Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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DESCRIPTION
BROADCAST RECEPTION APPARATUS, BROADCAST RECEPTION SYSTEM,
AND PORTABLE INFORMATION TERMINAL
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a broadcast reception
apparatus and a broadcast reception system which allow the
effective use of a portable information terminal powered by
a secondary battery, such as a portable telephone set, a PHS
(Personal Handy-phone system) terminal, a PDA (Personal
Digital Assistant) terminal, a portable game machine, or the
like, and a portable information terminal itself.
Background Art
One effort to enable a portable information terminal to
receive broadcasts is a broadcast reception circuit that is
incorporated in the portable information terminal.
However, the broadcast reception circuit incorporated
in the portable information terminal needs a printed wiring
board to have an increased area for accommodating the broad-
cast reception circuit, and also needs the portable informa-
tion terminal itself to have an increased volume for housing
circuit components of the broadcast reception circuit. As a
result, the portable information terminal has an increased
weight and consumes an increased amount of electric energy.
For these reasons, the portable information terminal has its
portability impaired to some extent.
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Disclosure of Invention
The inventor of the present invention has noticed that
many portable information terminals are powered by a secon
dart' battery in view of its convenience, and such portable
information terminals are normally used in such a mode that
they are carried and used by the users in daytime, and con-
nected to a battery charger to charge the secondary battery
at night.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to
provide a broadcast reception apparatus and a broadcast re-
ception system which allow a portable information terminal
free of a broadcast reception circuit to receive broadcast
data, and a portable information terminal itself.
A broadcast reception apparatus according to the pre-
sent invention comprises a reception circuit for receiving
broadcasts, a charging circuit, and a connector for connec-
tion to a portable information terminal operable by a secon-
dart' battery included therein. The connector has a data
transmitting terminal for transmitting data of a broadcast
received by the reception circuit and a battery charging
terminal for charging the secondary battery included in the
portable information terminal with the charging circuit.
When the portable information terminal is connected to
the connector of the broadcast reception apparatus, the
portable information terminal can receive data of a broad-
cast received by the reception circuit through the data
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transmitting terminal, and the secondary battery included in
the portable information terminal can be charged through the
battery charging terminal.
If the portable information terminal has a memory de-
vice, then when the portable information terminal is con-
nected to the connector, the secondary battery is charged by
the charging circuit through the battery charging terminal,
and the data transmitted from the data transmitting terminal
is stored into the memory device. The data stored in the
memory device can be reproduced at a desired time while the
portable information terminal is being carried by the user.
The broadcast reception apparatus may be used as a
television receiver, a tuner box, a recording and reproduc-
ing device, a set top box, or a game machine with a tuber
function.
The broadcast may comprise a data broadcast, for exam-
ple.
The broadcast reception apparatus may have a timer-
programmed recording function, and the data transmitted from
the data transmitting terminal may be supplied through the
connector to the portable information terminal while in the
timer-programmed recording process.
A broadcast reception system according to the present
invention comprises a broadcast reception apparatus and a
battery charging device. The broadcast reception apparatus
has a reception circuit for receiving broadcasts and a data
transmitting connector for transmitting data of a broadcast
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received by the reception circuit. The battery charging de-
vice has a data receiving terminal for connection to the
data transmitting connector, a terminal connector for con-
nection to a portable information terminal operable by a
secondary battery included therein, and a charging circuit
for charging the secondary battery. The terminal connector
has a data transmitting terminal for transmitting the data
received through the data transmitting connector and the
data receiving terminal to the portable information termi-
nal, and a battery charging terminal for charging the secon-
dart' battery included in the portable information terminal
with the charging circuit.
With the above arrangement, the broadcast reception ap
paratus and the battery charging device may be separate from
each other.
In the broadcast reception system, if the portable in-
formation terminal has a memory device, then when the port-
able information terminal is connected to the terminal con-
vector, the secondary battery is charged by the charging
circuit through the battery charging terminal, and the data
transmitted from the data transmitting terminal is stored
into the memory device. The data stored in the memory de-
vice can be reproduced at a desired time while the portable
information terminal is being carried by the user.
According to the present invention, a portable informa-
tion terminal operable by a secondary battery comprises a
connector having a battery charging terminal and a data re-
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ceiving terminal, and a memory device. When an external
battery charging terminal and an external data transmitting
terminal are connected respectively to the battery charging
terminal and the data receiving terminal, the secondary bat-
s tery is charged from the external battery charging terminal
through the battery charging terminal and data supplied from
the external data transmitting terminal through the data re-
ceiving terminal is stored into the memory device.
In the portable information terminal, the data can be
stored into the memory device while the secondary battery is
being charged.
The data may be stored into the memory device according
to a first-in, first-out process by erasing data previously
stored in the memory device and storing newly transferred
data in the memory device.
The portable information terminal may further comprise
a display unit and/or a sound output unit. Therefore, the
portable information terminal alone can reproduce the data
as images and/or sounds at a desired time.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages
of the present invention will become more apparent from the
following description when taken in conjunction with the ac-
companying drawings in which preferred embodiments of the
present invention are shown by way of illustrative example.
Brief Description of Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a system in-
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cluding a television receiver according to an embodiment of
the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit arrangement of
the system shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an operation sequence of the
system shown in FIG. 1 for charging a battery and transfer-
ring data;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an operation sequence of the
system shown in FIG. 1 for operating a portable information
terminal alone;
FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a system in-
cluding a recording and reproducing device according to an-
other embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a system in-
cluding a set top box according to still another embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of a system in-
cluding a tuner box according to yet another embodiment of
the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of a system in-
cluding a video game machine with a tuner function according
to yet still another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a broadcast
reception system according to a further embodiment of the
present invention; and
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a circuit arrangement of
the broadcast reception system shown in FIG. 9.
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Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
FIG. 1 shows a system including a television receiver
as a broadcast reception apparatus according to an em-
5 bodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the television receiver 10 has a
casing 20 including a front panel that supports thereon the
front face of a cathode-ray-tube display unit 22 housed in
the casing 20, a pair of speakers 24, a power supply switch
10 25, and a slot (holder) 18 in the form of a recess as a con-
nector for a portable information terminal 14.
The front panel of the casing 20 also supports, near
the slot 18, a charging indicator lamp 36 for indicating
battery charging for the portable information terminal 14
and a reception indicator lamp 37 for indicating the recep-
tion of broadcast data.
The portable information terminal 14 may comprise a
portable information terminal powered by a secondary bat-
tery, such as a portable telephone set, a PHS terminal, a
PDA terminal, a portable game machine, or the like.
The television receiver 10 is connected by a coaxial
cable 40 to a coaxial terminal 44 which is connected to an
aerial antenna 42 for receiving data broadcasts, and also
connected by a power supply cord 46 and an AC plug 48 to an
AC outlet 50 which is supplied with a commercial AC electric
power from an external AC power supply.
The portable information terminal 14 can be inserted
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into and removed from the slot 18 that is defined in a lower
area of the front panel of the casing 20.
The portable information terminal 14 has a liquid crys-
tal display (LCD) unit 12 having a color liquid crystal
screen of 320 pixels x 240 pixels. The portable information
terminal 14 also has a casing 26 supporting thereon the liq-
uid crystal display unit 12 and a control key assembly 32
including a cross key 28 and a decision key 30. The deci-
sion key 30 also functions as a power supply switch for the
portable information terminal 14.
FIG. 2 shows in block form a basic arrangement of an
electric circuit of the television receiver 10 and a basic
arrangement of an electric circuit of the portable informa-
tion terminal I4 that is removably connected to the televi-
sion receiver I0.
In FIG. 2, the portable information terminal 14 is
shown as being inserted into the slot 18 of the television
receiver 10. Stated otherwise, the television receiver 10
and the portable information terminal 14 are shown as elec-
trically connected to each other via connection terminals
62, 64 and connection terminals 66, 68.
For an easier understanding of the present invention,
the connection terminals 62, 66 that are disposed in the
slot 18 and the connection terminals 64, 68 that are dis-
posed in a connector 29 of the portable information terminal
14 is shown as being connected to each other by single
wires. Actually, however, the connection terminals 62, 64
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are connected to each other by a plurality of wires, and the
connection terminals 66, 68 are connected to each other by a
plurality of wires.
The connection terminal 62 serves as a data transmit-
tang terminal, and the connection terminal 66 serves as a
battery charging terminal (battery charging output termi-
nal). These connection terminals 62, 66 are disposed in the
bottom of the slot 18. The connection terminal 64 serves as
a data receiving terminal, and the connection terminal 68
serves as a battery charging terminal (battery charging in-
put terminal). These connection terminals 64, 68 are dis-
posed in the connector 29 that is located on the lower sur-
face (bottom surface) of a lower end 16 (see FIG. 1) of the
portable information terminal 14. When the connector 29 of
the.portable information terminal 14 is inserted into the
slot 18 of the television receiver 10, the connection termi-
pals 62, 64 are brought into contact with each other and
hence electrically connected to each other, and the connec-
tion terminals 66, 68 are also brought into contact with
each other and hence electrically connected to each other.
As shown in FIG. 2, the television receiver 10 has a
tuner 51 as a data reception circuit capable of receiving
data broadcasts. The tuner 51 extracts data from a televi-
sion radio wave 53 received by an antenna 42 and sends the
extracted data to a bus 54.
The television radio wave 53 is a data broadcasting ra-
dio wave which can distribute various digital contents,
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i.e., various forms of information including pictures, im-
ages (moving and still images), sounds, characters, numer-
als, etc. representing programs and commercials that can be
played back on television receivers and radio receivers,
newspaper articles, and magazine articles, using vertical
blanking intervals (VBIs) of NTSC broadcasts as ground-wave
television broadcasts. Therefore, the television radio wave
53 can be received by the antenna 42 which may be a conven-
tional Yagi antenna, for example.
The television radio wave 53 contains a plurality of
channel waves. In order to select and receive a desired
channel, the television receiver 10 has a channel control
circuit 56 for switching to a selected frequency of the tuner
51 based on channel information that has been entered by a
remote commander 38 functioning as a channel selecting means.
In the present embodiment, the antenna 42 and the tuner
51 receive ground-wave data broadcasts as described above.
However, the principles of the present invention are also
applicable to not only ground-wave data broadcasts, but also
satellite digital broadcasts and ground digital broadcasts.
Data, i.e., an NTSC signal, selected and received by
the tuner 51 and sent to the bus 54 is decoded by a data de-
coder 58. If the decoded NTSC signal contains data repre-
Bents various contents, referred to above, multiplexed using
VBIs, then the decoded data is transmitted to the portable
information terminal 14 via an external interface 60, which
comprises a serial interface, and the connection terminal 62
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under the control of a microcomputer 100 that functions as a
reception controller.
The data decoder 58 may be integrally combined with the
microcomputer 100.
The data sent from the television receiver 10 to the
portable information terminal 14 via the connection terminal
62 in the slot 18 is sent via the connection terminal 64 in
the connector 29, an external interface 67, which comprises
a serial interface, and a bus 74 to a data storage (memory
device) 72, which comprises an electrically erasable pro-
grammable ROM {Read-Only Memory) such as a flash memory, un-
der the control of a microcomputer 70. The data sent to the
data storage 72 is stored in the data storage 72.
The data storage 72 may have a storage capacity of 16
MB if data of a data broadcast having a data rate of about
40 kbps is to be stored for at least 50 minutes (40 kbps + 8
bits x 50 min. x 60 sec. - 15 MB).
Each of the microcomputers 100, 70 comprises a CPU
(Central Processing Unit), a ROM, a RAM (Random-Access Mem
ory), input and output interfaces, a clock as a clock means,
a timer as a timing means, etc., and functions as a control-
ler, an arithmetic unit, and a processor. Therefore, as de-
scribed above, the function of the data decoder 58 may be
performed by the microcomputer 100.
To the microcomputer 100 in the television receiver 10,
there is connected a reception indicator lamp 37 that is
controlled by the microcomputer 100 so as to be turned on
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while a data broadcast is being received, data is being
transferred from the television receiver 10 to the data
storage 72 in the portable information terminal 14, and data
is being stored into the data storage 72, and turned off
otherwise.
The television receiver 10 also has a power supply cir-
cuit 80. The power supply circuit 80 converts an AC voltage
such as of AC 100 V supplied from the AC outlet 50 of the
commercial AC power supply into a DC voltage and supplies
the DC voltage to all blocks in the television receiver 10.
A charging circuit 82 converts the DC voltage supplied
from the power supply circuit 80 into a charging DC voltage,
for example, and supplies the charging DC voltage through
the connection terminal 66 to the portable information ter-
urinal 14. The charging DC voltage is applied via the con-
nection terminal 68 to a secondary battery 84 in the port-
able information terminal 14 thereby to charge the secondary
battery 84. The charging circuit 82 carries out a charging
control process for detecting the temperature of the secon-
dary battery 84 to control a charging current supplied
thereto, detecting a remaining capacity of the secondary
battery 84, and detecting a fully charged state of the sec-
ondary battery 84.
The secondary battery 84 may comprise a lithium ion
battery, a nickel hydrogen battery, or the like.
The charging indicator lamp 36 is connected to the
charging circuit 82. The charging indicator lamp 36 is con
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trolled by the charging circuit 82 such that it is turned on
while the secondary battery 84 is being charged and turned
off when the secondary battery 84 is fully charged.
The control key assembly 32 (see also FIG. 1) is con-
s nected to the bus 74 via an interface, not shown, and the
LCD unit 12 is connected to the bus 74 via an LCD controller
(LCDC), not shown.
A process of receiving a data broadcast with the tuner
51 and storing the data into the data storage 72 of the
portable information terminal 14 while the secondary battery
84 of the portable information terminal 14 is being charged
by the charging circuit 82 will be described in detail below
with reference to FIG. 3.
In step Sl shown in FIG. 3, the portable information
terminal 14 is inserted into the slot 18 and hence mounted
in the television receiver 10 by the user. Usually, the
portable information terminal 14 is mounted in the televi-
sion receiver 10 when the user of the portable information
terminal 14 gets, home or goes to bed at night.
In step S2, the remote commander 38 sets up timer-
programmed recording process. When a time to start the re-
cording process is reached, the tuner 51 starts recording a
desired channel that has been set up in the channel control
circuit 56.
When the slot 18 and the connector 29 are connected to
each other in step S1, the microcomputer 100 of the televi-
sion receiver 10 wakes up. In step S3, DC electric power
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converted from AC electric power supplied from the AC outlet
50 via the AC plug 48 is supplied from the power supply cir-
cuit 80 via the charging circuit 82, the connection terminal
66, and the connection terminal 68 to the secondary battery
84. At this time, the charging circuit 82 carries out its
charging control process to monitor the charging current,
the charged quantity (remaining capacity), the charging tem-
perature, and the fully charged state, etc. When the secon-
dart' battery 84 starts being charged, the charging indicator
lamp 36 is turned on.
In step S4, the tuner 51 receives the television radio
wave 53 carrying a data broadcast via the antenna 42 and the
coaxial cable 40.
If the television radio wave 53 is transmitted from a
broadcasting station, not shown, during a fixed time, then
the clock and timer of the microcomputer 100 may be used to
supply electric power to the tuner 51, the data decoder 58,
etc. only during that fixed time.
In this embodiment, it is assumed that the television
radio wave 53 broadcast from a broadcasting station (not
shown) contains data representing newspaper clippings about
local news, economy news, and sports news (hereinafter re-
ferred to as "newspaper article data") from 4:00 am to 4:30
am as a VBI signal relative to the data broadcast, and the
timer-programmed recording process is set up for that time
period in step S2. The data of the VBI signal may be com-
pressed. If the data of the VBI signal is compressed, then
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the data decoder 58 stores a data expansion program, or the
VBI signal contains an interleaved data expansion program,
which will be loaded into the data decoder 58 when the VBI
signal is decoded by the data decoder 58.
In step S4, the television radio wave 53 received by
the antenna 42 is demodulated by the tuner 51 into an NTSC
signal in the channel which has been selected by the channel
selection circuit 56.
In step S5, the data decoder 58 decodes the NTSC signal
in an attempt to separate data, i.e., newspaper article
data, which has been multiplexed in the NTSC signal.
If data which has been multiplexed in the NTSC signal,
i.e., newspaper article data, is produced the decoding proc-
ess carried out by the data decoder 58 (YES in step S6),
then the presence of the data is indicated from the data de-
coder 58 to the microcomputer 100.
The microcomputer 100 recognizes the presence of the
data, and turns on the reception indicator lamp 37.
In step S7, the data decoder 58 transfers the newspaper
article data as digital contents via the bus 54, the exter-
nal interface 60, the connection terminals 62, 64, the ex-
ternal interface 67, and the bus 74 to the data storage 72
of the portable information terminal 14. In step S8, the
transferred newspaper article data is stored in the data
storage 72.
Thereafter, the processing in step S3 and following
steps is repeated. Actually, if no multiplexed data is pre-
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sent in the NTSC signal in step S6, then the processing in
step S3 and following steps is also repeated.
The operation sequence shown in FIG. 3 i.s continued un-
til the portable information terminal 14 is pulled out of,
i.e., detached, from the television receiver 10. If an
amount of data which exceeds the available storage capacity
of the data storage 72 is transferred from the data decoding
circuit 58 to the data storage 72, then a so-called FIFO
(First In, First Out) process is carried out to update
(overwrite) the stored data by erasing the data previously
stored in the data storage 72 and storing the newly trans-
ferred data in the data storage 72.
The data storage 72 may be arranged such that the data
stored in the data storage 72 will automatically be erased a
certain period of time, e.g., 30 minutes, after the portable
information terminal 14 is mounted in the television re-
ceiver 10.
After the portable information terminal 14 is removed
from the television receiver 10 by the user at about 7 am,
for example, the user presses the decision switch 30 con-
tinuously for a given period of time in step S11 shown in
FIG. 4, turning on the portable information terminal 14.
In step 512, the microcomputer 70 reads the data from
the data storage 72, and controls the LCDC (not shown) to
reproduce the data on the LCD unit I2. Therefore, the news-
paper article data received by the tuner 51 of the televi-
sion receiver 10 is reproduced on the display screen of the
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LCD unit 12. A sound output unit 76 having a speaker inter-
face and an audio signal output terminal may be connected to
the bus 74 in the portable information terminal 14, so that
sounds may be reproduced by a speaker or earphone in the
sound output unit 76 in synchronism with the reproduction of
image data on the LCD unit 12. Only sounds of news or music
may be reproduced by such a speaker or earphone.
While the newspaper article data is being reproduced in
step 512, the user may use the cross key 28 to rewind, fast-
feed, pause, or otherwise process the newspaper article data
being reproduced.
When the decision key 30 is continuously pressed by the
user for a given period of time while the newspaper article
data is being reproduced in step S12, the portable informa-
tion terminal 14 is turned off in step S13.
Contents data that can be received as data broadcasts
are not limited to newspaper article data, but may include
other data such as game data, fortune-telling data, etc. If
such other data are included as contents data, then the user
can execute such data as an interactive application such as
a game on the portable information terminal 14 using the
control key assembly 32.
Usually, the portable information terminal 14 is car-
ried around by the user when the user goes out, and mounted
in the television receiver 10 when the user gets home. If
the broadcasting station has such an infrastructure that a
data broadcast is on air from 4:00 am to 4:30 am next morn-
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ing, then by the time the user goes out in the morning, the
secondary battery 84 has been fully charged, and the latest
data, e.g., today's newspaper article data, has been stored
in the data storage 72.
Therefore, the user is able to reproduce the latest
data stored in the data storage 72 of the portable informa-
tion terminal 14 while the user is commuting on a commuter
train, for example. As a result, the user who can use the
television receiver 10 and the portable information terminal
14 can automatically receive and reproduce the latest data
by connecting the portable information terminal 14 to the
television receiver 10 after getting home everyday, for ex-
ample.
The portable information terminal 14 arranged as shown
in FIGS. 1 and 2 does not require a data reception circuit
including the tuner 51 which has a large power requirement
and a relatively large volume, and hence is relatively small
in size and weight.
The user of the portable information terminal 14 is
able to read newspaper articles as electronic data on the
LCD unit 12. Therefore, the user find printed newspapers
unnecessary, and hence the portable information terminal 14
is a paper resource saver. The portable information termi-
nal 14 thus arranged can be used a novel video medium, not
conventionally available, different from the conventional
portable television receivers.
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tuner 51
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of the television receiver 10 is used, and the charging cir-
cuit 82 is included in the television receiver 10. However,
the tuner 51, the channel control circuit 56, the charging
circuit 82, and the data decoder 58 may be included in a re-
cording and reproducing device 101 (see FIG. 5) such as a
VTR (Video Tape Recorder) or the like, or a set top box 102
(see FIG. 6) for receiving CATV (CAble Television) signals,
or a tuner box 103 (see FIG. 7) for receiving various broad-
casts including a satellite radio wave 53A with a satellite
antenna 42A, or a video game machine 104 (see FIG. 8) with a
tuner function .
Each of the recording and reproducing device 101, the
set top box 102, the tuner box 103, and the video game ma-
chine 104 has the slot 18 having the connection terminal 62
as a data transmitting terminal and the connection terminal
66 as a battery charging terminal, the charging indicator
lamp 36, and the reception indicator lamp 37. Therefore,
each of the recording and reproducing device 101, the set
top box 102, the tuner box 103, and the video game machine
104 can be used as a broadcast reception apparatus to which
a television receiver 10 and the portable information termi-
nal 14 can be connected. In FIGS. 5 through 8, the televi-
sion receiver lOB comprises an ordinary television receiver.
FIG. 9 shows in perspective a broadcast reception sys-
tem 200 according to a further embodiment of the present in-
vention. FIG. 10 shows in block form a circuit arrangement
of the broadcast reception system shown in FIG. 9.
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Those parts shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 which are identical
to those of the television receiver 10 and the portable in-
formation terminal 14 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by
identical reference characters, and will not be described in
detail below.
Basically, the broadcast reception system 200 shown in
FIGS. 9 and 10 comprises a television receiver l0A having a
data transmitting connector 118, a battery charging device
212 connected to the data transmitting connector 118 by a
cable 210 dedicated for receiving data, and a portable in-
formation terminal 14 detachably inserted in a slot 18A de-
fined in the battery charging device 212.
The data transmitting connector 118 is connected to the
external interface 60 of the television receiver l0A and has
a connection terminal 62A connected to a connection terminal
218 of the battery charging device 212 by the cable 210.
The connection terminal 218 is connected by an internal wire
220 to a connection terminal 62 in a slot 18A defined as a
terminal connector in the battery charging device 212.
The battery charging device 212 has a power supply cord
46A connected to an AC plug 48A for connection to the AC
outlet 50. The battery charging device 212 has a power sup-
ply circuit 80A connected to the power supply cord 46A, a
charging circuit 82 connected to the power supply circuit
80A and a connection terminal 66 in the slot 18A, a lamp in-
dication control circuit 216 connected to the power supply
circuit 80A, a charging indicator lamp 36 connected to the
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charging circuit 82, and a reception indicator lamp 37 con-
nected to the lamp indication control circuit 216.
The power supply circuit 80A outputs a DC electric
power that is supplied to the charging circuit 82 and an in-
put terminal of the lamp indication control circuit 216.
The internal wire 220 is connected to another input
terminal of the lamp indication control circuit 216.
Other details of the broadcast reception system 200
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are identical to those of the televi-
sion receiver 10 and the portable information terminal 14
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
When the portable information terminal 14 is inserted
into the slot 18A of the battery charging device 212 and the
secondary battery 84 is being charged by the charging cir-
cuit 82, the charging indicator lamp 36 is turned on. While
broadcast data received by the tuner 51 of the television
receiver l0A is being transferred via the external interface
60, the connection terminal 62A, the cable 210, the connec-
tion terminal 218, and the internal wire 220, the lamp indi-
cation control circuit 216 turns on the reception indicator
lamp 37. At this time, the data is stored into the data
storage 72 via the connection terminal 62, the connection
terminal 64, the external interface 67, and the bus 74.
The broadcast reception system 200 shown in FIGS. 1 and
2 offers the same advantages as those of the system shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2, and the portability of the portable informa-
tion terminal 14 is not impaired.
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According to the present invention, as described above,
when the portable information terminal is connected to the
connector of the broadcast reception apparatus, the portable
information terminal can receive data via the data transmit-
ting terminal, and the secondary battery in the portable in-
formation terminal can be charged by the charging circuit
via the battery charging terminal.
The charging circuit may be included in the broadcast
reception apparatus or in the battery charging device exter-
nal to the broadcast reception apparatus. If the charging
circuit is included in the battery charging device external
to the broadcast reception apparatus, then data received by
the broadcast reception apparatus can be sent through the
battery charging device to the portable information termi-
nal.
If the portable information terminal has a memory de-
vice, then when the portable information terminal is con-
nected to the broadcast reception apparatus or the battery
charging apparatus, the data supplied through the data
transmitting terminal can be stored into the memory device
while the secondary battery in the portable information ter-
urinal is being charged.
The data stored in the memory device can be reproduced
with the display unit and/or the sound output unit on the
portable information terminal alone at a desired time while
the portable information terminal is being carried by the
user.
CA 02349372 2001-04-27
WO 01/17237 PCT/JP00/05836
23
With the above arrangement, even a portable information
terminal which does not have a broadcast reception circuit
is capable of receiving broadcast data. Since the portable
information terminal has no broadcast reception circuit, its
portability is not impaired.
Although certain preferred embodiments of the present
invention have been shown and described in detail, it should
be understood that various changes and modifications may be
made therein without departing from the scope of the ap-
pended claims.
