JP2003308941A - Interface connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an interface connector with a built-in interface conversion circuit having no need to change an interface conversion circuit according to a kind of the external connection terminal in the interface connector. <P>SOLUTION: In the interface connector having the built-in interface conversion circuit, the interface connector in which plural kinds of external connection terminals exist is constituted of a body provided with the interface conversion circuit and units capable of being taken off from the main body. Subsequently, the external connecting terminal is installed at the units, prepares the units only in the number of kinds of the external connecting terminal, and an input/ output terminal and the external connecting terminal of the interface conversion circuit are wired in those units. By this, it is not necessary to remake the interface conversion circuit built in the body for each kind of the external connecting terminal, and the interface connector with a low cost and a high convenient characteristic can be provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a host device (personal computer or the like) and a hard disk device (H
The present invention relates to an interface connector for data transfer between peripheral devices such as DD) and magneto-optical disk (MO) devices, and particularly to an interface connector having a conversion function between different interfaces.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, external storage devices such as CD-R / RW drives, hard disk drives (HDD), and magneto-optical disk (MO) drives have become widespread. Such an external storage device is connected to a personal computer via an interface connector.

However, the interface on the external storage device (mass storage device) side which is a peripheral device is an ATAPI (Advanced Technology A) which is a parallel interface.
The Attachment Packet Interface) standard is widely used, and the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard, which is a serial interface, is widely used as the interface on the personal computer (host device) side that is the host device.

As described above, when the interface of the peripheral device and the interface of the host device are different from each other, it is necessary to use an interface connector having a conversion circuit for converting between the different interfaces.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional interface connector. In FIG. 5, as an example, the USB connector 5 connected to the host device side via the cable 3
And an ATAPI connector 6 connected to the peripheral device side is shown.
ATAPI interface and US in I connector 6
An interface conversion circuit (not shown) for converting the B interface is incorporated.

[0006]

However, this A
Since there are a plurality of types of external connection terminals 4a of the TAPI connector 6, if the types of the connection terminals are different, the same ATA
Even if the interface connector and the peripheral device corresponding to the PI interface are different in type of the external connection terminal of the interface connector and the external connection terminal of the peripheral device, there is a disadvantage that connection may not be possible.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the shape of the external connection terminals on the peripheral device side and the pin arrangement thereof. In FIG. 6, the external connection terminals 4b-A to 4b-C on the peripheral device side are configured as female types and are connected to the external connection terminals 4a of the ATAPI connector 6 configured as male types. The connection terminals 4b-A and 4b-B of the peripheral devices A and B are so-called bellows type D-sub connection terminals, and the connection terminal 4 of the peripheral device C is used.
b-C is a so-called pin type D-sub connection terminal.

FIG. 7 shows the peripheral devices A, B and C in FIG.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing signals assigned to each pin of each external connection terminal 4b (or external connection terminal 4a) of FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the peripheral device A and the peripheral device B have bellows-type D-sub connection terminals having the same shape and pin arrangement, but the bellows-type D-sub connection terminals have a signal assignment to each pin. There are different types (see pin number 19 and later). As shown in FIG. 7, the external connection terminal 4b-A
4b-B have the same pin arrangement, but the signals assigned to each pin are different. Also, the external connection terminal 4b-
C has a different shape and pin arrangement from the external connection terminals 4b-A and 4b-B, and also has a different signal assigned to each pin.

Thus, even if the same interface has different types of external connection terminals, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of interface conversion circuits having input / output terminals corresponding to respective pin arrangements. It is efficient. That is, the AT built in the ATAPI connector
The API / USB conversion circuit has to be changed for each type of external connection terminal of the ATAPI connector, resulting in high cost of the interface connector. In addition, even when the user uses a plurality of peripheral devices conforming to the same interface, if the type of each connection terminal is different, a different interface connector must be prepared for each external connection terminal, It is uneconomical. In particular, the interface connector with the built-in interface conversion circuit is more expensive than the interface connector with the same interface without the built-in interface conversion circuit, and the user's cost burden is large.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an interface connector having an interface conversion circuit built-in, which does not require a change of the interface conversion circuit depending on the type of external connection terminal.

[0011]

The structure of the interface connector of the present invention for achieving the above object is for connecting a host device corresponding to a first interface and a peripheral device corresponding to a second interface. A first interface connector having a connection terminal provided at one end of the cable and connected to the host device.
And a second connector that is provided at the other end of the cable and has a connection terminal that connects to the peripheral device, the second connector being between the first interface and the second interface. And a unit that is replaceably attached to the main body and that associates a connection terminal that connects with the peripheral device with an input / output terminal of the conversion circuit. To do.

With this configuration, a plurality of types of connection terminals can be supported by simply replacing the unit, and it is not necessary to remake the interface conversion circuit built in the main body for each type of connection terminal, which is low cost and convenient. A high interface connector can be provided.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. In the following description, as an example, the USB interface and ATAPI
An interface connector having an interface conversion circuit for converting the interface will be described, but the interface to be converted is not limited to a combination of these.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an interface connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1A, the interface connector in the present embodiment is a USB connector 5 connected to the host device (personal computer) side via a cable 3.
And an ATA connected to the peripheral device (external storage device, etc.) side
And a PI connector 6. Characteristic of this embodiment is that the ATAPI connector 6 includes a main body 60 and a unit 61 that is attached to the main body in a replaceable (detachable) manner.
It is divided into and. FIG. 1A shows a unit 6
1 is attached to the main body 60, and FIG.
(B) shows a state in which the unit 61 is removed from the main body 60.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the ATAPI
The main body 60 of the connector 6 is connected to the USB connector 5 via a cable and has an ATAPI / USB interface conversion circuit 62. The main body 60 also includes an ATAPI of the interface conversion circuit 62, as will be described later.
A female terminal 63a of the pair of terminals forming the side input / output terminal is provided.

Further, the unit 61 has an external connection terminal 4a for connecting to a peripheral device and a male terminal 63b paired with the female terminal 63a. A characteristic of this embodiment is that the ATAPI-side input / output terminal of the interface conversion circuit 62 is composed of a pair of separable connection terminals (male / female terminal). As a result, although the external connection terminal 4a and the input / output terminal of the interface conversion circuit 62 are conventionally directly wired and cannot be separated, the terminals can be separated from each other.
It becomes possible to exchange only a. Further, the input / output terminal of the interface conversion circuit 62 is connected to the external connection terminal 4a.
The interface conversion circuit 62 does not need to be prepared for each external connection terminal 4a.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the unit 61 corresponding to each of the plurality of types of external connection terminals 4a.
Units 61 of FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, respectively
A, 61B, 61C connection terminals 4a-A, 4a-B,
4a-C are paired with the external connection terminals 4b-A, 4b-B, 4b-C of the peripheral devices A, B, C of FIG. 6, respectively. That is, the external connection terminals 4a-A, 4a-B are bellows type D-sub connection terminals, the external connection terminals 4a-C are pin type D-sub connection terminals, and, of course, the external connection terminals 4a-A, The signal assignment to each pin of 4a-B and 4a-C is the same as that of the external connection terminals 4b-A, 4b-B, and 4b-C which make a pair, respectively, as shown in FIG.

In this way, there are a plurality of types of external connection terminals 4
By providing a in the unit 61 that can be detached from the main body 60, it becomes possible to deal with a plurality of types of external connection terminals simply by replacing the unit 61 with respect to the main body 60.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the pin arrangement of the female terminal 63a (FIG. 3A) and the male terminal 63b (FIG. 3B) which are the input / output terminals of the interface conversion circuit 62. The unit 61 is attached to the main body 60 by inserting the male terminal 63b into the female terminal 63a. Preferably, a lock mechanism for fixing the unit 61 and the main body 60 may be provided.

FIG. 4 shows a female terminal 63a and a male terminal 6
It is a figure which shows the signal assigned to each pin of 3b. Wiring (correspondence) between the external connection terminal 4a and the male connection terminal 63b may be performed according to the signal allocation shown in FIGS. 6 and 4, respectively, and can be performed in the unit 61. That is, since the external connection terminals 4 a and the input / output terminals of the interface conversion circuit 62 can be associated with each other in the unit 61 that is removable (replaceable) from the main body 60, the interface conversion circuit 6
With respect to the main body 60 incorporating 2 therein, it is not necessary to make any change for each type of the external connection terminal 4a. Therefore,
Since the main body 60 can be made the same for a plurality of types of external connection terminals 4a, the manufacturing cost can be reduced due to economies of scale, and a unit 61 suitable for different external connection terminals 4a can be provided. Only by exchanging them, it becomes possible to deal with peripheral devices having a plurality of types of external connection terminals. This greatly contributes to improving the convenience of the user who uses the interface connector and reducing the cost burden.

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the interface on the peripheral device side has been described by taking the ATAPI standard as an example, but the invention is not limited to this, and another parallel interface,
For example, SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
It may be a standard interface. Also, the interface on the host device side is not limited to USB, and other serial interfaces such as IEEE (Institute
It may be an interface of f Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394 standard.

The present invention can also be applied to the case where the interface on the host device side has a plurality of types of external connection terminals. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied in the same manner as described above even when there are a plurality of types of external connection terminals for both the host device side and peripheral device side interfaces.

The protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but extends to the inventions described in the claims and their equivalents.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an interface connector incorporating an interface conversion circuit, an interface connector having a plurality of types of external connection terminals is provided with a main body having the interface conversion circuit and a unit detachable therefrom. It consists of and. Then, the external connection terminals are provided in the unit, and the units are created according to the types of the external connection terminals, and the input / output terminals of the interface conversion circuit and the external connection terminals are wired in the unit. Accordingly, it is not necessary to remake the interface conversion circuit built in the main body for each type of external connection terminal, and it is possible to provide a low-cost and highly convenient interface connector.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an interface connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a unit 61 corresponding to each of a plurality of types of connection terminals 4.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a pin arrangement of a female terminal 63a and a male terminal 63b.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing signals assigned to each pin of a female terminal 63a and a male terminal 63b.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional interface connector.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a shape of a connection terminal of a peripheral device and a pin arrangement thereof.

7 is a diagram showing signals assigned to respective pins of connection terminals of respective peripheral devices A, B, and C in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 cables 4a, 4b External connection terminal 5 USB connector 6 ATAPI connector 60 body 61 units 62 Interface conversion circuit 63a, 63b Input / output terminals

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An interface connector for connecting a host device corresponding to a first interface and a peripheral device corresponding to a second interface with a connection terminal provided at one end of a cable and connected to the host device. A second connector having a connection terminal that is provided at the other end of the cable and that is connected to the peripheral device; and the second connector includes the first interface and the second interface. A main body having a conversion circuit between the interfaces, and a unit that is replaceably attached to the main body and associates a connection terminal for connecting to the peripheral device with an input / output terminal of the conversion circuit. Interface connector characterized by. 2. The interface connector according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of types of the unit are prepared according to a type of a connection terminal connected to the peripheral device. 3. The interface connector according to claim 1, wherein the second interface is a parallel interface. 4. The third interface according to claim 3, wherein the second interface is the ATAPI standard or S.
An interface connector characterized by a CSI standard interface. 5. The interface connector according to claim 1, wherein the first interface is a serial interface. 6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the first interface is a USB standard or IEEE.
Interface connector characterized by E1394 standard.