MXPA99001746A - Porta electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable electrical device, adapted to be connected, removably, to an external device, comprising n housing having an access opening. A display device is placed inside the housing, to present the displayed information. An electrical circuit is accommodated within the housing and has a terminal accessible via the access opening in the housing. This electrical circuit determines a display orientation of the display device for information on this display device, based on a state in which the portable electrical device is connected to the external device.

Description

PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates, generally, to a portable electronic device, used as an auxiliary storage device for an information equipment, such as a memory card device, and the invention also relates to a portable device of electronic game, and, more particularly to a portable electronic device that has its display portion. As is known in the art, a portable electronic device or a secondary device, such as a memory card device, can be used as a non-volatile storage element to retain data. The portable electronic device is inserted into an apparatus that supplies information, such as a video game machine, which acts as a master device, and receives its information for storage. The portable electronic device includes an interface for connection to a main body portion of the apparatus supplying information. Figure 34A shows an illustrative block diagram structure of a memory card device, as an example of the portable electronic device. In this Figure 34A, a memory card device 10 has a control circuit 11 for controlling the operation of the memory card device, a connector 12, for connecting the memory card device to a terminal provided in a memory slot. portion of the main body of the apparatus providing information and a non-volatile memory 16 for retaining data. The connector 12 and the non-volatile memory 16 are coupled with the control circuit 11. This control circuit comprises, by way of example, a microcomputer and the non-volatile memory comprises a volatile memory, such as the EEPROM, or the like, in the form of an example. As a connection interface with the information delivery apparatus, an additional microcomputer or the same microcomputer, such as that used for the controller 12, can be used to inspect the data transfer protocol. Figure 34B further shows a plurality of control elements within the controller 11 of the memory card device 10. Here, the controller 11 has a connection interface HA, for connection to the main body portion of the apparatus supplying the information and a memory interface 11B for the data input / output for the non-volatile memory 16.

A conventional video game device, such as a home TV game device, stores game data or the like in an auxiliary storage device. The aforementioned memory card device 10 can be used as this auxiliary storage device for such a conventional video game device. Figure 35 illustrates an example of such a conventional video game device 1, which employs the memory card device 10 as the auxiliary storage device. As shown, the video game device has a main body portion 2 housed in a cover. A disk loading unit 3 is placed in its central area and adapted to receive an optical disk, which has an application program recorded therein, to be used by the video game device. The portion 2 of the main body of the video game device 1 includes a reset switch 4 for optionally resetting the game, a power switch 5, a switch 6 that drives the disk, to drive the optical disk load, and, in a preferred embodiment, as an example, two slots 7A and 7B. The memory card device 10, used as the auxiliary storage device, is inserted into one of the slots 7A and 7B. A control circuit 19 (Central Process Unit "UCP") of the video game device 1 feeds the information indicative of, for example, the results of a game running on the video game device. These game results are written to the non-volatile memory 16 of the memory card device 10 and may include the dialing results, the position information of the game, so the user can re-start a game in the desired location, or similar. Multiple actuators (controllers), not shown, can also be connected by slots 7A and 7B, so multiple users can simultaneously play combat games or the like, for example. The portable electronic device can be connected to the external device, during use, in any number of orientations. The portable electronic device may be mounted at an upper end, a lower end or a lateral surface of the external device, in any variety of states of use. If the display unit is provided in the portable electronic device, this display unit of the device is designed to be viewed from a particular direction, when the apparatus joins in a particular mounting state. When the portable electronic device is attached to the upper end of an external device, for example, and is thus connected in its proper mounting and positioning state, the display in the unit is normal and can easily be viewed by a user. However, when the portable electronic device is mounted in a different external device, it may be mounted in a different position and orientation, such as at an upper end or on a lateral surface of the external device, in exemplary form. In this case, the display in the unit is not visible in a normally oriented state, but in a state turned down, so it is difficult to see it. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide an improved portable electronic device, having an exhibit that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.

OBJECTS OF • • L * -A * INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved portable electronic device with a display element. It is another object of the invention to provide an improved portable electronic device which, when mounted on external equipment during use, can be viewed in an optimal manner, regardless of the orientation of the portable electronic device mounted on the external equipment. Still other objects and advantages will be partly obvious and partly apparent from the specification and drawings.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking, according to the invention, a portable electronic device includes an external cover, which retains a portion of the electronic circuit that can be connected to an external equipment. This portable electronic device includes a display element, provided on its outer cover., This display element is controlled by a portion of the electronic circuit of the portable electronic device. An opening provided in the outer cover of the portable electronic device, for receiving its terminal portion and adapted to be connected to a piece of external equipment, is provided to determine the orientation of the display element, when the portable electronic device is connected to an electronic device. external equipment. The portion of the electronic circuit is responsive to the results of determining the orientation of the display element and thus determines the direction in which the material is shown in the display element. Therefore, according to the portable electronic device of the invention, the optimum orientation of the material presented in the display element can be realized, independently of the mounting orientation of the portable electronic device in the external equipment. The invention, therefore, comprises the various steps and the relationship of one or more such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus incorporating the characteristics of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of arts, which is adapt to perform these steps, all as exemplified in the following detailed description and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a top plan view, illustrating a video game device connected to a portable electronic device, constructed in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a front elevational side view of a slot portion of the video game device of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating the video game device of Figure 1, with the portable electronic apparatus, constructed in accordance with the invention, coupled thereto; Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an illustrative structure of the essential portions of the video game device of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a front elevational view, illustrating the portable electronic apparatus, constructed in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the invention; Figure 6 is a perspective view of a portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a perspective view showing the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5, with its lid placed in an open state; Figure 8 is a bottom plan view of the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5; Figure 9A is a block diagram showing an illustrative structure of essential portions of the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5; Figure 9B is a block diagram showing an illustrative structure of the microcomputer controller of Figure 9A; Figure 10 illustrates a wireless communication function of the portable electronic device of Figure 5; Figure 11 illustrates the cooperative operation between the portable electronic device of Figure 5 a main body portion of the video game device of Figure 1; Figure 12 is a block diagram showing the flow of program data downloaded from the main body portion of the video game device of Figure 1 to the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5; Figure 13 is a block diagram showing the discharge sequence of Figure 12; Figure 14 is a block diagram showing an alternative flow of program data downloaded from the main body portion of the video game device of Figure 1 to the portable electronic device of the Figure 5; Figure 15 is a block diagram showing the discharge sequence of Figure 14; Figures 16A, 16B and 16C comprise a rear plan view showing the upper edge, face and bottom edge of the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5; Figure 17 is a right side elevational view of the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5; Figure 18 is a left side elevational view of the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5; Figure 19 is an elevation view of the back side of the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5; Figure 10 is a perspective view of the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5 with its lid removed; Figure 21 is a perspective view of the portable electronic apparatus of Figure 5, showing the lid being removed; Figure 22 is a perspective view with cutouts, illustrating a direction discrimination switch and its coupling with an electronic device; Figure 23 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the insertion of the portable electronic device of the invention into an electronic device in a first orientation; Figure 24 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the insertion of a portable electronic device of the invention into an electronic apparatus in a second orientation; Figure 25 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the insertion of the portable electronic device of the invention into an electronic apparatus in a third orientation; Figure 26 is a flow chart illustrating the steps of determining the orientation of the portable electronic device and the display element, in accordance with the invention; Figure 27 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps of operation of the electronic apparatus and portable electronic device, according to the invention; Figure 28 illustrates the insertion of a portable electronic device into an adapter, according to the invention; Figure 29 illustrates the insertion of a portable electronic device into an adapter according to an alternative embodiment of the invention; Figure 30 illustrates the insertion of n portable electronic device in n adapter, according to a further alternative embodiment of the invention; Figure 31 illustrates the insertion of a portable electronic device in a controller, according to the invention; Figure 32 illustrates the insertion of a portable electronic device in a digital camera, according to the invention; Figure 33 illustrates the insertion of a portable electronic device into a digital communications device, according to the invention; Figures 34A and 34B show an illustrative structure of internal portions of a conventional memory card device; and Figure 35 illustrates a conventional video game device, which employs a conventional memory card as an auxiliary storage device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES With reference to the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail. It should be noted that the portable electronic device of the present invention can be used not only as a memory card for an entertainment system, such as a video game device, which acts as a master device, but also as a memory device. Small-sized portable game.- This master device is not limited to a video game device, while the portable electronic device, which acts as a secondary device, is not necessarily limited to a memory card. In the following description, a video game device is illustrated as an example of a master device, in which a portable electronic device, embodying the present invention, is used as a secondary device. Referring first to Figure 1, a video game device 1, which acts as a master device, shown with a portable electronic device 100, constructed in accordance with the present invention, loaded therein. The video game device 1 is provided with a main body portion 2, housed in a cover, and a disk loading unit 3, adapted to charge an optical disk, is placed in its center area. This optical disc may comprise a CD-ROM as a recording medium, the optical disc has a recorded application program, which will be executed by a video game device 1. This video game device extracts the game program recorded on the optical disc and executes this game program, according to the instructions of a user (game player). The execution of the game includes controlling the progress of the game, display element and sound. The portion 2 of the main body of the video game device 1 also includes, in a preferred embodiment, a reset switch 4, for optionally resetting the game, a power switch 5, a disk action switch 6, for charging the optical disk, and two slots 7A and 7B. The recording medium, to supply the application program, is not limited to an optical disc; and the application program may also be supplied by means of a communication network or by means of another non-volatile storage medium. Two actuation devices 20 can be selectively connected to any of the slots 7A and 7B, so that two users can play one combat or two other players, or a game of one against another. The aforementioned memory card device or portable electronic device, which incorporates the present invention, can also be inserted into any of the slots 7A and 7B. Although Figure 1 shows two slots 7A and 7B, the number of slots may also be different from two. The actuator device 20 includes first and second drive units, 21 and 22, a button L 23L, a button R 23R, a start button 24 and a selection button 25. The drive device 20 also includes drive units 31 and 32, a mode selection switch 33, for selecting between the operating modes of these drive units, 21 and 22, and 31 and 32, and a display unit 34, for displaying the selected drive mode. Figure 2 illustrates the appearance of the slots 7A and 7B provided on the front surface of the main body portion 2 of the video game device 1. In the present embodiment, the slots 7A and 7B are designed having two rows. In the upper row of each slot, an insertion unit, 8A and 8B, of memory card is provided, respectively, in which a memory card device or a portable electronic device can be selectively inserted, as will be explained below. . In the lower row of each slot, 7A or 7B, a controller connection unit is provided. (sockets) 9A or 9B, respectively, for connecting a connection terminal (connector) 26 of each controller 20 to the video game device. The insertion grooves of the insertion units, 8A and 8B, are formed as horizontally elongated rectangles, whose upper side corners are rounded more prominently than their lower side corners (not shown), to prevent the memory card or electronic device Laptop is inserted in an incorrect orientation. The memory card insertion units, 8A and 8B, are also provided with a shutter to protect a connection terminal provided therein (not shown). The controller connection units 9A and 9B are formed of horizontally elongated rectangles, whose lower side corners are rounded more prominently than their upper side corners, to prevent the connection terminal 26 of the controller 20 from being inserted in an incorrect orientation. Additionally, the insertion slots of the connection units of the controller 9A and 9B are of different configuration of the insertion units, 8A and 8B, of the memory card, to prevent the incorrect insertion of the memory card in the units of connection of controller 9A and 9B, and vice versa. Referring now to Figure 3, the portable electronic device 100 of the present invention is shown inserted into the memory card insertion unit 8A of the slot 7A on the front side of the video game device 1. A cover 110 of the portable electronic device 100 is in an open position, which allows the insertion of the portable electronic device. Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of n circuit of essential portions of device 1 of the video game. This video game device includes a control system 50 composed in part of the central processing unit UCP 51 and the peripherals, a graphic system 60 comprised in part of the graphic process unit UGP 62 for performing a drawing operation at a time. frame buffer 63, and peripherals, a sound system 70, comprised in part of a sound processing unit (UPS) for generating music, and other sound effects, a controller 80 for controlling an optical disc having a recorded application program, and a communications unit 90, comprised, in part, of a communication controller 91 for controlling the input / output of data from the portable electronic device 100 or the memory card 10, to store game setting data and signals received from the controller 20, in accordance with user commands and game setting signals, and a BUS collection, to interconnect the previous components.

The control system 50 includes the CPU 51, a peripheral controller 52, for controlling the interruption or transfer of direct memory access (DMA), a main memory 53 comprised of a random access memory (RAM) and a memory only of reading (ROM), which has stored programs to operate the main memory 53. a graphics system 60 or sound system. The CPU 51 executes instructions according to an operation system stored in the memory in a ROM 54, in order to control the video game device in its entirety. The ROM 54 is comprised of, for example, a 32-bit RISC-UCP. By supplying power to the video game device 1, the CPU 51 of the control system 50 executes instructions according to the operating system stored in the ROM 54, so that the CPU 51 controls the graphics system 60 and / or the system 70. When the operating system is executed, the CPU 51 initializes the video game device 1 in its entirety, such as an operation recognition, and subsequently controls the optical disk controller 80 to execute the application program, such as the game recorded on the optical disc. During the execution of the recorded game program, the CPU 51 is sensitive to user input via the controller 20, to control the graphics system 60 to present the appropriate image display and the sound system 70, related to the effects appropriate sound The graphics system 60 includes a geometry transfer engine (GTE) 61, coupled with the CPU 51 to perform the process, such as the coordinate transformation. The UPG 62 draws an image according to the drawing commands from the CPU 51, a frame buffer 63 stores an image drawn by the UPC 62 and an image decoder 64 decodes image data that was compressed when encoded by the orthogonal transformer, such as DCT, or similar. The GTE 61 includes a parallel computing mechanism and is responsive to a request for the process from the CPU 51, to execute the process at high speed, such as the transformation of coordinates, the calculations of the light source, the matrix calculations or vector. In a preferred embodiment, GTE 61 executes coordinate calculations of up to 1,500,000 polygons per second, which include the flat shading or drawing of a single triangular polygon with the same color. It is thus possible to reduce the calculation load in the CPU 51 and execute the high speed coordinate calculations through the use of the GTE 61.

The UPG 62 is also responsive to a drawing command from the CPU 51 and is adapted to draw an image, such as a polygon, in the frame buffer 63. The UPG 62 can draw up to 360,00 or polygons per second. The frame buffer 63 is comprised of a double-door RAM and can receive an image from the UPG 62, transfer an image from the main memory and extract an image for simultaneous display. In a preferred embodiment, frame buffer 63 is formed with a capacity of, for example, 1 Mbyte, and is handled as a matrix of 1024 horizontal pixels and 512 vertical pixels, each pixel being 16 bits. The frame buffer 63 may further include, in addition to a display area for storing a video display to be produced, an area of CLUT (color look-up table) in which a CLUT is stored to which the UPG 62 refers to when an image is drawn, such as a polygon. The frame buffer can additionally include a texture area, in which a texture that can be inserted (mapped) is stored in, for example, a polygon coordinate transformed and drawn by the UPG 62. The size of the CLUT area and The texture area is dynamically changed in response to changes in the display area.

The UPG 62 can perform shadows of low intensity, that is, it determines the color in a polygon by complementing the color of the vertex point and the texture mapping of fixing the texture stored in the texture area to the polygon, in addition to the flat shadow , mentioned above. By performing the low intensity shadow or texture mapping, in a preferred embodiment GTE 61 can execute coordinate calculations of up to 500,000 polygons per second. The image decoder 64 decodes image data of still or moving images stored in the main memory 53 under the control of the CPU 51, and stores the data of the resulting decoded image in the main memory. Likewise, the data of the reproduced image is stored by means of the UPG 62 in the buffer 63, in order to be used as the image drawn by the UPG 62. The sound system 70 also includes a UPS 71 to produce the musical sound or the sound effect, according to the instructions of the CPU 51, a sound buffer 72 that stores wave data or the like, provided by the UPS 71, and a speaker 73 to produce the musical sound or the effect of the sound generated by the UPS 71, executes a decoding function (ADPCM) of adoptive differential PCM, for reproducing sound data obtained in the adoptive differential PCM (ADPCM) of, for example, 16-bit sound data, as a 4-bit differential signal. The UPS 71 also performs a function of reproducing the waveform data stored in the sound buffer 72, to generate the sound effect and a modulation and reproduction function of the waveform data stored in the memory intermediate 72 sound. The sound system 70 may function as a sample sound source to generate a musical sound or sound effect based on the waveform data recorded in the sound buffer 72, in accordance with the instructions of the CPU 51. The optical disk controller 80 includes an optical disc device 81 for reproducing the program or data recorded on an optical disc, a decoder 82 for decoding the program or data having an error correction key (ECC), appended thereto. , and a buffer 83 for temporarily storing the reproduced data of the optical disk device 81 to facilitate data extraction from the optical disk. A sub-CPU 81 is coupled to the decoder 82. The sound data recorded on an optical disc and extracted by the optical disc device 81, can be recorded using PCM data obtained by the analog / digital conversion of the various sound signals., in addition to the aforementioned ADPCM data. A portion of the sound data of the ADPCM data, which corresponds to the difference of 16-bit digital data, represented as 4 bits and recorded in this form, is decoded by the decoder 82 and is supplied to the UPS 71. There, the data is processed by the USA 71, such as by the digital / analog conversion and then sent forward to drive the horn 73. The communication controller 90 includes a communication control unit 91 to control communications with the UPC 51 by middle of the BUS collector. The communication control unit 91 supplies controller connection units, 9A and 9B, connected to the controller 20 to enter a user command and insertion units of the memory card, 8A and 8B, to receive the memory card 10 and the portable electronic device 100, constructed in accordance with the invention. The controller 20, connected to the controller connection units, 9A and 9B, has, for example, 16 command keys, to allow the entry of commands by a user, and is thus responsive to the commands of the control unit 91. of communications. The controller 20 sends the state of the command keys approximately sixty times per second, for example, in a preferred embodiment, to the communication control unit 91, by the synchronous communication. The communication control unit 91 sends the state of the command keys of the controller 20 to the CPU 51. The commands entered by the user to the CPU 51 cause this CPU 51 to execute the process in accordance with the command of the user received, with base in a game program that is currently processed. During the process of a game program, a large amount of image data must be transferred between the main memory 53, the UPG 62, the image decoder 64 and the decoder 82. Thus, the present video game device is designed so that the data can be transferred directly between the main memory 53, the UPG 62, the image decoder 64 and the decoder 82 under the control of the peripheral controller 52, without the interposition of the CPU 51, by means of the named transfer DNMA. or the use of such a DMA transfer, it is possible to alleviate the computation load in the CPU 51 and enable high-speed data transfer. If it is necessary to store in the memory (of the portable electronic device or the memory card) the current state data of a game that is currently being processed, the CPU 51 transmits the data to be stored to the control unit 91. communications, which, in turn, writes the coughs from the CPU 51 in the memory card 10 or in the portable electronic device 100, whichever is inerted in one of the insertion units, 8A and 8B, of the memory card . The communication control unit 91 further includes a protective circuit to prevent electrical destruction of the video game device 1, the memory card IQ or the portable electronic device 100. The memory card 10 or the portable electronic device 100 may be assembled or disassembled while the main body portion of the video game device 1 is energized. If the recording capacity of the memory card 10 or the portable electronic device 100 reaches its limit, this used memory card or the portable electronic device can be removed, and a new memory card or portable electronic device can be inserted into the memory card. the video game device, without disconnecting the power from the video game device. Thus, there is no risk of inadvertent loss of game data when an auxiliary is supplied or when a new memory card or portable electronic device is inserted. A parallel input / output interface (PIÓ) 96 and a serial input / output interface (SIO) 97 act as an interface for interconnecting the memory card 10, the portable electronic device 100 or other additional equipment and the video game device. A portable electronic device, which incorporates the present invention will be explained later in the following description, as shown in Figure 3, and it is assumed that the portable electronic device is loaded into a video game device 1, and will thus be controlled. A portable electronic device, which acts as a secondary device, is loaded into the memory card insertion unit, 8A and 8B, provided in the slots 7A and 7B, respectively, of the video game device 1, which acts as a master device. The portable electronic device 100 is used as a memory card associated with the multiple action devices. If, for example, the game is played by two users (players), the results of the game by the two players are recorded on two portable electronic devices 100. This function is also provided in a conventional device, recording on a simple memory card 10 . In the insertion of the memory card 10 or the portable electronic device 100 in the insertion unit, 8A or 8B, of the memory card, the conductors of the ground connection terminals and to supply power to the memory card or the portable electronic device, are longer than the other data transmission terminals. Thus, the terminals of the power source and the ground terminals are preferably electrically connected first. This provides security and stability of electrical operations. Alternatively, or additionally, the ground connection terminals and for the power supply of the insertion unit 8 of the memory card of the video game device 1, may also be longer in length than the other transmission terminals of the video game device 1. data. Also, the portions of the connector of the memory card or the portable electronic device and the insertion unit, 8A and 8B, of the memory card, are configured asymmetrically in the left-to-right direction, to further protect against insertion. of the memory card 10 or the portable electronic device 100. Figures 5 to 8 are views of the portable electronic device 100, constructed according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention. Specifically, Figure 5 is a front elevational side view of the portable electronic device, Figure 6 is a perspective view showing a cover member 110 in a closed state in order to protect the connector portion of said portable electronic device, the Figure 7 is a perspective view showing the member 100 of cover in an open state and Figure 8 is a -R. bottom floor view of this portable electronic device. Referring to Figures 5 to 8, the portable electronic device 100 includes a housing 101 as an external enclosure, a drive unit 120, having one or more operating buttons 121, 122 for inputting or making a selection by a user, an exhibit unit 130, composed of liquid crystal devices (LCD) ) and a window 140 for wireless communication, such as by IR communication. The housing 101 is comprised of an upper wrapper 101a and a lower wrapper 101b and maintain a substrate 151 on which the memory devices or the like are mounted. This housing 101 has a dimension to be inserted into the slots 7A or 7B of the main body portion of the video game device 1 and includes a connector 150 formed with a rectangular window at one of its ends, for insertion into the device of video game.

The window 140 is provided at an opposite end portion of the housing 101 from the connector 150 and has a generally hemispherical configuration. The display unit 130 is provided in the vicinity of the window 140 on a top surface of the housing 101, which occupies approximately half the area of the upper surface of the housing. The actuator 120 is also provided on the upper surface of the housing 101 and with a dimension to substantially occupy the remaining half of the area of the upper surface, and is positioned in the vicinity of the connector 150. This actuator 120 is located within the member 110 of cap, which is rotatably supported relative to the housing 101. The cap member 110 has one or more operation buttons 121, 122, formed. Switch elements 102, 103 are provided below the lid member 110 in the housing 101 in positions corresponding to and in register with the operation buttons 121, 122, respectively. These operating buttons are arranged to move transversely across the cap member and are supported by this cap member, so as to be movable in a direction that emerges from and recesses below the upper surface of the cap member, allowing a force to be transferred through them.

The switch elements, 102, 103, are supported in the housing 101 and are positioned to translate a force received therefrom, to a respective diaphragm switch associated therewith, provided on the substrate 151 in the housing 101. lid member 110, if a force is applied to operation buttons 121, 122 from above, in order to force these buttons 121, 122 under the upper surface of lid member 110, the operation buttons move this force to the associated diaphragm on the substrate 151 in the housing, by means of associated switching elements 102, 103. It will be noted that the flexible protective sheet can be attached to the switch elements 102, 103, so that a force can be applied directly there by a hand or a finger from above the protective sheet, without the interposition of the actuators 121, 122, while the contaminants, such as dust and dirt, are impeded of entering into the housing 101. As further shown in Figure 8, a plurality of terminals 152 are provided within the window of the connector 150 and are arranged on the substrate 151. The terminals 152 supply power to, and provide the transfer of , the data between the portable electronic device 100 and the video game device 1. The configuration and size of the connector 150 are the same as those of the memory card 10, conventionally used with the video game device. Figure 9A is a block diagram showing an illustrative structure of the portable electronic device 100. Similar to the conventional memory card, the portable electronic device includes a control unit 41 for controlling its operation, a connector 42 for connection to the video game apparatus 1 and a non-volatile memory 46 for storing data. The control unit 41 comprises a microcomputer and has a program memory 41a for storing a program. The non-volatile memory 46 is preferably a semiconductor memory device, such as a volatile memory. The portable electronic device is provided with an electric battery, or another cell that stores charge 49. Thus, a static random access memory (SRAM), capable of setting input / output data, can be provided as the non-volatile memory 46. The portable electronic device 100 differs from the conventional memory card 10 in that it includes a drive unit 43, which corresponds to the operation buttons 121, 122, for driving and processing a stored program. The portable electronic device 100 further includes a display unit 44, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) device for displaying a variety of information items responsive to the program being processed, a wireless communication unit 48 for exchanging data with another portable electronic device by means of infrared (IR) communication, in the form of an example. This portable electronic device can be operated under the energy of a battery 49 by itself, when the device is removed from the slots 7A and 7B of the video game device 1. A secondary rechargeable cell can also be provided in place of the battery 49. When the portable electronic device 100 is inserted into the slots 7A and 7B of the video game device 1, the power is supplied from the video game device to the device portable electronic, through the power source terminal 50 from the video game device by means of a reverse flow inhibiting diode 51, connected to a battery terminal 49. The portable electronic device also includes a timer 45 and a 47 horn to produce the audio sound, according to the program being executed. Each of the components of the portable electronic device 100 is connected to the control unit 41 and has its operation controlled by it. Figure 9B shows the internal elements included in the control unit 41. While a conventional memory card includes only a connection interface 41A, for connection to the main body portion of a video game device and an interface 41B of memory, for the control of the input / output of data to the memory, the portable electronic device 100 includes those interfaces and additionally includes a display interface, a drive input interface, a sound interface, a wireless communication interface, a timer management interface 41C and a program download interface 41D. These interfaces (impellers) for managing additional functions of the portable electronic device 100 in the present embodiment are controlled by the control unit 41 (microcomputer), independently of the connection interface of the main body and the memory interface and, therefore, the interchangeable form between the conventional memory card 10 and the portable electronic device can be maintained. Since the portable electronic device is formed with an input driver unit 43 and an display unit 44, the portable electronic device can be used as a machine running a portable game by operating the game application software when it is uncoupled from the device 1 of the video game. Also, since the portable electronic device 100 can store in the program memory 41a an application program downloaded from the main body portion of the video game device 1, the application program or any of the impulse software running in the Portable electronic device can be modified easily. The operation of the portable electronic device 100 can be controlled independently of the video game device 1, and the application software stored in the program memory 41a can be formulated and executed independently of the application software of the video game device. By exchanging the data with the video game device, a cooperation operation (linking) can be achieved between the portable electronic device and the video game device. Likewise, the timer 45 allows the synchronization of the time data of the portable electronic device and the video game device and also allows the independent control of the progress of a game executed independently in the portable electronic device in real time. Figure 10 illustrates schematically the wireless communication between two portable electronic devices 100, according to the invention. The data stored in the portable electronic device, or the video game device 1 or other portable electronic device 100, can be exchanged between two or more such devices by means of the wireless communication window 140, such as by communication IR under the control of the wireless communication unit 48. Although the portable electronic device 100 has been described as being used as an auxiliary storage device for the video game device, this invention is not limited to the video game device and It can be used as an auxiliary storage, or to retrieve a variety of information in any number of appliances. The cooperative operation between the portable electronic device 100 and the video game device 1 will now be explained. This portable electronic device can store game data generated by a microcomputer control circuit 41 and used to control the portable electronic device, the time data obtained by the timer 45 and the data generated by other portable electronic devices, supplied by means of a wireless communication unit 48. Figure 11 shows schematically the cooperative operation between the video game device 1, which acts as a master device, and the portable electronic device 100, which acts as a secondary device. In the following description, it is assumed that a recording medium, such as an optical disc (CD-ROM), having the application software recorded, is loaded into the video game device and that such software is extracted from it and it is discharged onto the portable electronic device inserted in slot 7A or 7B of the main body portion of the video game device. First, before proceeding to the detailed description of the cooperative operation, the download of the program, as well as a presupposition for this cooperative operation, will be explained. Figure 12 shows the data flow of an application program of a video game supplied from the optical disc (CD-ROM) loaded in the video game device 1 and transferred directly (downloaded) to the memory 41a of the program of the microcomputer 41 of portable electronic device 100. This download is controlled by CPU 51 of device 1 of the video game. Figure 13 shows the sequence of steps performed during the download procedure of Figure 12. First, in step ST1, an application program of a video game to be executed in the microcomputer 41 in the portable electronic device 100, which acts as a secondary device, is extracted from the CD-ROM loaded in the video game device 1 , which acts as the master device. Then, in step ST2, the CPU 51, which acts as a control unit for the master device, issues a "program download request command" in the microcomputer 41, which acts as a control unit for the electronic device portable 100. The CPU 51 then proceeds to the counting step, waiting to receive the "program download permission status" from the microcomputer 41. In the step ST3, the microcomputer 41 of the portable electronic device 100 receives the "command of program download request "from CPU 51 of the master device.

In step ST4, the microcomputer 41 of the secondary device terminates the routine currently running and returns to an indication of the "program download permission status" to the CPU 51 of the master device. Then, when the CPU 51 receives the "program download permission status" of the microcomputer 41, the program extracted from the CD-ROM, in the step ST1, is transferred (downloaded) in the step ST5 to the memory 41a of the program of the portable electronic device 100. The CPU 51 then proceeds to the scrutiny to receive a "program start permission status" of the microcomputer 41. The address in the memory of the program 41a to which the downloaded data is written is handled by the microcomputer 41; and although it is assumed in the above description that the program downloaded from the master device is stored in the program memory 41a of the microcomputer 41, the downloaded program may also (or as an alternative) be stored in a storage device, such as SRAM or similar, maintained within the portable electronic device 100, capable of high-speed data entry / exit. In step S6, the microcomputer 41 of the portable electronic device receives the program data transferred from the master device and writes the received program data to the program memory 41a. In step S7, after the microcomputer 41 receives the last of the program data from the master device, and is ready to execute this program data, a "program start permission status" is returned to the CPU 51 of the master device. In step ST8, the CPU 51 of the master device receives the "program start permission status" signal from the microcomputer 41 and issues a "program start command." Upon receiving this "program start command" in step ST9, microcomputer 41 executes the downloaded program from the predetermined address of memory 41a.For this sequence of operations, an application program is transferred directly (download) from video game device 1 to program memory 41a in the microcomputer 41 in the portable electronic device 100. It will be noted that the method for supplying the application program is not limited to this recording medium such as an optical disk and can also be supplied over a communications network from other non-volatile storage In that case, only the STl stage in the previous sequence needs to be changed.

While the above-described download sequence presents the case of directly downloading the application program from the video game device 1 to the program memory 41a in the microcomputer 41, it is also possible first to download the application program to the memory 46 non-volatile of the portable electronic device 100, and then copy the program data to the program memory 41a for execution. Figure 14 shows the data flow for this last case. Specifically, the application program of the video game device 1, supplied from, for example, an optical disk, loaded in the disk loading unit 3, is transferred (downloaded) to a non-volatile memory 46 of the portable electronic device 100. via the CPU 51, which acts as the control unit of the video game device 1. The data is subsequently copied to the memory 41a of the program of the microcomputer 41 for execution. Figure 15 shows this download sequence. In step ST11, the application program of the video game to be executed in the microcomputer 41 in the portable electronic device will be extracted as data from the CD-ROM loaded in the video game device 1.

In step ST12, the CPU 51 transfers (downloads) the application program data extracted from the D-ROM to the non-volatile memory 46 of the portable electronic device 100. This sequence is similar to the support of data to the memory card in a conventional video game device. In stage ST13, the microcomputer 41, which acts as the control unit for the portable electronic device receives the application program transferred from the CPU 51 in the same sequence as in the conventional data support, in order to write the data received in the memory 46 non-volatile. Then, in step ST14, the CPU 51 issues a "program start request command", with a program start address attached to the microcomputer 41 of the portable electronic device 100, which receives the "start request command". program "of the CPU 51 in the step ST15 and in response, the CPU 51 copies the data commanded to the memory 41a of the program in the microcomputer 41, from the program start address of the non-volatile memory 46 in the" command request to start the program ". In step ST16, the microcomputer 41 of the portable electronic device executes the copied program in the program memory 41a from its start address.

By the above sequence, the application software program is transferred (downloaded) as data by means of the non-volatile memory 46 from the video game device 1 to the program memory 41a of the microcomputer 41 of the portable electronic device 100 inserted in the video game device. The application program downloaded from the device 1 of the video game to the portable electronic device 100 differs generally from that executed in the video game device. Of course, the downloaded application program can be operated on both the video game device and the portable electronic device. However, in this case, the video game device runs in a mode in which it only uses those properties and features that are available in the portable electronic device. Next, the cooperation operation in which the program of the application software downloaded from the video game device 1 by the sequence, described above, of operations, is executed independently in the portable electronic device 100. The results of such execution are exchange (upload and download) between the portable electronic device and the video game device. Here, as an example, the attribute data of a person or character, appearing in the named game playing the role, executed in the video game device, are downloaded to the portable electronic device, the attribute data including the data that specify the state of growth or other personal characteristics of the person or character. By executing the program in the microcomputer 41 in the portable electronic device 100, that is by executing the game, these attribute data are changed independently of the program executed in the video game device 1. Thus, the portable electronic device 100 of the present invention is designed to operate by itself without correction in the video game device 1, and in small and easily portable size. A user (game player) can carry the portable electronic device and manipulate or change the attributes of the person or character that appear in the program executed there, playing the game; and the user can transfer (upload) to the video game device the attributes of the person or character that have been manipulated. In this case, the person or character whose attributes have been changed can be recovered and operated in the execution of the program in device 1 of the video game. Of course, in addition to the games that play the function, any other type of game can be downloaded from the video game device to the portable electronic device, played by a user, and its results can then be uploaded back to the game device of video, as desired. As described above, the video game can be constructed in that the cooperation operation can be executed by both the video game device 1 and the master device, and the portable electronic device 100 as the secondary device, in which both can use the attribute data of, for example, a person appearing in the game for mutually affecting the attribute data. A battery holder 104 is mounted on the rear side of the housing 101, as shown in Figure 19, and is adapted to retain a battery there. The battery supplies the pulse energy to each component of the portable electronic device. The battery holder 104 is mounted in the housing 101 to close a hole formed in the rear surface of the housing and can be selectively mounted on or dismounted from this housing. The battery 155 is a so-called button-shaped battery. When the battery holder 104 is mounted on the housing 101, the battery 155 is retained there, so that its outer peripheral surface, which acts with a positive electrode, comes up against a positive-source terminal provided on the substrate 151. Also, the main surface of the battery, which acts as a negative electrode, comes up against a negative energy source terminal provided on the Substrate 151. A reset button (not shown) is mounted on the rear side of housing 101 to reset all parameters back to the factory set values. This reset button can be operated by a pin or similar. A speaker 105 is disposed on the back side of the housing to produce audio sound, as shown in Figure 19. The portable electronic device 100 is formed with a terminal 152 in the housing 101, providing an electrical connection with an external device, such as a video game device 1. The terminal 152 is covered and protected by a cover 110, and is exposed to the exterior of the housing 101 via a connector 150, which is a hole provided in the housing. Figures 16a to 16c and Figures 17-19 show a top floor view, a front elevation view, a bottom floor view, elevation views of the left and right side, and a rear elevation view, respectively, of the portable electronic device. The cap 110 is supported so as to be able to pivot, or rotate, between a first closed position, covering the terminal 152, and a second open position in which the terminal 152 is exposed. Specifically, the lid 110 is formed with a pair of laterally spaced arms, 113, 113, which carry a pair of facing fragments 111, 112, adapted to be mounted in a pair of support holes 107, 107, provided laterally on the surface The housing 101 is rotatably supported, as shown in Figure 20. The housing 101 is designed so that even when the lid 110 is opened, that portion of the housing including the connector 150 may be equipped with slots 7A and 7B of the video game device 1, so the terminal 152 of the portable electronic device can be connected to the video game device, as shown in Figure 3. Referring to Figures 20 and 21, the cover 110 is mounted , removably, on the housing 101. At least one of the support fragments 111 and 112 of the lid 110, can be elastically reduced in diameter by being formed with hollow portions open in its distal and peripheral portions. The housing 101 is formed with a notch extending from a support hole 107, in which the support fragment 111 (or 112) is mounted. The support fragment passes through the notch 108 when its diameter is reduced, thus allowing the cover 110 to be selectively mounted or disassembled from the housing 101. As shown in Figure 22, inside a window of the connector 150 is mounted a direction discrimination switch 109. This direction discrimination switch is mounted in one direction so that its force-receiving element 109a faces outside the window portion of the connector. When the housing portion 101 of the portable electronic device 100, which includes the connector 150, is inserted into one of the insertion units 8A or 8B of the memory card, a terminal block 8D, provided in the insertion units of the card of memory, it is inserted in the connector window. This terminal block 8D pushes the receiving element 109a of the address discrimination switch 109. The terminal block 8D is divided into a plurality of sections, similar to the division of the connector window 150, into a plurality of sections. On the upper surface of each section of the terminal block 8D a plurality of terminal plates 8C are formed, which are brought into contact with the terminal 152 (see Figure 8) at the insertion of the terminal block 8D in the connector window 150. If the terminal block 8D pushes the receiving element 109a into the insertion of the portable electronic device 100 in the connector window 150, the image processing device 62 ensures that the information displayed on the display device 130 is in an upward orientation, which can be viewed properly, as shown by the arrow U in Figure 23. Although the connector 150 is placed on the up side of the display device, its contents can normally be viewed by a user. The image signals are written from the temporary frame memory 63 to a reverse direction in the display device, obtained by tracing backward on the display device, as compared to a standard display scan. This face-down display can also be performed by extracting the image signals from the frame's temporary memory 62 from the opposite side, from which the addresses are written into the frame's temporary memory and then scanning the display device in a standard address. As shown in Figure 24, if the portable electronic device is mounted on the portion 2 of the main body of the external device in a different orientation from that shown in Figure 23, a cutout 8E is provided in a portion of the terminal blog 8D in register with the element receiving force 109a of the address discrimination switch. Thus, the terminal block does not push on the element 109a receiving force, this element 109a receiving force is housed in the cutout 8E. The image processing device 62 exhibits an image on the display device 130 in a normally oriented, upwardly directed manner, as indicated by the arrow U in Figure 24. The connector 150 is placed on the underside of the contents of the device. display. Referring next to the flow diagram of Figure 26, the operation of the image processing device 41 starts at the step ST1. In step ST2 it is determined whether or not the address discrimination switch 109 has received a force. If the question is answered affirmatively and thus the address discrimination switch 109 has received a force, the process is transferred to the step ST3. If the question is answered negatively and the address discrimination switch 109 has not received a force, the process is transferred to step ST4. In step ST3, the display is controlled to present the display face-down beneath an image on the display device 130 before the process is transferred to the ST5 stage. In step ST4, the display device is controlled to present a normally oriented display in display 130, before the process is transferred to step ST5, and completed. If the portable electronic device 100 is mounted on the lateral side of the portion 2 of the main body of the external equipment, as shown in Figure 25, the image processing device 41 executes this image process to display an image on the device. of display in the upward orientation, as indicated by the arrow U in Figure 25. Thus, the connector 150 is placed laterally in comparison with the display device. In the portable electronic device of the invention, the orientation discriminator, for discriminating the orientation of the portable electronic device, when mounted on the external device, is not limited to that which employs the address discrimination switch 109, described above , but can be designed to receive electronic discrimination signals from the external device, to determine the orientation based on the discrimination signals received. When such orientation discrimination signals are employed, the operation begins in step ST6, as shown in the flow chart of Figure 27. In step ST7, portable electronic device 100 is connected to the external device. Then, in step ST8, it is determined whether or not the power source is activated. If the question is answered affirmatively, and the power source is activated, the process goes to stage ST10. If the question is answered negatively, the process goes to step ST9, to activate the power before proceeding to step ST10. In this step ST10, the questions are asked to the external device (master device) of the orientation of the portable electronic device 100 in relation to the external device. In the reception of the question signal from the portable electronic device in step ST15, the external device sends an orientation signal, which specifies the orientation of the portable electronic device in relation to the external equipment. On receipt of the answer to the orientation question in step ST10, the device of the portable electronic device determines a course of action to be followed, according to the response signal returned in step ST11. If the results of the orientation question indicate that the upper side is up, the normal display of the image on the display device is going to be made, the process goes to the ST12 stage, where the image is normally displayed and then goes to stage ST14. If the results of the orientation question indicate that the upper side is going down, the inverted display is going to be done, the process goes to step ST13, in which the image is displayed inverted and then the process goes to step ST14. In step ST14, the control leaves the orientation question and returns to the standard process. Although it is not shown, if the results of the orientation question indicate that the exhibition is going to be done laterally, the control is executed to perform the exhibition laterally. Thus, in the portable electronic device, constructed in accordance with the invention, a normal, appropriate display can be made, so that the user appropriately sees the display regardless of the orientation of the portable electronic device in connection to the external device. According to the portable electronic device 100, constructed according to the invention, after the lid 110 has been removed from it, the portion of the appliance, previously covered with the lid 11, can be plugged into an adapter 110A and placed in the electronic communication with it via connector 150, as shown in Figure 28. Adapter 110A is adapted to perform various functions. The adapter 110A is formed, in addition to the actuating buttons 121, 122, a microphone input terminal 180, a speaker output terminal 181, and an input terminal 182 of the external power source. The microphone input terminal can be connected to a microphone to allow a user to play a game stored in the portable electronic device, which employs voice input or to record the input sound. The output terminal of the speaker can be connected to a speaker or an audio device to reproduce the output sound, according to a game or other program that is executed by the portable electronic device. The input terminal of the external power source can be powered with power to drive the adapter and the portable electronic device from an external power source, such as an electric lighting line, via a rectifier or a transformer, such as the named AC adapter. This supplied power can also be used to recharge any rechargeable battery capacitor, or other energy storage device maintained within the portable electronic device. A tuner (AM tuner, FM tuner or TV tuner), a vibration generating mechanism, reception circuits, such as a body temperature sensor, a pedometer, expansion memory, may be provided within the adapter 110A. , an angular sensor (inclination sensor or vibration sensor), a variety of sensors and impulse units. These features can be used alone or can be used as inputs or outputs in response to input user information, the instructions of the game program or the results of the game program, generated in the course of the execution of the game played on the portable electronic device. If the reception circuits or sensors are used alone, the display device 130 can serve as a display device for indicating the values measured by the reception circuits or sensors. The display device can also be adapted to the current display time or the number of memory blocks and the residual number of blocks indicating the storage capacity of the portable electronic device, thus providing an indication of the ability of the portable electronic device to be used as a conventional memory card, or for use in any function that requires a defined amount of available memory.

When the portable electronic device 100 is connected to the adapter 110A, it can also be used as an alarm to operate any one or more of a plurality of units, electrically coupled with the adapter at specific times, set in the portable electronic device. The units operated at specific times may include, but are not limited to, a radio tuner, a vibration generator and a light emitting element, to emit IR and visible light beams. The adapter 1110B may also be provided with a backup battery (cell) 1183 for supplying power to the portable electronic device enclosed therein, as shown in Figure 29, in an alternative embodiment of the invention. In the adapter 1100B, the multiple buttons of the actuator 121 can be replaced by a single operation lever 1121A. It is also possible to supply a number of buttons of the actuator, which are different from the number of switch elements provided in the housing 101, so that these switch elements in the housing 101 can be operated in accordance with a previously established relationship between the buttons of the switch. actuator and switch elements. By way of example, this relationship may include the actuation of a first switch element in the simultaneous actuation of the first and second actuator buttons and the actuation of a second switch element in the simultaneous actuation of the second and third actuators. Further, if the lid 110 is removed from the portable electronic device 100, its portion previously covered by the lid can be plugged into a connecting portion of an adapter 20A to electrically connect the connector 150 of the portable electronic device to the adapter, as shown in FIG. Figure 30. Similar to controller 20, adapter 20A is formed with a plurality of actuator buttons 2121B, 2122A, 2122C, 2122D, start button 2224 and selector button 2225, and has an internal vibration adjustment unit, not shown, in a format similar to that of the controller 20. A game or other program that is executed proceeds in response to the actuation of the actuator button 2121B, 2122A, 2122B, 2122C and 2122D and the buttons 2224, 2225. The image of the game u Another image is shown in the display unit 130. A controller 3020 may be provided with a connection unit for connection to the connector 150 of the portable electronic device 100, as shown in Figure 31. The connection unit is similarly configured to the controller 20, of the video game apparatus 1, the controller 3020 is formed with a plurality of actuator buttons 3121B, 3122A, 3122B, 3122C, 3122D, a start button 3024, a selection button 3025 and an internal vibration adjustment unit, not shown. In addition, the controller 3020 is also formed with actuator units 3031, 3032, capable of analog operations, and a mode selection switch for selecting the drive mode of the actuator 3031, 3032 units. When the portable electronic device is connected to the controller, a game or other program proceeds in response to actuation of the buttons of the actuator 312IB, 3122A, 3122B, 3122C, 3122D, the buttons 3024, 3025 or the actuator units 3031, 3032. Geographic images, according to the execution of the game or the like, are shown in the display unit 130. When the portable electronic device 100 is mounted on the controller 3020, this controller can use the portable electronic device as an IR transmission and reception apparatus for exchanging information signals. between the controller and the external device by the transmission / reception of IR rays, as shown by the arrow IR and n Figure 31. Connecting a second portable electronic device to the portion 2 of the main body of the external device and having the transmission / reception of the IR rays between the portable electronic device, on the side of the main body portion 2 of the external device and the portable electronic device on the side of the controller, communication can be maintained between the controller and the external device. Alternatively, a fixed IR ray transmitter and receiver may be provided in the controller or in the body portion 2 of the external device. According to the invention, the portable electronic device 100 can be connected to an immobile video camera 184, which employs an imager, such as a CCD, or the so-called digital camera, by the connector 150, as shown in FIG. Figure 32. This motionless video camera includes a CCD to image and store as electronic information an image formed by an imaginary lens 185. The fixed video camera is formed with a shutter button 186, a location window 187 and a button of setting 188. When coupled with the fixed video camera, the portable electronic device stores image data received from it in memory. The image data includes the image data itself, time and place, data that compose and define the image object, data of the light exposure volume (shutter speed or light stop) and lens data. In addition to storing image data, the still video camera can also be operated to reproduce the same settings as the image data stored in the memory in the portable electronic device for a particular image. According to the invention, the portable electronic device 100 can also be connected to a portable communication device 189, such as the so-called portable telephone or personal telephone system (PHS) via the connector 150, as shown in the Figure 33. The portable communication device specifies a portable communication device of receiver, counterpart, 189, by a 190 unit of ten keys, to have the wireless transmission / reception of information signals therewith on an antenna 194, via a telephone station or a relay station connected to the telephone station. The portable communication device is formed with a receiver 192, which includes a speaker, and a transmitter 193, which includes a microphone. This portable communication device also includes a display device 191, for indicating the entry of letters or digits by the ten-key unit and information indicative of the portable, counterpart communication device, which acts as the counterpart receiving device. If the portable electronic device 100 is connected to a portable communication device 189, the game or other information stored in the portable electronic device can be exchanged with the portable counterpart communication device, also coupled with the portable electronic device, so as to The so-called two-player combat type game can be played between two players on the same telephone network. The images associated with the game are displayed on the display device 130 of each portable electronic device 100. The information of many classes stored in the portable electronic device, in addition to the game information, can be transmitted / received over the telephone network , such as character marks or reception phrases stored in the portable electronic device, which can not be sent when communication between the two portable communication devices begins, such as to identify the users. The portable electronic device 100 may also store data, such as names or telephone numbers, as in an address book, to specify a portable counterpart communication device, a variety of numbers, addresses and identity names. This portable communication device can then call or initiate a transmission based on the information stored in the connected portable electronic device. According to the invention, a portable electronic device correctly displays an image on the display device, regardless of the orientation of the portable electronic device in relation to the manner of mounting. Thus, the display device or portable electronic device can optionally display graphic information regardless of the orientation of the portable electronic device in relation to the external equipment. It will thus be seen that the aforementioned objects, among those evident facts of the previous description, are obtained in an efficient manner and, since certain changes can be made by carrying out the previous method and in the indicated constructions, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all the material contained in the above description and the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. It will also be understood that the following claims attempt to cover all the generic and specific characteristics of the invention described herein and all the expositions of the scope of the invention, which, as a matter of language, can be found within them.

Claims (13)

1. CLAIMS 1. A portable electronic device, adapted to be connected, removably, to an external device, which comprises: a housing, having an access opening; a display device, placed inside the housing, to display the information therein; and an electrical circuit, accommodated in the housing, having a terminal adapted to be connected to the external device, this terminal is accessible via the access opening in the housing, and this electrical circuit determines an orientation of the device for displaying the information displayed thereon, based on a state in which the portable electronic device is connected to the external device.
2. 2. The device, according to claim 1, wherein the information displayed on this display device in a first erect, normal orientation, or in a second inverted orientation, with the upper side down, relative to the housing.
3. 3. The device, according to claim 2, wherein the displayed information is presented in a third horizontal, lateral orientation, relative to the housing.
4. 4. The device according to claim 2, further comprising an element that generates signals, to generate an indicative signal if the information displayed must be presented in the first, second or other orientation.
5. 5. The device, according to claim 2, further comprising a switch element for determining whether the displayed information must be presented in the first, second or other orientation, based on the physical position of this switch element.
6. 6. The device, according to claim 1, further comprising: a cover member, pivotally mounted to the housing, for movement between a first position, covering the terminal, and a second position, which exposes the terminal through the access opening, this terminal is adapted to be coupled with the external device by means of the access opening, when the cover member is in the second position.
7. 7. The device, according to claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is adapted to be connected to the external device, when the lid member is removed.
8. 8. The device, according to claim 1, in which the portable electronic device further comprises at least one actuating element, for inputting information by a user.
9. 9. The device, according to claim 8, in which this at least one actuating element is supported on the cover member, and the apparatus further comprises: at least one switch element, arranged in the housing and in register with this at least a drive element; in which a force applied to this at least one actuating element, when the cover member is in the first position, at least one switching element is moved through said switch to said switch.
10. 10. The device, according to claim 1, wherein the external device is a video game device.
11. 11. A method for displaying information in a display device of a portable electronic device, adapted to be connected, removably, to an external device, this portable electronic device comprises: a housing, having an access opening; a display device within the housing, to present the displayed information; and an electrical circuit, accommodated within the housing and having a terminal adapted to be connected to the external device, this terminal is accessible via the access opening in the housing, this method comprises the steps of: detecting a state in which the portable electronic device is connected to the external device; determine a display orientation of the information displayed on the display device, based on the detection result; and controlling the information displayed on the display device, based on the determined display orientation.
12. 12. The method, according to claim 11, in which the information shown is presented in the display device in a first erect, normal orientation, or in a second inverted orientation, with the upper side down, relative to the housing.
13. 13. The method, according to claim 12, wherein the information shown is presented in a third horizontal, lateral orientation, relative to the housing.