Patent Application
20060194612
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electronic assembly with media playback function, and more particularly to a portable electronic assembly with built-in USB OTG chip and chamber for media playback, whereby the portable electronic assembly functions as master for real-time MP3 playback, digital audio and video data transmission, sharing and playback with low cost and great portability.
2. Description of Related Art
The consumer electronic product and electronic storage media have rapid progress recently as the advance of electronic technology and prevailing of computer system. The electronic storage media and related devices, such as hard disk, flash memory card, thumb drive, MP3 device, card reader, are generally provided to the consumer electronic product for data storage. However, the prior art consumer electronic product is generally connected to a host computer through USB port to upload or download data for the electronic storage media thereof. The data transfer cannot be fulfilled without activating the host computer. Taking MP3 player as example, the MP3 data should be transferred from the host computer to the MP3 player through the USB interface for later playback. For data file transfer, the data is sent from the host computer to the thumb drive or flash memory card through USB interface. However, the content of the data file is only manifested by the host computer. Therefore, the thumb drive or flash memory card needs to connect with the host computer to manifest the content thereof, which imposes limitation on usage thereof.
Moreover, the mobile or portable electronic devices such as remote controllers for audio/video apparatus, remote controllers for computer cursor, or remote controllers for projector are also extensively used in ordinary life. However, those remote controllers are generally applicable to specific devices. Therefore, for user having lots of electronic device, he may need to bring remote controller, hard disk, flash memory card, thumb drive, MP3 device, card reader to successfully access the desired function. It is inconvenient to user because a bulky host computer is often required.
The USB On-The-Go (USB OTG) is developed to overcome the drawback of the conventional USB 2.0 protocol. The USB OTG supports bi-directional transmission function for the host computer and USB OTG peripheral in contrast to master-slave architecture of conventional USB 2.0 protocol.
In other word, the USB OTG peripheral can be a master for data transmission and performs data access and data sharing without the aid of host computer, which is great advance over merely original plug-and-play and peripheral function supported by the USB 2.0 protocol. However, it is still a challenge to integrate the function of conventional device end product with USB interface such as remote controller, hard disk, flash memory card, thumb drive, MP3 device, and card reader.
The present invention provides a portable electronic assembly with built-in USB OTG chip and chamber for media playback without using a host computer, whereby the portable electronic assembly functions as master for real-time MP3 playback, digital audio and video data transmission, sharing and playback with low cost and great portability.
Accordingly, the portable electronic assembly according to the present invention comprises a portable electronic device with a first chamber and a second chamber separated by a partition plate, a built-in USB OTG chip and a USB OTG connection port in the second chamber, a cover for sealing the first chamber and the second chamber; and a portable storage unit arranged in the second chamber. The portable storage unit includes a USB interface electrically connected to the USB OTG connection port.
Moreover, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the portable electronic assembly is a remote controller.
Moreover, according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the portable storage unit is a USB storage unit with wireless transmission/reception function, or an ordinary wired USB storage unit. The portable storage unit is a thumb drive, an MP3 player, or a thumb drive with MP3 function.
The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself however may be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, which describes certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the present invention provides a portable electronic assembly with media playback function. The portable electronic assembly comprises a portable electronic device 1 and a portable storage unit 2 arranged in the portable electronic device 1.
The portable electronic device 1 comprises a main body 11 with an inner space, a partition plate 12 dividing the inner space into a first chamber 13 and a second chamber 14, and a cover 16 sealing the first chamber 13 and the second chamber 14. The first chamber 13 is used for receiving a battery 3 therein as working power source. A USB OTG chip not shown) is placed in the second chamber 14 and a USB OTG port 15 is arranged within the second chamber 14.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the portable electronic device 1 is a remote controller, such as a remote controller of audio/video apparatus, computer cursor, or projector. The portable electronic device 1 comprises a control panel 10 with an earphone socket 17 and control keys 18 for controlling the operation of the MP3 playback, digital data transfer, storing and accessing, as shown in
The portable storage unit 2 comprises a USB interface 21 and is configured to fit into the second chamber 14. The USB interface 21 can be connected with the USB OTG port 15 in the second chamber 14, as shown in
The portable storage unit 2 is, for example, a commercially available storage media of different formats, such as thumb drive, MP3 player, thumb drive with MP3 function etc. The portable storage unit 2 can be retained in the second chamber 14 by connecting to the USB OTG port 15, thus prevent from detaching or removing during the movement of the portable electronic device 1. Alternatively, the portable storage unit 2 can be a USB storage unit with wireless transmission/reception function, or an ordinary wired USB storage unit.
Accordingly, the portable electronic device 1 can be directly used as flash memory or MP3 data storage. In step 404, a user can operate the control keys 18 to access the portable storage unit 2 without using a host computer or without the need to turn on a host computer. The digital data such as MP3 audio file, MPEG 2 file, digital voice file can be real-time play backed, accessed, transmitted or shared. In step 406, a user can use an earphone connected to the earphone socket 17 and operate the control keys 18 to playback the MP3 data and digital audio/video data.
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.
