Data processing apparatus with combined voice sound reproducing device and visual display

A voice sound producing electronic data processing apparatus has an electronic data processing main body, a visual display device and a voice sound outputting device having at least one loudspeaker. The voice sound outputting device is coupled to the display device and both are rotatably supported on the electronic data processing main body through a support part having a rotating mechanism such that the loudspeaker and the display device always face in the same direction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to an improvement in an electronic data 
processing apparatus which produces a voice sound and which has a visual 
display. 
An electronic data processing apparatus, such as an electronic cash 
register, which reproduces as a voice sound numerical data input by key 
operation, is known. However, the orientation of the loudspeaker is 
stationary in an electronic cash register of the known type. Therefore, 
when a plurality of such electronic cash registers are arranged together 
at the cashier's counter in a super market or the like, the sounds from 
the loudspeakers tend to interfere with each other, making it difficult to 
differentiate between them. Furthermore, depending on the design of the 
store or sales department, the orientation of the loudspeaker of the 
electronic cash register is fixed in only one direction and does not 
orient toward a cashier or a customer, resulting in a disadvantage in that 
the sounds from the loudspeakers are hard to hear from other directions. 
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a voice sound 
producing electronic data processing apparatus in which a loudspeaker can 
face freely in any direction and a display device can face in the same 
direction as the loudspeaker, whereby voice sounds may be accurately 
transmitted in a desired direction and a display can be seen from the same 
direction. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention, a voice sound producing electronic data 
processing apparatus comprises an electronic data processing apparatus 
main body which includes a keyboard and a central processing unit coupled 
to the keyboard; and an output means. The output means includes a display 
device having a visual display surface means; means for displaying on the 
visual display surface means input data keyed in from the keyboard and 
operation result data resulting from an arithmetic operation performed by 
the central processing unit; a voice sound outputting device integrally 
coupled to the visual display surface means and having a loudspeaker which 
faces in the same direction as the visual display surface means; and means 
coupled to the loudspeaker for generating the input data and operation 
result data as a voice sound from the loudspeaker. Further provided is 
supporting means coupled to the electronic data processing main body and 
including a rotating means and the loudspeaker of the output means on the 
electronic data processing apparatus main body such that the visual 
display surface means and the loudspeaker are rotatable together so as to 
always face in the same direction. 
With this construction, in the electronic device (such an an electronic 
cash register) of the present invention, said voice sound outputting 
device and display device may be freely and easily directed in the same 
direction to face the cashier or to face a customer to facilitate hearing 
the sound from the loudspeaker and at the same time reading the display, 
independently of the limitations imposed by the location of the electronic 
device in the store or sales department.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference 
to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the outer 
appearance of an electronic cash register. Referring to FIG. 1 reference 
numeral 1 denotes an electronic cash register main body which has an input 
part 2 having various keys (an amount key, department keys, a subtotal 
key, a cash/deposit received key, and mode switches for setting the 
respective modes of "register (REG)", "refund (REF)", "setting (SET)", 
"checking (X)", and "settlement (Z)"); a display part 3 for displaying 
various data; a feeding part 5 for feeding out a receipt 4 on which are 
printed various data; and a cash box 6 for storing cash. 
A support column 7 stands upright at the top part of the electronic cash 
register main body 1. This support column 7 has a tubular shape and houses 
wire materials such as cords. A speaker box 8 is rotatably supported at 
the top part of the support column 7. The rotary mechanism of the speaker 
box 8 is so constructed that the speaker box 8 may be freely rotated 
(through 360 or 180.degree.) in the horizontal plane. The orientation of 
the speaker box 8 may be varied by the support column 7, the speaker box 
8, and the rotary mechanism. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the speaker box 8 incorporates a circuit board 11 
having electronic parts such as an LSI 9, resistor 10, and so on; and a 
loudspeaker 12 for producing a voice sound. This circuit board 11 and the 
loudspeaker 12 constitute a voice sound outputting circuit 13 to be 
described hereinafter. 
The system construction of the electronic cash register will be described 
next, referring to FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 2 denotes the 
input part having the various operation keys described hereinabove. To 
this input part 2 from an input control part 14 is supplied a timing 
signal KP for sampling. When the key operation is performed, the timing 
signal KP is selected according to the operated key and is input as a key 
input signal KI to an input buffer IB disposed at the input control part 
14. 
A printing part 15 supplies to a printing control part 16 a printing 
position signal TP of a printing drum (not shown). The printing control 
part 16 sends to the printing part 15 a printing drive signal MD, 
generated by correspondence between the input data and the data within a 
printing buffer PB, for printing amount data and the like on a journal 
paper sheet or a receipt paper sheet. 
To the display part 3 described above are supplied a digit signal DG from a 
display control part 17 and a segment signal SG obtained by decoding the 
data of a display buffer HB incorporated therein, and the display part 3 
displays the amount data and the like according to these signals. 
To these control parts 14, 16 and 17 are connected a CPU 18 and a RAM 
(random access memory) 19 through an address bus line AB and a data bus 
line DB. The RAM 19 stores the sales data for each department and 
transaction as classified. The CPU 18 outputs chip specifying signals CS1, 
CS2, CS3 and CS4 to the control parts 14, 16 and 17 and the RAM 19, 
respectively. The CPU 18 also outputs an R/W signal commonly to the 
control parts 14, 16, 17 and the RAM 19 for exchange of data between them 
and the CPU. The chip specifying signal CS3 and R/W signal are input to 
the voice sound outputting circuit 13 through a coupling part 35. 
The voice sound outputting circuit 13 described hereinabove is detachably 
connected through the coupling part 35 to the address bus line AB and the 
data bus line DB, and may receive the R/W signal and the chip specifying 
signal CS3. The voice sound outputting circuit 13 comprises a voice sound 
control part 20, a voice sound converting circuit 21, and the loudspeaker 
12 described hereinabove. When data is written in a voice buffer BB of the 
voice sound control part 20, exchange of data is performed between the 
voice and sound control part 20 and the voice sound converting circuit 21 
through bus lines B1, B2 and B3 for converting the data supplied to the 
voice sound converting circuit 21 to voice sound data and outputting it to 
the loudspeaker 12. 
The parts of the system described above, except for the voice sound 
outputting circuit 13, are arranged in the electronic cash register main 
body 1. 
With an electronic cash register of the construction as described above, 
upon operation of the operation keys of the input part 2, the data 
corresponding to the operated keys (e.g., 3,265 yen) is displayed at the 
display part 3 as "3265 yen". Simultaneously with this, a voice sound of 
"three thousand two hundred sixty five yen" is produced from the 
loudspeaker 12 through the voice sound control part 20 and the voice sound 
converting circuit 21. In this case, the data corresponding to the 
operated keys (3265 yen) is printed on the receipt paper sheet at the 
printing part 15 and is fed out from the feeding part 5. 
When the voice is being produced from the loudspeaker 12 and the customer 
is at the left side of the electronic cash register, for example, the 
loudspeaker box 8 can be rotated through a predetermined angle to orient 
the loudspeaker 12 toward the customer. Thus, the voice sound from the 
loudspeaker 12 is directed toward the customer. Accordingly, even when a 
plurality of electronic cash registers are arranged in the same area, the 
customer is able to hear the voice of the electronic cash register 
registering his purchases clearly and without confusion with other 
electronic cash registers. 
Another embodiment of the present invention will now be described with 
reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In this embodiment, a speaker box 30 and a 
rotary display 31 are formed integrally, and the other parts are of the 
same construction as in the above embodiment. A display part 32 of the 
rotary display 31 and the display part 3 of the electronic cash register 
main body 1 are electrically connected through connecting wires, and the 
data displayed at the display part 3 is simultaneously displayed at the 
display part 32 of the rotary display 31. The rotary display 31 is so 
constructed that it is rotatable on a support column 33 standing upright 
at the top part of the electronic cash register main body 1. 
The speaker box 30 incorporates the circuit board and the loudspeaker (of 
the same construction as the former embodiment) which constitute the voice 
sound outputting circuit, of the same construction as in the former 
embodiment. This speaker box 30 includes the coupling part 35 for being 
detachably mounted to the rotary display 31. This coupling part 35 
mechanically couples the speaker box 30 to the rotary display 31, and also 
electrically couples terminals of the voice sound control part of the 
voice sound outputting circuit to the output terminal of the electronic 
cash register main body 1 (terminals for outputting to the voice sound 
control part). In this case, the coupling part 35 is constructed to 
project, and a recessed coupling part (not shown) is included at the 
rotary display 31. 
With the electronic cash register of this construction, the same function 
as that of the embodiment described hereinabove may be obtained. In 
addition, since the speaker box 30 is detachably constructed, inspection 
and maintenance thereof are simplified. Furthermore, since the coupling 
means between the speaker box 30 and the rotary display 31 are coupling 
parts of projecting and recessed types, the detaching operation is 
simplified. Furthermore, since the rotary display 31 is used as a means of 
varying the orientation of the speaker box 30, it is possible to attract 
the attention of the customer by the voice sound from the speaker box 30 
to confirm the display at the display part 32 of the rotary display 31, in 
the electronic cash register of the above embodiment. As a result, the 
cashier makes fewer errors in the operation of the keys and is able to 
operate the cash register smoothly. 
Although the speaker box was detachably mounted to the rotary mounted 
display in the above embodiments, the display may be mounted to a rotary 
mounted speaker box. Furthermore it is not necessary to mount speaker box 
and display detachably with respect to each other, but the speaker box and 
the display may be formed integrally. It suffices that the speaker and 
display are rotatable relative to the electronic cash register main body. 
Although the voice sound outputting circuit 13 was built in the speaker box 
8 and 30 in the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to 
this particular construction. For example, it is possible to dispose the 
loudspeaker alone in the speaker box, and the other parts in the 
electronic cash register main body 1. 
The present invention is not limited to the electronic cash register of the 
above construction, but may be adapted to other electronic devices such as 
electronic musical instruments and electronic calculators.