JPH0652935A - Connection device with mounting state monitoring function, and electronic equipment using the device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the reliability of a system, by monitoring the mounting condition of a connector with the ON/OFF signal of a switch means, interlocking the mounting of a connector, for a monitor line. CONSTITUTION:A switch 32, interlocking the mounting of a connector 20B, is provided as a monitor signal outputting means, and when the connector 20B is dismounted, the switch 31 is turned on to feed a monitor signal Sc to a VTR 11 via a monitor line 23. Upon receipt of the signal, interruption process is applied by a CPU 36 to light an LED 37 to issue warning. Consequently the mounting condition of a connector can be monitored at all times by simple constitution to increase the reliability of an electronic equipment system.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connection device with a mounting state monitoring function, which is suitable for application to an AV system or the like in which a plurality of electronic devices can be mutually controlled, and an electronic device using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In some AV systems and the like, a plurality of electronic devices are connected to a monitor, and the connected electronic devices can be controlled by each other.

FIG. 8 shows an example of such an AV system. In the example shown in the figure, two VTRs 1 are used as electronic equipment.
1, 12 and one monitor 13 are used. The two VTRs 11 and 12 and the VTR 12 and the monitor 13 are connected by a connection device 20 which is a control line.

This connection device 20 is usually called a bus connector, and the connection device 20 is composed of a connection line (line) 20A and connectors 20B provided at both ends thereof. Corresponding jacks 20C are provided on the VTRs 11 and 12 side and the monitor 13, respectively, and by mounting the connector 20B, mutual control and control of the monitor 13 can be performed freely using either of the two VTRs 11 and 12. In addition, the respective reproduction outputs can be selectively displayed on the monitor 13.

[0005]

As described above, in order to be able to mutually control the plurality of electronic devices 11, 12 and 13 which construct the AV system, the connecting devices 20 are properly mounted at predetermined positions. There is a need. This is because the desired system control will not be possible if this is not the case.

The disconnection of the connecting device 20 is normally recognized only when the system is started and the instructed control is not performed.
In order to avoid this, conventionally, software is used to check whether or not the mating connector 20B is properly mounted, or a dummy signal is sent to constantly monitor the mating state of the mating connector 20B.

For this reason, there have been problems such as the cost of developing dedicated software, the need for expensive hardware for sending dummy signals and monitoring them.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and a connection device having a mounting state monitoring function capable of monitoring the mounting state of a mating connector with relatively simple hardware, and this connection device. It proposes an electronic device using.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, in the first invention, a monitoring line for monitoring the mounting state of the connector is provided in addition to the plurality of signal lines, and the monitoring line is provided on the connector side. Is characterized in that a monitoring signal output means for outputting a monitoring signal indicating the unmounted state is provided on the monitoring line when the connector is not mounted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in an electronic device equipped with a connection device with a mounting state monitoring function having a signal line and a monitoring line, the monitoring line flows through a control circuit provided on the main body side of the electronic device. It is characterized in that the warning means is activated when the monitoring signal is input.

In the third aspect of the invention, the connection device having a mounting state monitoring function has a signal line, a monitoring line, and a ground line, and the first resistor is provided between the monitoring line and the ground line. In the electronic device, the voltage detection means is connected to the first connection terminal for connecting the monitoring line, and the reference voltage is applied between the first connection terminal and the voltage detection means via the second resistor, The second connection terminal for connecting the ground line is grounded, and the connection state of the connection device is determined by the voltage detected by the voltage detection means.

[0012]

As shown in FIG. 1, in the AV system to which the first and second inventions are applied, the monitor signal output means is composed of a switch 31 interlocking with the mounting of the connector 20B, and when the connector 20B is disconnected. The switch 31 is turned on and the monitor signal Sc (low level) is transmitted to the electronic device (VTR 11 in the figure) on the side where the connector 20B is mounted through the monitor line 23, and the monitor signal Sc interrupts the CPU 36 which is the control circuit. After processing, the LED 37, which is a warning means, lights up.

An AV to which the third invention shown in FIG. 4 is applied
In the system, the voltage Vh generated on the signal line 35d changes depending on the connection state of the connection device 20. This voltage Vh is used as the judgment level V1 for the level comparator 50.
By comparing with V2 and V3 (FIG. 6), it is possible to determine whether the normal state, the detachment on the own side, or the detachment on the partner side.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a case where an example of a connection device with a wearing condition monitoring function and an electronic apparatus using the connection device according to the present invention is applied to the above-mentioned AV system will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the first and second inventions will be described. To construct an AV system, a connection device with a wearing condition monitoring function according to the present invention and an electronic device capable of receiving a monitoring signal obtained from the device and issuing a corresponding warning are required. Therefore, not only the connection device but also the electronic device side is provided with a predetermined device.

Among the AV systems, the VT is particularly used in this example.
A case of controlling Rs will be described with reference to FIG. The connection device 20 will be described first.

The connecting device 20 according to the present invention has a connecting wire 20A and connectors 2 attached to both ends thereof as in the conventional case.
In this example, the connection line 20A includes two signal lines (bus lines) 22a and 22b for transmitting control data and the like, and a ground line 22c.
And a monitoring line 23 is provided. One signal line 22a is a minus line, and the other signal line 22a
b is a plus line.

The monitoring line 23 is a line for transmitting a monitoring signal Sc obtained according to the mounting state of the connector 20B, and the monitoring signal is transmitted to the electronic device on the side where the connector 20B is mounted.

Each connector 20B is provided with four contacts 24a to 24d corresponding to four lines as shown in the figure, and one connector, for example, the right connector 20B.
Therefore, a resistor 30 having a high resistance value is connected between the plus line 22b and the monitoring line 23, and a switch 31 functioning as a monitoring signal output means is provided between the monitoring line 23 and the ground line 22c. Connected.

By connecting the resistor 30, a predetermined voltage (a voltage which is about ½ of the voltage applied to the plus line 22b) is applied to the monitoring line 23.

The switch 31 has an interlocking structure so that it is turned on (shown by a broken line) when the connector 20B is not properly attached to the counterpart device, and is turned off (shown by a solid line) when it is attached.

The resistor 30 is not connected in the left connector 20B. This is because one is not required for each.

As described above, the connection device 20 has one more signal line than the conventional connection device, and the connector 20
The configuration in B is slightly different from the conventional one, and the other configurations are the same.

The VTR 11 or 12, which is the receiving side of the connecting device 20 having the above-described structure, has the following structure. Since the VTRs 11 and 12 have the same configuration, only the configuration on the VTR 11 side will be described.

The jack 20C has a mounting recess 27 for mounting the connector 20B, inside which contacts 25a to 25d corresponding to the connector 20B are provided, and the signal lines 35a and 35b of the contacts 25a and 25b are provided.
Is connected to a control circuit 36 provided inside the main body. The control circuit 36 is composed of a CPU and includes signal lines 35a and 3a.
5b is connected to the bus terminal.

The contact 25c corresponding to the ground line 22c is grounded, the signal line 35d connected to the contact 25d to which the monitoring signal is supplied is connected to the interrupt signal generation circuit 40, and the interrupt signal Sb generated here is sent to the CPU 36.
Is supplied to the interrupt terminal INTi.

The interrupt signal generation circuit 40 has a comparison circuit 41 as shown in the figure, and the supervisory signal Sc is supplied to its plus terminal. A predetermined DC power source + B is constantly applied to the positive terminal via the resistor 43. A predetermined reference voltage lower than the positive terminal voltage is applied to the negative terminal via the variable resistor 42. A differentiation circuit 44 is connected to the subsequent stage of the comparison circuit 41.

Now, the operation when the interrupt signal generating circuit 40 is configured in this way is as follows.

The connectors 20B provided at both ends of the connecting wire 20A are both jacks 20 corresponding to the VTRs 11 and 12.
When properly mounted on C, the switches 31 are off (the switching state shown by the solid line).
The data (true data, control data, etc.) sent to the signal lines 35a and 35b, respectively, is the signal line 22.
The data is transmitted to the other party via a and 22b, and control corresponding to the transmitted data is performed.

Since the monitoring line 23 is connected to the signal line 22b through the resistor 30 having a high resistance value, the transmission data does not leak to the monitoring line 23. Therefore, when the connector 20B is correctly attached to the jack 20C. Becomes a positive side terminal voltage of the comparison circuit 41> a negative side terminal voltage (reference voltage), the output Sa of the comparison circuit 41 holds a high level, and an interrupt signal Sb having a negative trigger level (see FIG. 2B) is not generated. .

On the other hand, when any of the connectors 20B is detached and is not properly attached to the jack 20C, the switch 31 is in the ON state (state shown by the broken line). Then, the monitoring line 23 is connected to the ground line 22c through the switch 31, so that the connector 2
The supervisory signal Sc falls to a low level at the moment when 0B comes off.

This change state is immediately detected in the comparison circuit 41, and the comparison output Sa is inverted to the low level (FIG. 2).
A). Since the comparison output Sa is differentiated by the differentiating circuit 44,
The negative differential output Sb (FIG. 2B) is CP as an interrupt signal.
Supplied to U36. As a result, the CPU 36 transits to the interrupted state and the warning means, for example, the LED 37 connected to this CPU 36 is controlled to be turned on (FIG. 2C).

By turning on the LED 37, the operator can visually recognize the disconnection of the connector to be mounted on the counterpart device, and can immediately start the inspection work. The lighting of the LED 37 can be released by an operator's key operation, but a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 3 shows a specific example of the connector 20B. In the figure, reference numeral 50 denotes a connector housing, and in one side view thereof, contacts 24a to 24d corresponding to each line are provided on the right side surface 51 side as shown in the drawing. The switch 31 is provided on the upper surface 52 side.

The switch 31 has a movable contact 33 and a fixed contact 34, which are spring-like as shown in the figure, and an abutment 32 is provided at the tip of the movable contact 33 so as to slightly project from the upper surface 52. As shown in the figure, when the contactor 32 is not pushed, the movable contact 33 is in contact with the fixed contact 34, so this is the ON state.

When the contactor 32 is pushed, the movable contact 33 is separated from the fixed contact 34, so that the movable contact 33 is in the off state. As described above, when the connector 20B is correctly attached to the jack 20C, the contact piece 32 is pushed by the recess 27, and thus the switch 31 is off.

On the other hand, when the connector 20B is not attached, the contactor 32 is in the lifted state, so the switch 31 is turned on, and at this time, the monitoring signal S
c falls to the low level, and the same state as described above can be realized.

The structure in which the switch 31 is controlled to be turned on / off in accordance with the mounting state of the connector 20B is merely an example. As is apparent from FIG. 1, since the interrupt signal generation circuit 40 is provided with the resistor 42, the resistor 30 provided in the connector 20B can be omitted.

Next, an AV system to which the third invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. The connection device 20 of this example has two signal lines 22a and 22b as described above.
A ground line 22c and a monitoring line 23 are provided. However, here, a resistor R (the resistance value is also R for convenience of description) is connected between the monitoring line 23 and the ground line 22c of the connector 20B at both ends, and the resistor 30 and the switch 31 are removed. ing.

The jacks 20C of the VTRs 11 and 12 are
This is also the contact 25 corresponding to the connector 20B as described above.
a to 25b are provided. The signal lines 35a and 35b of the contact 25a and the contact 25b are connected to the CPU 36.
(Not shown in FIG. 5).

The contact 25c corresponding to the ground line 22c is grounded, and the signal line 35d connected to the contact 25d corresponding to the monitoring line 23 is connected to the level comparator 50. In addition, the reference voltage Vcc, which is 5 in this example, is applied to the signal line 35d via the diode 51 and the resistor R.
A power supply voltage of V (volt) is applied. As a result, the signal line 35d is changed depending on the connection state of the connection device 20.
A voltage Vh is generated at

The level comparator 50 includes a variable resistor R
1 and R2 are connected, and the judgment levels V1 to V3 as shown in FIG. 5 can be adjusted by changing the resistance value. By comparing the judgment levels V1 to V3 with the voltage Vh generated on the signal line 35,
It is determined whether the connection state between the connection device 20 and the VTR 11 and the VTR 12 is normal, detached from the own device side or detached from the other side,
The determination signals OK, NG1 and NG2 are output.

In this example, the determination levels V1, V2 and V3 are V1 = 5V ± α, V2 = 5 / 2V ± α and V3 =, respectively.
It is set to 5 / 3V ± α. The determination level V1
~ V3 is set in a certain range (± α) is the reference voltage V
This is because the influence of fluctuations in cc and variations in the resistor R is taken into consideration.

Now, in the VTR 11 and VTR 12 connected by such a connection device 20, the VTR 11 and VT
When R12 is correctly connected by the connecting device 20, the connected state is as shown in FIG. As can be seen from the figure, in this case, the voltage Vh generated on the signal line 35d in both VTRs 11 and 12 is Vh = 5 / 2V.

Since this voltage Vh is within the range of the judgment level V2 (FIG. 5) in the level comparator 50, an OK judgment signal is output. With this determination signal, for example, the blue LED 52A is turned on. This allows both VTRs 11 and 12 to easily know that the connection state is normal.

Further, for example, on the VTR 11 side, the connector 20B on the own machine side is connected and the other side, that is, V
When the connector 20B on the TR12 side is disconnected, the connection state shown in FIG. In this case, the voltage Vh generated on the signal line 35d is Vh = 5 / 3V. Since this is within the range of the judgment level V3,
The signal of NG2 is output from the level comparator 50. With this, for example, the yellow LED 52B is turned on, and it can be easily recognized that the mating connector 20B is disconnected.

On the other hand, the connection device 20, the VTR 11 and the VT
Even if R12 is normally connected, if the other party's power is off and Vcc = 0 V, VTR11 and VTR
The voltage Vh of TR12 is Vh = 5 / 3V. Therefore, also in this case, the level comparator outputs the signal NG2.

In this example, since the diode 51 is provided below the reference voltage Vcc, it is possible to prevent the current from flowing backward from the reference voltage Vcc of the other side even when either of the reference voltages Vcc is 0V. become. As a result, the voltage balance is prevented from being lost, and the voltage Vh has an accurate value, so that the determination can be performed accurately.

Now, the other side, here the connector 20B on the VTR 12 side is connected, and it is on the self side, that is, VTR1.
The connection state when the connector 20B on the first side is disconnected is as shown in FIG. 6 (C). In this case, the signal line 35
The voltage Vh of d becomes Vh = 5V, which is the judgment level V1.
The signal of NG1 is output from the level comparator 50 because it is within the range. With this, for example, a red LED
52C is turned on, and it becomes possible to easily recognize that the connector 20B on the own device side is disconnected.

In the above embodiment, both connectors 2 are used.
In 0B, the resistors R are provided between the monitoring line 23 and the ground line 22c, respectively. However, as shown in FIG. 7, only one of them may be provided with a resistor R ′ having a resistance value of 1 / 2R. .

[0051]

As described above, in the connection device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the monitoring line for monitoring the mounted state of the connector is provided, and when the connector is not mounted, the monitoring line indicates the unmounted state. It is configured to output a signal. The electronic device side according to the second aspect of the present invention is also configured to display a warning that the connector is disconnected by a simple interrupt process.

According to this, the unmounted state of the connector can be constantly monitored with an extremely simple structure, and the electronic device side warns the connector disconnection without using special dedicated software as in the past. It has a displayable feature. Therefore, the first invention and the second invention are extremely suitable to be applied to an AV system or the like that needs to control a plurality of electronic devices with each other as described above.

Further, in the electronic device according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to distinguish between the case where the connection state is normal, the case where the other party is disconnected, and the case where the own machine side is disconnected.

Therefore, according to the third aspect of the invention, even if several electronic devices are connected and used, for example, even if inconvenience occurs in the connection state, it is immediately possible to determine which electronic device the connection device is disconnected from. There is an effect that it is possible to judge and take appropriate measures.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a main part of an AV system showing a specific example of a connection device with a mounting state monitoring function and electronic devices using the connection device according to the first and second inventions.

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram for explaining a monitoring operation.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a specific example of a connector.

FIG. 4 is an AV showing a specific example of an electronic device according to a third invention.
It is a systematic diagram of the main part of a system.

5 is a diagram illustrating a determination method of a level comparator 50. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a connection state of a connector 20B and a voltage Vh.

FIG. 7 is a system diagram showing another embodiment of the connection device 20 in the third invention.

FIG. 8 is a system diagram of an AV system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 connection device 11, 12 VTR 13 monitor 20A connection line 20B connector 20C jack 31 switch (monitoring signal output means) 36 CPU (control circuit) 37 LED (warning means) 40 interrupt signal generation circuit 50 level comparator 51 diode R, R ' Resistor

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A monitoring line for monitoring a mounting state of a connector is provided in addition to a plurality of signal lines, and the monitoring side indicates a non-mounting state on the monitoring line when the connector is not mounted. A connection device with a wearing condition monitoring function, characterized in that a monitoring signal output means for outputting a signal is provided. 2. The connection device with a mounting state monitoring function according to claim 1, wherein the signal line includes a ground line. 3. The connection device with a mounting state monitoring function according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring signal output means is composed of a switch interlocking with mounting of the connector. 4. The connection device with a mounting state monitoring function according to claim 1, wherein the switch is provided between the monitoring line and the ground line. 5. An electronic device equipped with a connection device with a mounting state monitoring function, which has a signal line and a monitoring line, wherein a monitoring signal flowing through the monitoring line is input to a control circuit provided on the main body side of the electronic device. An electronic device characterized in that when the warning means is activated. 6. A CPU is used as the control circuit,
The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the monitor signal is used as an interrupt signal. 7. An electronic device, which has a signal line, a monitoring line, and a ground line, and is connected by a connection device with a mounting state monitoring function, the first resistor being provided between the monitoring line and the ground line. Yes, the first to connect the above monitoring line
A voltage detecting means is connected to the connecting terminal, a reference voltage is applied between the first connecting terminal and the voltage detecting means via a second resistor, and a second connecting terminal connecting the ground line is grounded. The electronic device is characterized in that the connection state of the connection device is judged based on the voltage detected by the voltage detection means.