JPH1153057A - Computer equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a computer device which realizes a comfortable use environment by eliminating the installation form and operability of a conventional computer device. A computer device according to the present invention includes a CPU
7, a main body memory 8, a network unit 9, a hard disk 11, and a device body 1 including a control unit A, a keyboard 3, a mouse 4, a display monitor 6, a control unit B,
The operation unit 2 including the video memory 10, the video signal processing unit 5, and the removable media drive 12 is connected to a digital data path 100 (IEEE1394).
Etc.). As a result, an easy-to-use computer device in which only the operation unit 2 is installed near the user is realized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer such as a desktop personal computer and a workstation, and more particularly, to an improvement in the overall configuration of a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as shown in FIG. 3, a computer device such as a desktop personal computer and a workstation includes an apparatus main body 1, an input / output device such as a keyboard 3 and a mouse 4 connected to the apparatus main body 1,
And an operation unit 2 including a display monitor 6 provided with a video signal processing unit 5.

[0005] The apparatus main body 1 includes a CPU 7 including a microprocessor, a main storage memory 8, a network unit 9, a video memory 10, a hard disk 11, a removable media drive 12, and the like. The video memory 10 stores video data processed by the device main body 1 and supplies the video data to the video signal processing unit 5 of the display monitor 6 via a video signal cable 13 such as an R, G, B cable. The supplied video data is processed by the video signal processing unit 5 and displayed on the display monitor 6.

[0004] Here, as the removable media incorporated in the apparatus body 1, although not shown, a floppy disk FD, a read-only compact disk CD-ROM, a read-only digital video disk DVD-ROM. , A removable hard disk HD, a tape streamer TS, and a rewritable magneto-optical disk MO (Magneto Optical).
These removable media are indispensable devices for computer devices because they can be detached from the device body 1 and can be organized and stored. The removable medium drive 12 for driving the removable medium includes a main storage memory 8 and a hard disk 1 which are fixedly incorporated in the device body 1.
Along with 1, it constitutes an important position that constitutes a storage hierarchy of the computer device, and a plurality of devices are generally installed in the device main body 1.

[0005] This removable media drive 12
Is driven through an interface circuit such as SCSI, IDE, and ATAPI from the CPU 7, but there is a performance limit of the existing interface circuit. Therefore, the removable media drive 12 must be installed outside the device main body 1 by simply extending the cable. Is hard to imagine. Therefore, in order for the user to operate the removable medium, the device body 1
It was necessary to reach for and operate.

That is, in the conventional computer device, the removable media drive 12 is installed on the device main body 1 side. Since the user needs to operate the removable medium, the device main body 1 and the operation unit 2 are installed close to the user. I needed to. As a result, the user's desk is occupied exclusively by the device main body 1 of the computer device, which not only deteriorates the use efficiency of the desk, but also reduces the device main body 1.
In addition, there is a problem that the video signal cable 13 connecting the operation units 2 and the like are scattered, thereby damaging the installation scene of the computer device. Further, heat and fan noise generated by the device body 1 installed close to the user are bothersome. Further, a desktop personal computer in which the device main body 1 and the operation unit 2 are integrated has been released, but this type of computer device has poor expandability due to the integration and is not suitable for a high-performance computer device. It had been.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a computer which realizes a comfortable use environment by eliminating the installation form and operability of a conventional computer device. It is to provide a device.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a computer device according to the present invention comprises a microprocessor for performing arithmetic processing of information, a main storage device for storing information, and a fixed auxiliary storage device (such as a hard disk). ) And the first controlling the communication between the information and the operation unit described later.
A device main body including control means (control unit A), a display device, and a video signal processing device for generating a video signal (including character information and computer graphics information) to be displayed on the display device; A video storage device for storing video signals, an input / output device such as a keyboard and a mouse, a floppy disk FD for daily use, and a read-only compact disk CD-R
An operation unit including a removable medium driving device that drives a removable medium such as an OM, and a second control unit (control unit B) that controls information and communication control with the device main body; A digital data path, such as an IEEE 1394 interface standard, for connecting between the first control means and the second control means provided in the operation unit.

In the computer device of the present invention, the removable media drive device used on a daily basis is installed on the operation unit having a display device and an input / output device also used on a daily basis. Operation unit to be installed at the user's hand,
The device main body can be installed in an inconspicuous place such as a desk or a remote place. This makes it possible to provide a computer device with greatly improved usability. Further, since the device main body and the operation unit are connected by one high-speed digital data path (such as IEEE1394), data transmission and reception between the device main body and the operation unit can be performed smoothly. At the same time, complicated routing of various cables required for the computer device is eliminated, and a work environment excellent in installation scenery can be realized.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Considering the usability of a computer device in a home or a business, a user frequently operates a keyboard, a mouse, a display monitor and a removable medium (the above is defined as an operation unit). is there. Therefore, it is desired that these units are constantly located near the user. Therefore, if only the removable media drive can be separated from the device main body and integrated as an operation unit originally designed to be operated by the user, the operability of the computer device should be greatly improved.

[0011] That is, if an operation unit integrated with a removable medium is installed at the user's hand, and the device body (hard disk, CPU, network device, etc.) is installed at another place, it is simple and simple. The use environment of the computer device with excellent space efficiency can be realized. The present invention relates to a computer device of such an operation unit separated type, which is an international standard IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics).
Engineers) This invention relates to a device realized by using a digital data path (digital cable) represented by 1394. Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, a schematic configuration of a computer device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the external structure of a computer device according to the present invention. Note that portions common to those described in the related art will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The computer apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is configured such that an apparatus main body 1 and an operation unit 2 are separated, and both are connected by a digital data path 100. The operation unit 2 includes a display monitor 6 for displaying various information and a removable media drive 12 (the floppy disk drive described above) built in the display monitor 6.
Drive device for driving a disk FD, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, etc.), a keyboard 3, a mouse 4
And an input / output device such as a small video printer (not shown) that is expected to be developed in the future.

As described above, in the computer apparatus of the present invention, the removable media drive 12
On the operation unit 2 side. for that reason,
Only the operation unit 2 is installed at the user's hand, and the device body 1 connected to a network such as the Internet can be installed in an inconspicuous place (such as under a desk) in a home or a company. It can be used effectively and efficiently. The illustrated computer device is an example of a design, and the overall shape and arrangement may be other designs. For example, display monitor 6
Is a thin monitor such as a liquid crystal display, and the removable media drive 12 is installed on the thin monitor, it is possible to realize a computer device with high performance and excellent space factor.

Next, a detailed configuration of the computer device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing an example of the computer device of the present invention.

The computer apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 is connected by a digital data path 100 (IEEE 1394 or the like) via a control section A provided in the apparatus main body 1 and a control section B provided in the operation unit 2. It is composed. The device main body 1 includes at least a CPU 7, a main storage memory 8, a network unit 9, a hard disk 10 as a fixed auxiliary storage device, and a control unit A for controlling information and communication of these.

The operation unit 2 is provided with at least input / output devices such as a keyboard 3 and a mouse 4, and has a display monitor 6, a control section B for controlling information and communication, a video memory 10, a video signal processing section 5, and It has a removable media drive 12 and the like. Note that the digital data path 100 can also be adopted for connection between the display monitor 6 and the keyboard 3 which are components of the operation unit 2. In this case, since the speed does not need to be high, a USB interface standard or the like may be adopted in addition to the connection using the IEEE 1394 described above.

The IEEE 1394 interface standard which is a candidate for the digital data path 100 includes:
It is a new standard that can transmit a bit stream of the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) video standard at a high speed. By adopting the digital data path 100 based on the IEEE 1394 interface standard as a connecting means between the device main body 1 and the operation unit 2, the video signal cable 13 used between the conventional device main body 1 and the operation unit 2 (see FIG. 3) Thus, an interface cable required between the device main body 1 and the removable media drive 12 can be realized with one cable.

For this reason, in the computer device of the present invention, the video memory 10 is moved to the display monitor 6 so that the device body 1 and the operation unit 2 can be handled as all digital. Video data such as R, G, B and NTSC are generated and used only inside the operation unit 2.

The operation of the main part of the computer device according to the present invention will be described. The exchange of various data between the main unit 1 and the operation unit 2 is performed by the digital data path 100 via the control unit A and the control unit B. . That is, the control unit A and the control unit B perform the following specific control operation. 1. Video data (digital data) output from the control unit A of the device main body 1 is received via the control unit B and stored in the video memory 10. The video data stored in the video memory 10 is demodulated by the video signal processing unit 5 as usual and displayed on the display monitor 6. 2. Receiving a control command from the device body 1 to the removable media drive 12 and transferring the control command to the removable media drive 12,
Transmission and reception of control information such as the transfer of a response signal from the CPU to the CPU 7. 3. Mutual transfer of recorded data or read data between the device body 1 and the removable media drive 12.
4. Transfer of input data input by operating the keyboard 3 or the mouse 4 to the device body 1. For example, an operation of processing the contents keyed in by the keyboard 3 each time and displaying data and instruction commands on the display monitor 6. 5. In particular, in the control unit B of the operation unit 2,
Although details will be described later, the removable media drive 12
Is transferred directly to the video memory 10 (without passing through the device body 1). Control operations such as are performed.

In the control unit B of the operation unit 2, data read from the removable media drive 12 can be directly transferred to the video memory 10 in some cases. In other words, when MPEG data from the CD-ROM serving as the removable media drive 12 is called and played for a certain period of time, a method of temporarily transferring the MPEG data to the device body 1 and returning it to the operation unit 2 is inefficient. If these control operations can be performed by the control unit B, a more intelligent computer device can be constructed.

In the computer apparatus of the present invention, all data transmission and reception between the main unit 1 and the operation unit 2 are performed in a digital data format. Therefore, if the control unit A and the control unit B appropriately distribute data of different characteristics to appropriate units as described above, the system architecture of the computer device separated by one digital data path 100 effectively functions. It is found that Therefore, in this computer device, the video signal cable 13 for connecting the device main body 1 and the display monitor 6 becomes unnecessary.

As described above, the digital data path 10
Since data passing through 0 has various properties, it is necessary to manage them by the control unit A and the control unit B so that they are not confused or that any data is not significantly delayed. These problems can be solved by performing operation management having a so-called real-time property and multitasking property by the control unit A and the control unit B.

Subsequently, an outline of the IEEE 1394 standard as an example of a digital data path according to the present invention will be sequentially described. [IEEE 1394 Technical Overview] The IEEE 1394 standard is a standard officially standardized by the IEEE. It is assumed that the contents of the standard will be changed in the future, but this does not affect the gist of the present invention.

[Signal Transmission] According to the IEEE 1394 standard, signal transmission is performed using two twisted pair wires. Signal transmission is so-called half-duplex communication in which two pairs of twisted pair wires are used for one-way transmission. In other words, the clock is reproduced on the receiving side by transmitting data on the one hand and a signal called a strobe on the other hand and taking the exclusive OR of the two signals. Data rate is 98.304 Mbps
(S100), 196.608 Mbps (S200),
393.216 Mbps (S400) are defined, and a device having a high-speed rate is assured of upward compatibility to support a lower rate.

[Device Connection] Each device connected according to the IEEE 1394 standard can have up to 26 ports, and up to 63 devices can be interconnected by connecting the ports of each device. . This connection has no loop connection, and free connection is possible as long as the number of connection steps does not exceed 16. In IEEE 1394, when a device is connected, a bus is initialized, and a tree structure is formed with one device as a root and other devices as children and grandchildren of the root. Then, the address of each device is automatically assigned. As described above, the IEEE 1394 standard is characterized in that the degree of freedom of the cable connection method is large, and the settings associated therewith are automated.

[1394 Communication] In IEEE1394,
By relaying a signal transmitted by one device by another device, the same signal can be transmitted to all devices in the network. In other words, the electrical connection is point-to-point.
int), but logically a bus-type network. Therefore, various devices need to arbitrate for the right to use the bus before starting transmission. In order to obtain the right to use the bus, a request signal is issued to its parent device after the bus is free. The device receiving the request signal relays the request signal to its parent device, and the request signal reaches the route. Upon receiving the request signal, the route returns a permission signal, and the device receiving the permission signal can start communication. When a plurality of devices output request signals at the same time, other request signals except one device are rejected.

[Real Time Property] In IEEE 1394, the right to use the bus is used by time division multiplexing while contention for a plurality of devices is made. However, in the case of data that requires real-time properties, such as video signals and audio signals, it is necessary to guarantee communication at certain time intervals to prevent data loss. According to IEEE 1394, data requiring such real-time properties includes Isochronos (Isochronos).
Use a communication method called s). A node that manages this communication is selected at the time of initialization of the bus, and a device that transmits by isochronous communication receives a necessary band allocation from the management node. The route transmits a cycle start packet every 125 μS, and the device to which the band is allocated transmits an isochronous packet following the cycle start packet. By this method, the device to which the band has been allocated can have an opportunity to send data every 125 μS. If the total amount of bandwidth used in isochronous communication exceeds the capacity of the bus, no band can be allocated, and isochronous communication cannot be started.

The following specific effects can be obtained with the computer device of the present invention. That is, the first
In this embodiment, the device body 1 and the operation unit 2 including the keyboard 3, mouse 4, display monitor 6, and removable media drive 12, which are frequently operated by the user, are completely separated from each other. It can be installed at the user's hand, and a user-friendly computer device can be realized from the user's viewpoint. Second, the device body 1 and the operation unit 2
Since they are connected by one digital data path (such as IEEE 1394), complicated routing of various cables is eliminated, and an installation environment of the computer device can be realized without impairing the scenery. Third, since a system architecture based on a completely different idea from the conventional computer device is proposed, the influence on the development of the computer device in the future will be enormous.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various embodiments are possible. For example, as an application example of the present invention, the same concept is applied to a case where the removable media drive 12 is built in the keyboard 3 constituting the operation unit 2. Further, the operation unit 2 may be integrated with a small-sized video printer or the like. In this case, however, this is an example of the embodiment from the gist of the present invention in which the operation system is kept close to the user. . Also, a digital data path 10 for connecting the device body 1 and the operation unit 2 is provided.
0 is not limited to the IEEE 1394 interface standard, and any high-speed digital interface standard to be standardized in the future can be adopted.
Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0031]

As described above, according to the computer apparatus of the present invention, the main body of the apparatus and the operation unit including the keyboard, mouse, display monitor, and removable media drive frequently operated by the user are completely provided. Since the operation unit is separated, only the operation unit can be installed near the user, and the device main body can be installed in an inconspicuous place such as under a desk. This makes it possible to provide a computer device with greatly improved usability.
Further, since the apparatus main body and the operation unit are connected by one digital data path (such as IEEE1394), data transmission and reception between the apparatus main body and the operation unit can be smoothly performed. At the same time, the number of cables required for the computer device is reduced, and there is an effect that an installation environment of the computer device with excellent scenery can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an external structure of a computer device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing an example of a computer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram showing a general configuration of a conventional computer device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Device body, 2 ... Operation unit, 3 ... Keyboard, 4
.. Mouse, 5 video signal processing unit, 6 display monitor, 7 CPU, 8 main memory, 9 network unit, 10 video memory, 11 hard disk, 1
2: Removable media drive, 13: Video signal cable, 100: Digital data path

Claims (3)

[Claims] An apparatus main body comprising: a microprocessor for performing arithmetic processing of information; a main storage and a fixed auxiliary storage for storing information; and first control means for controlling information and communication; Device, a video signal processing device for generating a video signal to be displayed on the display device, a video storage device for storing the video signal, an input / output device, a removable media driving device, and a second control for controlling information and communication And a digital data path connecting the first control means and the second control means. 2. The digital data path according to claim 1, wherein
The computer device according to claim 1, wherein the computer device is realized by a 1394 interface standard. 3. The removable media drive device according to claim 1,
The computer device according to claim 1, wherein the computer device is formed integrally with the input / output device.