JP2004005039A - Storage medium wrong loading prevention device for electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the loading of two kinds of storage mediums without requiring any special operation. <P>SOLUTION: An L-shaped baffle plate 25 is rotatably arranged between a PC card slot 13 and a memory card slot 15. When a PC card 12 is inserted to the PC card slot 13, an arm 25a is pressed. Since the baffle plate 25 is rotated clockwise, the arm 25b is fitted into the memory card slot 15 to prohibit the loading of the memory card 14. When a memory card 14 is inserted into the memory card slot 15, the arm 25a of the baffle plate 25 is fitted into the PC card slot 13 to prohibit the loading of the PC card 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for preventing erroneous loading of a storage medium, which is used in an electronic device such as a printer or a personal computer, and prevents both types of storage media from being loaded.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Many recent printers are capable of capturing image data from various storage media. For example, a memory card slot and a PC card slot are provided so that image data can be captured from a loaded memory card (eg, SmartMedia) or PC card, printed, or edited into an album form and then written to a CD. There is something that was made.
[0003]
In the printer, when a storage medium is loaded in a slot, a control circuit (CPU) automatically accesses the storage medium and takes in image data. For this reason, if a card is loaded in both the memory card slot and the PC card slot, a reading error occurs due to erroneous loading.
[0004]
In order to prevent erroneous loading, a conventional printer is provided with a slidable switching lever between a memory card loading position and a PC card loading position. When loading a memory card, if the switching lever is set to the memory card loading position, the first end of the switching lever is retracted from the memory card slot, and the second end of the switching lever enters the PC card slot. . Thus, the memory card can be inserted into the memory card slot, but the PC card cannot be inserted into the PC card slot by the second end. If the switching lever is set at the PC card loading position, the PC card can be inserted into the PC card slot, but the memory card cannot be inserted into the memory card slot by the first end.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In an apparatus that prevents erroneous loading of a storage medium using a switching lever, the switching lever must be operated in accordance with the type of storage medium to be loaded.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium erroneous loading prevention device for an electronic device that can load only one of two types of storage media without performing a special operation.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a storage medium loaded in one of the first slot and the second slot of the electronic device, for example, when the first storage medium is loaded in the first slot. When the first storage medium is pushed out of the first slot and enters the second slot to prevent the loading of the second storage medium, and when the second storage medium is loaded into the second slot, Blocking means for blocking the loading of the first storage medium is provided by being pushed out of the second slot by a part thereof and entering the first slot.
[0008]
As the blocking means, an L-shaped baffle plate having a first arm that can be inserted into the first slot and a second arm that can be inserted into the second slot is used. The first and second storage media are swingably attached to an axis perpendicular to the loading direction of the first and second storage media.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In FIG. 1, a front cover 11 of a printer 10 is provided with a PC card slot 13 into which a PC card 12 is loaded and a memory card slot 15 into which a memory card 14 is loaded. As this memory card 14, for example, smart media is used, and a plurality of image data photographed by the digital camera 16 is written.
[0010]
A CD-RW drive tray 17 is provided on the front cover 11 so as to be freely inserted and removed. This tray 17 is loaded with a CD 18. Below the tray 17, a paper feed cassette 19 containing recording paper is detachably loaded. An operation unit 20 and a liquid crystal display panel 21 are provided beside the PC card slot 13. A home TV or the like is connected to the printer 10 as a monitor 22.
[0011]
As is well known, the printer 10 is provided with a control circuit (CPU) and a printing unit. When the PC card 12 or the memory card 14 is loaded, the control circuit automatically accesses the PC card 12 or the memory card 14 and captures an image written in these storage media. The captured image is displayed on the monitor 22 in a matrix.
[0012]
When printing, the operation unit 22 is operated while observing the monitor 22 to select an image to be printed. Next, when printing is instructed, the printing unit operates to print an image on the recording paper drawn from the paper feed cassette 19. When the operation unit 20 is operated to instruct image storage, the control circuit operates the CD-RW drive to organize and write images on the CD 18 on the tray 17. Further, the image stored on the CD 18 can be read out and printed on recording paper.
[0013]
When a plurality of storage media are set in the control circuit, a reading error occurs. Therefore, the printer 10 is provided with an erroneous loading prevention device for selectively loading only one storage medium. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the erroneous loading prevention device includes an L-shaped baffle plate 25 having arms 25 a and 25 b, and a shaft 26 that rotatably supports the baffle plate 25. Yes. The shaft 26 extends perpendicularly to the insertion direction of the PC card 12 and the memory card 14, and is attached to a partition wall between the PC card slot 13 and the memory card slot 15. In order to prevent erroneous loading at the initial stage of card insertion, it is preferable to provide a baffle plate 25 near the slot entrance.
[0014]
Since the baffle plate 25 is freely attached to the shaft 26, the arm 25a may be in the PC card slot 13. In this case, when the PC card 12 is inserted into the PC card slot 13, the arm 25a is pushed by the tip, and the baffle plate 25 rotates in the clockwise direction. When the baffle plate 25 rotates, the other arm 25b enters the memory card slot 15 as shown in FIG. For this reason, when the PC card 12 is loaded, loading of the memory card 14 is prohibited.
[0015]
On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 3, when the memory card 14 is inserted into the memory card slot 15, the arm 25 a of the baffle plate 25 enters the PC card slot 13. Thereby, loading of the PC card 12 is prohibited when the memory card 14 is loaded.
[0016]
The printer 30 shown in FIG. 4 has a PC card slot 31 and a memory card slot 32 arranged horizontally. Also in this embodiment, when the PC card 12 is loaded in the PC card slot 31 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, when the memory card 14 is loaded in the memory card slot 31, loading of the PC card 12 is prohibited.
[0017]
In the above-described embodiment, the baffle plate 25 is free. However, a spring for biasing the baffle plate 25 may be provided so that, for example, the arm 25a always enters the PC card slot. Moreover, the inlet of each slot can also be closed by attaching the board of the same size as the inlet of each slot to arm 25a, 25b.
[0018]
Further, although the PC card and the memory card are taken as examples of the storage medium, a combination of a flexible disk and a PC card, a combination of a memory card and a memory stick, or the like may be used. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to a printer, and can be used for an electronic album creating apparatus and an electronic device such as a personal computer.
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, among the two types of storage media, the loading of the other storage medium is prohibited in conjunction with the loading of one of the storage media. It is not necessary to operate the switching lever according to Therefore, it is possible to prevent two types of storage media from being loaded into the electronic device without performing a special operation.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a printer embodying the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a loaded state of a PC card.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a loaded state of a memory card.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a printer in which a PC card slot and a memory card slot are horizontally arranged.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a PC card loaded state in the printer shown in FIG. 4;
6 is a cross-sectional view showing a loaded state of a memory card in the printer shown in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
12 PC card 13, 31 PC card slot 14 Memory card 15, 32 Memory card slot

Claims (2)

In an electronic device including a first slot loaded with a first storage medium and a second slot loaded with a second storage medium,
When loading the first storage medium into the first slot, the first storage medium is pushed out of the first slot by a part of the first storage medium and enters the second slot, and the second storage medium is inserted into the second slot. When loading, a blocking means is provided that is pushed out of the second slot by a part of the second storage medium so as to enter the first slot, and only one of the first and second storage media can be loaded. An apparatus for preventing erroneous loading of a storage medium. The blocking means includes a first arm that can be inserted into the first slot and a second arm that can be inserted into the second slot, and is perpendicular to the loading direction of the first and second storage media. 2. The storage medium misloading prevention device according to claim 1, wherein the baffle plate is an L-shaped baffle that swings in a direction.

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