CN108270129A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a connector, which includes: a data processing module; a wireless communication module; a home appliance interface, which can be used to connect with an interface of a home appliance, and a sensor interface, which is suitable for connecting with an external sensor. Therefore, in the present invention, the wireless radio frequency communication signal generated by the connector will not be shielded by the metal shell of the household appliance, which improves the transmission performance of the wireless radio frequency communication signal, and the user can easily replace the connector alone, reducing the connector. Maintenance and update costs. In addition, in the present invention, the control circuit board of the connector is provided with a sensor interface suitable for connecting with an additional sensor, therefore, users can add various sensors as required.

Description

Connector

technical field

The invention relates to a connector.

Background technique

In the prior art, a home appliance with a wireless network connection function usually has a built-in Wi-Fi module, and the Wi-Fi module is usually directly welded on the control circuit board of the home appliance. There are following defects in this technical scheme:

(1) Because the Wi-Fi module is installed inside the home appliance, and the shell of the home appliance is generally metal, the metal shell will have a shielding effect on the radio frequency communication signal, resulting in poor transmission of the radio frequency communication signal.

(2) Since the Wi-Fi module is directly welded on the control circuit board of the home appliance, it cannot be disassembled and replaced. Once the Wi-Fi module fails or needs to be replaced with a different wireless communication network, the entire control circuit board must be replaced. And update costs are very high.

(3) The existing Wi-Fi module and the control circuit board do not have sensor interfaces suitable for connecting with newly added sensors, and users cannot add new sensors as required.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides a connector, which can not only improve the transmission performance of wireless radio frequency communication signals, but also facilitate the user to replace the connector alone, reducing the maintenance and update cost of the connector.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a connector is provided, including: a data processing module; a wireless communication module; a home appliance interface, which can be used to connect with an interface of a home appliance, and a sensor interface, which is suitable for connecting with an external sensor.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sensor includes: a sensor chip; a sensor interface connected to the sensor chip and adapted to match with the sensor interface of the connector; and an identity setting circuit connected to the sensor chip connected and adapted to generate an identification signal for identifying the type of the sensor, wherein the data processing module on the connector is adapted to identify the type of the sensor according to the received identification signal.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the identity setting circuits of different types of sensors generate voltage signals in different ranges, and the data processing module on the connector is adapted to identify the type of the sensor according to the magnitude of the received voltage signal .

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the sensor interface on the connector includes five function pins, and the five function pins include: a power supply pin for supplying power to the sensor; an identification signal A pin for transmitting the identification signal; a communication clock signal pin for synchronizing the communication clock; a data communication signal pin for transmitting communication data; and a ground pin.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the sensor interface on the connector is formed with a slot suitable for inserting the sensor, and the five function pins are arranged in the slot of the connector.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the slot runs through the connector transversely, and a positioning column suitable for matching with a positioning hole on the sensor is formed in the slot of the connector.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the home appliance interface on the connector includes four function pins, and the four function pins include: a power supply pin for supplying power to the connector; a signal receiving pin pin for receiving asynchronous serial communication signals; a signal transmitting pin for transmitting asynchronous serial communication signals; and a ground pin.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the home appliance interface on the connector has a tongue-shaped plug suitable for being inserted into the socket of the home appliance, and the four function pins are arranged on the plug.

In each of the aforementioned exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the connector is adapted to be plugged into the socket of the home appliance in a pluggable manner from the outside of the home appliance, so the radio frequency communication signal generated by the connector will not be affected by the home appliance. The shielding of the metal shell improves the transmission performance of the radio frequency communication signal, and the user can easily replace the connector separately, which reduces the maintenance and update cost of the connector.

In addition, in each of the aforementioned exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the connector is provided with a sensor interface suitable for connecting with an added sensor, so users can add various sensors as needed.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, and may help to provide a comprehensive understanding of the present invention.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 shows the functional block diagram of the home appliance system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the Wi-Fi connector in the home appliance system shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows the functional block diagram of the sensor in the home appliance system shown in Fig. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a household appliance system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 shows a schematic perspective view of the Wi-Fi connector shown in Figure 4 and a sensor adapted to be plugged onto the Wi-Fi connector; and

FIG. 6 shows a functional block diagram of a home appliance system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The technical solutions of the present invention will be further specifically described below through the embodiments and in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the specification, the same or similar reference numerals designate the same or similar components. The following description of the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings is intended to explain the general inventive concept of the present invention, but should not be construed as a limitation of the present invention.

In addition, in the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. It may be evident, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in diagrammatic form to simplify the drawings.

According to a general concept of the present invention, a connector is provided, including: a data processing module; a wireless communication module; a home appliance interface, which can be used to connect with an interface of a home appliance, and a sensor interface, which is suitable for connecting with an external sensor.

FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of a home appliance system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, in the illustrated embodiment, the Wi-Fi connector 100 is taken as an example to explain and illustrate the concept of the present invention, but the connector of the present invention is not limited to the Wi-Fi connector, and can also It is a connector for wireless communication according to other communication protocols, such as Bluetooth connector, ZigBee connector, etc.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in the illustrated embodiment, the home appliance system mainly includes at least one home appliance 20 and at least one Wi-Fi connector 100 . FIG. 4 shows a schematic perspective view of a home appliance system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 , in the illustrated embodiment, each of the at least one home appliance 20 has an external socket 22 . At least one Wi-Fi connector 100 is adapted to be inserted into the socket 22 of at least one household appliance 20 respectively.

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the Wi-Fi connector 100 in the home appliance system shown in FIG. 1 .

As shown in FIG. 2 , in the illustrated embodiment, the Wi-Fi connector 100 mainly includes a Wi-Fi module, a home appliance interface and a sensor interface. The home appliance interface and the sensor interface are respectively connected to the Wi-Fi module.

In the illustrated embodiment, the appliance interface of the Wi-Fi connector 100 can be used to connect with an interface of an appliance 20 . The sensor interface of the Wi-Fi connector 100 is adapted to interface with an external sensor 10 .

Although not shown in the figure, in one embodiment of the present invention, the Wi-Fi module of the aforementioned Wi-Fi connector 100 includes a data processing module and a wireless communication module connected with the data processing module. The aforementioned home appliance interface and sensor interface are respectively connected to the data processing module, and are respectively connected to the wireless communication module.

As mentioned above, when the Wi-Fi connector 100 is plugged into the socket 22 of the home appliance 20 from the outside of the home appliance 20 , the Wi-Fi connector is suitable for connecting with the control circuit 21 of the home appliance 20 via the home appliance interface.

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of the sensor 10 in the home appliance system shown in FIG. 1 .

As shown in FIG. 1 , FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , in the illustrated embodiment, since the Wi-Fi connector 100 also includes a sensor interface suitable for connecting with the sensor 10 . Therefore, the sensor 10 can be connected to the control circuit 21 of the home appliance 20 via the Wi-Fi connector 100 .

As shown in Figure 3, in the illustrated embodiment, the aforementioned sensor 10 mainly includes: a sensor chip; a sensor interface, connected with the sensor chip, and suitable for pairing with the sensor interface of the Wi-Fi connector 100; and identity setting A circuit, connected to the sensor chip, is adapted to generate an identification signal for identifying the type of sensor 10 .

In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1 , the data processing module on the Wi-Fi connector 100 is adapted to identify the type of the sensor 10 according to the received identification signal.

In order to be able to distinguish various different types of sensors, in one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3 , the identity setting circuits in different types of sensors 10 generate voltage signals in different ranges. The data processing module on is adapted to identify the type of the sensor 10 according to the magnitude of the received voltage signal.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic perspective view of the Wi-Fi connector 100 shown in FIG. 4 and the sensor 10 adapted to be inserted into the Wi-Fi connector 100 .

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 , in one embodiment of the present invention, the sensor interface on the Wi-Fi connector 100 includes five function pins 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 , 115 . These five function pins 111, 112, 113, 114, 115 are respectively defined as: a power supply pin 111 for supplying power to the sensor 10; an identification signal pin 112 for transmitting identification signals; a communication clock A signal pin 113 is used for communication clock synchronization; a data communication signal pin 114 is used for transmitting communication data; and a ground pin 115 .

Please continue to refer to FIG. 5, in the illustrated embodiment, a slot 110 suitable for inserting the sensor 10 is formed on the Wi-Fi connector 100, and the aforementioned five function pins 111, 112, 113, 114, 115 are set In the slot 110 of the Wi-Fi connector 100 .

Please continue to refer to FIG. 5 , in the illustrated embodiment, the slot 110 runs through the Wi-Fi connector 100 transversely, and the slot 110 of the Wi-Fi connector 100 is formed with a positioning hole suitable for matching with the sensor 10 . 11 Cooperating positioning posts 101.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 , in the illustrated embodiment, the appliance interface on the Wi-Fi connector 100 includes four function pins 121 , 122 , 123 , 124 . These four function pins 121, 122, 123, 124 are respectively defined as: a power supply pin 121 for supplying power to the Wi-Fi connector 100; a signal receiving pin 122 for receiving asynchronous serial communication signals; a signal sending pin 123 for sending an asynchronous serial communication signal; and a ground pin 124 .

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, in the illustrated embodiment, the Wi-Fi connector 100 has a tongue-shaped plug 120 adapted to be inserted into the socket 22 of the household appliance 20, and four functional pins 121, 122 , 123, 124 are set on the plug 120.

As shown in Figure 2, in the illustrated embodiment, the Wi-Fi connector 100 may also include a debugging interface connected and communicated with the Wi-Fi module, a JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) interface, an antenna, an LDO (Low Dropout Regulator ), restart button and other functional modules.

As shown in FIG. 3 , in the illustrated embodiment, the sensor 10 may further include functional modules such as an LDO (Low Dropout Regulator) connected and communicated with the sensor chip.

FIG. 6 shows a functional block diagram of a home appliance system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the illustrated embodiment, a sensor interface suitable for connecting with the sensor 10 is not provided on the Wi-Fi connector 100, but a control circuit 21 of the household appliance 20 is provided with a sensor interface suitable for connecting with the sensor 10. Connected sensor interface.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6 , in the illustrated embodiment, the sensor 10 can be directly plugged into the control circuit 21 of the home appliance 20 , and can be connected to the Wi-Fi connector 100 through the bus of the control circuit 21 .

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 6 , in the illustrated embodiment, the sensor 10 includes: a sensor chip; a sensor interface connected to the sensor chip and adapted to match with the sensor interface on the control circuit 21 of the household appliance 20; and The identity setting circuit is connected with the sensor chip and is suitable for generating an identity identification signal for identifying the type of the sensor 10 .

Although not shown in the figure, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 , the Wi-Fi connector 100 includes a data processing module and a wireless communication module connected with the data processing module. The sensor interface on the control circuit 21 of the aforementioned home appliance 20 is connected to the Wi-Fi connector 100 through a bus. In this way, the data processing module on the Wi-Fi connector 100 can receive the aforementioned identification signal, and can identify the type of the sensor 10 according to the received identification signal.

As mentioned above, in order to be able to distinguish various different types of sensors, in one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3 , the identity setting circuits in different types of sensors 10 generate voltage signals of different ranges. The data processing module on the Fi connector 100 can identify the type of the sensor 10 according to the magnitude of the received voltage signal.

Similar to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-5 , in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 , the sensor interfaces on the control circuit 21 of the home appliance 20 respectively include five function pins. These five function pins can be respectively defined as: a power supply pin, used to supply power to the sensor 10; an identification signal pin, used to transmit the identification signal; a communication clock signal pin, used for communication clock synchronization; a data communication signal pin for transmitting communication data; and a ground pin.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the home appliance interface on the Wi-Fi connector 100 includes seven function pins 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124 (see FIG. 5), these seven function pins The pins 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, and 124 can be respectively defined as: an identification signal pin 112 for transmitting identification signals; a communication clock signal pin 113 for communication clock synchronization; A data communication signal pin 114 is used to transmit communication data; a power supply pin 121 is used to supply power to the Wi-Fi connector 100; a signal receiving pin 122 is used to receive asynchronous serial communication signals; a signal sending pin pin 123 for sending asynchronous serial communication signals; and a ground pin 124 .

Those skilled in the art can understand that the above-described embodiments are exemplary, and those skilled in the art can improve them, and the structures described in various embodiments do not conflict with each other in terms of structure or principle Can be combined freely.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, the embodiments disclosed in the accompanying drawings are intended to illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and should not be construed as a limitation of the present invention.

While certain embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present general inventive concept. The scope is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

It should be noted that the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the word "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. Furthermore, any element references in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

Claims (8)

1. a kind of connector, including：

Data processing module；

Wireless communication module；

Appliance interface, available for being connected with the interface of a household electrical appliances (20) and

Sensor interface, suitable for being connect with an external sensor (10).

2. connector according to claim 1, it is characterised in that：

The sensor (10) includes：

Sensor chip；

Sensor interface is connect with the sensor chip, and suitable for the sensor interface with the connector (100) to matching； With

Identity sets circuit, is connect with the sensor chip, and suitable for generating the type for identifying the sensor (10) Identification signals,

Wherein, the data processing module on the connector (100) is suitable for according to the identification signals received, to identify State the type of sensor (10).

3. connector according to claim 2, it is characterised in that：

The identity setting circuit of different types of sensor (10) generates the voltage signal of different range, the connector (100) On data processing module be suitable for identifying the type of the sensor (10) according to the size of the voltage signal received.

4. connector according to claim 1, it is characterised in that：

Sensor interface on the connector (100) includes five functional pins (111,112,113,114,115), and described five A functional pin (111,112,113,114,115) includes：

One power pins (111), for powering to the sensor (10)；

One identification signals pin (112), is used for transmission the identification signals；

One communication clock signals pin (113) synchronizes for communication clock；

One data traffic signals pin (114), is used for transmission communication data；With

One grounding pin (115).

5. connector according to claim 4, it is characterised in that：

Sensor interface on the connector (100) is formed with the slot (110) suitable for sensor described in grafting (10), described Five functional pins (111,112,113,114,115) are arranged in the slot (110) of the connector (100).

6. connector according to claim 5, it is characterised in that：

The slot (110) extends transversely through the connector (100), and the shape in the slot (110) of the connector (100) Into the positioning column (101) having suitable for coordinating with the location hole (11) on the sensor (10).

7. connector according to claim 4, it is characterised in that：

Appliance interface on the connector (100) includes four functional pins (121,122,123,124), four functions Pin (121,122,123,124) includes：

One power pins (121), for powering to the connector (100)；

One signal receives pin (122), for receiving asynchronous serial communication signal；

One signal sends pin (123), for sending asynchronous serial communication signal；With a grounding pin (124).

8. connector according to claim 7, it is characterised in that：

Appliance interface on the connector (100) has tongue-shaped in the socket (22) of the household electrical appliances (20) suitable for being plugged into Plug (120), four functional pins (121,122,123,124) are arranged on the plug (120).