Abstract:
A personal electronic device includes a multi-function jack that has at least one contact configured for both power and data connections. In an exemplary embodiment, the jack is based on an industry standard audio or barrel jack for compatibility with standard audio or barrel plugs. The shared power and data contact eliminates the need for personal electronic devices, such as mobile telephones, to have separate connectors and/or custom connectors for different types of peripheral devices.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to connectors for personal electronic devices and more particularly to multi-function connectors that combine power and data connections in a single connector.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The increasing popularity of personal electronic devices, such as mobile telephones, Portable Digital Assistants (PDA), MP3 players, etc., is due in part to their small size and portability. Despite the significant reductions in electronic device size over the past decade, consumers still demand increasingly smaller electronic devices. To address this demand, manufacturers spend considerable resources each year exploring new ways to reduce the size of their electronic devices.  
           [0003]    Connectors contribute significantly to the overall size of a personal electronic device. Therefore, size reduction efforts often focus on reducing the size and/or number of connectors. For example, a “system” connector may be used to reduce personal electronic device size. System connectors consolidate the functionality of a variety of connectors into a single, multi-pin connector.  
           [0004]    However, there are disadvantages to system connectors. For example, system connectors are typically proprietary to each manufacturer and/or model. As a result, system connectors often cost more to manufacture and maintain, and complicate the interconnection of electronic device peripherals. Often, the only peripherals compatible with a given type of system connector are those peripherals provided by the electronic device manufacturer.  
           [0005]    Because of the limitations of system connectors, personal electronic devices typically include additional industry standard jacks for common peripherals, such as audio and charging peripherals. Common audio and charging peripherals use industry standard audio and barrel plugs that are compatible, respectively, with industry standard audio and barrel jacks. As a result, personal electronic device users may use a variety of common peripherals, such as headsets, hands-free adapters, battery chargers, etc., with their electronic devices. However, each jack requires significant space in the personal electronic device. For example, including one audio jack (for audio peripherals) and one barrel jack (for charging peripherals) might increase a mobile telephone&#39;s size by more than 7%. Thus, providing personal electronic devices with industry standard audio and charging jacks ensures compatibility with a broad range of peripherals but undesirably increases personal electronic device size.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for combining audio or other data with power in a single, standard connector that includes at least one shared function contact. In an exemplary embodiment, a personal electronic device, such as a mobile telephone, includes a shared function jack with at least one shared contact used for both power and data functions. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is also applicable to other personal electronic devices, such as computers, personal data assistants, MP3 players, etc. Preferably, the shared function jack is an industry standard form factor, such as one of the standardized audio or barrel jacks commonly used in personal electronic devices. As used herein, the term “data” should be understood to encompass both digital data as well as analog data, including audio signals, video signals, etc.  
           [0007]    In exemplary applications, the shared function jack includes at least two contacts, with at least one of these contacts configured for both data and power functions. With this arrangement, a first contact serves as a ground contact and a second contact serves as a shared function contact for a data circuit and a power circuit, both of which are included in the personal electronic device.  
           [0008]    The shared function contact may directly or indirectly couple to the power and data circuits. For example, in a first exemplary embodiment, power and data circuits couple directly to one or more shared contacts on the shared function jack. With this arrangement, dc blocking may be used to block dc power signals from the data circuit. In addition, filtering may be used to prevent data signals, e.g., alternating current (ac) signals, from interfering with the power circuit while allowing simultaneous application of power and data signals to the shared contact(s) in the connector. As used herein, the term “ac” connotes a time varying signal, and includes audio, video, etc.  
           [0009]    In a second exemplary embodiment, a switch may alternately connect the shared contact to either the data circuit or the power circuit. For example, the switch may connect the shared contact to the data circuit upon sensing an ac data signal or to the power circuit upon sensing a dc power signal. Alternatively, the switch may connect the shared contact to the power or data circuits upon sensing a particular connector configuration.  
           [0010]    According to the present invention, peripheral devices, such as headsets, chargers, etc., all may use the same standard plug, such as an audio plug or a barrel plug, for use with the shared function jack included in the personal electronic device. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention may also be implemented with other standard connectors.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional mobile telephone with audio and charging peripherals.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 a  illustrates a conventional 3-contact audio plug.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 b  illustrates a conventional interconnection for a 3-contact audio plug with a 3-contact audio jack.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 a  illustrates a conventional 2-contact barrel plug.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 b  illustrates a conventional interconnection for a 2-contact barrel plug with a 2-contact barrel jack.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 a  illustrates a conventional 3-contact barrel plug.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 b  illustrates a conventional interconnection for a 3-contact barrel plug with a 2-contact barrel jack.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional interconnection between an audio circuit and an audio jack and a power circuit and a barrel jack.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary interconnection between a 3-contact jack and power and data circuits.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 7 a  illustrates another exemplary interconnection, including control and switching circuits, between a 3-contact jack and power and data circuits.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 7 b  illustrates an exemplary interconnection, including control and switching circuits, between a 4-contact jack and power and data circuits.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 8 a  illustrates an exemplary control circuit.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 8 b  illustrates an exemplary sensing circuit of the control circuit in FIG. 7 a.    
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 9 a  illustrates another exemplary interconnection, including control and switching circuits, between a 3-contact jack and power and data circuits.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 9 b  illustrates another exemplary sensing scheme.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 10 a  illustrates an exemplary interconnection between a 3-contact barrel plug and a 3-contact barrel jack.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 10 b  illustrates an exemplary interconnection between a 3-contact audio plug and a 3-contact audio jack.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary interconnection between a 4-contact audio plug and a 4-contact audio jack.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary mobile telephone including an audio jack to connect to audio and charging peripherals with audio plugs.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary mobile telephone including a barrel jack to connect to audio and charging peripherals with barrel plugs. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0031]    The following describes an exemplary combined power and data jack providing, for example, combined power and data connections in a mobile telephone or other personal electronic devices. As discussed above, multiple connectors affect the size and cost of the personal electronic device. The combination power and data jack of the present invention may reduce the size and cost of the electronic device by reducing the number of connector jacks in the electronic device. Further, when the shared function jack is a standardized jack, such as an industry standard audio or barrel jack, the electronic device will be compatible with a wide range of standard peripheral devices.  
         [0032]    Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional mobile telephone  10 , shown with conventional headset  50  and charger  70 . The headset  50  includes speaker  52  and microphone  54 . The cord of the headset  50  terminates in an audio plug  60  that inserts into a corresponding audio jack  12  of the mobile telephone  10 . The charger  70  includes an ac/dc adapter  72  with a plug  74  that inserts into a conventional wall outlet. The cord of charger  70  terminates in a barrel plug  80  that inserts into a corresponding barrel jack  18  in the mobile telephone  10 . While charger  70  is illustrated as a “wall” type of charger, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the charger  70  could also be of any other known configuration, such as a dc/dc auto adaptor. As noted above, the use of separate standardized jacks  12 ,  18  undesirably increases the mobile telephone&#39;s size and cost.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate the audio plug  60  and audio jack  12  in more detail. Audio plug  60  is a standard three-contact audio plug having three segments: a sleeve  62 , a ring  64 , and a tip  66 . For a conventional headset  50 , tip  66  electrically connects to the microphone  54 , ring  64  electrically connects to speaker  52 , and sleeve  62  electrically connects to a peripheral ground  55 . The audio jack  12  includes corresponding contacts  14   a ,  14   b , and  16 . When the audio plug  60  is plugged into audio jack  12 , tip  66  connects to audio contact  14 b of jack  12 , ring  64  connects to contact  14   a , and sleeve  62  connects to ground contact  16 .  
         [0034]    [0034]FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the barrel plug  80  and barrel jack  18 . The barrel plug  80  includes an outer contact  82  and an inner contact  84  that typically connect to a power circuit in charger  70 . The barrel jack  18  includes corresponding contacts  20  and  22 . When 2-contact barrel plug  80  is plugged into 2-contact barrel jack  18 , outer contact  82  connects to ground contact  22  and inner contact  84  connects to power contact  20 .  
         [0035]    Alternatively, charging peripheral  70  may use a 3-contact barrel plug  80 , as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. A 3-contact barrel plug  80  includes an additional pin contact  86 , typically centered coaxially within the plug&#39;s barrel. In addition to the connections made with the 2-contact barrel connector, pin  86  connects to or otherwise mates with spring contact  24 . Pin contact  86  may serve, for example, as a control pin for indicating to mobile telephone  10  that a charger  70  is plugged into the mobile telephone  10 . For example, spring contact  24  may operate as a closed-loop circuit when nothing is plugged into jack  18 . When the barrel plug  80  is plugged into the barrel jack  18 , pin  86  separates the elements of the spring contact  24 . If pin  86  is conductive, pin  86  effectively maintains the closed-loop circuit. Alternatively, if pin  86  is non-conductive, spring contact  24  is effectively an open-loop circuit. Circuitry within the mobile telephone  10  may detect the state of the spring contact  24  to determine that a power peripheral is plugged into jack  18 .  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 5 illustrates conventional circuitry for a mobile telephone  10  or other personal electronic device. The circuit includes a power circuit  30 , an audio circuit  40 , a barrel jack  18  and an audio jack  12 . As shown in FIG. 5, the interconnections between audio jack  12  and audio circuit  40  are independent of the interconnections between barrel jack  18  and power circuit  30 . Other conventional mobile telephone components and interconnections well understood in the art are not critical to the understanding of the invention disclosed herein. Therefore, for simplicity, these components and interconnections are not shown.  
         [0037]    The present invention reduces the number of connectors used in an improved personal electronic device, such as a mobile telephone  100  (FIG. 6) by providing a single jack for both data and power. In this embodiment, “data circuit”  40  connotes a circuit within a mobile telephone  100  involved in transferring and/or receiving data. Such a circuit may include a communication circuit, an audio circuit, a video circuit, etc., responsible for transferring and/or receiving communication signals, audio signals, video signals, etc. Also in this embodiment, power circuit  30  comprises a power management circuit, such as a battery charging circuit  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary circuit according to the present invention including a power circuit  30 , a data circuit  40 , and a shared function jack  130 . The circuit may comprise a part of mobile telephone  100  or other personal electronic device. Jack  130  may be adapted to receive a conventional audio plug  60  as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, or a barrel plug  80  as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Jack  130  includes a shared power/data contact  132 , a ground contact  134 , and a data contact  136 . Ground contact  134  connects with data and power grounds  34  and  46 . The shared power/audio contact  132  connects to power connection  32  of the power circuit  30  and to a first data connection  42  of data circuit  40 . The second data contact  136  connects to a second data connection  44  of data circuit  40 .  
         [0039]    The jack  130  is adapted to receive plugs from both a data peripheral, such as a headset, and a power peripheral, such as a charger. When a power peripheral, such as a charger or other power adapter, is plugged into jack  130 , capacitor  48  blocks dc power from reaching the data circuit  40 . If necessary, power circuit  30  may include filters (not shown) to prevent any alternating current (ac) signal present on the shared power/audio contact  132  from interfering with the power circuit  30 .  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 7A illustrates another exemplary circuit according to the present invention including a control circuit  120  and a selection circuit  110 . In some embodiments, the control circuit  120  may incorporate the selection circuit  110 . Control circuit  120  controls the selection circuit  110  based on sensing a signal condition of one or more contacts in jack  130 . Thus, control circuit  120  may configure the selection circuit  110  depending on the type of peripheral (e.g. headset, battery charger, power adapter, etc.) plugged into the jack  130 . More particularly, in one embodiment, the control circuit  120  senses ac and dc signals on the shared power/audio contact  132  and generates a control signal to control the selection circuit  110 . In another exemplary embodiment, the control circuit  120  may sense a short or open circuit on one or more contacts.  
         [0041]    The selection circuit  110  includes selection switches  112  that alternately connect shared power/audio contact  132  and ground contact  130  to either the power circuit  30  or the data circuit  40 . The selection switches  112  may be electrical, mechanical, opto-electronic, or any other switching means. In a first configuration, the selection switches  112  connect the shared power/audio contact  132  to a power connection  32  of the power circuit  30  and connect the ground contact  134  to power ground  34 . In a second configuration, selection switches  112  connect the shared power/audio contact  132  to a first audio connection  42  of the data circuit  40  and connect the ground contact  134  to the audio ground  46 .  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 7B illustrates another exemplary circuit according to the present invention using a four-contact jack. The four contact jack is essentially the same as the three-contact jack of FIG. 7A with the addition of third data or control contact  142 . In one embodiment, third audio contact  142  connects to a third audio input  48  of the data circuit  40 . The provision of an extra audio contact  142  permits both an audio input (e.g. microphone) and a stereo output.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate an exemplary control circuit  120  in more detail. Control circuit  120  includes a sensing circuit  122  and control logic  126 . Sensing circuit  122  detects the signal type and/or level on the shared power/audio contact  132 . In one exemplary embodiment, sensing circuit  122  includes a comparator having a first input connected to a voltage reference and a second input connected to the shared power/audio contact  132 . The comparator output is coupled to the output of the sensing circuit  122 . If a dc signal is present on the shared power/audio contact  132 , the output  124  to the sensing circuit  122  is a low signal. Alternatively, if an ac signal is present on the shared power/audio contact  132 , the output  124  of the sensing circuit  122  is a high signal. The output  124  of the sensing circuit  122  is applied to control logic  126 , which generates a control signal for selection circuit  110  responsive to the output  124  of the sensing circuit  122 . Of course, the sensing circuit illustrated in FIG. 8B is simply one approach to signal sensing and is only shown here for illustration. Various other sensing circuits known in the art may also be used.  
         [0044]    According to another embodiment of the present invention, illustrated in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the connector configuration may indicate the signal type to control circuit  120 . For example, jack  130  may comprise a barrel jack with a spring contact  136  that forms an open-loop circuit when pin  86  electrically separates elements of the spring contact  136 . An open-loop circuit may, for example, indicate that a charger  70  or dc adapter is plugged into the mobile telephone  100 . Alternatively, spring contact  136  may form a closed-loop circuit when pin  86  electrically connects contact  136  to contact  136 ′. A closed-loop circuit may indicate that an audio, video, or other data peripheral is plugged into the mobile telephone  100 . Control circuit  120  then generates a control signal for selection circuit  110  responsive to the state of the spring contact circuit  136  and  136 ′.  
         [0045]    In some implementations, it is beneficial to isolate the data ground from the power ground. As illustrated in FIGS. 7A, 7B, and  9 A, the selection circuit  110  may selectively couple the ground contact  134  to a power ground contact  34  on the power circuit  30  or to a data ground contact  46  on the data circuit  40 . However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the ground contact  134  could connect directly to both the data circuit  40  and the power circuit  30 .  
         [0046]    The present invention contemplates that a single standard plug will be used for both audio devices and power devices, thereby allowing a single jack to be used in the improved mobile telephone  100  or other personal electronic device. The plug may comprise an audio plug or a barrel plug, or any other known type of plug. FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate exemplary plugs that could be used with the present invention. FIG. 10A illustrates an exemplary 3-contact barrel connector including an outer contact  82 , an inner contact  84 , and a pin  86 . When plugged into a 3-contact barrel jack  130  of the present invention, outer contact  82  connects to a ground contact  134 , inner contact  84  connects to a shared power/audio contact  132 , and pin  86  mates with a spring contact  136 . Those skilled in the art will understand that various other configurations may also be used with the present invention. For example, the shared power/audio contact could be pin  86 . The signal on the shared power/audio contact  132  of barrel jack  130  may be a power signal, a data signal, such as an audio signal, or a power and a data signal, depending on the type of peripheral plugged into the barrel jack  130 . When plug  80  is used in an audio peripheral, such as a headset with a single speaker and a microphone, the outer contact  82  may connect to a ground, the inner contact  84  may connect to the speaker, and the pin  86  may connect to the microphone. If the headset does not include a microphone, but instead has two speakers, the pin  86  may connect to one of the speakers and the inner contact  84  may connect to the other. When used with a battery charger or other power peripheral, the outer contact  82  of the plug may connect to ground and the inner contact  84  may connect to power.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 10B illustrates an exemplary 3-contact audio connector  60  including a sleeve  62 , a ring  64 , and a tip  66 . When plugged into a 3-contact audio jack  140 , sleeve  62  connects to a ground contact  134 , the ring connects to the shared power/audio contact  132 , and the tip  66  connects to a second audio contact  136 . Again, the signal on the shared power/audio contact  132  of audio jack  140  may be a power signal, a data signal, such as an audio signal, or a power and data signal, depending on the type of appliance plugged into the audio jack  140 .  
         [0048]    When the plug  60  is used in an audio peripheral, such as a headset with a single speaker and a microphone, the sleeve  62  may connect to a ground, the ring  64  may connect to the speaker, and the pin tip  66  may connect to the microphone. If the headset does not include a microphone, but instead has two speakers, the tip  66  may connect to one of the speakers and the ring  64  may connect to the other.  
         [0049]    When the plug  60  is used with a battery charger or other power peripheral, the sleeve  62  of the plug  60  may connect to ground and the ring  64  may connect to power. The tip  66  may not carry any signal. Those skilled in the art will understand that the above connections are for illustrative purposes only. Other embodiments may use any contact on the connector, such as the pin, as the shared power/audio contact.  
         [0050]    Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention does not limit the number of connector contacts. For example, FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary 4-contact audio plug  60  that is essentially the same as the three-contact audio plug of FIG. 10B with a second ring  68 . The plug  60  of FIG. 11 may be used, for example, in a headset with two speakers and a microphone. Ring  68  may connect to one of the speakers while ring  64  connects to the other. As with the 3-contact connector, the shared power/audio contact  132  of audio jack  140  is operative to receive either a power signal, a data signal, such as an audio signal, or a power and a data signal from first ring  64 . Further, the second ring  68  connects to a second audio contact  142  operative to receive either a second data signal, such as an audio signal resulting for a second speaker.  
         [0051]    According to the present invention, multiple common peripheral devices, such as headset  150  and/or chargers  152  and  154 , may be compatible with a single jack on mobile telephone  100  or other personal electronic device. The mobile telephone  100  may include a standard audio jack  140  as shown in FIG. 12. Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 13, mobile telephone  100  may include a barrel jack  130  compatible with a plurality of common peripheral devices, such as headset  160  and/or chargers  162  and  164 , using a standard barrel plug  80 .  
         [0052]    The foregoing description and drawings describe and illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present invention in detail. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited to standard audio or barrel connectors. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the inventive connector may comprise more than one multi-function contact. Therefore, the present invention embraces all changes and modifications that come within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims.