WO2016108682A1

WO2016108682A1 - A protective sleeve

Info

Publication number: WO2016108682A1
Application number: PCT/MY2015/000100
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chung Onn LAI
Original assignee: Emerico Sdn Bhd
Priority date: 2014-12-29
Filing date: 2015-11-27
Publication date: 2016-07-07

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system for establishing a communication link between an electronic device (3) and at least two external devices (4, 5, 13) comprises a circuit board (8) covered by a housing, having a plurality of input and/or output ports, a controller unit (9), at least two socket connectors (7) connected to the input and/or output ports for receiving the least two external device (4, 5, 13), a connector tab connected to the input and/or output ports for contacting with a socket connector of the electronic device (3), and an application module installed on the electronic device (3), configured to provide a user interface, to obtain and process input from any one of the at least two external electronic devices (4, 5, 13), and to transmit output to any one of the at least two external electronic device.

Description

A PROTECTIVE SLEEVE

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to an electronic device. More particularly, the invention relates to a protective sleeve for electronic device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The advancement of technologies has allowed a bank salesman to travel to their client's residence or meeting their client in public places such as shopping complexes, malls, merchants' stores, mass transit stations, and etc, to assist their client in applying bank cards or bank accounts on the spot. Conventionally, such process requires a computing device, a portable biometric device, and a card reader for authenticating and verifying the identity of their client.

There are a few patented technologies over the prior art relating to aforementioned system. Of interest in respect to a portable computer system having wireless communication functionality and global geographic positioning functionality is US20080004039A1. This patent discloses a portable computer system including wireless communication functionality and global geographic positioning functionality includes a processor coupled to a wireless module, and a global positioning unit coupled to the wireless module and the processor. The wireless module may communicate with a wireless network via a wireless connection. The global positioning unit may be configured to receive geographic location information and to determine a current geographic location of the portable computer system based upon the received geographic location information. The processor may execute system software that may be configured to reconfigure system configuration settings such as security and authentication settings, and system clock settings, for example, dependent upon changes in the current geographic location information. In addition, an authenticated administrative level user may send one or more commands to the wireless module.

Another handheld mobile device with USB hard drive and optional biometric scanner, and systems is disclosed in US20130167226A1. This patent discloses Mobile handheld communication devices such as cellular and/or smart phones are equipped with a detachable USB drive, and optionally, a biometric scanner and/or an electronic release mechanism and/or circuitry. The communication device has a housing, a central processing unit (CPU) within the housing, a memory controller within the housing and coupled to the CPU, and a universal serial bus (USB) hard drive that electrically communicates with the memory controller. The USB hard drive has an outer surface or casing that is integrated and/or integratable with the housing. The USB device may include a USB interface, a hard drive that communicates through the USB interface, and a biometric sensor. The biometric sensor establishes or authorizes electronic communication between the hard drive and the USB interface when biometric data obtained with the biometric sensor matches data stored in the hard drive.

Referring to the prior art, there are no platform or system which capable of wiredly connecting hand held device such as mobile phone, tablet device, and etc to multiple portable devices. The present invention provides such a system.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The invention provides a system for establishing a communication link between an electronic device and at least two external devices comprises a circuit board covered by a housing, having a plurality of input and/or output ports, a controller unit, at least two socket connectors connected to the input and/or output ports for receiving the least two external device, a connector tab connected to the input and/or output ports for contacting with a socket connector of the electronic device and an application module installed on the electronic device, configured to provide a user interface, to obtain and process input from any one of the at least two external electronic devices, and to transmit output to any one of the at least two external electronic device. Advantageously, the housing of the circuit board can be a protective sleeve having a recess for accommodating the electronic device. The protective sleeve may further comprise a socket for receiving a card, the socket is coupled with a card reader to retrieve information stored in the card. Moreover, the protective sleeve may further comprise a card reader embedded for contactlessly retrieving information from a RFID card. Furthermore, the protective sleeve may further comprise means for retrieving biometric information. The biometric information retrieval means is a fingerprint device, a iris device, a voice recognition device, a face recognition devices, a hand geometric reader, finger vein reader, hand palm reader, or in any combination thereof.

Advantageously, the external device can be a keyboard, a computer mouse, a SIM card reader, a passport reader, a printer, a scanner, a cash or card collecting machine, a cash or card dispensing machine, a card embosser machine, a pin encryption device, a kiosk terminal, a cheque collector, a cheque scanner, a cheque printer, or in any combination thereof.

Advantageously, the controller unit may comprise microchip with four asynchronous transceivers. One of the asynchronous transceivers can be connected to a multiplexer to provide an extra four asynchronous transceivers. The controller unit can include a electronic device connection module for establishing signal transmission between the electronic device and the circuit board, a routing module for governing the routing protocols of any data transmission, a battery module for managing the power distribution of the power supply unit, and a external device connection module for establishing signal transmission between the external device and the circuit board. The circuit board may also further comprise a power supply unit.

Advantageously, the electronic device can be a personal digital assistants (PDA), smart phones, tablets, laptops, netbooks, phablets, phoblets, iPad, or any suitable means which capable of processing data and performing data transmission.

One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned, as well as those inherent therein. The embodiments described herein are not intended as limitations on the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the invention, there is illustrated in the accompanying drawing the preferred embodiments from an inspection of which when considered in connection with the following description, the invention, its construction and operation and many of its advantages would be readily understood and appreciated.

Figure 1 is a perspective diagram illustrating a protective sleeve.

Figure 2 is another perspective diagram illustrating the protective sleeve. Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the connections between the electronic components of the protective sleeve.

Figure 4 is schematic block diagram illustrating the microcontroller of the protective sleeve.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the drawings.

Referring to figure 1 and figure 2, the protective sleeve (1) as illustrated therein comprises a generally rectangular body (2) having a recess for accommodating an electronic device (3), a fingerprint sensor (4) embedded on the body (2), a socket (5) extending inwardly from the bottom side of the body (2) allowing a card to be inserted and the socket (5) has a card reader integrated for retrieving information from the card, at least two external socket connectors (7) for receiving at least two external electronic devices (13), and a power socket (6) to receive a power adapter for external power supply. The at least two external socket connectors (7) can be any type of commonly used connectors such as Universal Serial Bus connector, D-subminiature connector, power connector, hybrid connector, BNC connector, Screw Terminal, jack socket connector, or in any combination thereof. Preferably, the card is a personal identity card. The Personal Identity card can be any types of electronic card embedded with any suitable ID card technology for storing personal information and being readable by the card reader. It should be noted that the communication between the Personal Identity card and the card reader can be established through a wireless communication if the Personal Identity card is embedded with RFID technologies or any other suitable means for establishing wireless communication. The electronic device (3) can be a personal digital assistants (PDA), smart phones, tablets, laptops, netbooks, phablets, phoblets, iPad, or any suitable means which capable of processing data and performing data transmission. Furthermore, the fingerprint sensor (4) can be replaced by a iris device, a voice recognition device, a face recognition devices, a hand geometric reader, finger vein reader, hand palm reader, or in any combination thereof.

The electronic device (3) can install with an application module that which is configured to provide a user interface, to obtain and process input from any one of the at least two external electronic devices, and to transmit output to any one of the at least two external electronic device.

Referring to figure 3, the protective sleeve (1) includes a circuit board (8) embedded in its body (2), having a electronic device USB communication layer (10) permitting the electronic device (3) to be connected to the circuit board (8), a microcontroller (9), at least one universal asynchronous receiver and/or transmitter (UART) communication layer (11) for connecting the Personal Identity card reader (5), fingerprint sensor (4), and other external electronic devices (13) such as SIM card reader, passport reader, printer, scanner, and etc, and a charging circuit (12) for supplying electrical power. In the event if the electronic device (3) is an iPad, due the natural of iPad USB connector (10) being able to transmit electrical power, the iPad device (3) itself can act as a secondary power supply source. The circuit board (8) can further connected to a third party system such as internet banking system, virtual banking system, virtual teller machine, mobile sales system, ATM machine, cash deposit machine, instant acquisition system, card dispenser, cheque collector, cheque printing device, cheque scanning device, instant card embosser, bill payment system, branch delivery system and etc. Preferably, the microcontroller (9) consists of a microchip which processes all communication messages. The microchip has 4 UARTs, the first 3 UARTs are directly linked to the communication layers and the fourth UART is linked to a multiplexer so that an additional 4 UARTs can be provided to the circuit board. The first 3 UARTs are configured to perform the function of transmit data, receive data, clear to send, and request to send, whereas the additional 4 UARTs are configured to only perform the function of transmit data and receive data. The UART communication layer is designed to allow multiple types of external electronic devices to be plugged in. The total number of external electronic device that can be connected to the circuit board is limited by the total number of UARTs of the microcontroller. However, the total number of UARTs can be increased by connecting an additional microcontroller.

Referring to figure 4, the microcontroller (9) is provided with an electronic device connection module (14), a biometric reading module (15), a card reading module (16), a routing module (17), a battery module (18), and an external electronic device connection module (19). When a command is triggered by the electronic device (3), the electronic device connection module (14) will response to parse the messages and perform either a microcontroller setup process, a routing process, a card reading process, or biometric reading process depending on the instructions of the command.

If the instruction is to perform a card reading process or biometric reading process, the microcontroller (9) will activate the fingerprint device (4) or the card reader (5). Once the fingerprint device (4) or the card reader (5) has retrieved the information, the retrieved information will be forwarded back to the electronic device (3) through the modules. All the transmissions of data are governed by the routing protocol of the routing module (17).

The battery module (18) is configured to manage the power distribution of the power sources, preferably a battery which can be recharged through the power socket (6). It can also be used for monitoring the battery status and battery power level.

In one embodiment of the invention, the microcontroller (9) further includes the installer of the application module. Whenever an electronic device is connected to the circuit board, the microcontroller (9) will perform a checking on existence of the application module. If the microcontroller cannot detect the application module, it will perform an application installation process on electronic device (3).

In operation, the user firstly triggers the operation of the fingerprint device (4) and the Personal Identity card device (5) through the electronic device (3). Upon retrieving biometric information and identity information, the retrieved information is transmitted to the electronic device (3) through the circuit board (8). In the event of the electronic device (3) is connected to internet, the information can be forwarded to a server for authentication and verification purposes. The server may further send a feedback message to the electronic device (3). Instead of uploading the retrieved information, the electronic device (3) may also download relevant information to perform a local authentication or verification. Alternatively, the electronic device (3) can directly compare the retrieving biometric information with those retrieved from the user's Personal Identity card.

The present disclosure includes as contained in the appended claims, as well as that of the foregoing description. Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangements of parts may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A system for establishing a communication link between an electronic device (3) and at least two external devices (4, 5, 13) comprising:

a circuit board (8) covered by a housing, having a plurality of input and/or output ports, a controller unit (9), at least two socket connectors (7) connected to the input and/or output ports for receiving the least two external device (4, 5, 13), a connector tab connected to the input and/or output ports for contacting with a socket connector of the electronic device (3); and

an application module installed on the electronic device (3), configured to provide a user interface, to obtain and process input from any one of the at least two external electronic devices (4, 5, 13), and to transmit output to any one of the at least two external electronic device.

2. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the housing of the circuit board (8) is a protective sleeve (1) having a recess for accommodating the electronic device (3).

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein the protective sleeve (1) further comprises a socket (5) for receiving a card, wherein the socket (5) is coupled with a card reader to retrieve information stored in the card.

4. A system according to claim 2, wherein the protective sleeve (1) further comprises a card reader embedded for contactlessly retrieving information from a RFID card.

5. A system according to claim 2, wherein the protective sleeve (1) further comprises means (4) for retrieving biometric information.

6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the biometric information retrieval means (4) is a fingerprint device, a iris device, a voice recognition device, a face recognition devices, a hand geometric reader, finger vein reader, hand palm reader, or in any combination thereof.

7. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the external device (4, 5, 13) is a keyboard, a computer mouse, SIM card reader, a passport reader, a printer, a scanner, a cash or card collecting machine, a cash or card dispensing machine, a card embosser machine, a pin encryption device, a kiosk terminal, a cheque collector, a cheque scanner, a cheque printer, or in any combination thereof.

8. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the controller unit (9) comprises microchip with four asynchronous transceivers.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein one of the asynchronous transceivers is connected to a multiplexer to provide an extra four asynchronous transceivers.

10. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein controller unit (9) includes:

a electronic device connection module (14) for establishing signal transmission between the electronic device and the circuit board,

a routing module (17) for governing the routing protocols of any data transmission, a battery module (18) for managing the power distribution of the power supply unit, and

a external device connection module (19) for establishing signal transmission between the external device and the circuit board.

11. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the circuit board (8) further comprises a power supply unit (12).

12. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the electronic device (3) is a personal digital assistants (PDA), smart phones, tablets, laptops, netbooks, phablets, phoblets, iPad, or any suitable means which capable of processing data and performing data transmission.