1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery for an electronic device having a function of storing information, and an electronic device using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As info-communications areas develop, the use of portable electronic devices, such as portable phones, has become more widespread. Portable electronic devices have a variety of functions, from wireless Internet surfing to simple audio communication or communication of character based messages.
A portable phone, which is one form of electronic device such as that shown in
However, as electronic devices are more widely used, the electronic devices such as the portable phone also require an information storage function to store desired information whenever it is needed. The information storage function is in addition to the general communication function. This is because almost all information is interchanged in a digital file form. Thus, a mechanism is required to rapidly and simply download and store such information anytime and anywhere, and to read the information whenever it is needed. In particular, portable electronic devices such as portable phones, which are carried by a user, are most suitable for such a mechanism.
A plan for additionally installing a large capacity storage medium in the body 10 was proposed. However, this plan increases the size and complexity of the body 10 in which many principal parts are built. Therefore, even people who do not desire a large capacity storage medium would have no choice but to carry bulky devices, which would generate complaints. Also, the electronic devices require an additional transceiving line between them to directly interchange information with each other if a storage medium is installed in the body 10, which is inconvenient to use. The transceiving line is required even where the electronic devices are of the same kind.
Accordingly, devices having a new configuration for rapidly and simply storing and interchanging information anytime and anywhere are required to make up for these disadvantages.
To solve the above and other problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a battery for an electronic device having a function of rapidly and simply storing and interchanging desired information, and an electronic device using the same.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
Accordingly, to achieve the above and other objects, an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention includes a body including a controller and a battery coupled to the body to supply current to the controller, wherein the battery includes a memory unit having a built-in main memory and a detachable auxiliary memory.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a battery for an electronic device that is detachable from a body of the electronic device and which includes a memory unit having a built-in main memory and a detachable auxiliary memory.
The above and other object and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and more readily appreciated by describing in detail embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.
The battery 200, as shown in
The memory unit 220 includes built-in a main memory 221, such as a semiconductor memory chip, and a detachable auxiliary memory 222, such as a memory card. The memory unit 220 has basic recording capacity due to the main memory 221, and a freely extendable recording capacity supplied by the auxiliary memory 222, which can be additionally installed as necessary. The memory unit 220 conveniently adjusts its recording capacity and freely transfers information using the detachable function of the auxiliary memory 222. As shown in
The battery 200 includes a power output port 211 and a communication port 223 as shown in
As shown in
As shown in the embodiment in
A use of a portable phone having the above-described configuration and using a battery is described below according to an embodiment of the invention. The portable phone according to an embodiment of the present invention provides a user with an opportunity to select whether the portable phone has an information storage function in addition to a communication function, or whether the portable phone has only the communication function. In other words, if user requires the portable phone to have the information storage function, the battery 200 having the memory unit 220 coupled to the body 100 to store information. If the user of the portable phone does not need the information storage function, the user will select a battery having only a general battery unit, such as a conventional battery 20, to be coupled to the body 100 instead of the battery 200. As such, it is simple to carry the portable phone and a user can select functions of a portable phone according to the present need.
In a case where the portable phone has the information storage function as shown in the embodiment in
As shown in
According to another embodiment of the invention, only the auxiliary memory 222 is detached from the body 100 and then is connected to the memory unit 220 of another portable phone to transfer information without detaching the entire battery 200 from the body 100.
However, when the battery 200 is connected to a different kind of device 300, such as a different kind of portable phone, a notebooks, or a PDA, as shown in
If the device 300 is supplied with power from the battery unit 220 of the battery 200, as shown in
In the electronic device of the present invention, the memory unit is installed on the battery 200, and thus the body of the electronic device having a controller is not complex and is connected to the Internet or another device anytime and anywhere to simply store required information. Also, a user can select whether a portable phone has an information storage function as well as a communication function, or has only a communication function in consideration of portable convenience.
As described above, if the electronic device according to the present invention is used, required information can be easily stored in a memory unit on a battery anytime anywhere. Also, the use of an information storage function can be easily selected only by replacement of a battery. Further, the battery having the memory unit could be used in non-portable electronic devices, such as scientific instruments, electronic vehicles, surveillance aircraft and satellites, and the like, where the replacement of the battery and/or the auxiliary memory would serve to provide additional energy to the device while allowing retrieval of the stored data from the old battery.
Although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2001-16010 | Mar 2001 | KR | national |
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/996,764, filed Nov. 30, 2001, currently pending, which claims the priority of Korean Application No. 2001-16010, filed Mar. 27, 2001, in the Korean Industrial Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 09996764 | Nov 2001 | US |
Child | 11362759 | Feb 2006 | US |