GB2433667A

GB2433667A - TV adapter used with portable electronic apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2433667A
Application number: GB0604609A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yu-Hsiang Chen; Po-Wen Chen; Yung-Da Lin
Original assignee: Avermedia Technologies Inc
Current assignee: Avermedia Technologies Inc
Priority date: 2005-12-20
Filing date: 2006-03-08
Publication date: 2007-06-27
Also published as: GB0604609D0; TW200726227A; TWI302799B

Abstract

A TV adapter is used with a portable electronic apparatus 31 having a secure digital input/output (SDIO) card socket. The TV adapter includes a tuner circuit, a demodulator circuit and an interface controller, all accommodated in the same housing. A radio frequency signal is received and processed by the tuner circuit to generate a tuned signal. Then, the tuned signal is demodulated into digital video data by the demodulator. At last, the digital video data are processed by the interface controller to generate a digital video data packet complying with SDIO specification and transmitted to the portable electronic apparatus through an SDIO card pin of the TV adapter for display.

Description

TV ADAPTER USED WITH PORTABLE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS

The present invention relates to an extended card device, and particularly relates to a TV adapter adapted to be used with a portable electronic apparatus.

Please refer to Fig. 1, a schematic diagram illustrating a portable electronic apparatus 1 which is a common personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, or a smartphone integrating the functionality of bath. In Fig. 1, the portable electronic apparatus I usually has a high-quality display screen 10. Therefore, it becomes a valuable application that the user can watch TV show on such portable electronic apparatus 1. Hence, PDAs, mobile phones and/or smartphones with built-in TV module 11 are developed so that the user can watch TV programs with the displaying screen 10 of the portable electronic apparatus 1. However, since only built-in type of TV modules has been developed, it seems that the user has no other choice. User who uses the conventional PDA which has no built-in TV module can do nothing but purchasing a new PDA with built-in TV module in order to watch TV programs on the electronic apparatus.

The present invention endeavors to eliminate the above-mentioned defects

of the prior arts.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a TV adapter capable of expanding the functionality of a portable electronic apparatus to.

The present invention provides a TV adapter adapted to be used with a portable electronic apparatus having a secure digital input/output (SDIO) card socket. The TV adapter comprises a housing having thereon an SDIO card pin capable of electrically connecting with the SDIO card socket; a tuner circuit for receiving and processing a radio frequency (RF) signal to generate a tuned signal; a demodulator circuit electrically connected to the tuner circuit for demodulating the tuned signal to output digital video data; and an interface controller electrically connected between the demodulator circuit and the SDIO card pin for processing the digital video data to generate a digital video data packet complying with SDIO specification. The digital video data packet is then transmitted into the portable electronic apparatus through the SDIO card pin for display.

In an embodiment, the portable electronic apparatus is a PDA, a mobile phone, a smartphone, or a notebook.

In an embodiment, the TV adapter further comprises a data buffer electrically connected to the demodulator circuit and the interface controller for buffering the digital video data outputted from the demodulator circuit, and providing the interface controller with the digital video data.

In an embodiment, the data buffer is implemented by a static random access memory (SRAM), and the RF signal received by the tuner circuit is a wireless TV signal.

In an embodiment, the demodulator circuit, the interface controller, and the data buffer are integrated into a single system-on-chip (SoC).

The present invention further provides an extended card device adapted to be used with a portable electronic apparatus having an extended memory card socket. The extended card device includes a housing having thereon an extended memory card pin capable of electrically connecting with the extended memory card socket; a tuner circuit for receiving and processing an RF signal to generate a tuned signal; a demodulator circuit electrically connected to the tuner circuit for demodulating the tuned signal to output digital data; and an interface controller electrically connected between the demodulator circuit and the extended memory card pin for processing the digital data to generate a digital data packet complying with an access protocol between the extended memory card pin and the extended memory card socket. The digital data packet is then transmitted to the portable electronic apparatus through the extended memory card pin for display.

In an embodiment, the RF signal received by the tuner circuit is a wireless TV signal, and the digital data outputted by the demodulator circuit are digital video data.

In an alternative embodiment, the RF signal received by the tuner circuit is a wireless broadcasting signal, and the digital data outputted by the demodulator circuit are digital audio data.

In an embodiment, the digital data packet generated by the interface controller complies with a specification of SDIO interface, mini secure digital (Mini SD) interface, compact flash (CF) interface, Microdrive interface, memory stick (MS) interface, memory stick PRO (MS PRO) interface, memory stick PRO Duo (MS PRO Duo) interface, multimedia card (MMC) interface, smart media (SM) interface, or XD interface.

In an embodiment, the extended memory card pin on the housing is an SDIO card pin, a Mini SD card pin, a CF card pin, a Microdrive card pin, an MS card pin, an MS PRO card pin, an MS PRO Duo card pin, an MMC pin, an SM card pin, or an XD card pin.

In an embodiment, the extended card device further includes a data buffer electrically connected to the demodulator circuit and the interface controller for buffering the digital data outputted from the demodulator circuit, and providing the interface controller with the digital data.

The above contents of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a portable electronic apparatus having a display screen; Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a TV adapter according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the appearance of the TV adapter according to the present invention.

Please refer to Fig. 2 which is a block diagram illustrating a TV adapter 2 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The TV adapter 2 mainly includes a tuner circuit 21 for receiving an RF via an antenna 200 or a coaxial cable (not shown) and processing the received signal to generate a tuned signal. The tuned signal is a baseband signal or an IF signal which carries digital video information, for example, a TV program of a certain channel. The tuned signal is then transmitted to the demodulator circuit 22 to be demodulated for generating a stream of digital video data. The stream of digital video data is buffered in a data buffer 23 to be sequentially provided to the interface controller 24 so as to generate a series of digital video data packets. These packets are then transmitted to the portable electronic apparatus 31 for display.

The appearance of the above-mentioned TV adapter 2 is shown in Fig. 3. The TV adapter 2 mainly includes a housing 20 for receiving therein the tuner circuit 21, the demodulator circuit 22, the data buffer 23, and the interface controller 24. The housing 20 has thereon an extended memory card pin 30, SDIO card pin for example, to be inserted into and in electrical connection with the extended memory card socket 32, SDIO card socket for example, of the portable electronic apparatus 31. Of course, the extended memory card pin 30 matches the extended card socket 32 in access protocol. Therefore, by electrically connecting the extended memory card pin 30 and the extended memory card socket 32, the series of digital video data packets generated by the interface controller 24 are transmitted to the portable electronic apparatus 31 for display. Hence, the digital video data packets must comply with the access protocol between the extended memory card pin 30 and the extended memory card socket 32 of the portable electronic apparatus 31. For example, when the extended memory card socket 32 supports SDIO card, the digital video data packets generated by the interface controller 24 correspondingly comply with SDIO specification to allow the portable electronic apparatus 31 to receive these data packets properly through the extended memory card socket 32 and its rear circuits (not shown). Consequently, the user of the portable electronic apparatus 31 can flexibly choose a TV adapter with a suitable extended memory card pin. For the portable electronic apparatus 31 which has no built-in TV module but has been equipped with an extended memory card socket 32, the user only has to purchase a TV adapter 2 with the corresponding type of extended memory card pin. Together with the antenna 200 for receiving signals, the demand of watching TV programs on the original portable electronic apparatus 31 is easily satisfied. The aforementioned demodulator circuit 22 has been developed into a commercial chip. However, for further simplifying the circuit structure, the demodulator circuit 22, the interface controller 24, and the data buffer 23 (mostly implemented by an SRAM) are integrated into a system-on-chip (SoC). Furthermore, such a technique can be applied to broadcasting cards by modifying the tuner 21 and the demodulator circuit 22 so as to receive and demodulate the digital/analog broadcasting signals. The details of such modification will not be described here. Of course, an adapter integrating both the TV card and broadcasting card is also available according to the present invention.

Except for the above-mentioned SDIO card, the present invention can be applied to the existing extended memory cards including Mine SD card, CF card, Microdrive card, MS card, MS PRO card, MS PRO Duo card, MMC, SM card, and XD card, etc. It is to be noted that the digital audio/video data packets should comply with the access protocol between the adopted extended memory card pin 30 and the extended memory card socket 32 of the portable electronic apparatus 31. The customer can choose a TV adapter with a suitable extended memory card pin according to the type of the extended memory card socket on the portable electronic apparatus, and new function of receiving and displaying wireless broadcasting/TV programs is easily appended to. The present invention can be applied to many portable electronic apparatus like PDA, mobile phone set, smartphone and notebook, which has extended memory card sockets.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.

Claims

CLAIMS

I. A TV adapter adapted to be used with a portable electronic apparatus having a secure digital input/output (SDIO) card socket, The TV adapter comprising: a housing having thereon an SDIO card pin for electrically connecting with the SDIO card socket; a tuner circuit disposed in the housing for receiving and processing a radio frequency (RF) signal to generate a tuned signal; a demodulator circuit disposed in the housing and electrically connected to the tuner circuit for demodulating the tuned signal to output digital video data; and an interface controller electrically connected between the demodulator circuit and the SDIO card pin for processing the digital video data to generate a digital video data packet complying with SDIO specification, and transmitting the digital video data packet to the portable electronic apparatus through the SDIO card pin for display.

2. The TV adapter according to claim 1, wherein the portable electronic apparatus is one selected from a group consisting of a personal digital assistant, a mobile phone, a smartphone, and a notebook.

3. The TV adapter according to claim 1, further comprising a data buffer electrically connected to the demodulator circuit and the interface controller for buffering the digital video data outputted from the demodulator circuit, and sequentially providing the interface controller with the digital video data.

4. The TV adapter according to claim 3, wherein the data buffer is implemented by a static random access memory (SRAM), and the RF signal received by the tuner circuit is a wireless TV signal.

5. The TV adapter according to claim 3, wherein the demodulator circuit, the interface controller, and the data buffer are integrated into a single system-on-chip (SoC).

6. An extended card device adapted to be used with a portable electronic apparatus having an extended memory card socket, comprising: a housing having thereon an extended memory card pin for electrically connecting with the extended memory card socket; a tuner circuit disposed in the housing for receiving and processing an RF signal to generate a tuned signal; a demodulator circuit disposed in the housing and electrically connected to the tuner circuit for demodulating the tuned signal to output digital data; and an interface controller electrically connected between the demodulator circuit and the extended memory card pin for processing the digital data to generate a digital data packet complying with an access protocol between the extended memory card pin and the extended memory card socket, and transmitting the digital data packet to the portable electronic apparatus through the extended memory card pin.

7. The extended card device according to claim 6, wherein the RF signal received by the tuner circuit is a wireless TV signal, and the digital data outputted by the demodulator circuit are digital video data.

8. The extended card device according to claim 6, wherein the RF signal received by the tuner circuit is a wireless broadcasting signal, and the digital data outputted by the demodulator circuit are digital audio data.

9. The extended card device according to claim 6, wherein the digital data packet generated by the interface controller complies with a specification of one interface selected from a group consisting of SDIO interface, mini secure digital (Mini SD) interface, compact flash (CF) interface, Microdrive interface, memory stick (MS) interface, memory stick PRO (MS PRO) interface, memory stick PRO Duo (MS PRO Duo) interface, multimedia card (MMC) interface, smart media (SM) interface, and XD interface.

10. The extended card device according to claim 6, wherein the extended memory card pin on the housing is one selected from a group consisting of an SDIO card pin, a Mini SD card pin, a CF card pin, a Microdrive card pin, an MS card pin, an MS PRO card pin, an MS PRO Duo card pin, an MMC pin, an SM card pin, and an XD card pin.

11. The extended card device according to claim 6, further comprising a data buffer electrically connected to the demodulator circuit and the interface controller for buffering the digital data outputted from the demodulator circuit, and providing the interface controller with the digital data.

12. A TV adapter adapted to be used with a portable electronic apparatus, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figs. 2 and 3 as shown.

13. An extended card device adapted to be used with a portable electronic apparatus, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figs. 2 and 3 as shown.