JP2006011990A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide electronic equipment having an interface the internal connecting work of which can be easily performed within a case that is the outer covering of a computer. <P>SOLUTION: A DVD drive (1) that is one kind of electronic equipment is set within the case (3) of the computer (2). The interface (4) of the DVD drive (1) has a connector (14a) adapted to be attached and detached from a side of the DVD drive (1). The case (3) of the computer has a detachable opening and closing lid (3a) on the side part. By removing the opening and closing lid (3a), the connection of the connector (14a) can be easily performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device installed in a computer casing, and more particularly to an improvement of an interface.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, electronic devices such as a CD-ROM drive and a DVD drive installed in a computer housing, such as a recording / reproducing device (internal drive), have a front-back direction of a casing that forms the exterior of the computer. It is attached to the mounting bay to match with the other equipment in the computer enclosure. For this connection, cable connection is mainly used. However, the electronic device as described above has an interface on the back surface and is provided with a connector. The cable having one end connected to the interface-side connector once extends from the back of the electronic device toward the back of the housing of the computer, and the other end is connected to the connected device.

  Patent Document 1 is an invention relating to a structure for attaching a connector conversion adapter to a disk device. The connector conversion adapter is attached to a connector connection port exposed from an opening window of a back plate of a CD-ROM drive. . As described above, an interface of an electronic device such as a recording / reproducing apparatus such as a CD-ROM drive or a DVD drive is located on the back side and faces the back side, and the cable connector is inserted and removed in the front-back direction. Is almost.

JP 2004-71005 A

  However, as described in Patent Document 1, a general electronic device having an interface on the back surface has a problem that it is difficult to insert and remove the cable-side connector with respect to the interface-side connector provided in the electronic device. Hereinafter, this problem will be described in detail.

  The casing that forms the exterior of the computer has an open / close lid that opens on the top and bottom surfaces and opens on the side, and a connector provided on the interface side of the electronic device by opening the open / close lid The cable side connector can be inserted and removed. On the other hand, the interface of the electronic device is located on the back surface of the electronic device as described above and faces the back direction. For this reason, the direction of insertion / removal of the connector on the cable side with respect to the connector provided on the interface side of the electronic device is the front-back direction of the electronic device.

  By the way, in a computer, particularly in a tower type or desktop type computer, an electronic device such as a recording / reproducing device such as a CD or a DVD usually needs to insert and remove media from the electronic device. Located on the front side of the housing. Further, in many cases, other devices constituting the computer, such as a power supply device, are installed in the back direction of the electronic device thus installed.

  For this reason, the user is forced to work in a space that is never sufficient between the electronic device and the power supply device, and from the upper surface side or side surface side of the housing that is opened as described above. Then, it was difficult to put power in the front-side direction, and it was forced to do very difficult work.

  Under such circumstances, conventionally, as a measure for facilitating the cable insertion / removal operation with respect to the interface provided on the back surface of the electronic device, the length dimension in the front-back direction of the electronic device as described above is reduced. Measures have been taken to maximize the distance from other devices (mainly power supply devices) located in the back direction.

  However, electronic devices such as CDs and DVDs, such as recording / reproducing devices themselves, and other devices have structural limitations, so that the length of the electronic device in the front-back direction is shortened. There is a limit to securing space in the rear direction.

  As described above, it has been very difficult to insert and remove the cable-side connector with respect to the interface-side connector of the electronic device in the conventional electronic device.

  Therefore, the present invention makes it easy to insert and remove the cable from the upper surface side, the lower surface side or the side surface side of the housing that is opened by opening the opening / closing lid of the housing that constitutes the exterior of the computer. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device capable of inserting and removing a cable-side connector without being affected by other devices installed on the back side of the electronic device such as a CD / DVD.

  In order to achieve the above object, an electronic apparatus according to the present invention is an electronic apparatus installed in a computer casing that is open at least on one side, and is connected to another electronic apparatus installed in the computer casing. The interface for attaching and detaching the connector of the cable for performing the above is located on the open side of the housing (claim 1). Moreover, in such an electronic device, the interface may be configured such that the direction of attachment / detachment of the connector of the cable is lateral, upward, or downward with respect to the electronic device.

  The electronic device of the present invention is mounted on a computer, but the casing that forms the exterior of the computer includes an opening / closing lid so that at least one surface can be opened, and the opening / closing lid is opened to connect the cable of the electronic device. I do. Therefore, if the interface of the electronic device is located on the side where the housing is opened, the cable can be easily inserted and removed. Here, the side that is opened and closed by the opening / closing lid may be the side, upper, or lower side of the casing in consideration of the arrangement of the power supply device or the like installed inside the casing. Therefore, it is convenient if the interface has a configuration in which the connector of the cable is attached to / detached from the interface sideways, above, or below the electronic device. In other words, when the upper side of the computer casing is open, it is easy to work with the cable connector attached and detached in the vertical direction. When the side of the computer casing is open, the cable connector It is easy to work to set the front-rear side to the rear side of the side surface in which the attachment / detachment direction is opened. The same applies when the lower surface of the housing is open. That is, if the direction of attaching and detaching the connector of the cable is set to a direction perpendicular to the open surface as much as possible, the attaching and detaching operation of the connector is facilitated.

  Here, in this specification, an electronic device refers to various devices constituting a computer, which are housed in a casing that forms the exterior of the computer and connected to other devices via a cable. In addition to the device (Claim 7), all devices such as an audio device are included. In addition, the interface includes one for power supply, and it is desirable that the connection direction of the connector for the power supply cable is made to coincide with the direction perpendicular to the open surface of the computer casing. Further, as described above, since the electronic device includes an audio device and the like, the interface includes those for plugs and jacks.

  In such an electronic device, the electronic device may have a space formed by being recessed in the attaching / detaching direction of the connector, and the space may include the interface. Here, it is desirable that the space has a size that can accommodate the connector.

  If a space is formed in this way and an interface is provided in the space, the connector portion of the cable connected to the electronic device does not protrude because the connector portion of the cable can be stored in the space. If the connector portion does not protrude, there is an advantage that the housing of the computer can be downsized and the computer can be made compact.

  In such an electronic apparatus, the interface may be configured for serial ATA.

  In various electronic devices such as those described above, conventional interfaces such as USB and IEEE 1394 can be used as interfaces and connectors. However, conventional connectors and the like are large in size, and it is difficult to adopt the configuration of the present invention. Therefore, it is desirable to use a serial ATA standard interface, which will be widely used in the future. Here, the serial ATA is one of the extended specifications of the IDE (ATA) standard for connecting a computer and a storage device such as a hard disk, but in addition to being thinner and flatter than the conventional standard, the serial ATA is. The connector portion has a feature that it is very small. If such a serial ATA interface is installed in such a manner that the direction of attaching / detaching the connector of the cable is sideward or upward with respect to the electronic device as described above, the space in the side, top, and bottom within the computer casing Not subject to the above restrictions. Further, when forming the space for housing the connector as described above, it is not necessary to form a very large space in order to provide a serial ATA interface with a small connector portion.

  In the electronic apparatus of the present invention having such a configuration, the interface of the electronic apparatus can avoid interference between a connector of a cable attached to the interface and an attachment device that holds the electronic apparatus in the computer housing. It is desirable to have a configuration provided in (Claim 6).

  An attachment device for attaching various electronic devices is provided inside the case of the computer. If the attachment device and the cable connector interfere with each other, the insertion / removal operation of the cable connector is hindered. Therefore, if the interface is positioned so that interference between the connector of the cable and the mounting device that holds the electronic device in the computer housing can be avoided, the interface is positioned on the side where the housing is opened. This makes it easier to insert and remove the cable connector.

  According to the present invention, the electronic device interface is positioned on the side where the computer housing is opened, and the connector is attached to or detached from the electronic device such that the connector is attached to the side, top, or bottom. Since such an interface is provided, when such an electronic device is installed in the housing of a computer having an opening / closing lid, the interface can be positioned on the side where the housing is opened by the opening / closing lid. Thereby, attachment / detachment work of a connector can be made easy. Also, such connector mounting / dismounting operations are not affected by the positional relationship with other devices and devices installed in parallel in the front-back direction of the computer, and can easily be connected / disconnected. Can do.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a DVD drive 1 installed in a housing 3 that forms the exterior of the computer 2 shown in FIG. This DVD drive 1 corresponds to the electronic apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the DVD drive 1 includes a slide-type disk tray 5 on the front surface. Further, the side surface 1a is provided with an interface 4, and has a connection port 4a for serial ATA and a connection port 4b for power supply.

  The DVD drive 1 configured as described above is mounted in a housing 3 that forms the exterior of a computer as shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the computer 2 as viewed from the back side in a state in which the detachable opening / closing lid 3 a is detached from the housing 3 to the side of the housing 3 in the direction of arrow 13. The housing 3 includes an attachment device 6 for attaching an electronic device such as the DVD drive 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the attachment device 6 is a metal fitting attached to the upper part of the housing 3 and holds the DVD drive 1 from both sides while holding the DVD drive 1 by screwing. Here, the attachment device 6 is in a position where it does not interfere with the interface 4.

  In this embodiment, the attachment device 6 further holds a first hard disk drive 7 and a second hard disk drive 8. These first hard disk drive 7 and second hard disk drive 8 also have serial ATA connection ports 7b and 8b on the side surfaces 7a and 8a, respectively, and the positions of these connection ports 7b and 8b interfere with the mounting device 6. Considered not to.

  As described above, the power supply device 9 of the computer 2 is attached in the back direction of the DVD drive 1 or the like attached inside the housing 3 by the attachment device 6. A substrate 11 on which the CPU 10 is mounted is attached to the side of the housing 3 that faces the side on which the open / close lid 3a is attached, and another substrate 12 connected to the substrate 11 is attached.

  The DVD drive 1 is connected to the substrate 11. At this time, a serial ATA cable 14 as shown in FIG. 2 is used. This cable 14 inserts the connector 14 a into the connection port 4 a of the DVD drive 1. Since the connection port 4a is provided on the side surface 1a of the DVD drive 1 as shown in the figure, the connector 14a is attached / detached by inserting / removing it in the direction of the arrow 15. That is, since the connection port 4a exists on a surface that is completely opened by removing the opening / closing lid 3a, when the operator pulls out the connector part 14a from the connection port 4a, the cable 14 may be pulled to his / her side. Easy to enter. Further, there is no obstacle on the side where the connector 14a is pulled out, and the workability is very high in this respect. On the other hand, when the connector 14a is inserted into the connection port 4a, the connection port 4a is located at a position where the connection port 4a is completely visible. There is no such thing as searching for it by hand, and in this respect, workability is very high.

  The other connector 14 b of the cable 14 is connected to the board 11, but the connector 14 b is inserted perpendicularly to the board 11. That is, also in this case, the direction of insertion / removal of the connector 14b is the same as that of the connector 4a, and the workability is good.

  In the present embodiment, the power connection port 4b is also provided on the side surface 1a of the DVD drive 1 in the same manner as the serial ATA connection port 4a. It becomes. As a result, the workability similar to that of the serial ATA cable 14 can be obtained for the power supply cable.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the first hard disk drive 7 and the second hard disk drive 8 are provided as described above, and each is connected to the substrate 11. This connection method is the connection between the DVD drive 1 and the substrate 11. Can be done as well. That is, good workability is ensured for the cable attachment / detachment of the first hard disk drive 7 and the second hard disk drive 8.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3A is a perspective view seen from the back side of the DVD device 16 of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3B is an enlarged view of a portion surrounded by a dotted circle A in FIG. is there. 4 (a) is a front view seen from the direction of arrow 17 in FIG. 3 (a), and FIG. 4 (b) is a portion surrounded by a dotted circle B in FIG. 4 (a). It is an enlarged view.

  As shown in the figure, the DVD drive 16 has a space 18 formed in the side surface 16a so as to be recessed in the connector attaching / detaching direction indicated by an arrow 15, and an interface 19 is provided in the space 18. The interface 19 has a serial ATA connection port 19a and a power supply connection port 19b as in the interface 4 in the DVD drive 1 of the first embodiment. Here, the size of the space 18 is set so as to accommodate the connector 14a of the cable 14 for serial ATA. In FIG. 3B, the ATA cable 14 is indicated by a dotted line, but the connector 14 a is accommodated in the space 18. In such a DVD drive 16, the connector 14 a does not protrude from the side surface 16 a of the DVD drive 16, and the cable 14 is easily stored.

  The DVD drive 16 is mounted in the housing 3 by the mounting device 6 in the same manner as the DVD drive 1 of the first embodiment, including that the mounting device 6 is considered not to interfere with the interface 19. Since there is no difference from the case of Example 1, the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

In addition, the said Example is only an example for implementing this invention, This invention is not limited to these, It is within the scope of the present invention to modify these Examples variously, and this It is obvious from the above description that various other embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the interface located on the side surface of the DVD drive and having the cable connector attached / detached sideways is shown. However, the cable connector attach / detach direction matches the direction in which the computer housing is opened. Can be on the upper side and the lower side. In addition, a hinge can be incorporated in the interface so that the bag can be bent like the liquid crystal display unit and the operation unit of the mobile phone, and the interface can be aligned with the direction in which the housing of the computer is opened.
Further, if the connector on the cable side is configured to be bent so that it can be bent 90 ° from the attaching / detaching direction, interference with the computer casing and the lid can be avoided. For example, when an electronic device is housed in a housing with an open / close lid on the side, the cable connector is attached to and detached from the computer housing. In such a case, the connector is bent downward. By doing so, interference with the open / close lid can be avoided.

1 is a perspective view of a DVD drive according to Embodiment 1 as viewed from the front side. FIG. It is the perspective view which looked at the computer which built in the DVD drive shown in FIG. 1, and removed the opening / closing lid of the side part from the back side. (A) is the perspective view which looked at the DVD drive of Example 2 from the back side, (b) is the enlarged view of the part enclosed with the dotted-line circle A in (a). (A) is the front view which looked at the DVD drive shown in FIG. 4 from the direction of arrow 17 in FIG. 4, (b) is the enlarged view of the part enclosed by the dotted circle B in (a) It is.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,16 DVD drive 2 Computer 3 Case 3a Opening / closing lid 4, 19 Interface 4a, 19a Connection port for serial ATA 4b, 19b Connection port for power supply 5 Disc tray 6 Mounting device 7 First hard disk drive 8 Second hard disk drive 9 Power supply Device 10 CPU
11 Board 12 Board 14 Cable 14a, 14b Connector 18 Space

Claims (7)

An electronic device installed in a computer enclosure, at least one of which is open,
An electronic apparatus characterized in that an interface for attaching and detaching a connector of a cable for connecting to another electronic apparatus installed in the housing of the computer is located on an open side of the casing. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the interface has an attachment / detachment direction of the connector of the cable that is lateral, upward, or downward with respect to the electronic device. 3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device has a space formed by being recessed in the attaching / detaching direction of the connector, and the space is provided with the interface. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the space is large enough to accommodate the connector. 5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the interface is for serial ATA. An electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The interface of the electronic device is
An electronic apparatus characterized by being provided at a position where interference between a connector of a cable attached to the interface and an attachment device for holding the electronic apparatus in the computer housing can be avoided. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device has a recording / reproducing function.

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