Internal USB drive housing bay

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates in general to the field of computers, and in particular to coupling external devices, such as disk drives, to a computer. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for connecting an external device to an internal Universal Serial Bus (USB) port.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] In response to computers becoming more modular, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface standard was jointly developed in the 1990's by Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Compaq Computer Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation, Northern Telecom Limited, NEC Corporation, and International Business Machines, Inc. The USB standard defines a high-speed serial data interface between a computer and add-on devices, such as keyboards, printers, scanners and secondary storage devices, including floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, and solid-state secondary storage drives. In computers that have USB compliant ports, such devices can be added or removed while the computer is powered up and running.

[0005] With the growing popularity of portable computing devices having USB compliant ports, such as laptop (notebook) computers, tablet computers, and personal digital assistants (PDA's), the USB ports afford on-the-go flexibility to a user/owner of the portable computing device. That is, the user of a laptop computer can carry multiple external peripheral devices such as described above, and simply plug the needed external peripheral device into the portable computing device when needed.

[0006] A typical portable computing device is illustrated in FIG. 1 as computer 100. Computer 100 includes a base 102, to which is attached a display 104 with a display hinge 106. At the back of computer 100 is a USB port (female) 108, which is capable of receiving a USB plug (male) 110. USB plug 110 connects an external cable 114 to exemplary USB storage device 112, a common external peripheral device, which may be a mechanical hard drive or a solid-state disk.

[0007] By being able to freely connect and disconnect the secondary storage to and from the computer, the user is able to store and share large amounts of data. However, because these secondary storage devices are so easily removed and are typically small, they are often misplaced or stolen.

[0008] Also, being attached externally, all such external peripheral devices are prone to damage when the computer is moved. That is, it is common for the user to forget that the external peripheral device is attached to the back of the laptop, and when the laptop is picked up, the secondary storage device is dropped or otherwise damaged.

[0009] What is needed, therefore, is a method and device that allows a peripheral device, such as a USB compatible storage device, to connect to a computer while minimizing the potential of the peripheral device being lost or stolen.

[0010] The present invention is therefore directed to a method and system for internally connecting a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device to a computer. An access door, hinged within a computer case, has a USB port attached to an interior of the door. To connect the USB device, the access door is swung open at an angle, the USB device is slid into the interior of the door to mate with the USB port, and the access door is then closed flush with the computer case. The access door allows any USB device, small enough to fit inside the access door, to be removably attached to the interior of the computer, thus reducing the potential of the USB device being lost or stolen.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment, the access door has an electronic lock, which can be unlocked only by inputting a special code from the computer's keyboard or other input device.

[0012] The above, as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.

[0020] With reference now to FIG. 2a, there is depicted a computer 201 incorporating novel features of the present invention. A base 200 has a base external surface 214, shown in FIG. 2 as the bottom surface of base 200. Inside base 200 is an internal Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable 202, connecting an internal USB female port 204 to a Southbridge chipset (not shown) or analogous input/output bus in computer 201. Internal USB female port 204 is configured to receive an internal USB male connector 206 of an internally mounted USB device 208 as shown. The USB devices (202, 204, 206, 208) preferably comply with USB Standard Revision 2.0 (or subsequent revisions), published Apr. 27, 2002 by Compaq Computer Corporation et al., which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0021] Referring now to FIG. 2b, there is illustrated a block diagram of software utilized by the present invention's USB environment. Hierarchically below a client application 250 and an operating system 252 is a bootcode BIOS 254, which is loaded by computer 201 at startup. Bootcode BIOS 254 includes a USB host controller driver 260 that provides a low-level interface to USB host controller 262 (i.e., the hardware within computer 201 that sends and receives data to and from the USB port 204). In addition, the bootcode BIOS 254 includes a USB system software 258, which provides a mid-level interface to USB host controller driver 260. When loaded by the startup program (not shown), bootcode BIOS 254 may also include generic USB device drivers 256 for certain USB devices, such as internally mounted USB device 208.

[0022] Referring again to FIG. 2a, internally mounted USB device 208 is secured to a USB access door 210, which when closed, is flush with base exterior surface 214. By mating flush with base exterior surface 214, USB access door 210 allows the user to add a device without changing the external geometry of computer 201.

[0023] Additional details of USB access door 210 are shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b. As depicted in FIG. 3a, USB access door 210 is hinged to an interior surface of base 200 by access door hinges 312. Access door hinges 312 permit USB access door 210 to travel outwardly away from base 200 at an angle that allows internally mounted USB device 208 to be removed or inserted as shown. In a preferred embodiment, USB access door 210 includes a lip 310a that mates against a base stop 310b such that the closing travel of USB access door 210 ends when USB access door 210 is flush with base exterior surface 214.

[0024] In a preferred embodiment, also attached to USB access door 210 is a switch engager 304, which engages a USB turn-on switch 306 when USB access door 210 is closed. USB turn-on switch 306 passes a disabling signal to USB host controller 262 (shown in FIG. 2b) when USB access door 210 is open. When USB access door 210 is closed, USB turn-on switch 306 is turned off, thus removing the disabling signal, and allowing internally mounted USB device 208 to function normally. USB turn-on switch 306 provides an additional assurance that USB access door 210 is properly closed, to prevent damage to both USB access door 210 as well as internally mounted USB device 208.

[0025] With reference to FIG. 3b, note that securement clips 302 are of sufficient dimensions to allow different sized internally mounted USB device 208 to be secured to USB access door 210. That is, different internally mounted USB devices 208 that fit under the securement clips 302 can be interchanged on USB access door 210 for mating with USB port 204. This is a significant improvement to prior art systems that permitted an interchange of components (such as a hard drive and a floppy disk drive) into a same orifice of a computer, but only if the different components each had the same geometry to fit into the orifice. While not shown, it is understood that securement clips 302 may be slidably adjustable in order to accommodate different sized USB devices 208.

[0026] As shown now in FIG. 4a, in a preferred embodiment USB access door 210 includes a means of being internally locked. An attaching member 404, shown in greater detail in FIG. 4b, has a lateral extension 414 as shown. When USB access door 210 is closed, attaching member 404 inserts into an opening 412 of a receiver 410 of an electric lock 402, as seen in greater detail in FIG. 4c. To lock electric lock 402, a signal is sent to an actuator 406, which moves a force transmitting member 408 to position receiver 410 such that receiver 410 secures and prevents movement of attaching member 404, which has been inserted into opening 412 when USB access door 210 closed.

[0027] To unlock electric lock 402, an unlocking signal is sent to actuator 406 to move receiver 410 to a position that allows attaching member 404 to exit through opening 412. The locking and unlocking signals are controlled through software in computer 201, in any manner known to those skilled in the art of electronic controls. Preferably, the software permits locking and unlocking only when a code is entered into computer 201. This code, which may be prompted for entry by a drop-down menu, pop-up window, or any other graphical user interface (GUI) for prompting an input from a keyboard, mouse, or other input device, may be the same or different for locking and unlocking electric lock 402. In the event of a software or electrical failure, a back-up means of entry (e.g., an overriding mechanical lock, a set-screw having an unorthodox head inset design, etc.) may be provided to open USB access door 210.

[0028] With reference now to FIG. 5, there is depicted a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of hardware 500, within computer 201, used to implement the present invention. Hardware 500 is used to run all software described in FIG. 2b.

[0029] Hardware 500 includes a processor 502, which is connected to a system bus 508. In the exemplary embodiment, data processing system 500 includes a graphics adapter 504 also connected to system bus 508, receiving information for display 506.

[0030] Also connected to system bus 508 are system memory 510 and input/output (I/O) bus bridge 512. I/O bus bridge 512 couples I/O bus 514 to system bus 508, relaying and/or transforming data transactions from one bus to the other. Peripheral devices such as nonvolatile storage 516, which may be a hard disk drive, floppy drive, a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital video disk (DVD) drive, or the like, and input device 518, which may include a conventional mouse, a trackball, or the like, is connected to I/O bus 514. The software described for controlling electronic lock 402 in FIG. 4 is preferably stored in both system memory 510 and nonvolatile storage 516. Finally, the USB port 204 described in FIG. 2 et seq. is connected to I/O bus 514 via internal USB cable 202. In an alternate preferred embodiment, computer 200 utilizes a Northbridge/Southbridge architecture (not shown), in which USB port 204 is supported from the Southbridge chipset.

[0031] The exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is provided solely for the purposes of explaining the invention and those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous variations are possible, both in form and function. For instance, hardware 500 might also include a sound card and audio speakers, and numerous other optional components. All such variations are believed to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

[0032] It should be understood that at least some aspects of the present invention may alternatively be implemented in a program product, preferably performing the functions of the present invention in an automatic manner based on pre-determined criteria as described, including relative logical relationships between and among logic areas. Programs defining functions on the present invention can be delivered to a data storage system or a computer system via a variety of signal-bearing media, which include, without limitation, non-writable storage media (e.g., CD-ROM), writable storage media (e.g., a floppy diskette, hard disk drive, read/write CD ROM, optical media), and communication media, such as computer and telephone networks including Ethernet. It should be understood, therefore in such signal-bearing media when carrying or encoding computer readable instructions that direct method functions in the present invention, represent alternative embodiments of the present invention. Further, it is understood that the present invention may be implemented by a system having means in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware as described herein or their equivalent.

[0033] While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.