JPH01296364A - Expansion system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability when the setting of a switch is changed by providing a set value sending means which sends the set value of the switch, and control means, etc., together with a switching section provided on the front face of an expansion unit main body. CONSTITUTION:When a prescribed value is set in the switching section 6 after connecting a floppy disk device (FD) 24 to the expansion unit main body 1, a value is selected by a multiplexer 7 and the selected value is sent to a control signal line 11. As a result, the set value of the switching section 6 is stored in a register 20 and it can be considered that a weight control circuit 21 directly gets the set value. Moreover, since the switching section 6 is provided on the front face of the main body 1, the set value can be changed easily and at the same time, the multiplexer 7 can cause a personal computer main body 22 to fetch the set value of the section 6 through the line 11. When the set value of the section 6 and normal signals are transferred by switching, the operability at the time of changing the set value of the switching section 6 can be improved without increasing the number of cables.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an expansion system, and particularly to an expansion system for connecting optional equipment to a personal computer or the like.

Traditionally, in expansion systems such as personal computers, expansion units decode the memory range installed in the expansion unit itself, and when this memory is accessed, bus control and wait control are used to slow down the speed. was going on.

A switch for presetting this memory range had to be mounted on an interface board that is not affected by delays caused by signal gaples and buffers.

Therefore, in a personal computer, a slot for an expansion unit has been provided on the back of the main body because the disk drive device is located on the front of the main body. This conventional expansion unit, in which a switch is provided on the interface board, is inserted into a slot on the front of the main unit after an operator or the like sets the switch.

However, in order to change the switch settings, an operator or the like must go to the back of the personal computer, pull out the interface board, and then change the switch settings, resulting in poor operability.

An object of the present invention is to provide an expansion system with good operability when changing switch settings.

The expansion system of the present invention includes a main unit, an expansion unit connected to the main unit, an optional device connected to the expansion unit, and a connection of the optional device provided in the expansion unit. a setting switch,
a setting value sending means provided in the expansion unit for sending out the set value of the switch in response to a command from the main unit; a storage means provided in the main unit for storing the setting value; and a control means for controlling the optional equipment according to a value stored in the storage means.

1” Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an expansion system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1 and a cable 8.

The expansion unit main body 1 includes buffer circuits 2.4 and 5,
It is configured to include a bidirectional buffer circuit 3, a setting switch section 6, and a multiplexer 7.

The cable 8 connects an address bus 9, a data bus 10,
It is configured to include control signal lines 11 and 13 and a reset signal line 12.

The interface board 14 has a buffer circuit 15.17.
．． 18 and 19, bidirectional buffer 16, and register 2
0 and a weight control circuit 21.

In the expansion unit main body 1, the multiplexer 7 selects the value of the switch section 6 and sends it to the control signal line 11 only when the output 40 of the buffer circuit 4 is at a low level. Further, the setting value of the switch section 6 is changed by an operator or the like depending on the presence or absence of a device (for example, a floppy disk drive FF) connected to the expansion unit main body 1.

In the interface board 14, the register 20 inputs the value of the control signal line 11 via the buffer circuit 17 when the reset signal line 12 changes from low level to high level, and stores the value. Further, the wait control circuit 21 controls a CPU (not shown) in the personal computer main body according to the value of the address bus 9 and the stored value of the register 20.
This is to give a wait instruction (waiting) to the client (Jnit).

In an expansion system having such a configuration, it is assumed that an operator or the like connects a 70 disk device (not shown) to the expansion unit main body 1 and then sets the switch section 6 to a predetermined value. Then, when starting up the system, the reset signal line 12
Since the signal changes from a low level to a high level, the setting value of the switch section 6 is selected by the multiplexer 7 and sent to the control signal line 11. As a result, the set value of the switch unit 6 is stored in the register 20. This is equivalent to the weight control circuit 21 directly controlling the set value of the switch section 6.

Next, the external appearance of the expansion system will be explained using FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the external appearance of an expansion system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Parts equivalent to those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. In FIG. , 8 and 23 are cables, 1 is the expansion unit main body, 6 is a switch section, 24
As shown in FIG. 0, which is a floppy disk device, the switch section 6 is provided on the front of the expansion unit main body 6, so that an operator or the like can easily change the setting value.

In addition, in this embodiment, a multiplexer is provided, and the control signal line 11 (see Fig. 1) is used only when starting up the system.
Since the setting value of the switch section 6 is taken into the main body 22 via the cable, there is no need to increase the number of cables 8. That is, in this embodiment, since the control signal line 11 is shared for normal control signals and switch setting values, there is no need to increase the number of cables.

As explained above, the present invention provides an expansion unit that has a setting switch on the front side separately from the main body of the personal computer, and further switches and transfers the setting value of the switch and a normal signal, thereby making it easier to connect the cable. This has the effect of making it possible to configure an expanded system with good operability without increasing the number of devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing the configuration of an expansion system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of the expansion system according to an embodiment of the invention. Explanation of symbols of main parts 6...Switch section 7...Multi-brephizer 20...Register 21...Wait control circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A main unit, an expansion unit connected to the main unit, an optional device connected to the expansion unit, a connection setting switch for the optional device provided on the expansion unit, and a connection setting switch for the optional device provided on the expansion unit. a set value sending means provided in the main unit for sending out the set value of the switch in response to a command from the main unit; a storage means provided in the main unit for storing the set value;
An expansion system comprising: a control means provided in the main unit and controlling the optional equipment according to a value stored in the storage means.