Abstract:
A portable device capable of distinguishing peripherals is provided in the present invention. The portable device performing at least one extended function includes: one of peripherals connecting to the portable device; an interface connectable to the peripheral; and a memory storing an index table that lists at least one identification code of the peripheral. Each of the peripheral includes: an interface connectable to the interface of the portable device, a peripheral function module performing a peripheral function after the peripheral connected to the portable device, and an identification module with a device specific identification code.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a portable device and its peripherals, particularly to a portable device with embedded identification modules to distinguish off-board peripherals. 
         [0003]    2. Related Art 
         [0004]    The two most popular trends of portable devices are miniaturization and functionality. A typical portable device with multiple functionalities is a mobile phone with Bluetooth, media player, camera, etc. In order to integrate these functions in the mobile phone, the mobile phone manufacturer has to reduce the performance of the integrated functions. For example, the resolution and color of a picture captured by the mobile phone is inferior to a picture captured by a professional camera. However, a user of the mobile phone rarely uses the additional functionalities of the mobile phone. Only in limited circumstance, the user uses an image capturing function or a media playing function of the mobile phone. Therefore, it is unnecessary for the mobile phone to integrate all the additional hardware functionality. 
         [0005]    Considered from another respect, if the portable device, instead of integrating the additional functionalities, includes interfaces, only, for connecting peripherals that perform the functions, the appearance of the portable device will be improved and the cost of the device will be less. 
         [0006]    Accordingly, it would be advantageous if portable devices are small in dimension with a plurality of selectable extended functionalities. The selectable extended functionalities are achieved by connecting different peripherals to the portable device by an interface. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    A portable device capable of distinguishing peripherals is provided in the present invention. The portable device performing at least one extended function includes: one of peripherals connecting to the portable device; an interface connectable to the peripheral; and a memory storing an index table that lists at least one identification code of the peripheral. 
         [0008]    The present invention further provided a portable device performs a basic function capable of identifying at least one peripheral. The portable device includes: an interface connected to the peripheral, and a memory storing an index table that lists at least one identification code of the peripheral. 
         [0009]    The present invention further provides many peripherals for extending functionalities for a portable device. Each of the peripheral includes: an interface connected to the interface of the portable device, a peripheral function module performing a peripheral function after the peripheral connected to the portable device, and an identification module with a device specific identification code. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a hardware infrastructure of an electronic product in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a multimedia mobile phone and a Bluetooth transceiver in accordance with the present invention; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of a preferred procedure for presenting an operation process according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a hardware infrastructure of an electronic product  1  in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The electronic product  1  consists of at least one portable device such as a mobile phone and one or more peripherals. The peripheral can be either of, but not limited to, a Bluetooth transceiver  20 , a camera  30 , and a recorder  40 . 
         [0014]    The mobile phone  10  includes an interface  14  that is connectable to one of the peripherals. The mobile phone  10  further includes a memory  15  that stores an index table that lists at least one identification code of the peripheral. The memory further stores a plurality of driver programs that enables the mobile phone  10  to control and communicate with the peripherals. 
         [0015]    Each of the peripherals of the mobile phone  10  includes an interface  24  ( 34  or  44 ) that is connectable to the interface  14  of the mobile phone  10 , a peripheral function module  22  ( 32  or  42 ) that is used to perform a peripheral function after the peripheral is connected to the mobile phone  10 , and an identification module  23  ( 33  or  43 ) with an identification code that identifies the peripheral. After the peripheral is connected to the mobile phone  10 , the mobile phone  10  detects the device category of the peripheral according to the identification code. The mobile phone  10  then selects and loads a corresponding driver program according to the device category thus enabling the mobile phone  10  to control and communicate with the peripheral. For example, when the interface  34  of the camera  30  first connects to the mobile phone  10 , the mobile phone  10  detects the camera  30  by accessing the identification module  33  of the camera  30 , and then selects and loads a camera driver program. Thus the mobile phone  10  can perform an image capturing function by connecting the camera  30 . 
         [0016]    The electronic product is not limited to the mobile phone  10  with peripherals, it also can be a media player or other electronic products with peripherals.  FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a multimedia mobile phone  2  in accordance with the present invention. The multimedia mobile phone  2  includes a mobile phone  10  and a plurality of peripherals. 
         [0017]    The mobile phone  10  includes a micro-control unit (MCU)  12  connected with a battery  11 , a communication module  13 , an interface  14 , and the memory  15 . The mobile phone  10  can perform a basic speech communication function by driving the communication module  13 . The multimedia mobile phone  2  can also perform other functions by connecting other different peripherals to the mobile phone  10 . The interface  14  of the mobile phone  2  is connected to an interface of one of peripherals. For exemplary purposes, a Bluetooth transceiver  20  is connected to the mobile phone  10  to illustrate how the mobile phone  10  detects and drives the Bluetooth transceiver  20 . 
         [0018]    The interface  14  of the mobile phone  10  consists of a power (VCC) pin, a ground (GND) pin, at least one detection (DET) pin, and at least one data (DAT) pin. The number of the DET pin(s) of the interface  14  determines the number of the peripherals of the mobile phone  10 . If the number of the DET pin(s) is “N” (N being a natural number), the number of the peripherals of the mobile phone  10  is less than or equal to 2 N . In the preferred embodiment, the interface  14  of the mobile phone  10  has three DET pins, so the number of the peripherals of the multimedia mobile phone  2  is less or equal to 8 (2 3 =8). The DET pins are defined as a DET “2”, a DET “1”, and a DET “0” respectively, and one end of each of the DET pins is connected to the MCU  12 . The identification code of each of peripherals is determined by a numerical value loaded on the DET “2”, the DET “1”, and the DET “0”. 
         [0019]    The memory  15  stores an index table that lists device categories corresponding to identification codes of different peripherals. The following table is an example of the list, where the identify codes “10” and “11” are not allotted to any peripheral. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Identification code 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Peripheral Category 
                 DET “0” 
                 DET “1” 
                 DET “2” 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Battery Charger 
                 0 
                 0 
                 0 
               
               
                   
                 Expansion card 
                 0 
                 0 
                 1 
               
               
                   
                 Camera 
                 0 
                 1 
                 0 
               
               
                   
                 Video 
                 0 
                 1 
                 1 
               
               
                   
                 Bluetooth transceiver 
                 1 
                 0 
                 0 
               
               
                   
                 Media player 
                 1 
                 0 
                 1 
               
               
                   
                 Vacant 
                 1 
                 1 
                 0 
               
               
                   
                 Vacant 
                 1 
                 1 
                 1 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0020]    The memory  15  further stores a plurality of driver programs that enables the mobile phone  10  to control and communicate with the peripherals. 
         [0021]    The Bluetooth transceiver is one of eight peripherals of the multimedia mobile phone  2 . As shown in the above index table, each category of the peripherals of the multimedia mobile phone  2  has an identification code that enables the multimedia mobile phone  2  distinguishes the category of one peripheral from other peripherals. The Bluetooth transceiver  20  includes an interface  21 , the receiver and transmitter (RE-TR) module  22 , and the identification module  23 . The RE-TR module  22  is used to receive and transmit data by Bluetooth means. 
         [0022]    The identification module  23  provides the identification code of the Bluetooth transceiver  20  by a hardware means. The identification module  23  comprises “N” lines to present the identification code of the Bluetooth transceiver  20 . The number of “N” is equal to the number of the DET pins of the interface  14  of the mobile phone  10 . In the preferred embodiment, the identification module  23  comprises three lines, that is, a highest line “2”, a middle line “1”, and a lowest line “0”. If the line loaded a high voltage level is defined as a binary bit “1”, and the line loaded a low voltage level is defined as a binary bit ‘0’, the identification module  23  can present 8 different identification codes. Aspects of the Bluetooth transceiver  20 , the line “2” is connected to a VCC line having a high voltage level, and line “1” and line “0” are connected to a GND line having a low voltage level. Therefore, the identification code of the Bluetooth transceiver  20  is defined as “100”. 
         [0023]    The interface  21  of the Bluetooth transceiver  20  is corresponding to the interface  14  of the mobile phone  10  including a power (VCC) pin, a ground (GND) pin, three detection (DET) pins, and at least one data (DAT) pin. The DET pins are defined as a DET “2”, a DET “1”, and a DET “0” respectively. The DET “2” is connected to the line “2” of the identification module  23 , the DET “1” is connected to the line “1” of the identification module  23 , and the DET “0” is connected to the line “0” of the identification module  23 . 
         [0024]    When the multimedia mobile phone  2  is powered on, the DET pins of the interface  14  are set to high voltage level. The voltage level on DET “2”, DET “1”, and DET “0” of the interface  14  will change according to the peripheral connected to the mobile phone  10 . For the voltage level on DET “2”, DET “1”, and DET “0” of the interface  21  of the Bluetooth transceiver  20  is “high”, “low” and “low”, the voltage level on the DET “2” retains on high while the voltage levels on the DET “1” and the DET “0” are pulled down to low when the Bluetooth transceiver  20  is connected to the mobile phone  10 . By checking the voltage levels on the DET “2”, DET “1”, DET “0” of the interface  14 , the mobile phone  20  detects what the device categories is connected to the mobile phone  10 . In the preferred embodiment, the mobile phone  10  detects it is the Bluetooth transceiver  20  connected to the mobile phone  10  by checking the “high”, “low” and “low” voltage level on the DET “2”, DET “1”, DET “0” of the interface  14 . Therefore, the mobile phone  20  selects a Bluetooth driver program to control and communicate with the Bluetooth transceiver  20 . The multimedia mobile phone  2  extends the Bluetooth function by connecting the Bluetooth transceiver  20  into the mobile phone  10 . 
         [0025]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a preferred procedure presenting an operation process how the mobile phone distinguishes and driving different peripherals. 
         [0026]    In step S 1 , the mobile phone  10  is initialized. The mobile phone  10  can perform a basic function, such as speech communication. 
         [0027]    In step S 2 , the voltage levels on DET “2”, DET “1”, DET “0” of the interface  14  of the mobile phone  10  are set to high. 
         [0028]    In step S 3 , the MCU  12  detects whether any peripheral (e.g., the Bluetooth transceiver  20 ) is connected to the interface  14 . If the Bluetooth transceiver  20  is connected to the interface  14 , the procedure goes to step S 4 . If the Bluetooth transceiver  20  is not connected to the interface  14 , the procedure goes back to step S 2 . 
         [0029]    In step S 4 , the Bluetooth transceiver  20  is connected to the mobile phone  10 , the MCU  12  accesses the identification code “100” of the Bluetooth transceiver  10  according to the “high”, “low”, “low” voltage levels on the DET “2”, “1”, “0”. 
         [0030]    In step S 5 , the MCU  12  searches and confirms that a device category corresponding to the identification code “100” is a Bluetooth transceiver  20  according to the index table. 
         [0031]    In step S 6 , the MCU  12  selects and loads a driver program for the Bluetooth transceiver  20  according to the confirmed device category to initialize the Bluetooth transceiver  20 . 
         [0032]    In step S 7 , the MCU  12  judges whether the initialization is successful. If the initialization fails, the procedure goes to step S 8 , otherwise the procedure goes to step S 9 . 
         [0033]    In step S 8 , the initialization fails, the MCU  12  feedbacks an error warning to the multimedia mobile phone  2  by an image warning or by a buzzer warning to remind the user to connect the Bluetooth transceiver  20  again. After a new connection, the procedure goes back to step S 2 . 
         [0034]    In step S 9 , the initialization succeeds, the multimedia mobile phone  2  extends a Bluetooth function by driving, communicating and controlling the Bluetooth transceiver  20 . 
         [0035]    It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the invention.