JP2811730B2 - Terminal device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal device, and more specifically, to a terminal device that transmits held data via an optical signal.

[Prior Art] With the development of communication technology, small and portable terminal devices and data input devices have been generally used. Also,
The spread of computer systems has led to the use of computers for inventory management of goods, package management for parcel delivery and rate sales, etc.
A simple terminal device is used in which a plurality of input data are temporarily stored and later collectively transmitted to a host computer by a communication means.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In a general-purpose terminal device that performs general data communication, a communication operation is performed by a dedicated operator who has received special education, so that a non-dedicated ordinary person cannot operate or is too complicated. Although there is no problem even in the operation procedure, in the case of the simple terminal device as described above, it is desired that the held data can be transmitted by a simpler operation.

In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a terminal device that starts data communication with a minimum number of key operations.

Means for Solving the Problems A terminal device according to the present invention is a terminal device that transmits held data by a base unit connected to a host computer and optical communication means, and the terminal device is connected to the base unit. Providing position detection means for detecting whether or not the optical communication path is installed at a predetermined position, and inspection means for inspecting the establishment of the optical communication path in advance, when the inspection of the inspection means is defective, performs a predetermined display, The output of the position detection means indicates that the terminal device is installed at the predetermined position, and the stored data is transmitted when the inspection of the inspection means is good.

[Operation] It is possible to electrically know whether or not the optical communication path has been established by the inspection means. Further, if the optical communication path is established according to the inspection result, the data communication is automatically started, so that a complicated key operation for the data communication is unnecessary. Therefore, basically, the stored data can be transmitted simply by placing the terminal device so that an optical communication path can be established, and an extremely simple operation can be performed.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a handy terminal device to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a handy terminal device powered by a secondary battery (not shown). Reference numeral 12 denotes an acoustic coupler, 14 denotes an LCD display device, 16 denotes a flat-type keyboard, which includes a number of key switches 18 and a pad 20 for inputting handwritten figures. 22 is a power switch.

The flat keyboard 16 is designed to output a signal indicating the pen pressure position when a pressure such as a pen is applied on the keyboard surface.The structure itself is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. No. 4,332,332, and Patent Application Publication No. 139027, 1987. On the surface of the keyboard 16, there are provided key switches 18 such as a key switch indicating a certain work content, an alphabet (or kana) key for inputting general data, a numeric key (a so-called ten key), and a handwritten figure input. Pad 20 is assigned. Among the key switches 18, the key switches indicating the work contents include, for example, departure, arrival, luggage delivery, luggage receipt, break start, break end, refueling, refueling, congestion encounter, congestion relief, delivery item No., delivery location (entrance, back entrance, management Some items specify items such as people and neighbors.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a base unit for supplying power to the secondary battery of the handy terminal device 10 by a magnetic coupling method, and by placing the handy terminal device 10 at a predetermined position on a pedestal 26, a power transmission coil 28 is formed. handy·
Facing the receiving coil (not shown) of the terminal device 10,
By the magnetic coupling of these coils, power is supplied from the base unit 24 to the handy terminal device 10. The power supply method by magnetic coupling is the utility model registration application No. 48 of 1987.
This is described in detail in Issue 265. Reference numeral 30 denotes an optical coupler (light emitting element and light receiving element) for performing communication with the handy terminal device 10 using light as a communication medium. The optical coupler 30 (a light receiving element thereof) has an optical communication signal, which will be described later,
The charging completion optical signal is received from the handy terminal device 10.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an optical communication system which is a feature of the present invention. However, FIG. 1 also shows general components of the apparatus 10 for reference. Reference numeral 40 denotes a keyboard control circuit for controlling the keyboard 16 of FIG. 1, processing input data into a predetermined format and outputting the data, 42 a display control circuit for controlling the LCD display device 14, 44 a barcode reader, and 48 a sound. Acoustic communication device for acoustic communication by coupler 12, 50 comprises a 16-bit microcomputer,
Main control circuit that controls the whole system, 52 is a read-only memory (ROM), 54 is a random access memory (R)
AM). The ROM 52 stores an operation program of the main control circuit 50 and necessary data.The RAM 54 stores input data from the keyboard 16 in addition to temporary variables and communication data for controlling each unit. You.

Next, the optical communication portion of the device 10 will be described. Reference numeral 56 denotes a light receiving element such as a photodiode. The output is shaped by a light receiving circuit 58 and applied to a filter 6060. Filter 60
Removes noise outside the required band. The amplification circuit 62 amplifies the output of the filter 60 and supplies the output to the demodulation circuit 64 and the carrier detection circuit 66. The carrier detection circuit 66 detects the carrier of the input signal, and outputs an H (high) signal if the signal level is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and outputs an L (low) signal if the signal level is lower than the predetermined value. On the other hand, demodulation circuit 64 demodulates the output of amplification circuit 62 and outputs a received data signal. The output of the demodulation circuit 64 is a serial / parallel conversion circuit 65
, And is supplied to the main control circuit 50.

The main control circuit 50 can determine the presence or absence of received data based on the output of the carrier detection circuit 66. That is, the main control circuit 50
When the output of the carrier detection circuit 66 is H, the demodulation circuit 64
Read the output (received data).

The multiplexed parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 67 receives a control signal or held data to be transmitted to the base unit 24 from the main control circuit 50 and converts it into a serial signal.The modulation circuit 68 modulates the light. The light emitting diode 72 is driven by the output of 68. Thereby, the electric signal is converted into the optical signal.

The light receiving system of the base unit 24 is basically the same as the light receiving system of the terminal device 10. That is, 74 is a light receiving element, 76 is a filter for removing a frequency component other than the required band, 80 is an amplifier circuit, 82 is a carrier detection circuit, 84 is a demodulation circuit, and 87 is a serial / parallel conversion circuit. Reference numeral 86 denotes a position confirmation lamp which is lit when the terminal device 10 is placed at an appropriate position of the base unit 24. Reference numeral 87 denotes a multiplexed parallel / serial conversion circuit for transmitting a control signal or data to be transmitted to the terminal device 10, and reference numeral 88 denotes a modulation circuit. A light emitting circuit 90 drives a light emitting diode 92 according to the output of the modulation circuit 88. 94 indicates that the terminal device 10 has the base unit 24
And a mechanical detection switch such as a micro switch for detecting that the sensor is placed on the position detection lamp. The detection output of the detection switch 94 and the detection output of the carrier detection circuit 82 turn on a position confirmation lamp 86 via an AND circuit 87.

In addition, reference numeral 96 denotes a voltage conversion circuit, and 98 denotes a connector of a communication cable for connecting to a host computer, for example, a connector of the RS232C standard.

When placed on the proper position of the base unit 24 of the terminal device 10, the light emitting elements 72, 92 face the light receiving elements 74, 56, respectively. However, depending on how the terminal device 10 is placed, the output light of the light emitting elements 72 and 92 is
To the base unit
It may not be possible to send to the host computer via 24.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, this problem has been solved as follows. FIG. 3 shows an operation flowchart of the terminal device 10 and the base unit 24, and the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, when the terminal device 10 is placed on the base unit 24 and the held data is transmitted, the operator operates the terminal device 10.
By operating the ten specific keys, the main control circuit 50 is instructed to transmit data. In response to this key operation, the terminal device 10 starts the flow of FIG.

First, whether or not the terminal is in the proper position, the terminal device 10
Is mounted on the base unit 24, the mechanical detection switch 94 detects it (S1). In the terminal device 10, the light emitting diode 72 emits light at a predetermined frequency or a predetermined code string in response to a key operation of a data transmission instruction. That is, a reception path confirmation signal is transmitted to the base unit 24 (S11). In the base unit 24, the light-emitting diode 7
The carrier detection circuit 82 outputs a carrier detection signal in a state where 2 is appropriately facing the light receiving element 74 (S2). That is, the output light of the light emitting diode 72 is incident on the light receiving element 74, and the output is applied to the demodulation circuit 84 and the carrier detection circuit 82 via the light receiving circuit 76, the filter 78, and the amplification circuit 80, and the carrier detection circuit 82 Outputs a carrier detection signal. The carry detection signal turns on the position confirmation lamp 86 via the AND circuit 87 (S3). This allows the operator to confirm that the terminal device 10 has been placed at the appropriate position on the base unit 24.

The terminal device sets the timer after transmitting the reception path confirmation signal (S12). On the other hand, base unit 2
In 4, the detection output of the carry detection circuit 82 or the demodulated data by the demodulation circuit 84 is transmitted to the voltage level conversion circuit 96 and the connector.
It is transmitted to the host computer via 98. The host computer thereby knows the start of communication with the terminal device 10, and transmits a transmission request signal to the terminal device 10 (S4). This transmission request signal causes the light emitting diode to emit light via the connector 98, the voltage level conversion circuit 96, the parallel / serial conversion circuit 87, the modulation circuit 88, and the light emission circuit 90.

If the light emitting diode 92 is facing properly, the transmission request signal is converted into an electric signal by the light receiving element 56 of the terminal device 10, and the demodulation circuit 54 and the carrier detection signal are transmitted through the light receiving circuit 58, the filter 50, and the amplifier circuit 62. Applied to circuit 66. The main control circuit responds to the carry detection signal of the carrier detection circuit 66.
50 receives the output data of the demodulation circuit 64 via the serial / parallel conversion circuit 65 (S13). Thereafter, the held data is transmitted to the host computer by a known communication method (S16).

Due to the slight displacement between the terminal device 10 and the base unit 24, optical coupling between the light emitting diode 72 and the light receiving element 74 was established, but when optical coupling between the light emitting diode 92 and the light receiving element 56 could not be established, The terminal device 10 cannot receive the transmission request signal from the base unit 24 (S1
3). When a transmission request signal is not received for a predetermined time (S1
4) The display device 14 determines that the positional relationship between the light emitting diode 92 and the light receiving element 56 is inappropriate or that there is another communication failure.
Is displayed, and a predetermined warning sound is generated from the speaker (S15), and the process returns to the initial step (S10).

In the above embodiment, the means 94 for detecting that the terminal device 10 is mounted on the base unit 24 is provided on the base unit 24 side.However, the main control circuit 50 can also use the non-contact power supply method described above. Since it is possible to know that the terminal device 10 has been mounted on the base unit 24, the flow of FIG. 3 may be started by the detection signal.

[Effects of the Invention] As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, the state of establishment of the optical communication path is inspected in advance, and if the optical communication path is established according to the inspection result, Since the held data is transmitted automatically, a complicated key operation for data transmission is not required. Therefore, basically, by simply placing the terminal device so that an optical communication path can be established, the stored data can be transmitted, the operation is extremely simple, and no special education for data transmission is required.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a handy terminal device according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the present embodiment. 10: Handy terminal device, 12: Acoustic coupler, 14: LCD
Display device, 16: flat keyboard, 18: key switch, 20: handwriting figure input pad, 22: power switch, 2
4: Base unit, 26: Pedestal, 28: Power transmission coil, 30: Optical coupler, 40: Keyboard control circuit, 42: Display control circuit, 4
4: Barcode reader, 48: Acoustic communication device, 50: Main control circuit, 52: ROM, 54: RAM

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-66798 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04L 29/12

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A base unit connected to a host computer and a terminal device for transmitting held data by optical communication means, and detecting whether or not the terminal device is installed at a predetermined position with respect to the base unit. Position detection means and inspection means for inspecting the establishment of the optical communication path in advance are provided. If the inspection of the inspection means is defective, a predetermined display is performed, and the output of the position detection means is transmitted to the terminal device. A terminal device indicating that the terminal device is installed at a predetermined position, and transmitting the held data when the inspection by the inspection unit is good.