System for controlling semiconductor
Contents
1. is inserted the distal end of the female thread 35x of the connection ring 35 contacts the distal end of the male thread 41x of the receptacle 40 and therefore the connection ring 35 is prevented from further movement As a result the ring 35 is retreated relative to the plug 30 The plug 30 is stopped by the step 31b being 5 554 893 5 contacted with the engagement flange 35a of the connection ring 35 When the plug 30 is in its stop position the contact elements 32 of the plug 30 are all positively connected to ali contact elements 42 of the receptacle 40 over a predeter mined length It should be noted that the plug 30 may be stopped by other suitable means For example it may be designed such that before the step 31b contacts the flange 35a the distal end of the body 31 of the plug 30 contacts a stopper formed inside the receptacle 40 In FIG 3B special attention should be paid to the fact that when the distal end of the connection ring 35 is in contact with the distal end of the receptacle 40 the connection ring 35 is away from the button portion 17b of the operating portion 17 of the power source switch 15 and therefore the power source switch 15 is maintained in the OFF state Accordingly in this OFF state of the power source switch 15 the contact elements 32 of the plug 30 and the contact elements 42 of the receptacle 40 are fully connected to each other Next as shown in FIG 3C the connection ring 35 is turned2. 19 113 The control circuit is capable of stopping the output of the 307 112 439 489 128 6 4 327 545 475 control signal to the control terminal and then stopping the R supply of voltage to the power source terminal when dis 56 References Cited connected from the power source circuit by turning off the U S PATENT DOCUMENTS power source 4 863 233 9 1989 Nieaber 350 96 20 4 866 516 9 1989 Hibino et al s mseeemesnnenzznnzn 358 98 3 Claims 3 Drawing Sheets 20 21 22 U S Patent Sep 10 1996 Sheet 1 of 3 5 554 893 Fig 1 SOURCE CIRCUIT U S Patent Sep 10 1996 Sheet 2 of 3 5 554 893 Fa ATA A GU TE et D H SWAB li ES U S Patent Sep 10 1996 Sheet 3 of 3 5 554 893 Fig 4 Vcc MB 5 554 893 1 SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING SEMICONDUCTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a system for controlling a semi conductor such as a CCD and more particularly to an improvement of a construction for connecting an instrument having a semiconductor and a control unit to each other Taking for example an electronic endoscope system as disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No Sho 59 70382 this system comprises an endoscope a control unit connected to this endoscope and a monitor television connected to this control unit In operation this endoscope is inserted into a patient s body and his her body cavity is observed while watching the m
3. CD 38 are already electrically connected to each other As a result the supply of constant voltage and the output of control signal are performed in given order by the control circuit 13 and therefore latch up can be positively prevented and thus breakage of the CCD 28 can be prevented Next for removing the endoscope 20 from the control unit 10 the connection ring 35 is likewise turned but in the reverse way so as to be retreated As this connection ring 35 is retreated the operating portion 17 is projected by the force of the coil spring 19 and the power source switch 15 is turned off By this the control circuit 13 finishes its con trolling operation with respect to the CCD 28 At the time of finish of the controlling operation since the control circuit 13 stops supplying the constant voltage to the power source terminals 28a of the CCD 28 after the output of the control signal to the CCD 28 is stopped latch up of the CCD 28 can be prevented At that time since the connection between the plug 30 and the receptacle 40 is maintained the latch up preventing operation is assuredly performed By further loosening the engagement of the connection ring 35 so as to further retreat the connection ring 35 after the power source 20 25 35 45 50 55 60 65 6 switch 15 is turned off the connection ring 35 is removed from the receptacle 40 Then the plug 30 is pulled out of the receptacle 40 to remove the connection betwee
4. LU b ULL ILI US00555489 4893A United States Patent m9 11 Patent Number 5 554 893 Oku 45 Date of Patent Sep 10 1996 54 SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING 4 869 237 9 1989 Eino et al Lu see seeeesennnzznnzennnza 128 6 SEMICONDUCTOR 4 920 413 4 1990 Nakamura et al cece 358 98 5 228 560 7 1993 Naslund 200 275 75 Inventor Toshio Oku Tokyo Japan SAIS TAS T1995 Abe caicnascvidenaniiecaia 439 489 Primary Examiner William M Shoop Jr 73 A Machida End Co Ltd Tokyo b P Pal cAesignes aa aac acta KYO Attorney Agent or Firm Fish amp Richardson PC 57 ABSTRACT 21 Appl No 385 640 l A device that provides a control svstem which is capable of 22 Filed Feb 8 1995 positively preventing a semiconductor from suffering from 30 Foreign Application Prioritv Data latch up In order to prevent this latch up a control circuit controls the semiconductor through a power source switch Feb 17 1994 JP Japan siiescncsoresdsicootosstecnsesnsace 6 041743 The control circuit is capable of supplying a constant voltage 51 Int CLS H018 7 16 to a power source terminal of the semiconductor when it is a bi E E EE electrically connected to the power source circuit by tuming 21 US Ch eindini 7 119 52 439 489 327 Sea 15 da a B ein on the power source switch and thereafter supplving a 3 control signal to a control terminal of the semiconductor 58 Field of Search A EROE l 307 1
5. PTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a semiconductor control system according to the present invention which is mounted on an 5 554 893 3 electronic endoscope svstem will be described with refer ence to FIGS 1 to 3 As shown in FIGS 1 and 2 the electronic endoscope svstem comprises a control unit 10 a monitor television M connected to the control unit 10 and an endoscope 20 removably connected to the control unit 10 As shown in FIG 1 the endoscope 20 includes a bodv 21 a flexible insert portion 22 extending from a distal end of the bodv 21 a tip 23 disposed on a distal end of the insert portion 22 a common cable 24 extending from a rear end of the bodv 21 and two branch cables 24a and 24b branched from the common cable 24 A distal end portion of the insert portion 22 can be bent bv means of remote control using a control member not shown mounted on the bodv 21 A plug 30 first connector is mounted on a distal end of the branch cable 24a An optical connector 25 is mounted also on the distal end of the other branch cable 24b The tip 23 is provided at distal end face thereof with an observation window and an illumination window The illu mination window and the optical connector 25 are opticallv connected to each other by a bundle of optical fibers not shown This bundle of optical fibers are allowed to pass through the insert portion 22 the body 21 the common cable 24 and the branch cable 24b A light sou
6. case where the connectors are connected to each other simply by insertion it may be designed such that the diameter of the cylindrical portion of the first connector on the side of the CCD is made larger than the diameter of the cylindrical portion of the second con nector on the side of the control unit so that the contact elements of them are electrically connected to each other with the cylindrical portion of the second connector received in the cylindrical portion of the first connector In that case the distal end face of the cylindrical portion of the first connector may be served as a pressing portion for pushing the operating portion of the power source switch In FIG 5 a power source switch 15 comprises a relay switch The power source switch 15 is connected to a 5 554 893 7 photo coupler 50 This photo coupler 50 comprises a pho todiode 51 and a photo transistor 52 The previously men tioned shaft 17a of the operating portion 17 can be moved in and out of between the photodiode 51 and the photo transistor 52 Normally since the shaft 17a is biased by the coil spring it is not located between the photodiode 51 and the photo transistor 52 In that case the photo transistor 52 is turned on upon receipt of light from the photodiode 51 and a driving circuit 60 is opened so that the coil 15x is not excited When the shaft 17a is retreated pushed by the connection ring 35 or the pressing flange 39 the shaft 17a enters betwee
7. ch up from occurring in the system controlling the semicon ductor One way latch up can be prevented is by having a connection ring mounted on an outer periphery of the first connector After the contact elements of the first and second connector are connected to each other the connection ring is threadedly engaged with the second connector Once engaged the connection ring presses the operating portion for the power source switch to turn on the power source switch By having the power source switch turned on after contact elements of the connectors are connected latch up is prevented Another way latch up is prevented is to have a flange formed on the outer periphery of the first connector The other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following explanation BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG 1 is a perspective view showing a general construc tion of an electronic endoscope system according to the present invention FIG 2 is a circuit diagram of the electronic endoscope system FIGS 3 A to 3 C are sectional views sequentially showing various states of connectors and a power source switch which are used in the above system in the order of the connecting processes FIG 4 is a sectional view showing connectors and a power source switch according to a modified embodiment and FIG 5 is a circuit diagram of a power source switch according to a modified embodiment DETAILED DESCRI
8. diate portion of an inner periphery of the connection ring 35 The movable range of the connection ring 35 in the axial direction is determined by a front engagement position where the engagement flange 35a contacts an engagement flange 31a formed on the outer periphery of the body 31 and a rear engagement position where an engagement flange 35a contacts an annular step 31b formed on the outer periphery of the body 31 A female thread 35x is formed in the inner periphery of the connection ring 35 but at a location shifted forwardly from the engagement flange 35a The control unit 10 includes within a housing 11 a power source circuit 12 for converting an AC voltage to a DC voltage and a control circuit 13 Two power source switches 14 and 15 which are mutu ally arranged in a serial relation are interposed between the power source circuit 12 and the control circuit 13 Operating portions 16 and 17 of the power source switches 14 and 15 and a receptacle 40 second connector 45 50 55 65 4 which is connected to the control circuit 13 through a pluralitv of electric wires 13a a single wire as a group of several wires is shown in FIG 2 are mounted on the front wall ila of the housing 11 The receptacle 40 is known As shown in FIG 3A the receptacle 40 comprises a cvlindrical bodv 41 a pluralitv of pin like male tvpe contact elements 42 supported within the bodv 41 Each contact element 42 is allowed to extend in paral
9. e first portion of the engagement groove and then the connection ring is turned to bring the pin to the second portion of the engagement groove to connect the connection ring and the receptacle together and therefore to connect the receptacle and the plug together In the midway of the movement of the connection ring in the axial direction with the pin positioned in the first portion of the engagement groove as mentioned above the connection ring pushes the operating portion of the power source switch to turn on the power source switch FIG 4 shows a modified embodiment of a plug 30 and a receptacle 40 In FIG 4 like parts of the preceding embodi ment are denoted by like reference numerals respectively and description thereof is omitted In this embodiment the plug 30 is simply inserted into the receptacle 40 A pressing flange pressing member 39 is formed on the outer periph ery of the body 31 of the plug 30 During the process of insertion of the plug 30 into the receptacle 40 the pressing flange 39 pushes the operating portion 17 of the power source switch 15 to turn on the power source switch 15 What is important here is that the forming position of the pressing flange 39 on the body 31 is determined such that after the electrical connection between all contact elements 32 of the plug 30 and all contact elements 42 of the receptacle 40 is finished the power source switch 15 is turned on As shown in FIG 4 in the
10. ements of the first and second connectors for transmitting control signals are often contacted immediatelv before the contact elements for supplving voltage to the power source terminal of the CCD are contacted to each other at the starting time of the connecting operation the CCD receives the control signal before it receives the supply of voltage to the power source terminal As a result the CCD is broken by latch up Similarly in the case where the connection between the first and second connectors is removed in the state where the power source switch is in the ON state there is still a possibility that the CCD is broken by latch up In order to prevent the latch up it was a conventional practice to request the user to turn on the power source switch after the connector devices are connected and then remove the connection between the first connector and the second connector after the power source switch is turned off However since this on off operation of the power source switch and the sequential order of connection of the con nectors are left to the user s manual operation the CCD is frequently subjected to a failure by the user who inadvert ently connects the connectors in wrong order SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present system controls a semiconductor which com prises a first connector mounted on a cable a second connector mounted on a front wall of a housing a power source switch and a preventing means for preventing lat
11. erally perpendicular to said front wall of said housing said power source switch being in an Off state when said operating portion is in said first position said power source switch being turned on in a midway of the movement of said operating portion from said first position to said second position said first connector being provided with a pressing mem ber said pressing member when said first connector is connected to said second connector being moved toward said front wall of said housing at that time said pressing member pushing said operating portion so that said operating portion is moved from said first position to said second position and e said control unit including a second power source switch disposed between said power source circuit and said control unit and in a serial relation with the first mentioned power source switch a second operat ing portion for turning on off said second power source switch being provided on said front wall of said hous ing but away from said second connector 2 A semiconductor control system comprising a an instrument including a semiconductor b a cable extending from said instrument c a first connector mounted on one end of said cable and electrically connected to said semiconductor said first connector having a cylindrical first body and a plurality of first contact elements disposed within said first body d a control unit including i a housing ii a second co
12. gaged with said second body of said second connec tor after said first and second contact elements being connected to each other said connection ring pressing said operating portion for said power source switch in the course of the engagement of said connection ring with said second body thereby said operating portion 5 554 893 9 being moved backwardiv to turn on said power source switch 3 A semiconductor control system comprising a an instrument including a semiconductor b a cable extending from said instrument c a first connector mounted on one end of said cable and electricallv connected to said semiconductor said first connector having a cvlindrical first bodv and a pluralitv of first contact elements disposed within said first bodv d a control unit including i a housing ii a second connector disposed on a front wall of said housing said first connector being removablv con nected to said second connector said second con nector having a cvlindrical second bodv and a plu ralitv of second contact elements disposed within said second bodv iii a control circuit received in said housing 10 15 iv a control circuit received in said housing and 50 connected to said second connector v a power source switch through which said control circuit is further connected to said power source circuit an operating portion for said power source 10 switch being mounted on said front wall of said
13. housing in the vicinitv of said second connector said operating portion being maintained in a first position projected from said front wall of said housing under the effect of a spring disposed on a back side of said front wall of said housing said operating portion being movable backwardly to a second position said power source switch being in an off state when said operating portion is in said first position and said power source switch being turned on in a midway of the backward movement of said operating portion from said first position to said second position and e a flange formed on an outer periphery of said first body of said first connector said first and second contact elements being connected to each other by moving said first connector toward said second connector said flange being moved together with said first connector to press and backwardly move said operating portion for said power source switch said power source switch being turned on after said first and second contact elements are connected
14. l circuit controls the semiconductor in the following manner When the power source switch is turned on and the control circuit is connected to the power source circuit the control circuit outputs a control signal to the signal terminal after it supplies the voltage to the power source terminal of the semiconductor On the other hand when the control circuit is disconnected from the power source circuit by turning off the power source switch the supply of voltage to the power source terminal is stopped after the output of the control signal to the signal terminal has been stopped In the case where the first and second connectors are connected to each other in the OFF state of the power source switch and thereafter the power source switch is turned on the control circuit exhibits a latch up preventive function Therefore a possible breakage of the CCD can be positively prevented Also in the case where the power source switch is turned off first and then the connecting state between the first and second connectors is removed the control circuit exhibits the latch up preventive function Therefore break age of the CCD can be positively prevented However in the case where the first and second connec tors are connected to each other after the power source switch is turned on the latch preventive function by the 20 25 30 35 50 55 60 65 2 control circuit does not work anv more In addition since the contact el
15. lel with the axis of the body 41 and surrounded by the bodv 41 with its distal end facing the open end of the bodv 41 The bodv 41 is allowed to extend through the front wall 11a such that its axis extends perpendicular to the front wall lla of the housing 11 A flange 41a is formed on the outer periphery of the body 41 By fixing this flange 41a to the front wall Ha the body 41 is fixed to the front wall 11a A male thread 41x is formed on the outer periphery of the distal end of the body 41 The previously mentioned female thread 35x of the connection ring 35 is threadedly engaged with the male thread 41x of this receptacle 40 As shown in FIG 2 the operating portion 16 of the power source switch 14 is of a see saw type and mounted on the front wall 11a of the housing 11 but situated away from the receptacle 40 as in the case with the conventional device As shown in FIGS 1 to 3 the operating portion 17 of the other power source switch 15 protects from the front wall 11a in the vicinity of the receptacle 40 In this embodiment although the operating portion 17 is arranged below the receptacle 40 FIG 2 does not show a correct positional arrangement It should be noted that this operating portion 17 may of course be situated above right or left of the receptacle 40 As shown in FIG 3A the operating portion 17 of the power source switch 15 includes a shaft 17a a button portion 17b disposed at an external end of the shaft 17a and a s
16. n the contact elements 32 and 42 At the time of the removal of connec tion since the controlling operation with respect to the CCD 28 is already finished the removal of connection does not affect adversely to the CCD 28 The user is requested to turn off the other power source switch 14 before removing the connection between the plug 30 and the receptacle 40 Even if the user should forget this turning off operation the latch up prevention is ensured because the power source switch 15 is already in the Off position when the connection is to be removed In the above embodiment the connection ring may be connected to the receptacle by other suitable means than the thread means For example it may be designed such that a pin is formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion of the receptacle and an engagement groove is formed in the connection ring This engagement groove has a first portion extending in the axial direction from the distal end of the connection ring and a second portion extending in a circumferential direction from a rear end of this first portion The engagement groove is generally of an L shape A mounting structure of the connection ring to the plug is the same as the preceding embodiment In this embodiment after the electrical connection between the contact elements of the plug and the contact elements of the receptacle is finished the connection ring is moved in the axial direction with the pin inserted in th
17. n the photodiode 51 and the photo transistor 52 As a result since the photo transistor 52 is turned off the driving circuit 60 is closed to excite the coil 15x As aresult the power source switch 15 is turned on It is acceptable that the micro switch 15 of FIG 3 is used as the power source switch and its contact element 15a is served directly as the operating portion In that case the power source switch 15 is mounted on the front surface of the front wall 11a and the contact element 15a is pushed by the pressing member directly mounted on the second con nector It is also acceptable that a pin is disposed as the pressing member on the connector of the endoscope and this pin is allowed to extend through a through hole formed in the front wall so that the pin pushes a contact element of a power source switch disposed within the control unit In the above embodiments the power source switch 14 which can be turned on off by means of operation of the user may be omitted The present invention may be applied to a control system equipped with an image pick up instrument having a CCD mounted on a distal end of a hard tube instead of an endoscope Also the present invention may be applied to a system for controlling semiconductors other than CCD What is claimed is 1 A semiconductor control system comprising a an instrument including a semiconductor b a cable extending from said instrument c a first connector mou
18. nnector disposed on a front wall of said housing said first connector being removably con nected to said second connector said second con nector having a cylindrical second body and a plu rality of second contact elements disposed within said second body iii a power source circuit received in said housing iv a control circuit received in said housing and connected to said second connector v a power source switch through which said control circuit is further connected to said power source circuit an operating portion for said power source switch being mounted on said front wall of said housing in the vicinity of said second connector said operating portion being maintained in a first position projected from said front wall of said housing under the effect of a spring disposed on a back side of said front wall of said housing said operating portion being movable backwardly to a second position said power source switch being in an off state when said operating portion is in said first position and said power source switch being turned on in a midway of the backward movement of said operating portion from said first position to said second position and e a connection ring mounted on an outer periphery of said first body of said first connector said connection ring being turnable about said first body and movable in an axial direction of said first body within a prede termined range said connection ring being threadedly en
19. nted on one end of said cable and electrically connected to said semiconductor and d a control unit including i a housing ii a second connector disposed on a front wall of said housing said first connector being removably con nected to said second connector iii a power source circuit received in said housing iv a control circuit received in said housing and connected to said second connector said control circuit being further connected to said power source circuit through a power source switch said control circuit being capable of supplying a constant voltage to a power source terminal of said semiconductor when electrically connected to said power source circuit by turning on said power source switch and thereafter supplying a control signal to a control terminal of said semiconductor said control circuit being capable of stopping the output of control signal to said control terminal and then stopping the supply of voltage to said power source terminal when dis connected from said power source circuit by turning off said power source v characterized in that said housing is provided on a front wall thereof in the vicinity of said second connector with an operating portion for said power source switch said operating portion being movable 10 15 20 30 35 45 50 55 60 65 8 between a first position and a second position situ ated backwardiv of said first position and in a direction gen
20. onitor television The endoscope includes a body an insert portion extend ing from the body a CCD semiconductor acting as an image pick up element which is mounted on a distal end of the insert portion and a cable extending backwardly from the body A first connector is mounted on a distal end of the cable This first connector is connected to the CCD through electric wires passing through the cable the body and the insertion portion The control unit contains therein a power source circuit for converting an AC voltage to a DC voltage a control circuit which receives the DC voltage from the power source circuit and a power source switch interposed between the power source circuit and the control circuit The operating portion of the power source switch is mounted on a front wall of a housing of the control unit A second connector is mounted on the front wall of the housing and connected to the control circuit The first connector of the endoscope is removably con nected to the second connector of the control unit By this the control circuit and the CCD are connected to each other Incidentally the CCD like other semiconductors has a possibility of suffering from a latch up phenomenon This latch up occurs when a signal terminal is received in the state where no voltage is supplied to a power source terminal of the semiconductor This results in breakage of the CCD In order to prevent this latch up the above mentioned contro
21. pring retainer portion 17c disposed at an intermediate portion of the shaft 17a The shaft 17a is allowed to extend through the front wall 11a and a bracket 18 secured to the front wall Ila Between this bracket 18 and the spring retainer portion 17c a compressed coil spring 19 is inter posed such that the spring 19 is wound on the shaft 17a The shaft 17 is biased outwardly by the resiliency of the coil spring 19 and the spring retainer portion 17c is in contact with the front wall 11a In that state the button portion 17b is away from the front wall 11a and located forwardly of the front wall 11a Although an inner end of the shaft 17a is in contact with a contact element 15a of the power source switch 15 having the form of a micro switch the power source switch 15 is in the OFF state With the above construction the CCD 28 of the endo scope 20 is connected to the control circuit 13 within the control unit 10 by inserting the plug 30 into the receptacle 40 More specifically as shown in FIG 3A the operator holds the plug 30 such that the plug 30 coaxially faces the receptacle 40 Then by moving the plug 30 toward the receptacle 40 the body 31 of the plug 30 is inserted into the body 41 of the receptacle 40 Further movement of the plug 30 in the mentioned direction causes the contact elements 32 of the plug 30 to mutually fit for electric connection to the contact elements 42 of the receptacle 40 as shown in FIG 3B When the plug 30
22. rce device not shown is received in the housing 11 of the control unit 10 An illumination light from the light source device is irradi ated through the illumination window after passing through the optical connector 25 and the optical fibers On the tip 23 there is provided a CCD 28 semiconductor see FIG 2 acting as an image pick up element which is placed opposite to the observation window through an objective lens system A power source terminal 28a and signal terminals 28b of this CCD 28 and a plurality of female type contact elements as later described of the plug 30 are connected together by a plurality of signal lines 29 several signal lines are grouped and indicated by a single line in FIG 2 These signal lines 29 are allowed to pass through the insert portion 22 the body 21 the common cable 24 and the branch cable 24a The above plug 30 is conventionally known and has as shown in FIG 3A a cylindrical body 31 and the plurality of female type contact elements 32 supported by the body 31 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 The female contact elements 32 are received in a distal end _ portion of the body 31 and allowed to extend in parallel to the axis of the body 31 with its distal end facing an open end of the body 31 A connection ring 35 pressing member is mounted on the plug 30 such that the ring can move in the axial direction and turn about the plug 30 An engagement flange 35a is formed on an interme
23. so that the female thread 35x is threadedly engaged with the male thread 41x of the receptacle 40 By doing this the plug 30 and the receptacle 40 are firmly connected together i e connection is completed When the connection ring 35 is brought into engagement with the receptacle 40 the connection ring 35 is moved in the axial direction and pushes the button portion 17b of the operating portion 17 of the power source switch 15 with its distal end face Therefore the shaft 17a of the operating portion 17 is retreated to push the contact element 15a of the power source switch 15 with its inner end so that the power source switch 15 is turned on This turning on operation of the power source switch 15 is performed before the comple tion of the threaded engagement by the connection ring 35 Next the operating portion 16 of the power source switch 14 is operated to turn on the power source switch 14 As a result the DC voltage from the power source circuit 12 is supplied to the control circuit 13 In response to this the control circuit 13 starts controlling the CCD 28 In the control circuit 13 a constant voltage is supplied to the power source terminal 28a of the CCD 28 first and then a control signal is output to the signal terminals 28b What is impor tant here is that at the time when the control circuit 13 starts its controlling operation connection between the connectors 30 and 40 are completed and the control circuit 13 and the C
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