Abstract:
The present invention provides an entertainment system in which the models can be discriminated between compatible operation devices. A connector of the operation device of the present invention comprises at least two recess portions on the peripheral surface thereof, and a connecting portion of a machine body is provided with at least two metal projections arranged thereon to be engaged with the respective recesses. The connector includes a metal plate, and the metal plate is exposed inside of the first recess and the second recess. A supplying portion of the machine body supplies a predetermined potential to the metal plate by supplying the predetermined potential to the first metal projection engaged with the first recess. A detecting portion of the machine body determines whether the connected operation device is the operation device or not by detecting a potential of the second metal projection engaged with the second recess.

Description:
This application claims a priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 11-255608 filed on Sep. 9, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an entertainment system using a operation device connected thereto. 
     An entertainment system to be used by connecting to the external display is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-313730. The entertainment system comprises, as shown in FIG. 1, a machine body  10  having an optical disk reproducing section  1 , and an operation device  20  for accepting the user&#39;s operations connected thereto. A processing unit within the machine body  10  receives a game program and image information etc. recorded in the optical disc from the optical disk reproducing section  1  and displays the image on the external display. The processing unit communicates with the operation device  20 , to accept contents of the user&#39;s oprations, executes a game program according to the accepted user&#39;s controls, and changes the display images etc. 
     The operation device  20  comprises a operation body  22  having switches  24 - 29  arranged thereon for receiving the user&#39;s operations, a cable  23 , and a connector  21 . The operation unit  20  is connected with respect to each other by inserting the connector  21  into the connecting portions  4   a  and  4   b  of the machine body  10  as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG.  3 . 
     The connector  21  comprises nine pins  601  therein as shown in FIGS. 5A,  5 B, and  5 C. On the upper surface of an inserting portion  501  of the connector  21 , there are provided retaining portions  502 ,  503 , and  504  for preventing the connector  21  from being detached from the connecting portions  4   a  and  4   b  of the machine body  10  as shown in FIG.  4 . The retaining portions  502 ,  503 , and  504  are recesses to engage with the metal projection provided within the connecting portions  4   a  and  4   b . A grounding metal  505  is inserted on the bottom surface of the recess of the retaining portion  503  located in the center, and is exposed from the bottom surface of the retaining portion  503 . The grounding metal  505  is supplied with a ground potential when it comes into contact with the metal projection at the ground potential provided on the machine body  10  to be engaged therewith. Therefore, the retaining portion  503  located in the center serves not only as a retaining portion, but also as a grounding terminal. 
     The machine body  10  is also provided with receiving portions  3   a ,  3   b  for a card-type external memory device device  30  to be mounted thereon, and switches  11 ,  12 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In recent years, the development of the operation device  20  has been pursued to produce a new model by making improvement to the operation device  20  described above, for example, by increasing the number of operations that are accepted by the switches  24 - 29  of the operation device body  22 , or by increasing communication speed between the operation device  20  and the machine body  10 . However, since it is preferable to ensure compatibility between the operation device of the new model and that of the conventional model in order to enhance convenience, the connector of the operation device for the new model should have the same configuration as that of the connector of the conventional operation device  20 . 
     On the other hand, the machine body cannot support all the communication modes for each model, unless the machine body can discriminate whether the connected operation device is the conventional model or the new model. In general, a pin is added to the new model for discriminating the new model from the conventional one. However, adding such a pin to the operation device of the new model changes the configuration of the connector, whereby the compatibility cannot be established. In order to ensure the compatibility as well as discrimination of the model, there requires such a structure that can discriminate the model types while maintaining the configuration of the connector as it was in the conventional model. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an entertainment system that can discriminate the models between the compatible operation devices. 
     In order to achieve the object described above, the following entertainment system is provided according to the present invention. That is, an entertainment system comprising an operation device having a connector, and a machine body having a connecting portion to be connected to said connector wherein: 
     the connector is provided with a plurality of recesses on the peripheral surface thereof, said plurality of recesses including the first recess and the second recess; 
     the connecting portion is provided with a plurality of metal projections to be engaged with the plurality of recesses respectively, the plurality of metal projections including the first metal projection to be engaged with the first recess and the second metal projection to be engaged with the second recess; 
     the connector includes a metal plate, and the metal plate is exposed inside of at least the first recess and the second recess; and 
     the machine body has a supplying portion for supplying a predetermined potential to the first metal projection for supplying the predetermined potential to the metal plate and a detecting portion for detecting whether a potential of the second metal projection is equal to the predetermined potential or not in order to detect whether the operation device connected to the connecting portion is said operation device or not. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a top view showing an entire structure of the conventional entertainment system  100 ; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view showing a configuration of a front face of the entertainment system  100  shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a side view showing a configuration of a side of the entertainment system  100  shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a top view showing a structure of a connector  21  of the operation device  20  for the entertainment system  100  shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5A is a cross sectional view of the connector  21  of FIG. 4 taken along the line A—A, 
     FIG. 5B is a cross sectional view of the connector  21  of FIG. 4 taken along the line B—B, and 
     FIG. 5C is a cross sectional view of the connector  21  of FIG.  5 A and FIG. 5B taken along the line C—C; 
     FIG. 6 is a front view showing a machine body  210  of the entertainment system  200  and a top view showing the operation device  220  according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the machine body  210  of the entertainment system  200  of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 8 is a top view showing a structure of the connector  221  of the operation device  220  for the entertainment system  200  shown in FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view of the connector  221  of FIG. 8 taken along the line D—D; 
     FIG. 10 is a front view of a receiving portion  3   a  (in the state where a shutter is removed) and a connecting portion  204   a  of the machine body  210  of the entertainment system  200  shown in FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view of the receiving portion  3   a  and the connecting portion  204   a  of the machine body  210  of the entertainment system  200  shown in FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 12 is a top view showing a configuration of the metal plates  121 ,  122  disposed on the connecting portion  204   a  shown in FIG. 10; and 
     FIG. 13A is a schematic circuit diagram showing the open state of the pull-up circuit of the machine body  210  of the entertainment system  200  shown in FIG. 6, 
     FIG. 13B is a schematic circuit diagram showing the grounded state of the pull-up circuit of the machine body  210  of the entertainment system  200  shown in FIG.  6 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The entertainment system according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described. 
     The entertainment system  200  of this embodiment is a series of models, which are systematized members of the entertainment system  100  shown in FIG.  1 . The entertainment system  200  of this embodiment comprises, as shown in FIG.  6  and FIG. 7, a machine body  210  and an operation device  220  detachably connected to the machine body  210 . The machine body  210  comprises, as in FIG. 7, the optical disk reproducing portion  1 , an arithmetic processing unit  2 , card-type exterior memory device receiving portions  3   a  and  3   b , operation device connecting portions  204   a  and  204   b , a switch  11 , and a display connecting portion  5 . 
     The operation device  220  is a device for accepting the user&#39;s operations, one or two of which can be connected to the connecting portions  204   a  and  204   b  of the machine body  210 . The operation device  220  comprises an operation device body  222  having a press down type switches  224 - 229 , and lever-type switches  218  and  219  for accepting the user&#39;s operations, a cable  223 , and a connector  221 . The machine body  210  and the operation device  220  are connected by inserting the connector  221  into the connecting portions  204   a  and  204   b  of the machine body  210 . The operation device  220  is a high performance device wherein the switches  218 ,  219 ,  224 - 229  are capable of accepting a larger number of types of oprations than the conventional operation device  20 . In addition, the communication speed between the operation device  220  and the machine body  210  is higher than that between the conventional operation device  20  and the machine body  10 , and the communication procedure is also different. 
     The arithmetic processing unit  2  of the machine body  210  has a capability of communicating in a communicating procedure that is adapted to the operation device  20  and in a communicating procedure that is adapted to the operation device  220 . 
     The connector  221  of the operation device  220  has the same profile as the conventional connector  21  shown in FIG. 4, FIGS. 5A,  5 B, and  5 C, and the number of the pins  601  provided therein and the spacing between adjacent pins are the same as the conventional connector. As shown in FIG. 8, the upper surface of an inserting portion  501  of the connector  221  is provided with retaining portions  802 ,  803 , and  804  of the same configuration and at the same position as retaining portions  502 ,  503 , and  504  of the conventional connector  21 . 
     The connector  221  of this embodiment differs from the conventional connector  21  in that the width of the grounding metal  805  is wider, and in that the grounding metal  805  is inserted not only to the bottom surface of the central retaining portion  803 , but also to the bottom surface of the retaining portion  802 . Therefore, the grounding metal  805  is exposed on the bottom surfaces of the retaining portions  802  and  803 . The recess of the retaining portion  802  has an elongated configuration toward the tip of the inserting portion  501 , and the grounding metal  805  is exposed on the retaining portion  802  until the vicinity of the tip. The grounding metal  805  is connected to the electromagnetic shielding (not shown) within the connector  221 . The grounding metal  805  in itself serves as an electromagnetic shield for the inserting portion  501 . 
     On the other hand, the front face of the machine body  210  is provided with connecting portions  204   a  and  204   b  for connecting the connector  221  of the operation device  220 . As described above, since the connector  221  of the operation device  220  has the same configuration as the connector  21  of the conventional operation device  20 , the connector  21  of the conventional operation device  20  can be connected to the connecting portions  204   a  and  204   b  of the machine body. 
     The connecting portion  204   a  is, as shown in FIG.  10  and FIG. 11, provided with three bases  402  within the opening  400 , and nine cylindrical terminals  401  are arranged in the bases  402 . The cylindrical terminal  401  is connected to the nine pins  601  of the connector  21 ,  221 . At the upper part of the opening  400 , there are provided with metal plates  121 ,  122  of the shape as shown in FIG. 12 arranged without contact with respect to each other. 
     The metal plate  121  is formed with lever shaped projections  124 ,  125  at two points, while the metal plate  122  is formed with a lever shaped projection  123  at one point. These projections  123 ,  124 , and  125  are protrude inward the opening  400  in a line as shown in FIG.  10 . The central projection  124  is divided into two pieces in order to provide two contact points. 
     The metal plate  121  is electrically connected to the ground cable within the machine body  210 . The metal plate  122  is connected to a pull-up circuit  131  as shown in FIG.  13 A. The pull-up circuit  131  comprises wiring  134  connected to the metal plate  122 , a signal line  132  at a signal potential, and a resistance  133  connecting the signal line  132  at a signal potential and the wiring  134 . Therefore, when the metal plate  122  is in an open state where it is not in contact with other signal lines as shown in FIG. 13A, the wiring  134  will be equal to the signal potential of the signal line  132 , thus pulling up the potential of the signal line  132  to the signal potential. On the other hand, when the metal plate  122  comes into contact with the metal at a ground potential as shown in FIG. 13B, the potential of the signal line  134  is fallen down to a ground potential. The terminal  135  of the wiring  134  is connected to the arithmetic processing unit  2  in the machine body  210 , and the processing unit  2  has a function to determine whether the potential of the terminal  135  is at the signal potential or at the ground potential by executing a program within the inner memory device at predetermined time intervals. 
     Since the structure of the connecting portion  204   b  is the same as that of the connecting portion  204   a , description about the connecting portion  204   b  will not be made here. 
     In the entertainment system  200  of this embodiment, when the connector  221  of the operation device  220  is inserted into the connecting portion  204   a  of the machine body  210 , the inserting portion  501  of the connector  221  is fitted in a clearance between the opening  400  of the connecting portion  204   a  and the base  402 . Accordingly, the projections  123 ,  124 , and  125  are engaged with the retaining portions  802 ,  803 , and  804  provided on the upper surface of the connector  221  respectively, so that the connector  221  is locked to the connecting portion  204   a . The nine pins  601  of the connector  221  are connected with the nine cylindrical terminals  401  in the base  402 . 
     In this case, while the rightmost retaining portion  804  out of three retaining portions  802 ,  803 , and  804  is connected with the projection  125  only mechanically since it does not have a grounding metal  805  exposed on the bottom surface thereof, other two retaining portions  802  and  803  are connected with the projections  123  and  124  not only mechanically but also electrically since these two retaining portions  802  and  803  have a grounding metal  805  exposed on the bottom surfaces thereof. 
     The retaining portion  802  is formed until the vicinity of the tip of the inserting portion  501 , so that the projection  123  of the metal plate  122  is electrically connected to the grounding metal  805  exposed on the bottom surface of the retaining portion  802  when the connector  221  is inserted. At this point of time, since the potential of the grounding metal  802  is not fallen down to the ground level, the signal line  134  of the pull-up circuit  131  is still at a signal potential. When the connector  221  is inserted deeper, the projection  124  comes into contact with the grounding metal  805  on the bottom surface of the retaining portion  803  electrically, whereby the potential of the grounding metal  805  and thus of the metal plate  122  connected to the grounding metal  805  fall down to a ground level, as shown in FIG.  13 B. Therefore, the signal line  134  of the pull-up circuit  131  changes from the signal potential to the ground potential. The processing unit  2  determines that the potential of the terminal  135  of the signal line  134  is fallen down to the ground level, thereby detecting that the connected operation device is the operation device  220 . Therefore, the processing unit  2  can conduct communications in the communication procedure adapted to the operation device  220 , and receive opration information from the operation device  220  via the pins  601  and the terminals  401 . 
     As the potential of the grounding metal  805  falls down to the ground level, the potential of the electromagnetic shield connected to the grounding metal  805  falls down to the ground level as well, thereby functioning as an electromagnetic shield. The grounding metal  805  in itself prevents electromagnetic waves from leaking through the inserting portion  501 , and serves as a part of an electromagnetic shield. 
     On the other hand, when the connector  21  of the operation device  20  for the conventional model is inserted into the connecting portion  204   a , since the connector  21  is the same as the connector  221  in configuration, the inserting portion  501  of the connector  21  is fitted in a clearance between the opening  400  of the connecting portion  204   a  and the base  402 , so that the nine pins  601  of the connector  221  can be connected to the nine cylindrical terminals  401  of the base  402 . The projections  123 ,  124 , and  125  of the connecting portion  204   a  engage with the retaining portions  502 ,  503 , and  504  of the conventional connector  21  and the connector  221  is retained in the connecting portion  204   a . Since the grounding metal  505  exposed on the bottom surface of the central retaining portion  503  comes into electrical contact with the projection  124  of the metal plate  121  at the ground potential, the potential of the grounding metal  505  falls down to the ground level. Accordingly, the potential of the electromagnetic shield connected to the grounding metal  505  falls to the ground level as well, thereby serving as an electromagnetic shield. The grounding metal  505  in itself serves as an electromagnetic shield that shields the connector  21 . 
     However, the projection  123  connected to the pull-up circuit  131  is engaged with the retaining portion  502  only mechanically because the grounding metal  505  is not exposed on the bottom surface of the retaining portion  502 , whereby it cannot be connected to the grounding metal  505  electrically. Therefore, the signal line  134  of the pull-up circuit  131  remains at the signal potential. The processing unit  2  determines that the terminal  135  of the signal line  134  is still at the signal potential, thereby detecting that the connected operation device is the operation device  20 . Then the processing unit  2  can conduct communications in the communication mode adapted to the operation device  20  and receive opration information from the operation device  20  via the pins  601  and the terminals  401 . 
     In this way, in the operation device  220  of this embodiment, the configuration of the connector  221  is the same as the conventional connector  21 , but the grounding metal  805  is exposed from a plurality of retaining portions  802  and  803 . Therefore, whether the model of the connected operation device is the operation device  220  or the conventional operation device  20  can be determined depending on whether the machine body  210  can detect the ground potential at one of the exposed portion of the grounding metal  805  or not. In this way, since the operation device  220  is improved only in that the number of the locations of the grounding metal  805  exposed is increased, and thus the number of the terminals  601  is not increased, the configuration of the connector  221  may be maintained as in the conventional connector  21 , thereby ensuring compatibility between the operation device  20  and the operation device  220 . In addition, the machine body  210  can detect the model of the connected operation device by the metal plate  122  and the pull-up circuit  131 , whereby communications can be conducted in the communication mode that is adapted to the performance of the operation device. Since the pull-up circuit  131  and the metal plate  122  are simple in construction, it can be arranged in the machine body  210  easily at low cost. 
     Now, the structures and operations of the other components of the entertainment system  200  will be briefly described. 
     The optical disk reproducing section  1  of the machine body  210  comprises a disk tray  201   a , a switch  1   b , an axis of rotation, a rotary drive, a playback head, and a reproducing circuit. The disk tray  201   a  is, as shown in FIG. 6, arranged on the front face of the machine body  210 , and ejected toward the front by pressing the switch  1   b . By placing the optical disk in which a game program and images or the like to be displayed are recorded in advance on the disk tray  201   a , and then retracting the disk tray  201   a  within the machine body  210 , the optical disk is loaded into the machine body  210 . The rotary drive rotates the axis of rotation to allow the playback head to read information recorded therein. The switch  1   b  is a switch to withdraw the disk tray  201   a . The reset switch  11  is also provided on the front face of the machine body  210 . 
     Above the connecting portions  204   a  and  204   b  on the front face of the machine body  210 , there are provided receiving portions  3   a  and  3   b  for mounting a card-type external memory device  30 , as shown in FIG.  6 . The receiving portions  3   a  and  3   b  are provided with terminals  1501  as shown in FIG.  10  and FIG.  11 . The terminals  1501  are brought into contact with a connecting terminal on the mounted card-type external memory device  30 . At the entrance of the receiving portion  3   a ,  3   b , there is provided a shutter  1402  that is closed by a force of the spring  1403  when the card-type external memory device  30  is not mounted. 
     The user connects the external display  40  to the connecting portion  5  of the machine body  210 , and the operation device  20  or  220  to the connecting portions  204   a  and  204   b , when the user plays game by the entertainment system  200 . Then the user turns the power source switch, not shown, ON, places an optical disk on the disk tray  201  of the optical disk reproducing section  1  to load it. Then the processing unit  2  of the machine body  210  receives the game program or image information etc. recorded on the optical disk from the optical disk regenerating section  1  and displays it on the external display  40 . The processing unit  2  detects whether the connected operation device is the operation device  20  or the operation device  220  by determining whether the potential of the terminal  135  of the pull-up circuit  131  is at the signal potential or at the ground potential as described above, and then conducts communications with the operation device in the communication mode adapted to the model of the detected operation device to receive contents of the user&#39;s operations. The processing unit  2  changes the displaying image by executing a game program according to the received contents of the operations. The processing unit  2  communicates with the card-type external memory device  30  when the card-type external memory device  30  is mounted into the receiving portion  3   a  and  3   b  to read game information stored in the card-type external memory device  30 , thereby reflecting it to the execution of the game program. At the same time, the processing unit  2  stores game information into the card-type external memory device  30  according to he game program. 
     As is described thus far, the entertainment system of this embodiment is very convenient for the user because any one of the operation device  20  and the operation device  20 , which are different in model, may be connected to the machine body  210 . In addition, whether the connected operation device is the operation device  20  or the operation device  220  may be easily detected by the machine body, whereby the machine body  210  can conduct communications in the communication procedure adapted to the connected model of the operation device  20  or  220 . Therefore, the operation device and the machine body can conduct communications by making the most of the performances of the operation device  20  and  220 . 
     As explained above, according to the present invention, there is provided the entertainment system that can discriminate the model of compatible operation devices can.