Q1 is connected to one terminal of the charging terminal 33 via the current detection circuit 41 as a detection means for detecting the charging current. Further, between the emitter and collector of the transistor Q1, a resistor R1 having a high resistance value for flowing a minute current to the charging battery 8 is connected. The detection signal line 41a of the current detection circuit 41 is connected to the charging control circuit 42, and the control signal line 42a of the charging control circuit 42 is connected to the base of the transistor Q1 to control energization of the transistor Q1. ..

Also, from the optical connector 34 to the communication connector 3
The data signal line 43a to 6 and the two communication control signal lines 43b and 43c are connected to one input terminals of NAND gates 44, 45 and 46, respectively. The other input terminals of the NAND gates 44, 45, and 46 are connected to the detection signal line 41a of the current detection circuit 41, and the outputs of the NAND gates 44, 45, and 46 are respectively output from the buffer 4.
It is connected to the communication connector 36 via 7, 48 and 49. Data from the terminal 1 is transmitted to the data processing device 35 such as a personal computer through the communication connector 36. The data signal line 43a is a data signal line through which data from the terminal 1 is transmitted, and the two control signal 43
Reference numerals b and 43c are control signal lines used when transmitting data through the data signal line 43a.

From the data processing device 35 to the terminal 1
In order to perform data transmission to the optical connector 34, the communication connector 36 is connected to the optical connector 34 by the receive data line 50a and two communication control signal lines 50b and 50c. The receive data line 50a and the communication control signal lines 50b and 50c are connected. Buffers 51, 52, and 53 are provided in the middle of.

A control circuit (not shown) for controlling lighting of the light emitting diode 39 provided at the rear end of the recess 32 of the communication adapter 31 is a current detection circuit 41.
It is provided so as to be connected to the detection signal line 41a. Also,
The ground signal line of the communication connector 36 is the communication adapter 31.
It is grounded inside.

Next, when carrying out an inventory survey in the store using the terminal 1, a store clerk carries the terminal 1 and uses the keyboard 2 or the bar code reader 16 to display each product on the display shelf in the store. The product data, the inventory data, etc. are sequentially input and stored in the RAM 12. When the terminal 1 is placed in the recess 32 of the communication adapter 31 after the input of the product data, inventory data, etc. is completed, the external power supply 37
To the power connector 38, the resistor R in the communication adapter 31
1, a current flows through the rechargeable battery 8 in the terminal 1 through the current detection circuit 41, the charging terminal 33, and the connection terminal 5. Then, the current detection circuit 41 detects this current and supplies a low level detection signal to the charge control circuit 42. Then, the signal of the communication control signal line 42a of the charge control circuit 42 controlled by this detection signal turns on the transistor Q1 to start charging.

Since the charge detection signal line 41a of the current detection circuit 41 is connected to one input terminal of the NAND gates 44, 45 and 46, the current detection circuit 41 is at a low level and the signal lines 43a and 43b are connected. , 43c is ready for data transmission. In this state, by pressing a predetermined key of the keyboard 2 provided on the terminal 1, the RAM 1
The product data, inventory data, etc. stored in 2 are transmitted from the optical connector 6 as an infrared light emission signal, received by the optical connector 34 provided in the communication adapter 31, and the NAND gates 44, 45, 46 are supplied from the optical connector 34. A low-level signal is supplied to the other input terminal via the signal lines 43a, 43b, and 43c. Then, the NAND gate 44,
45 and 46 output a high level signal, and the buffer 4
Data is transmitted from the terminal 1 to the data processing device 35 connected to the communication connector 36 through 7, 48 and 49.

When the current detection circuit 41 does not detect the charging current and is not charged, a high level signal is supplied to the NAND gates 44, 45 and 46, so that the NAND gates 44, 45 and 46 are non-conductive. Therefore, the data is not transmitted to the data processing device 35.

Then, when the data processing device 35 transmits a response signal to the reception of the data from the terminal device 1, or from the data processing device 35 to the terminal device 1, for example, a program for the terminal device 1 to execute processing. The desired data transmission is performed using the receive data line 50a and the two communication control signal lines 50b and 50c. That is, from the data processing device 35 to the communication connector 36, the receive data line 50a and the communication control signal lines 50b and 50.
c, the data transmitted through the circuit electrically connected to the optical connector 34, converted into the optical data by the light emitting element of the optical connector 34 and emitted, the light receiving element of the optical connector 6 provided in the terminal 1. The light is received by and data is transmitted.

As described above, the terminal 1 uses the communication adapter 31.
A charging current flows when it is mounted in the recess 32 of the device, and when this current is detected, it is received by the optical connector 34 to enable data transmission, so that the data processing device 35 malfunctions due to external optical noise. And a stable optical data transmission device can be obtained in which errors due to optical data transmission are eliminated.

The current detection circuit 4 for controlling the data transmission of the detection signal of the current detection circuit 41 for detecting the state of charge of the rechargeable battery 8 and controlling the charging control circuit 42.
Since it is used as 1, there is no need to newly provide a separate detection circuit for enabling data transmission.

In the above embodiment, by providing the NAND gates 44, 45 and 46 on the three signal lines from the optical connector 34 to the communication connector 36, when radio noise occurs on the data signal line 43a, Control signal line 43b,
43c does not become a signal that can be used for data transmission.
I try to ensure reliable data transmission, but
In the optical data transmission means of the present invention, the data signal line 4
This can be implemented by providing the NAND gate 44 only in 3a to control data transmission.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the charging current is detected by the current detection circuit 41 as the charging detection means, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the charging battery 8 is detected by detecting the terminal voltage of the charging terminal 33. It is also possible to detect that the terminal 1 is connected, and in the above-described embodiment, an apparatus having a configuration capable of bidirectional data transmission between the terminal 1 and the data processing device 35 has been described. Data processing device 35
The present invention can be implemented in a device that is configured to transmit data only in one direction.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to the communication adapter, but the present invention is not limited to the communication adapter, and the present invention is applied to the data processing device 35 so that the terminal 1 can be used as the data processing device. When the rechargeable battery 8 is connected at a predetermined position of 35, it is possible to implement the one in which the terminal 1 and the data processing device 35 perform optical data transmission.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, it is detected that the terminal 1 is located at the predetermined position by detecting the connection state of the rechargeable battery 8. However, it is not limited to this detecting means, and for example, the recess of the communication adapter 31 is detected. When the actuator connected to the micro switch is projected to 32, the terminal 1 is recessed 32.
The micro switch may be actuated via the actuator when the terminal device 1 is mounted on the device, and the actuation of the micro switch may detect that the terminal device 1 is located at a predetermined position. This case can be applied to the terminal 1 using a dry battery.

[0030]

According to the present invention, when the data processing terminal is located at a predetermined position, unnecessary external light to the light receiving means is blocked, and it is detected that the terminal is located at the predetermined position. Data is transmitted from the light emitting means of the terminal which is received by the light receiving means in the detected state, that is, the state where the light is received at the predetermined position and the external light is blocked, so that it is not affected by the external light noise. Thus, it is possible to obtain a data processing communication control device that can reliably perform data communication.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a communication adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a terminal and a communication adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a communication adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 data processing terminal 6 optical connector (light emitting means) 8 rechargeable battery 31 communication adapter (data processing communication control device) 32 recess (predetermined position) 34 optical connector (light receiving means) 35 data processing device 41 current detection circuit (detection means) 44, 45, 46 Nand Gate

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04B 10/22 H04L 29/12

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data processing terminal for storing input data, processing the stored data, and outputting the data as optical data from a light emitting means, and a data processing for receiving and processing the optical data output from the terminal. A device interposed between the terminal device and the data processing device for transmitting data, the detecting means for detecting that the terminal device is located at a predetermined position, and the terminal device located at the predetermined position. External light is shielded by the light receiving means for receiving the optical data output from the light emitting means of the terminal, and transmission control means for enabling the data transmission received by the light receiving means by the detection signal of the detecting means. A data processing communication control device comprising: