JPH0731305Y2 - Protection management device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a protection management device used in electronic devices such as handheld computers, word processors, and personal computers. More specifically, a medium such as a memory card is inserted. The present invention relates to a protection management device that prevents the contents of a medium from being destroyed or the operation of a device from running out of control when being taken out or taken out.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in an electronic device using a memory card, if the memory card is inserted into or removed from the electronic device while the electronic device is operating, the contents of the memory card may be destroyed or the operation of the electronic device may run out of control. There is. Therefore, in the past, the operator had to turn off the power when inserting or removing the memory card. Further, in order to prevent the operator from accidentally inserting / removing the memory card when the power is on, the sixth conventional protection management device is incorporated.
An electronic device as shown in the figure is known.

In the protection management device used for the electronic device shown in FIG. 6, an operator who is operating the device covers the insertion slot of the memory card.
If you open 51 and try to remove the memory card 50, for example,
The operator is warned by displaying on the liquid crystal display device 52 that a content of the memory card 50 will be destroyed if an interrupt is issued to the processor in this state and the content is destroyed, and a buzzer sound is emitted. This warning tells the operator that the power must be turned off,
The memory card 50 was removed after turning off the power.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional protection management device, in order to ensure the safety of the contents of the memory card and the like, the operator must turn off the power each time the memory card is attached or detached, which has been done so far. The processing operation of the processor was stopped, and after removing the memory card, the power had to be turned on again and restarted from the beginning, so there was a problem that operability was extremely poor.
Furthermore, the operator must always be aware that the power is off when removing the memory card,
There is also a risk that the warning message may be overlooked and the memory card may be removed during operation of the device to destroy its contents or cause the device to run out of control.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can securely prevent the contents of the medium from being destroyed and the operation of the device from running away without turning off the power when inserting or removing the electronic device such as a memory card. It is intended to provide a protection management device having excellent operability.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, in the protection management device of the present invention, the first detection means for detecting the start of the insertion / extraction operation of the medium into the electronic device and the completion of the insertion / extraction operation of the medium into the electronic device are completed. And a second detecting means for detecting an interrupt signal, and an interrupt means for generating an interrupt signal. The interrupt means, when the first detecting means detects the start of the operation, causes the processor of the electronic device to change from the operating state. When an interrupt signal for generating a suspended state is generated, and when the second detecting means detects the completion of the operation, an interrupt for canceling the suspended state of the processor of the electronic device and returning to the operating state. It is characterized by generating a signal.

[Action]

In the protection management device configured as described above, when inserting or removing a medium such as a memory card into or from an electronic device, the detecting means detects the inserting or removing operation, and the interrupt means based on the detection signal. An interrupt signal is generated, and the state of the control main body is switched from the operating state to, for example, the suspended state by this interrupt signal. If the medium is actually inserted or removed after this state, the operation of the control unit is temporarily stopped even if the power is on, so the contents of the medium are destroyed or the operation of the control unit runs out of control. Can be prevented.
If the detecting means also detects the completion operation of the insertion and removal of the medium, and when the insertion and removal are completed, an interrupt signal is generated to cancel the paused state. Can be continued.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a protection management apparatus according to the present invention. This protection management apparatus is a detection means 2 for detecting insertion / removal of a medium 1 such as a memory card, and a detection means 2 The interrupt means 3 for generating an interrupt signal based on the detection signal and the read / write to the medium 1 are controlled, and the interrupt signal from the interrupt means 3 allows the operation state to be suspended or to be operated from the suspended state. And a control body 4 having a function of switching to a state. As will be described later, the detecting means 2 inserts the medium 1 before the medium 1 is actually inserted or removed.
It is designed to detect the extraction operation and also detect the time when the insertion and extraction are completed, and output detection signals respectively.

FIG. 2 is an electronic device incorporating the protection management device of this embodiment,
For example, it is a diagram showing a circuit configuration example of a handheld computer, and a memory card is used as a medium 1.
The memory card 1 is connected to the control main body in the electronic device, that is, the processor 4 and the memory 7 via the memory card insertion portion 5, and is accessed from the processor 4 side by the address bus 8, the data bus 9, and the control line 10. It has become.
The control line 10 is for giving a read / write signal R / W, a chip select signal CS and the like from the processor 4 to the memory card 1. An interrupt signal INT is input from the memory card insertion unit 5 to the processor 4 via the interrupt signal line 11.

3 (a) is a front sectional view of the memory card insertion portion 5, and FIG. 3 (b) is a side sectional view. Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the memory card insertion portion 5 is provided with a connector 20 into which the memory card 1 is attached and detached. connector
20 is attached to a stopper 22 at a lower position via an elastic spring 21 and is movable in the vertical direction, but the moving range is a stopper 22 at a lower position and a stopper 23 at an upper position.
Limited by and. An address bus 8, a data bus 9, and a flexible cable 26 as a control line 10 extend from the connector 20 toward the processor 4 and the memory 7.
The stoppers 22 and 23 are provided with switches 24 and 25 as the detection means 2, respectively, and as described later, the stoppers 24 and 25 are turned on and off.
The F detects the insertion and removal of the memory card 1.

The operation of the protection management device having such a configuration is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of (b). Note that FIG. 4 (a) is a flowchart showing the operation when the memory card is inserted, and FIG. 4 (b) is a flowchart showing the operation when the memory card is removed.

The connector 20 of the memory card insertion portion 5 is normally positioned at the reference position P ₀ as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b).

When inserting the memory card, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the memory card 1 is first inserted into the memory card insertion portion 5 up to the position where it contacts the connector 20 (step S1).

Then, when the memory card 1 is pushed further downward, the spring 21 contracts and the connector 20 is pushed down from the reference position P ₀ toward the stopper 22 (step S2). At this time connector 20
First contacts the switch 24 and turns on the switch 24 (step S3). As a result, an interrupt signal INT is output from the memory card insertion unit 5, the processor 4 is notified of the occurrence of an interrupt via the interrupt signal line 11 (step S4), and the processor 4 suspends its operation, so-called standby. The mode is set (step S5). At this time, the memory card 1 is not yet connected to the address bus 8, the data bus 9, and the control line 10.

When the memory card 1 is further pushed down and the connector 20 is pushed down, the connector 20 stops at the position of the stopper 22, and the memory card 1 is pushed downward to connect the memory card 1 to the connector.
The memory card 1 can be connected to the address bus 8, the data bus 9, and the control line 10 by firmly fitting the memory card 1 in 20 (step S6). After the connection is completed, the connector 20 is pushed back to the reference position P ₀ by the bias of the spring 21, and the switch 24 is turned off (step S7). As a result, the memory card insertion unit 5 outputs the interrupt signal INT again to notify the processor 4 of the occurrence of the interrupt (step S8), and the processor 4 cancels the standby mode and resumes the original processing. Yes (step S9). In this way, the processor 4 can be put into the suspended state before the memory card 1 is actually inserted and connected, and the suspended state can be released when the insertion is completed.

When removing the memory card, pull the memory card 1 upward as shown in FIG. 4 (b) (step S1.
Along with this, the connector 20 is also pulled upward, moves toward the stopper 23, contacts the switch 25, and turns on the switch 25 (step S11). In this state, memory card 1 is still address bus 8, data bus 9, control line
Connected with 10. When switch 25 turns on, an interrupt signal
When INT occurs, the processor 4 is notified of the occurrence of the interrupt (step S12), and the processor 4 enters the standby mode (step S13). When the memory card 1 is pulled further and the connector 20 is moved upward, the connector 20 stops.
Abut on 23. At this time, the connector 20 stops at the position of the stopper 23, so that the memory card 1 can be removed by further pulling the memory card 1 (step
S14). When the extraction is completed, the connector 20 is returned to the reference position P ₀ by the spring 21, and the switch 25 is turned off (step S15). As a result, the interrupt signal INT is notified again to the processor 4 (step S16), and the processor 4 can cancel the standby mode and continue the original processing again (step S17). In this way, the processor 4 can be suspended before the memory card 1 is actually removed, and the suspended state can be released when the removal is completed.

5 (a) to 5 (d) show the processor 4 from the time t ₀ when the switch 24 or 25 is turned on to the time t ₁ when the switch 24 or 25 is turned off when the memory card 1 is inserted or removed. 7 is a time chart for explaining the standby mode, in which the processor 4 suspends its operation when an interrupt occurs at time t ₀ , and the address signal ADDR on the address bus 8, the data signal DT on the data bus 9, and the control line The levels of the read / write signal R / W and the chip select signal CS on 10 are fixed and do not change until time t ₁ .

As a result, even if the memory card 1 is inserted or removed while the power is on, the processor 4 is in a suspended state and does not affect the bus or the like, and the contents of the memory card 1 are destroyed. It is possible to reliably prevent the processor 4 from running away. When the processor 4 is in the standby mode, the DMA (direct memory access) control and the refresh operation of the memory 7 cannot be performed. Therefore, it is necessary to configure the system of the entire electronic device in consideration of this. Memory 7
Need to be configured with static RAM that does not require refresh operation.

In the above-described embodiments, the memory card is described as an example of the medium, but the present invention can be applied to not only a memory card but also an electronic device using a removable medium.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the medium is inserted or removed, the state of the control main body is switched to, for example, the suspended state.
It is possible to surely prevent the contents of the medium from being destroyed and the operation of the electronic device from running away without setting to F.
In addition, since it is not necessary to restart the control main body when the medium insertion and removal are completed, the control main body can continue the original processing, so that the operability can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a protection management device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration example of an electronic device incorporating the protection management device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 (a). , (B) are a front sectional view, a side sectional view, and a fourth sectional view of the memory card insertion portion, respectively.
FIG. 4A is a flow chart showing the operation when the memory card is inserted, FIG. 4B is a flow chart showing the operation when the memory card is removed, and FIGS. 5A to 5D are the address signal ADDR and the data signal, respectively. DT, read / write signal R /
W, a time chart for explaining that the level of the chip select signal CS is fixed in the standby mode, and FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electronic device incorporating a conventional protection management device. 1 ... Medium, 2 ... Detection means, 3 ... Interruption means, 4 ...
Control unit, 5 ... Memory card insertion part, 7 ... Memory,
8 ... Address bus, 9 ... Data bus, 10 ... Control line, 11 ... Interrupt signal line, 20 ... Connector, 21 ... Spring,
22,23 …… Stopper, 24,25 …… Switch

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A first detection means for detecting the start of a medium insertion / removal operation into an electronic device, and a second detection means for detecting the completion of a medium insertion / removal operation in an electronic device. Interrupt means for generating an interrupt signal, the interrupt means, when the first detection means detects the start of operation, an interrupt signal for changing the processor of the electronic device from the operating state to the suspended state. When the second detecting means detects the completion of the operation, an interrupt signal for canceling the temporary stop state of the processor of the electronic device and returning it to the operating state is generated. apparatus.