KR20170007577A - Case for user device capable of mounting detachable sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a case for a user device. A sensor unit is installed on a housing as a smartphone. The smartphone is revealed to transmit and receive data about sensing data of the sensor unit through a connector interface of the smartphone.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a case for a user device capable of mounting a detachable sensor,

The present invention relates to a housing for a user equipment, and more particularly, to a housing having a circuit capable of mounting a detachable sensor and transmitting information collected by the sensor to the user equipment.

Many types of user applications (hereinafter simply referred to as "apps") are provided using user devices such as smart phones. And smartphones usually have gyro sensors, image sensors, and so on, but they do not have many different kinds of sensors. Therefore, there are restrictions on providing apps using various sensors.

In the present invention, it is desired to provide an apparatus capable of using various sensors as an application executed in a user equipment.

The smartphone may be provided with a sensor unit in a housing and transmit and receive data about sensing data of the sensor unit through a connector interface of the smartphone.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an apparatus capable of using various sensors as an application executed in a user equipment.

1 is a front view, a left side view, and a bottom view of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 2 and 3 show a side view of a housing according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 shows a block diagram of a processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 shows an example of a specific configuration of the sensor 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 shows an example of prototyping using an Arduino board and a sensor module.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a sensor module according to an embodiment of the present invention for solving the problem according to the prior art of FIG.
9A to 9G are a perspective view, a front view, a rear view, a left side view, a right side view, a plan view, and a bottom view, respectively, illustrating an overall configuration of a sensor connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a front view, a left side view, and a bottom view of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numerals 100F, 100B and 100SL denote front views, a bottom view, and a right side view of the user equipment 1, respectively. The user device 1 includes a power supply unit (EX: BATTERY) 160, a memory 140, a processing unit 120, an inter-device interface 110, a user interface (EX: ), And the like. For example, a smart phone may be considered as an example of the user device 1. [ The user device 1 may include the housing 10 or may be integral with the housing 10.

The bottom surface of the user device 1 may be provided with a connector interface 105 for external device connection. The connector interface 105 may include a reference potential terminal, an operation power terminal, and a data terminal.

Reference numeral 10SR denotes a right side view of the housing 10 that can constitute the user equipment 1 or can be additionally mounted to the user equipment 1 and 10B denotes a bottom view of the housing 10. [ The housing 10 may constitute the rear surface of the user equipment 1. [

A portion (EX: bottom surface) of the housing 10 may be provided with a connector that can be coupled to the connector interface 105.

2 is a side view of a housing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numerals 10F, 10R, 10SR, 10SL, 10T, and 10B respectively denote a front view, a rear view, a right view, a left view, a plan view, and a bottom view of the housing 10, respectively.

The housing 10 may be provided with a sensor unit 11 and a connector 15.

The connector 15 may have a shape adapted to be connected to the connector interface 105. For example, if the connector interface 105 has a 5-pin, 10-pin, or 11-pin terminal, the connector 15 has a 5-pin, 10-pin, or 11- .

The connector 15 shown in Fig. 2 may further have, for example, the above-described 5-pin, 10-pin or 11-pin terminals as well as an extension line 151 connected to these terminals. An example of this is shown in FIG.

The connector 15 may be connected to the sensor unit 11.

The sensor unit 11 may include a sensor 12 and a processing unit 13 for processing data acquired from the sensor. In this case, the connector 15 can be connected to the output terminal of the machining portion 13.

Or the sensor part 11 may not include the processed part 13 at this time the connector 15 may be connected to the output terminal of the sensor 12. [

The power required for the operation of the sensor unit 15 can be transmitted through the [power source unit of the user device 1] - [connector interface 105] - [connector 15]. That is, through the reference potential terminal and the operation power terminal of the connector interface 105 described above.

The data exchange between the sensor unit 15 and the processing device of the user equipment 1 can be performed via the data terminal of the connector interface 105. [

When there is a restriction on the format (bandwidth, voltage, etc.) of the data signal exchanged through the data terminal, the processing section 13 is configured to transmit and receive information in accordance with the format. That is, when the signal output from the sensor 12 does not match the format, the processing unit 13 can process the signal output from the sensor 12 according to the format. If the signal output from the sensor 12 matches the format, the processing unit 13 may not be needed.

The front face 10F of the housing 10 may face the inside of the user equipment 1 or face outward. Depending on the type of sensor 12, the sensor may be exposed, for example, in the atmosphere. In this case, the sensor 12 must be exposed to the atmosphere. Therefore, in this case, the sensor 12 may be directed to the outside of the user equipment 1.

4 shows a block diagram of a processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The power supply unit 160 may supply power to the devices included in the user device 1 and the housing 10. [ The power supply unit 160 may include, for example, a battery.

The processing unit 120 may include a CPU capable of processing various operations and algorithms. The processing unit 120 can exchange information with the memory 140 and the processing apparatus 120. [ The processing unit 120 may input and output user information through the user interface 130. [ The processing unit 120 may exchange information with the sensor unit 11 through the inter-device interface 110 and the connector interface 105. [

5 shows an example of a specific configuration of the sensor 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The sensor 12 may be an apparatus that is fixed by soldering to the surface of the housing.

Or the sensor 12 may be constituted by a sensor interface part 122 fixed to the surface of the housing by soldering or the like and a sensor module 121 inserted and coupled to the sensor interface part 122, .

The sensor module 121 can be replaced with another sensor module.

The processing unit 120 can automatically find out what kind of sensor the replaced sensor module is. For this, the sensor module 121 may store information about the sensor type, and the information may be acquired by the processing device 120. [ The process for acquiring may be started automatically by detecting the plug-in event of the sensor module 121, or may be started by periodic polling of the processing device 120. [

6 to 15G show concrete embodiments of the sensor module 121 and the sensor interface 122 described above. However, the embodiment can be modified.

In the present specification, the reference numerals shown in Figs. 1 to 5 are shown independently of the reference numerals shown in Figs. 6 to 15G. That is, if any of the reference numerals shown in Figs. 6 to 15G overlap with the reference numerals shown in Figs. 1 to 5, the redundancy is to be corrected.

The sensor module 121 and the sensor interface 122 may correspond to a 'micro SD card shaped sensor module' and a 'micro SD card connector', respectively, which will be described later.

Figure 6 is an exemplary diagram for explaining the limitations of the prior art.

6 shows an example of prototyping using an Arduino board and a sensor module. According to the configuration of FIG. 6, since there is no uniform interface for the sensor module, a breadboard and a wire are required for prototyping. Therefore, expert knowledge of sensor modules and arduino is required to construct the circuit properly. As the number of sensor modules to be used increases, the number of wires increases. Therefore, the circuit configuration becomes complicated, sensor replacement becomes cumbersome, and the sensor becomes bulky due to the breadboard and wire.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a sensor module according to an embodiment of the present invention for solving the problem according to the prior art of FIG.

The concept of two inventions is included in Fig.

The invention of the first concept relates to a micro SD card shaped sensor. In this invention, the interface of the micro-card widely used is used as the unified interface of the sensor. According to this, the user can easily attach and detach the sensor as if the ordinary micro SD card is detached.

The invention of the second concept relates to a 'host device' board which is provided with a 'micro SD card connector' and is compatible with an arduino.

8 shows an example in which four micro SD card shape sensors proposed in the present invention are connected to Arduino through a host device board (host device). According to Fig. 8, the connection is easy because no wire is required. Moreover, even if several sensors are connected, the circuit is not complicated and it is convenient to change the sensor. As a result, no professional knowledge is required to connect the wires.

9A to 9G are a perspective view, a front view, a rear view, a left side view, a right side view, a plan view showing a general shape of a 'sensor connector' serving as a substrate of a micro SD card shaped sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively. , And a bottom view. The sensor connector may include a synthetic resin and a metal. The dotted line portion shown in the drawings is for illustrative purposes, and the specific shape and the relative size may vary depending on the embodiment. In the sensor connector shown in the figure, various sensor elements can be mounted on one of two wide surfaces of a portion indicated by a dotted line, and conductive pads serving as a path of an electric signal input / Section. The illustrated sensor connector may be substantially provided using a PCB. The eight rectangular portions shown in the solid line portion are an interface for providing electrical contact with an external device that is separately provided from the PCB and should be electrically connected to the PCB. The eight rectangular portions may be exposed surfaces made of conductors. In the case where all of the eight rectangular portions are not required, for example, the conductive metal may be disposed in only four portions and the conductive metal may not be disposed in the remaining four regions.

FIG. 10 shows a configuration of a micro SD card shaped sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention that can be provided using the sensor connector.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a provided micro SD card-shaped sensor includes a digital sensor unit for sensing information of an acceleration sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, and the like and outputting information as a digital signal; A power supply unit for stably supplying voltage and current to the digital sensor unit; A voltage conversion unit for converting a range of the output signal of the digital sensor unit into an input signal range of a host device to which the sensor is to be attached, for example, a smartphone; And an interface unit connected to the micro SD slot.

The digital sensor unit of the present invention is a sensor module capable of outputting sensed information as a digital signal, and a typical example thereof is MMA8652 manufactured by Freescale. The MMA8652 senses the three-axis acceleration, processes the sensed information into digital packets, and then outputs the packets to the I2C bus format. Therefore, a host device that intends to use such a digital sensor can communicate with the sensor without an additional circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) if an I2C interface is present. The digital sensor unit of the present invention does not limit the type or range of information sensed by the sensor. The digital sensor unit of the present invention may be a sensor module having a digital interface such as I2C, SPI, RS232, RS485, or the like.

The power supply unit of the present invention regulates the power supplied from the host device through the interface unit and converts the regulated power to match the input voltage of the digital sensor unit. A representative example of the module is the MCP1702 manufactured by Microchip.

The voltage converting unit of the present invention converts the output voltage level of the digital sensor unit into the voltage level of the host device, and can be implemented as shown in FIG. 11 below.

11 shows an embodiment of a host apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

11, a host device to which a micro SD card shaped sensor is connected according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a sensor interface unit including at least one micro SD card slot; A controller interface unit capable of connecting one controller, for example, a smartphone or Arduino; A data bus unit for connecting SDA and SCL in the case of I2C, for example, in order to enable the sensors connected to the sensor interface unit and the controller connected to the controller interface to communicate with each other; And a power supply bus unit for supplying power to the center interface unit via the controller interface unit.

The host device may be provided with one or more micro SD card slots capable of connecting the micro SD card shaped sensor of Fig. The signals of each pin (usually eight pins) of the micro SD card slot are predetermined. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 11, pin 7 of each micro SD card slot corresponds to SDA of I2C and pin 8 corresponds to SCL of I2C. Therefore, pin 7 of micro SD card slot can communicate with pin 7, pin 8 of pin 8 can communicate with each other using I2C protocol. The signals assigned to each pin of the micro SD card slot are compatible with the pins of the micro SD card shaped sensor.

Similarly, in the example shown in FIG. 11, the fourth pin of the micro SD card slot is allocated to the power source (VCC) and the sixth pin is allocated to the ground (GND), and the pins are connected to each other to supply power to the sensor.

The controller interface unit may be implemented differently depending on the type of controller to which the host device is connected. For example, if you want to connect this host device to Arduino, the controller interface is designed to be compatible with Arduino's connector structure.

That is, in the case of the host controller shown in FIG. 11, it may be composed of one or more micro SD card slots and one connector (a connector compatible with the controller).

The controller interface unit is configured such that sensors connected to the sensor interface unit and a controller connected to the controller interface unit can perform digital communication such as I2C. That is, when Arduino is used as the controller, the controller interface unit may suitably connect the SCL and SDA pins of the Arduino to the data bus unit.

Similarly, the controller interface unit may suitably connect a power source of a controller such as Arduino to the power source bus unit.

Examples of the host device of the type shown in Fig. 11 are as follows.

(1) Arduino shield consisting only of connectors (http://www.robotshop.com/media/files/images/sfe-screwshield-arduino-compatible-shield-a.jpg): In this example, you can connect to the Arduino Connectors, and micro SD card slots at the top, connecting the sensors proposed by the present invention.

(2) Beagle Bone Black shield consisting of only connectors: http://www.dronetrest.com/uploads/db5290/293/c91c4f12336d239c.JPG): In this example, the bottom has a connector to connect to Beagle Bone Black, Are equipped with micro SD card slots, so that the sensors proposed by the present invention can be connected.

12 shows an embodiment of a host apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In addition to the function of the host apparatus shown in Fig. 6, this host apparatus is a host apparatus in which a controller and a power supply section are directly incorporated instead of the controller interface section, and the host apparatus stably supplies power to the sensors connected to the controller section and the sensor interface section And a controller that communicates with the sensors connected to the sensor interface unit to collect and process information.

13 shows an example of the structure of a voltage converting unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 13, a voltage converter can be implemented using two transistors (BSS138) and four resistors. SDA_1.8 and SCL_1.8 are I2C signals connected to the sensor, for example, 0V represents logic 0 and 1.8V represents logic 1. SDA_HIGH and SCL_HIGH are I2C signals connected to the host device. For example, 0V indicates logic 0 and 3.3V indicates logic 1.

14 shows an interface in the form of being connectable to a micro SD card slot. The interface includes at least one ground (GND) pin, at least one power supply (VCC) pin, and at least one pin for the digital communication, such as I2C SDA and SCL, and may be an interface with a pin arrangement compatible with the pin arrangement of the micro SD card slot.

9A to 9G may be referred to as a " sensor connector " or may be referred to as a sensing sensor.

9A to 9G may be modified as shown in Figs. 15A to 15G.

Claims (4)

As a smartphone,
The sensor unit is mounted on the housing,
And a controller for transmitting and receiving data on the sensing data of the sensor unit through the connector interface of the smartphone,
Smartphone. The housing of claim 1, wherein the housing is included in the smartphone. The smartphone according to claim 1, wherein the sensor unit comprises a replaceable sensor module and a sensor interface unit to which the sensor module is mounted and fixedly coupled to the housing. The housing as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sensor unit comprises a replaceable sensor module and a sensor interface unit to which the sensor module is mounted and fixedly coupled to the housing.

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