JP2000194444A - Portable computer and wireless docking station - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a wireless docking station with superior operability at a low price by providing ports for connections with various peripheral equip ment, an optical transceiver for communicating with a portable computer. SOLUTION: The wireless docking station 6 has in its front the optical transceiver for optically communicating with a portable computer 1 and the ports for connections with various peripheral equipment. A USB or/and IEEE1394 are provided as the ports for connections with various peripheral equipment. Then the wireless docking station having the ports of USB and IEEE1394 standards and a portable computer 1 are connected together by optical communication. Consequently, the wireless docking station 6 which is easy to use is actualized with simple circuit constitution at a low price.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a connection between a portable computer, a wireless docking station for connecting various peripheral devices, and peripheral devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for wirelessly connecting a portable computer body and a docking station is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-55231.

FIG. 7 shows a configuration for wirelessly connecting the conventional portable computer body and the docking station disclosed in the above invention.

In a portable computer, various ports are expanded into virtual ports, and these virtual ports are multiplexed by a virtual port / bus generator and a protocol manager and connected to a pair of wireless transceivers.

In the docking station, a wireless transceiver for transmitting and receiving an optical signal facing the portable computer and a serial signal multiplexed in the portable computer using the protocol manager and the port generator by using a protocol manager and a port generator. Each virtual port is distributed, and various peripheral devices are used by connecting to these ports.

[0006] Instead of the conventional legacy IO, USB
A new standard for connecting a computer to a peripheral device, called a (universal serial bus) or IEEE1394, has been proposed. These standards connect data including address information by high-speed serial transfer. Since the communication with which device is specified by the address information, even if a plurality of ports are provided, communication is possible without depending on the connection positions of the ports.

Further, peripheral devices adopting the USB standard are abundantly provided with a modem, a TA (terminal adapter), a keyboard, a mouse, a scanner, a printer, and a super disk.

[0008]

The ports for connecting between the docking station and various peripherals are based on a prior art interface called Legacy IO. One example is a modem, printer, floppy (registered trademark) disk drive, or the like.
The connector for connecting these devices, for example, the port for connecting the floppy disk drive is dedicated to the floppy disk drive, and cannot be connected to other devices.

When a modem is connected to a docking station having a plurality of RS-232C ports, if the number of the port to which the modem is connected is COM1, for example, it is necessary to match the software setting to COM1.

In the prior art, in order to bundle signals having different protocols, such as RS-232C and a floppy disk drive, and transmit and receive the signals with a pair of optical transceivers, the portable computer has a virtual port / bus generator in addition to the optical transceivers. And the protocol manager, but the docking station needed a protocol manager, a port generator, and complicated circuitry.

When these techniques are used, the ports of each peripheral device are different. Therefore, in order to connect the peripheral device directly to a portable computer without a docking station, it is necessary to provide a plurality of ports.

Recently, with the miniaturization of portable computers, there is no space for providing these ports in the portable computer, and a docking station is always required when connecting peripheral devices. Even when the user wants to connect the portable computer to a portable computer, the user needs to carry the docking station with the portable computer, which is not always convenient.

An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless docking station having a plurality of compatible ports for connecting various peripheral devices and a portable computer capable of connecting peripheral devices without the wireless docking station. I do.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present invention, a portable computer and a wireless docking device having a port for communicating data including address information by high-speed serial transfer according to the USB and IEEE 1394 standards in place of the legacy IO. It consists of a station and peripheral devices.

Therefore, the wireless docking station is realized by an optical transceiver, a repeater, and a controller. In a repeater connecting an optical transceiver and a port, data to be serially transferred is connected without combining or distributing the data based on address information.

In addition to the optical communication port for connecting to the wireless docking station on the portable computer body, a USB or IEEE standard for directly connecting peripheral devices to the portable computer body for use.
A 1394 port shall also be provided.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a plurality of ports for connecting various peripheral devices, an optical transceiver for communicating with a portable computer, and
A wireless docking station including a repeater for transmitting a signal between the port and the optical transceiver, and a controller for controlling the repeater, wherein connection to a portable computer body is cableless, connection is easy, and wireless docking is performed. Inside the station, it can be composed of an optical transceiver, a repeater, and a controller, and has an effect that a wireless docking station can be realized by a simple circuit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an optical transceiver for communicating with the wireless docking station according to the first aspect, and a port having the same function as a port provided in the wireless docking station, A portable computer that can be used by directly connecting a peripheral device connectable to the wireless docking station to the port, and equipped with a connector and an optical transceiver for connecting the peripheral device; Can be used by connecting to a wireless docking station and a portable computer directly.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a port for connecting various peripheral devices is USB, IEEE13
The wireless docking station according to claim 1, characterized in that the wireless docking station is equipped with any of the 94 standards or at the same time, and has an effect that a commercially available peripheral device can be connected.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the interface for connecting various peripheral devices is a USB, I
The portable computer according to claim 2, wherein the portable computer is equipped with one of or at the same time as the EEE1394 standard, and has an effect that it is possible to connect a commonly used peripheral device.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a connection diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a portable computer, which includes a keyboard 2 for inputting at least characters and commands, and a G
A pointing device 3 for supporting an input operation by a UI; a display unit 5 for displaying a result output and an operation state; and a secondary for supplying power for operating the portable computer 1 mainly when the portable computer is carried. Although not shown in FIG. 1, a battery 4 is built-in, and comprises an optical transceiver for optical communication with a wireless docking station, an auxiliary storage device for storing programs and data, and electronic components for controlling these devices. Equipped with a main board,
It can be used alone when carrying.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a wireless docking station, which has an optical transceiver on the front surface for optical communication with the portable computer 1 and a plurality of ports for connecting various peripheral devices. As a port for connecting a peripheral device, one or both of USB and IEEE1394 are provided at the same time.

As a peripheral device connected to the USB port,
There are a printer 7, a modem / TA8, a super disk 9, a mouse 10, and the like, and a peripheral device connected to the IEEE 1394 interface is a DVC11.
In the USB and IEEE 1394 standards, when a device is newly connected to a port, an address is assigned to the newly connected device. Data exchanged between the portable computer as the main body and each peripheral device includes the address information,
Since the data transfer is performed by specifying the communication partner based on the address information, it is not necessary to distinguish the connection position of the cable and the setting of the software.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of main circuits constituting the portable computer 1 according to the present invention. Reference numeral 21 denotes a central processing unit which executes programs and processes data, and is a semiconductor called X86 or the like. LSI1
Reference numeral 22 controls a bus signal that connects the central processing unit 21, the storage device 26, and an LSI 223 that controls peripheral devices. The storage device 26 is formed of a semiconductor storage device such as a DRAM, and stores an operating system (OS), application programs, data, and the like when the portable personal computer operates. LSI22
Numeral 3 converts a bus signal into a signal for connecting devices such as the auxiliary storage device 27 and the keyboard 35, and uses a semiconductor called a chipset. Also, a PCMCIA controller 25 for connecting a PC card and a PC card slot 34, an LCD controller 28 for controlling a liquid crystal display device 29 and a display VRAM, etc.
1394 controller 2 for controlling EE1394
Equipped with 4 etc. The LSI 223 also includes a circuit for controlling the USB. These configurations show the basic configuration of a portable personal computer, and the present invention is not limited to the above configurations.

The USB port is provided with a USB port 30 for cable connection and a USB optical transceiver 31 that converts the USB signal into an optical signal. The USB port 30 for connecting the cable may be on the back or the side of the main body, and the USB optical transceiver 31 needs to be provided at a position facing the wireless docking station 6 which is a communication partner device. Provide. For the IEEE 1394 signal, a 1394 port 32 and a 1394 optical transceiver 33 for cable connection are provided similarly to USB.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of main circuits constituting the wireless docking station 6 according to the present invention. The USB optical transceiver 41 converts an optical signal into an electric signal, and is equivalent to the USB optical transceiver 31 described above. The 1394 optical transceiver 42 converts the optical signal into an IE signal.
The signal is converted into an electric signal according to the EE1394 standard, and is equivalent to the above-mentioned 1394 optical transceiver 33. The repeater 43 shapes the waveform of the signal received by the USB optical transceiver 41 and transmits it to the USB port 47, and shapes the waveform of the signal input to the USB port 47 and transmits the waveform to the USB optical transceiver 41 as a root port. IEEE13
For the repeater 94 as well, similar to USB, the main operation is waveform shaping and signal transmission to the port, so detailed description is omitted.

The USB repeater and controller will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of a portion of the wireless docking station 6 relating to USB.

First, the downstream, which is a transmission from the root side, will be described. Reference numeral 61 denotes a light receiving portion for an optical signal, which is constituted by a PT (phototransistor) and converts the optical signal into an electric signal. A signal from the optical transceiver 31 of the portable computer 1 is converted into an electric signal by the light receiving unit 61. Since the synchronization pattern is sent prior to the start of the communication, the clock detection unit 64 extracts the start of the downstream data transfer, extracts the clock component included in the data, and outputs the clock component to the controller 44. In order to shape the waveform of the controller 44, a clock of the FF 65 (flip-flop) is supplied, and the DE signal is enabled to output data to the ports 1 to 3. For the downstream, the data is transferred to all the peripheral devices, and the peripheral device determines whether to take in the data based on the address information.

Next, an upstream transfer which is a data transfer from the peripheral device will be described. Ports 1 to 3
For example, when data transfer occurs to port 1 in any one of the cases, the clock detection unit 75 detects a synchronization pattern as in the case of downstream, detects that there is a clock component and a request for data transfer, and outputs it to the controller 44. The controller 44 receives the detection signal, enables the signal connected to the gate 72 among the UE signals, outputs the CLK signal to the FF 66, and shapes the data waveform. The enable signal of the gate 72 passes through the OR gate to enable the gate 70 and output an optical signal from an LD (laser diode) 62.

The controller 44 controls each port to the input state during the idle period of the communication, and enables the output in response to the detection of the synchronization pattern which is the start of data transfer by any of the ports. Also, the enable signal DE
And UE are exclusively controlled to prevent bus collision.

(Embodiment 2) In the above description, an example was described in which the peripheral device was connected to the wireless docking station 6 by a cable, but the peripheral device can also be directly connected to the portable computer 1.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example in which the peripheral device is directly connected to the portable computer 1 instead of the wireless docking station 6. The configurations of the portable computer 1 and the wireless docking station 6 are the same as those described above, and a description thereof will be omitted.

Instead of connecting (dashed line) the port 50 of the super disk 9 to the USB port 47 of the wireless docking station 6, the US
Connect to B port 30 (solid line). Since the USB port 30 provided on the portable computer 1 and the USB port 47 provided on the wireless docking station 6 have the same function, they operate even when the super disk 9 is connected to the USB port 30.

In this case, the peripheral device is connected to the USB port 30.
, The peripheral device can be used without going through the wireless docking station 6. For example, in an application in which only the super drive 9 is carried, it is not necessary to carry around the wireless docking station, so that the portability is excellent.

Although the above description has been made for the USB,
The same applies to IEEE 1394, and USB and IEEE
Either or both of the E1394s may be equipped at the same time.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, a wireless docking station having a plurality of USB and IEEE1394 ports is connected to a portable computer by optical communication, so that the wireless docking station has a simple circuit configuration. It can be realized at low cost, and the port shape of the wireless docking station is unified so that it does not depend on the connection point, so that a wireless docking station with excellent usability can be realized.

Further, by providing a port for connecting peripheral devices to the portable computer main body, it is possible to use necessary peripheral devices without a wireless docking station when carrying the portable computer, which is excellent in portability. An advantageous effect is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing that a portable computer and a docking station are connected by optical communication according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a portable computer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a wireless docking station according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of a wireless docking station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing connection between the portable computer and the peripheral device by a cable according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary perspective view showing that a portable computer and a peripheral device are connected by a cable according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7A is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration for wirelessly connecting a portable computer and a docking station according to the embodiment of the related art; and FIG. 7B is a block diagram illustrating multiplexing of ports in the portable computer according to the embodiment of the related art. Block diagram showing the circuit configuration

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Portable computer 2 Keyboard 3 Pointing device 4 Secondary battery 5 Display unit 6 Wireless docking station 7 Printer 8 Modem / TA 9 Super disk 10 Mouse 11 DVC 21 Central processing unit 22 LSI1 23 LSI2 24 1394 controller 25 PCMCIA controller 26 Storage device 27 auxiliary storage device 28 LCD controller 29 liquid crystal display device 30, 47 USB port 31, 41 USB optical transceiver 32, 48 1394 port 33, 42 1394 optical transceiver 34 PC card slot 35 keyboard 43 repeater (USB) 44 controller (USB) 45 Repeater (IEEE1394) 46 Controller (IEEE1394) 50 Port (USB) 51 Controller 61 Optical part (PT: phototransistor) 62 Light emitting part (LD: laser diode) 63 Output buffer 64, 75, 76, 77 Clock detector 65, 66 FF (flip-flop) 67, 68, 69 Output buffer 70, 71, 72 , 73, 74 gate

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of ports for connecting various peripheral devices, an optical transceiver for communicating with a portable computer, a repeater for transmitting a signal between the port and the optical transceiver, and controlling the repeater. Wireless docking station with controller. 2. An optical transceiver for communicating with the wireless docking station according to claim 1, and a peripheral device having a port having the same function as a port provided on the wireless docking station and connectable to the wireless docking station. A portable computer that can be used by directly connecting to the port. 3. A port for connecting various peripheral devices is U
The wireless docking station according to claim 1, wherein the wireless docking station is equipped with any one of SB and IEEE1394 standards or at the same time. 4. A port for connecting various peripheral devices is U
The portable computer according to claim 2, wherein the portable computer is equipped with one of SB and IEEE 1394 standards or at the same time.