JPWO2010061475A1 - Electronics - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic device is provided that does not require an additional part for detecting the extraction of an external element and suppresses an increase in cost. In an electronic device in which a front panel 2a is provided with an insertion port through which an electrostatic switch 3 and a memory card 5 can be inserted and removed, a user's connection to each of a plurality of electrostatic switches 3 output by an electrostatic switch controller is provided. If the operation information that the operation is performed by detecting the approach or contact of a finger or the like is the simultaneous operation information that is simultaneously output from the plurality of electrostatic switches 3a and 3b that are located at the positions sandwiching the insertion slot 4, the main microcomputer 10 Is detected, the main microcomputer determines that the memory card 5 inserted into the insertion slot 4 is about to be removed based on the simultaneous operation information and performs individual functions added to the plurality of operation means. Control that is not executed. [Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus including an insertion unit that can insert and remove an external element such as a memory card, and an operation unit to which individual functions are added.

  In recent years, an external element such as a memory card is increasingly used to read or write various data in an electronic device. An insertion means such as an insertion slot for mounting this type of memory card or the like is provided on the front panel of the device.

  If an external device such as a memory card is removed during operation, data may be lost or the internal storage device or other functions may be deteriorated. To prevent inadvertent removal by the user, use a memory card. In many cases, there is provided a detection means that utilizes opening / closing of a lid, a lever, or the like that covers the insertion opening (for example, Patent Document 1).

Another possible method is to provide a dedicated sensor in the vicinity of the insertion port, etc., detect the approach of a hand or the like, determine that an external element has been removed, and alert the user or the like.
JP-A-10-285526

  However, the method described in Patent Document 1 and the method of providing a dedicated sensor in the vicinity of the insertion slot or the like have a problem in that a part dedicated to the extraction operation is required, resulting in an increase in cost.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that does not require an additional component for detecting the extraction of an external element and that suppresses cost increase.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the electronic device according to claim 1 is configured such that the function added to the operation unit is executed by individually operating a plurality of operation units to which individual functions are added in advance. In the electronic device, a controller that outputs operation information indicating that the user has operated by detecting the approach or contact of a user's fingers to each of the plurality of operation means, an external element can be inserted and removed, and It is detected that the insertion means provided at a position sandwiched between a plurality of operation means and the operation information is simultaneous operation information simultaneously output from a plurality of operation means located at a position sandwiching the insertion means. Based on the operation information, it is determined that the external element inserted in the insertion unit is about to be removed, and individual functions added to the plurality of operation units are not executed. Is characterized by comprising a control means for control, a.

It is an external appearance perspective view of the electronic device concerning one Example of this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the block configuration of the electronic device concerning one Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing at the time of extracting a memory card. 3 is a flowchart showing an alarm operation when a memory card is removed from the electronic device shown in FIG. 2. It is explanatory drawing which showed the other example of arrangement | positioning of an electrostatic switch. It is explanatory drawing at the time of providing a guide member in the both ends of an insertion port. It is explanatory drawing at the time of providing a guide member in the both ends of an insertion port.

Explanation of symbols

1 Electronic equipment 3a Electrostatic switch (operating means)
3b Electrostatic switch (operating means)
4 insertion slot (insertion means)
4a Guide member (guide part)
5 Memory card (external element)
6 Speaker (alarm means)
7 Display device (alarm means)
8 Electrostatic switch controller (controller)
10 Main microcomputer (control means)

  Hereinafter, an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the operation information indicating that the electronic device is operated by detecting the approach or contact of the user's finger or the like to each of the plurality of operation means output by the controller is positioned between the insertion means. When the control means detects that the simultaneous operation information is simultaneously output from a plurality of operation means located in the control means, the control means will extract the external element inserted in the insertion means based on the simultaneous operation information In addition, control that does not execute individual functions added to a plurality of operation means is performed. For this purpose, the operation means operates the individually added functions when operated alone, and when the plurality provided with the insertion means are operated simultaneously, the control means operates the external element. Since it is possible to detect as an extraction operation and not to execute the individual function added to each operation means, it is possible to detect the extraction of an external element without adding a part, thereby suppressing an increase in cost. . Further, when the removal of the external element is detected, it is possible to take measures such as stopping the operation of the external element.

  Further, the control means may determine whether or not the external element can be extracted, and if it is determined that the external element cannot be extracted, the control means may alert the alarm means that the external element is prohibited to be extracted. By doing in this way, it can be alarmed and prevented that an external element is extracted during access to an external element.

  Further, the operation means may be an electrostatic switch that detects a change in capacitance. By doing so, since it can be operated without being physically pressed like a tact switch, it is possible to achieve both a normal operation switch function and a function as an external element extraction detection sensor.

  The insertion means may have an opening formed in a rectangular shape, and a plurality of operation means may be provided so as to sandwich the insertion means from a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the insertion means. In this way, when an external element such as a memory card is picked up with a finger, the hand can be positioned in the vicinity of the operating means, and the removal of the external element can be easily detected.

  Moreover, you may provide the guide part which guides at the time of insertion / extraction of an external element in the both ends of the longitudinal direction of the opening part of an insertion means. By doing so, the attachment and removal are performed along the guide portion when the external element is attached or removed, so that the hand can be easily guided to the vicinity of the operation means, and the removal of the external element is detected. Can be made easier.

  An electronic apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electronic device 1 includes a housing 2, an electrostatic switch 3, an insertion slot 4, a memory card 5, a speaker 6, and a display device 7.

  The housing 2 is formed in a substantially box shape. An electrostatic switch 3, an insertion slot 4, a memory card 5, a speaker 6, and a display device 7 are provided on a front surface 2 a that is one surface of the housing 2.

  A plurality of electrostatic switches 3 as operating means are provided on the front surface 2 a of the housing 2 and are connected to the electrostatic switch controller 8. In the case of the present embodiment, three electrostatic switches 3a, 3b, and 3c are provided, and individual functions for operating the electronic device 1 are added. When the electrostatic switches 3a, 3b, 3c are provided with electrodes inside the front surface 2a (inside the housing 2) and touch a position corresponding to the electrodes with a finger or approach within a predetermined distance range, It is a well-known switch element that functions as a switch by changing the capacitance as a physical quantity.

  The insertion port 4 as an insertion means has an opening formed in a rectangular shape and is disposed on the front surface 2a so as to be sandwiched between the electrostatic switches 3a and 3b from a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the opening. The insertion slot 4 is deep enough to expose the rear end of the memory card 5 when a memory card 5 to be described later is loaded and the memory card 5 is loaded. That is, the memory card 5 can be inserted and removed. The insertion port 4 is connected to the interface 9 to input / output data read from the memory card 5 and data to be written.

  A memory card 5 as an external element is a recording medium formed in a card shape and having a nonvolatile semiconductor memory therein, and the electronic device 1 reads or writes various data.

  The speaker 6 is connected to the main microcomputer 10, and when the main microcomputer 10 determines that an alarm indicating that the removal of the memory card 5 is prohibited is necessary, the speaker 6 issues a buzzer sound or the like to alarm the user.

  The display device 7 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display and is connected to the main microcomputer 10. The display device 7 displays an alarm message when it is determined by the main microcomputer 10 that an alarm indicating that the removal of the memory card 5 is prohibited is necessary. Alternatively, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) or the like may be used, and the LED may be blinked or lit instead of the alarm message.

  The electrostatic switch controller 8 determines whether or not each of the three electrostatic switches 3a, 3b, and 3c has been operated, that is, whether or not a user's finger or the like has touched (or has approached within a predetermined distance range). Whether or not) and a determination result (operation information) is output to the main microcomputer 10. That is, the operation information is output when the capacitance reaches a predetermined threshold value.

  The interface 9 performs an interface between the memory card 5 attached to the insertion slot 4 and the main microcomputer 10. That is, the data read from the memory card 5 is converted into a format to be processed by the main microcomputer 10 and output, and the data output from the main microcomputer 10 is converted into a format to be written to the memory card 5 and output. Further, a signal indicating the presence / absence of the memory card 5 and the operation state is output to the main microcomputer 10.

  The main microcomputer 10 as a control means is a microcomputer incorporating a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a memory, and the like. The main microcomputer 10 controls the operation of the electronic device 1 and, in the present embodiment, the memory card 5 can be removed. It is determined whether or not. When an access operation such as data input / output to / from the memory card 5 is being performed, it is determined that the data cannot be extracted. In this case, it is detected from the detection result of the electrostatic switch controller 8 that the electrostatic switches 3a and 3b are operated simultaneously. When the result is input, it is determined that the memory card 5 is about to be removed, and the speaker 6 and the display device 7 are instructed to issue an alarm indicating that the removal is prohibited.

  In the present embodiment, when the memory card 5 is inserted into the insertion slot 4, when the user tries to pull it out with fingers as shown in FIG. When the electrostatic switch 3a, 3b detects the approach or contact of the finger at the same time using the approach or contact of the finger to 3a, 3b, it is determined that the memory card 5 is about to be removed, and the speaker 6 And a display device 7 are used to warn that extraction is prohibited. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the alarm operation when the memory card 5 is removed. The flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is executed by the main microcomputer 10.

  First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the electrostatic switch 3 has been actuated, that is, whether or not a finger or the like has approached within a predetermined distance, or has come into contact. If the operation is not performed (NO), the process waits in this step. That is, in this step, it is determined whether or not operation information is input from the electrostatic switch controller 8.

  Next, in step S2, it is determined whether or not only one is activated. If there is one (YES), the process proceeds to step S3. If not (NO), the process proceeds to step S4. That is, it is determined whether or not the operation information is simultaneous operation information output simultaneously from a plurality of electrostatic switches 3a and 3b located at positions where the insertion port 4 is sandwiched.

  Next, in step S3, since the operated electrostatic switch 3 is one, the function added to the operated electrostatic switch 3 is operated, and the process returns to step S1.

  Next, in step S4, the electrostatic switches 3a and 3b do not execute individual functions, and the process proceeds to step S5. In this step, since it is determined that there is not one operation in step S2, it is determined that the operation information input from the electrostatic switch controller 8 is simultaneous operation information, and the memory card 5 is about to be removed. Thus, the function added to each of the electrostatic switches 3 is not executed.

  Next, in step S5, since there are a plurality of operated electrostatic switches 3, it is determined whether or not the memory card 5 can be extracted. If it can be extracted (in the case of YES), the process returns to step S1. If extraction is impossible (NO), the process proceeds to step S6. That is, if there is no problem even if the memory card 5 is removed, such as when the memory card 5 is not accessed, no alarm is issued.

  Next, since it is determined in step S6 that the memory card 5 cannot be removed, an alarm indicating that the removal is prohibited is issued using the speaker 6 or the display device 7.

  According to the present embodiment, the electrostatic switch 3 is provided at a position where the insertion port 4 is sandwiched between the plurality of electrostatic switches 3 to which individual functions are added in advance, and the electrostatic switch 3 detects a change in capacitance, The electrostatic controller 8 outputs to the main microcomputer 10 operation information indicating that the electrostatic controller 8 has been operated when the detected capacitance has reached a predetermined threshold value. Then, the main microcomputer 10 detects that the electrostatic switch 3 is simultaneous operation information simultaneously output from the plurality of electrostatic switches 3a and 3b located at positions where the insertion port 4 is sandwiched, and uses the simultaneous operation information as the simultaneous operation information. Based on this, it is determined that the memory card 5 inserted into the insertion slot 4 is about to be removed, and the individual functions added to the electrostatic switches 3a and 3b are not executed. For this reason, the electrostatic switch 3 operates functions individually added when operated alone, and the main microcomputer 10 operates when a plurality of the switches provided across the insertion port 4 are operated simultaneously. Since it is possible to detect the removal of the memory card 5 and not to execute the individual function added to each electrostatic switch 3, it is possible to detect the removal of the memory card 5 without adding parts. Cost increase can be suppressed.

  Further, the main microcomputer 10 determines whether or not the memory card 5 can be extracted, and when determining that the memory card 5 cannot be extracted, the main microcomputer 10 displays a message indicating that the memory card 5 is prohibited from being extracted and the display. The device 7 may be alerted. By doing so, it is possible to alarm and prevent the memory card 5 from being removed during access to the memory card 5.

  Since an electrostatic switch that detects capacitance fluctuation is used, it can be operated without being physically pressed like a tact switch, and both a normal operation switch function and a function as a sensor for detecting removal of the memory card 5 are compatible. be able to.

  In addition, since the insertion slot 4 is formed in a rectangular shape and the electrostatic switches 3a and 3b are provided so as to sandwich the insertion slot 4 in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, when the memory card 5 is removed, The possibility of holding the finger 5 with the finger increases, and the possibility that the hand touches the electrostatic switch 3a increases.

  In the above-described embodiment, the electrostatic switches 3a and 3b are provided so as to sandwich the insertion port 4 in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the insertion port 4. However, as shown in FIG. You may arrange | position so that it may surround.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a protruding guide member 4 a may be provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the opening of the insertion port 4. In this way, when the memory card 5 is attached or removed, attachment and removal are performed along the guide member 4a, so that the holding method of the memory card 5 can be limited, and the electrostatic switch 3a, Positioning in the vicinity of 3b can be easily guided, and the removal of the memory card 5 can be easily detected. Further, FIG. 6 is merely provided with a protrusion, but if the guide groove 4a1 is provided in the protrusion as shown in FIG. 7, the holding method of the memory card 5 can be more easily limited.

  In the above-described embodiment, the electrostatic switch 3 is used as the operating means. However, for example, an infrared sensor is used as a switch for switching the function by detecting that the hand or the like has normally approached a predetermined range. When a plurality of infrared sensors arranged so as to sandwich the insertion slot 4 react at the same time, they may be used as sensors for detecting removal of the memory card 5. Further, the insertion port 4 may not be sandwiched by the same element such as a combination of an infrared sensor and an electrostatic switch. In short, the operation means arranged at a position sandwiching the insertion slot 4 may be configured by an element that detects a change in a specific physical quantity caused by the user's finger or the like approaching or contacting itself.

  In the above-described embodiment, when the memory card 5 is not removable, an alarm indicating that the extraction is prohibited is issued. However, access to the memory card 5 may be interrupted immediately without issuing an alarm. Good. By doing so, even if the memory card 5 is removed, data is not input / output, so that data corruption and the like can be prevented.

  In the above-described embodiments, the memory card 5 is described as an external element. However, the present invention is not limited to a card-type recording medium such as a memory card, and may be applied to a USB device such as a USB memory or a USB dongle. Of course, the insertion port is a USB terminal. In short, any external element (apparatus) connected to an electronic device through a pluggable interface is applicable.

  According to the embodiment described above, the following electronic device 1 is obtained.

(Supplementary Note 1) In the electronic device 1 in which the function added to the electrostatic switch 3 is executed by individually operating the plurality of electrostatic switches 3 to which the individual functions are added in advance,
An electrostatic switch controller 8 for outputting operation information indicating that the operation has been performed by detecting the approach or contact of a user's finger or the like to each of the plurality of electrostatic switches 3;
An insertion port 4 provided at a position where the memory card 5 can be inserted and removed and is sandwiched between the plurality of electrostatic switches 3a and 3b;
It is detected that the operation information is simultaneous operation information simultaneously output from a plurality of electrostatic switches 3 located at positions sandwiching the insertion slot 4, and a memory card inserted into the insertion slot 4 based on the simultaneous operation information An electronic apparatus 1 comprising: a main microcomputer 10 that determines that 5 is going to be extracted and performs control that does not execute individual functions added to the plurality of electrostatic switches 3.

  According to the electronic apparatus 1, the electrostatic switches 3a and 3b operate individually added functions when operated alone, and a plurality of electrostatic switches 3a and 3b operated simultaneously with the insertion port 4 interposed therebetween. In this case, the main microcomputer 10 can detect the removal operation of the memory card 5 and the individual function added to the electrostatic switch 3 can be prevented from being executed. Since it can be detected as sampling, an increase in cost can be suppressed. Further, when the removal of the memory card 5 is detected, it is possible to take measures such as stopping the operation of the memory card 5.

  In addition, the Example mentioned above only showed the typical form of this invention, and this invention is not limited to an Example. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (5)

In an electronic device in which a function added to the operation means is executed by individually operating a plurality of operation means to which individual functions are added in advance,
A controller that outputs operation information indicating that the operation has been performed by detecting an approach or contact of a user's finger or the like to each of the plurality of operation means;
An insertion means provided at a position between which the external element can be inserted and removed and is sandwiched between the plurality of operation means;
It is detected that the operation information is simultaneous operation information output simultaneously from a plurality of operation means located at a position sandwiching the insertion means, and an external element inserted into the insertion means based on the simultaneous operation information is detected An electronic device comprising: a control unit that determines that it is about to be extracted and performs control that does not execute individual functions added to the plurality of operation units.   The control means determines whether or not the external element can be extracted, and when determining that the external element cannot be extracted, controls the alarm means to prohibit the extraction of the external element. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is performed.   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit is an electrostatic switch that detects a change in capacitance.   The insertion means has an opening formed in a rectangular shape, and the plurality of operation means are provided so as to sandwich the insertion means from a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the insertion means. The electronic device according to any one of 1 to 3.   The electronic apparatus according to claim 4, wherein guide portions are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the opening portion of the insertion means for guiding when the external element is inserted and removed.

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