Sony Mobile Communications Inc.

Sony Corporation

Kazuhiro Kuroda

Hiroyuki Hasegawa

Takaki Kanno

Hiroshi Izumi

Hiroki Nitta

Mikio Daigo

A device is equipped with an electrical connector in the form of a receptacle that is subject to liquid intrusion. The device detects the insertion of a mating connector and optionally detects the presence of liquid in the receptacle by applying a low power, pulsed sense signal to a terminal pin of the receptacle while the terminal pin is decoupled from a circuit part to which the terminal pin is normally coupled and concurrently sensing a voltage coupled from the terminal pin and comparing the voltage to at least a predetermined lower voltage bound and optionally a predetermined upper voltage bound and based on the results of those comparison deduces the presence of a mating connector or optionally the presence of liquid in the receptacle.

Connector receptacle interfacing circuit and method of operation

A portable electronic device including a battery, a direct current (DC) power source, a first device that consumes a first amount of power during operation, a second device that consumes a second amount of power during operation, the second amount of power being more than the first amount of power, a first switch provided in a charging path between the DC power source and the battery, a second switch provided in a path for supplying power from the battery to the second device, and a charging control circuit that controls charging the battery by connecting the first switch when external power is supplied via the DC power source, and control the second switch to be connected and the first switch to be disconnected when the second device is operated during the charging.

Portable electronic apparatus and charging apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Kazuhiro Kuroda