Patent Application
20070221832
The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to a portable electronic device with an electronic lock.
The conventional portable electronic devices, such as a portable disk drive, a MP3 player, have already been widely used. These conventional portable electronic devices have one common characteristic, that is, after these conventional portable electronic devices are supplied with power, they should be immediately used. This kind of “power on and activate” design method for the conventional portable electronic devices cannot prevent others from arbitrarily using the conventional portable electronic devices, although it provides a very convenient method of use. For example, anyone who acquires the conventional portable disk drive can read the data stored therein, consequently, the confidential documents can be exposed to unrelated people.
In order to overcome the disadvantage of the conventional portable electronic device, the inventor of the present invention provides an improved an electronic device with an electronic lock to overcome the issue mentioned above.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device with an electronic locking function, so as to prevent others from using it.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned aspect, the present invention provides an electronic device with an electronic lock, comprising: a rotary encoder and a micro-controller. The rotary encoder is rotatable to generate encoding signals. The micro-controller is connected to the rotary encoder and receives the encoding signals generated by the rotary encoder. The micro-controller uses the encoding signals to determine whether the electronic device can be used.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. Other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description, drawings and claims.
The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:
The functionality of rotary encoder 101 is to provide password input means identical to the safety lock for the safety box. The rotary encoder 101 generates encoding signals 101a, 101b through a rotary operation. Please refer to
The switch 105 is connected to the micro-controller 103 and is used for generating at least one switch signal 105a. The micro-controller 103 determines the processing means for the encoding signals 101a, 101b based on the total turn number of the switch 105 being continuously pressed. For example, the user can first press the switch 105 once, and then rotatably operate the rotary encoder 101 to input the password, and then continuously press the switch 105 twice to indicate the completion of password input. Alternatively, the user only press the switch 105 once, and then stop performing any operation on the electronic device 10 for a given period, such as in 2 seconds. After the given period has past, the micro-controller 103 clears the password previously inputted. The switch 105 of the present invention can be implemented as a tact switch.
The display 107 of the electronic device 10 in accordance with the present invention is for displaying the rotary operation status of the rotary encoder 103. For example, the user can rotate 5 numbers counterclockwise to rotatably operate the rotary encoder 103, and the displayer 107 will show the corresponding message of 5 numbers counterclockwise. The display 107 of the present invention can be implemented as a small LED.
An embodiment of the electronic device 10 in accordance with the present invention includes a player, a data storage device, a setup box, a video player, etc. Moreover, an embodiment of the electronic device 10 in accordance with the present invention can be a portable electronic device, such as a portable disk drive, a palm-sized MP3 player, a portable digital TV player, a portable video player, a portable data storage device, etc. Based on the different embodiments of the electronic device 10, a corresponding logical circuit unit 109 is implemented as the corresponding circuit.
Because the present invention incorporates the function of an electronic lock, the electronic device 10 is improved with security effect; meanwhile, it can prevent others from using it, providing advantages beyond that of the conventional electronic device.
While the present invention has been described by way of examples and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the present invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. Therefore the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such changes and modifications.
