Abstract:
A business card reader includes a scanning module, a USB detecting/switching unit and two USB ports. The business card reader is connected to at least one of a personal computer and a PDA through the two USB ports, respectively. The USB detecting/switching unit controls the data transmission path among the scanning module, the personal computer and the PDA. The business card reader has a socket electrically connected to an external power source for charging a PDA connected to one USB port.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a business card reader (BCR), especially to a business card reader simultaneously used for a computer and a personal digital assistant (PDA) for providing data synchronization for computer and PDA and more flexible usage.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The business card reader is a compact scanner for reading and organizing business cards. A business card is scanned into a graphic file by the business card reader, and the graphic file of the business card is sent to a computer through a standard computer interface such as USB interface. The graphic file is then accessed by a post-processing software such as an optical character reorganization (OCR) software to convert it into text information. The text information may include Name, Title, Company, E-mail and Address field and can be saved to an address file such as MS Outlook address file.  
           [0003]    [0003]FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a prior art business card reader  10 , which comprises a controller  100 , a card-feeding sensor  102 , a motor controller  104 , a CIS module  106  and a USB port  206 . The card-feeding sensor  102  will trigger the motor controller  104  to feed in a business card once the card-feeding sensor  102  detects the presence of the business card. At the same time, the CIS module  106  is activated by the card-feeding sensor  102  to scan the business card into a graphic file. The graphic file is firstly stored in the controller  100  and then sent to a computer (not shown) through the USB port  206 .  
           [0004]    As the prevailing of mobile communication and mobile computing, the user, especially in business class, generally stores address book in portable computing device such as PDA. The data in the PDA can be simultaneously updated with data in a computer by some data synchronization software such as ActiveSync. However, the prior art business card reader cannot provide data synchronization for PDA and computer due to only one USB port available. Moreover, the prior art business card reader generally get electrical power through the power pin of the USB port, which is not convenient.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a business card reader connected to two external devices and providing flexible data transmission ability.  
           [0006]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a business card reader with charging ability for portable electronic device.  
           [0007]    To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a business card reader including a scanning module, a USB detecting/switching unit and two USB ports. The business card reader is connected to at least one of a personal computer and a PDA through the two USB ports, respectively. The USB detecting/switching unit controls the data transmission path among the scanning module, the personal computer and the PDA. The business card reader has a socket electrically connected to an external power source for charging a PDA connected to one USB port. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a prior art business card reader;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 shows the schematic diagram of the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 shows the schematic diagram of the USB detecting/switching unit according to the present invention; and  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 shows the detailed circuit diagram for the USB detecting/switching unit. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 shows the schematic diagram of the present invention, the business card reader according to the present invention comprises a controller  100 , a card-feeding sensor  102 , a motor controller  104 , a CIS module  106 , a power regulator  108 , a voltage booster  110 , a USB detecting/switching unit  200 , a first USB port  202  and a second USB port  204 . As shown in this figure, the business card reader according to the present invention is connected to a computer such as a notebook computer (not shown) through the first USB port  202  and connected to a PDA (not shown) through the second USB port  204 . The USB detecting/switching unit  200  is functioned to detect the connection status for the first USB port  202  and the second USB port  204  in order to discriminate whether any external device such as notebook computer or PDA is connected thereto. The USB detecting/switching unit  200  has a switch SW to switch operation mode when both the first USB port  202  and the second USB port  204  are connected to external devices.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 shows the schematic diagram of the USB detecting/switching unit  200  according to the present invention to further manifest the connection arrangement to the external devices. The USB detecting/switching unit  200  has electrical connection to the image data pins BCR D+ and BCR D− of the controller  100 . The USB detecting/switching unit  200  further has electrical connection to the data pins NB D+ and NB D- and power pin NB_PLUG of the first USB port  202  (the default connected device thereof is computer). The USB detecting/switching unit  200  further has electrical connection to the data pins PDA D+ and PDA D- and power pin PDA_PLUG of the second USB port  204  (the default connected device thereof is PDA). Moreover, the USB detecting/switching unit  200  further has electrical connection to a switch SW 1 . The USB detecting/switching unit  200  can detect the connection status of the first USB port  202  and the second USB port  204  by the signal level of the power pin NB_PLUG of the first USB port  202  and the signal level of the power pin PDA_PLUG of the second USB port  204 . Therefore, the USB detecting/switching unit  200  can detect whether a computer and/or a PDA is connected thereto.  
         [0014]    If only one of a computer and a PDA is connected to the business card reader by judging the signal levels of the power pins NB_PLUG and the power pin PDA_PLUG, the USB detecting/switching unit  200  can provide suitable signal connection path between the business card reader and one of the computer and the PDA. For example, the USB detecting/switching unit  200  can provide signal connection path between the image data pins BCR D+ and BCR D− of the controller  100  and the data pins NB D+ and NB D−, or provide signal connection path between the image data pins BCR D+ and BCR D− of the controller  100  and the data pins PDA D+ and PDA D−. If the computer and the PDA are simultaneously connected to the business card reader, the USB detecting/switching unit  200  can be operated in one of the following two modes by the control of the switch SW 1 :  
         [0015]    (1) Active Sync mode: the USB detecting/switching unit  200  can provide signal connection path between the data pins NB D+ and NB D− and the data pins PDA D+ and PDA D− to provide data synchronization between the computer and the PDA.  
         [0016]    (2) PDA transfer mode: the default host for the business card reader is PDA. When the computer and the PDA are simultaneously connected to the business card reader and the USB detecting/switching unit  200  is not operated in the Active Sync mode, the USB detecting/switching unit  200  will be operated in the PDA transfer mode, as being controlled by the switch SW 1 . In other word, the USB detecting/switching unit  200  provides signal connection path between the image data pins BCR D+ and BCR D− of the controller  100  and the data pins PDA D+ and PDA D− in the PDA transfer mode.  
         [0017]    The above-mentioned operations can be summarized by the following table  
                                                 TABLE 1                                       Switch SW1                        Active Sync   PDA transfer           PDA   Computer   mode   mode   data flow               V   N   X   X   BCR→PDA       N   V   X   X   BCR→computer       V   V   V   N   PDA⇄computer       V   V   N   V   BCR→PDA                                                  
 
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 4 shows the detailed circuit diagram for the USB detecting/switching unit  200 . The USB detecting/switching unit  200  comprises four analog switches (not labeled) controlled by the level of the power pins NB_PLUG and the power pin PDA_PLUG. Therefore, the USB detecting/switching unit  200  can switch signal connection path among the image data pins BCR D+ and BCR D− of the controller  100 , the data pins NB D+ and NB D− and the data pins PDA D+ and PDA D−. The switch SW 1  can control the connection path for the data pins PDA D+ and PDA D− to provide Active Sync mode or PDA transfer mode when both computer and PDA are connected to the business card reader.  
         [0019]    Moreover, a socket (not shown) is provided to the second USB port  204  and can be connected to external electrical source. Therefore, the business card reader can provide charging function to the PDA. The provision of the power regulator  108  and the voltage booster  110  can provide electric power of good quality to the business card reader.  
         [0020]    To sum up, the business card reader according to the present invention can provide selective signal transmission function for two external devices and charging function to portable electronic device such as PDA.  
         [0021]    Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have suggested in the foregoing description, and other will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.