KR19990040739U - Computer systems - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a computer system for more conveniently connecting and using an expansion device for extending the function of the computer, the computer system is a computer system, comprising: a main body having a housing and having a plurality of electronic circuits in the housing; A plurality of first external ports located at the rear of the main body for interface with peripheral devices, at least one bay located at the rear of the main body, detachable from the bay, and at least one or more additional functions in the main body; And an expansion device having second external ports for interfacing with a predetermined peripheral device.

Description

A COMPUTER SYSTEM

The present invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly to a computer system for more convenient connection and use of the expansion device for extending the functionality of the computer.

Conventional portable computers cannot extend their functionality freely like desktop computers.

As a method of extending the function of the portable computer, there is a method of purchasing and using an external expansion device (for example, a photo replicator, a docking station, etc.). However, the purchase and use of an external expansion device is not practical in many aspects, such as financial and mobile and portable.

Therefore, the use of PCMCIA cards (hereinafter referred to as PC Cards), which can freely expand functions to maximize performance and guarantee mobility and portability, is now increasing. . In order to connect this PC Card to your computer, you will need a dedicated PC Card connector. A typical portable computer has a dedicated PC card connector. However, such a PC card has several problems in use.

First, PC cards are usually only business cards in size. Therefore, in order to accommodate various functions, the technology accordingly requires much development. For example, a large device, such as a TV tuner, cannot be embedded in the card (primarily large for multimedia devices). Thus, such an expansion device consists of a TV tuner, a PC card, a cable, or the like. The TV tuner and the PC card is connected by a cable, the PC card was inconvenient to use plugged into the PC card connector. (The PC card at this time serves only as an interface.)

Second, because PC cards are small in size and width, the components on the card are smaller and more expensive than ordinary components. Therefore, the price of the card itself has a problem that is expensive than the general PC built-in card.

Third, PC cards do not have enough analog / digital audio signals. In other words, the PC card only has audio output signals to the PC for a normal modem, but no input signals to the PC card. Therefore, there is a problem that is limited to the expansion of various multimedia functions, such as a speaker phone of the modem.

The present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, the purpose is that the relatively larger than the existing PC card, the expansion device having a variety of signals can be used directly connected to the computer without using a separate cable and PC card It is to provide a new type of computer system.

1 is a perspective view showing a portable computer and an expansion device connected thereto according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the expansion device shown in FIG. 1 from another angle; FIG.

3 shows a connector of the expansion device shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a portable computer and an expansion device connected thereto according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

10: portable computer 12: main body

14 housing 16 interface unit

18: motherboard 20: bay

40: TV tuner device 42: second connector

44: TV antenna jack 46: Audio input jack

48: video input jack 50: TV output jack

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving this object, a computer system includes a main body having a housing and having a plurality of electronic circuits in the housing; A plurality of first external ports positioned at a rear side of the main body to interface with peripheral devices; At least one bay located at the rear of the main body; And an expansion device detachable from the bay, the expansion device having second external ports for providing at least one or more additional functions to the body and for interfacing with a predetermined peripheral device.

In the present invention, the additional functions have at least one of a TV tuner, an FM tuner, an MPEG II, a LAN, and a 1394 interface (FIRE WIRE).

In this invention the expansion device has a first connector; The first connector consists of a plurality of PCI signal contacts, digital video signal contacts, and analog / digital audio input / output signal contacts.

In the present invention, data transmission between the main body and the expansion device may be supported by both a USB method and an IEEE-1394 method.

Hereinafter, a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. In the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to components that perform the same function.

1 is a perspective view showing a portable computer and a TV tuner device connected thereto according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a perspective view showing the TV tuner device shown in FIG. 1 from another angle. In the present embodiment, the present invention will be described using the TV tuner device 40 as an example. However, it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to this example but includes larger devices than conventional PC cards and includes expansion devices such as FM tuners, MPEG II, LAN, and 1394 interface cards having various signals. As shown in FIG. 1, the TV tuner device is detachable from the body of the portable computer. An expansion slot bay 20 (hereinafter referred to as a 'bay') in which the TV tuner device 40 is accommodated is formed at a rear surface of the housing 14 constituting the main body. The rear of the housing is formed with conventional first external ports 14a for interfacing with peripherals. The bay 20 is provided with a second connector 20a (not shown) for electrical connection with the TV tuner device. This second connector 20a is electrically connected to a plurality of electronic circuits (not shown) in the housing 14. (For example, a plurality of electronic circuits are configured on the motherboard of the main body.) This second connector is electrically connected to the TV tuner device 40. In some cases, the second connector 20a may be installed in the front of the main body housing 14 or in a drive bay in which a CD-ROM or an FDD is mounted.

The TV tuner device 40 has second external ports and a first connector 42, as shown in FIGS. The first connector 42 is electrically connected to the second connector 20a. The TV tuner device 40 is in the form of a conventional expansion device that provides the portable computer 10 with additional functionality for watching TV. The user can directly connect the TV tuner device 40 to the second connector 20a to watch TV through the portable computer 10. One side of the TV tuner device 40 has second external ports for interfacing with predetermined peripherals. The second external ports consist of a conventional TV antenna jack 44, an audio input jack 46, a video input jack 48 and a TV output jack 50 as shown in FIG.

3 is a view showing a connector of the expansion device shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 3, the first connector 42 consists of a plurality of PCI signal contacts 42a, digital video signal contacts 42b, and analog / digital audio input / output signal contacts 42c. For convenience of illustration, although not shown in FIG. 3, the second connector 20a typically consists of contacts corresponding to the contacts 42a, 42b, 42c of the first connector 42. The main body 12 and the TV tuner device 40 may transmit video signals and analog / digital audio input / output signals considering multimedia through the first connector 42 and the second connector 20a. Thus, the user can use a wide range of expansion devices having various multimedia functions.

4 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a portable computer and an expansion device connected thereto according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, signals input from the TV tuner device 40 to the motherboard 18 are provided through an interface unit 16 and input from the motherboard 18 to the TV tuner device 40. The signals to be provided are also provided through the interface unit 16. For example, data transmission between the portable computer 10 and the TV tuner device 40 may be supported by either a USB method or an IEEE-1394 method.

The portable computer 10 is larger in size than a conventional PC card, and has a separate connector for connection with an expansion device having various signals, thereby making it easier to use various expansion devices for multimedia.

These expansion devices do not need to be made as small as conventional PC cards, so they can be manufactured using common components. Therefore, the price can be lower than that of a PC card having the same function.

According to the present invention, the user can directly use the expansion device having a larger signal and a variety of signals than the PC card in the portable computer by directly connecting to the first connector of the portable computer. Therefore, it can be convenient when expanding a portable computer.

Claims (4)

In a computer system, A body having a housing and having a plurality of electronic circuits in the housing; A plurality of first external ports positioned at a rear side of the main body to interface with peripheral devices; At least one bay located at the rear of the main body; An expansion device detachable from the bay and providing a main body with at least one or more additional functions and having a second external port for interfacing with a predetermined peripheral device; And the expansion device can be directly connected to the main body to expand and use additional functions of the main body. The method of claim 1, Said additional functions having at least one of a TV tuner, an FM tuner, an MPEG II, a LAN, and a 1394 interface (FIRE WIRE) function. The method of claim 1, The expansion device having a first connector; And the first connector comprises a plurality of PCI signal contacts, digital video signal contacts, and analog / digital audio input / output signal contacts. The method of claim 1, The data transfer between the main body and the expansion device is a computer system, characterized in that both USB and IEEE-1394 method.