1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronics technology, and more particularly, to a press-activated electronic component discharging facilitating apparatus which is designed for use with a battery-powered electronic component, such as a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) memory unit installed on a computer motherboard, for providing the CMOS memory unit with a user-operated press-activated discharging facilitating function that allows the user to facilitate the discharging of the CMOS memory unit simply by pressing the battery cell used to power the CMOS memory unit.
2. Description of Related Art
A computer's motherboard is typically provided with a battery-powered special-purpose memory unit for storing a set of important system configuration data, such as clock data, passwords, and so on, which allows the computer system to nonetheless hold these data while powered off. In actual implementation, this special-purpose memory unit is typically a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) based memory unit which is powered by a small battery cell, typically a button battery, such that when the computer system is powered off, the battery cell can still supply electrical power to the CMOS memory to allow the CMOS memory to retain its clock function.
In actual application, when the user needs to clear all data in the CMOS memory, a discharging process is performed on the CMOS memory to drain all the electrical charges I that represent data in the CMOS memory. A conventional method for discharging a CMOS memory unit includes a first step of dismounting the CMOS memory's battery cell from the motherboard, and a second step of short-circuiting the negative electrode and the positive electrode of the CMOS memory unit by means of manually flipping hardware jumpers on the motherboard.
In practice, however, the above-mentioned method for discharging CMOS memory has several drawbacks. First, the dismounting of the battery cell is quite laborious and tedious and would easily cause damage to the battery cell. Second, the dismounted battery cell would be easily lost due to its very small size. Third, the flipping of the jumpers requires the user to consult technical manuals to find the correct way to do it, and therefore is quite laborious and time-consuming and thus inefficient.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds