Low profile storage device

• US 20070143543A1
• Filed: 12/15/2006
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Power Quotient International Company Limited (FIT Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Power Quotient International Company Limited (FIT Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lin, Wen-Lung, Tsai, Chang-Cheng, Lin, Kun-Cheng, Liu, Yi-Ling
• Granted Patent: US 7,685,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07732 the record carrier having a housing or construction similar to well-known portable memory devices, such as SD cards, USB or memory sticks housings for electrical equipment in general, see H05K5/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07743 External electrical contacts

Abstract

A low profile storage device is disclosed to include a first interface having a plurality of contact terminals movably exposed to the outside for connection to a computer, an interface controller coupled to the first interface to execute signal conversion and protocol operation of the first interface, a memory for storing data temporarily, a memory controller respectively coupled to the interface controller and the memory to transfer data from the memory to the computer and to receive data from the computer and store the data in the memory.

Claims

1. A low profile storage device comprising:

a housing that houses parts of the low profile storage device;

a first interface, said first interface having a plurality of contact terminals movably extending out of said housing for connection to a computer;

an interface controller coupled to said first interface and adapted to execute signal conversion and protocol operation of said first interface;

a memory for storing data temporarily;

a memory controller respectively coupled to said interface controller and said memory and adapted to transfer data from said memory to the computer to which said first interface is connected and to receive data from the computer to which said first interface is connected and then store the data in said memory.

2. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first interface is an I-Stick interface compatible to a USB interface.

3. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a printed circuit board carrying said interface controller, said memory and said memory controller, said printed circuit board having circuit line means coupled to said first interface and said printed circuit board is a flexible printed circuit board.

4. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a card reader controller coupled to said interface controller, and an insertion slot coupled to said card reader controller for receiving a memory card.

5. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said insertion slot is adapted to receive one of memory cards including contact type memory card, SIM card, CF memory card, SD memory card.

6. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a second interface connectable to an external electronic product, and a second interface controller, said second interface being coupled to said second interface controller, and said external electronic product is one of the products including PDA, digital camera, and mobile video player. Further, said second interface is one of SmartMedia, CompactFlash, MMC, Security Digital (SD), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, xD or Microdrive, Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick Pro Duo memory card interfaces.

7. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a display device and a drive circuit, said display device being coupled to said memory controller for displaying information, said drive circuit being coupled to said display device and said display device is one of STN-LCD (Super Twisted Nematic LCD), TFT LCD (Thin Film Transistor LCD), and OLED (Organic Light Emitting Display).

8. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a receiver coupled to said card reader controller to receive external information wirelessly and said receiver is selected from bluetooth module and wireless network module.

9. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a solar charger provided outside said housing and coupled to said interface controller, said memory and said memory controller, and adapted to receive the radiation energy of the sun and to convert the radiation energy of the sun into electric energy for use by said interface controller, said memory and said memory controller.

10. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 9, wherein said solar charger comprises a solar panel and a storage battery, said solar panel receiving the radiation energy of the sun and converting the radiation energy of the sun into electric energy, said storage battery being adapted to store electric energy from said solar panel.

11. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a magnetic strip provided outside said housing for recording usage track of the low profile storage device.

12. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, which has a card-like outer appearance and the card-like outer appearance has a size equal to a credit card.

13. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 6, which has a card-like outer appearance and the card-like outer appearance has a size equal to a credit card.

14. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a RFID receiver mounted on said printed circuit board to induce a RFID code from a RFID transmitter such that when the induced RFID code is matched, the RFID receiver does not encrypt the data in said memory;

when the induced RFID code is not matched, the RFID receiver encrypts the data in said memory.

15. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a hardware security device mounted on said printed circuit board and exposed to the outside of said housing for inducing a code inputted by the user such that when the code inputted by the user is matched, said hardwire security device does not encrypt the data in said memory;

when the code inputted by the user is not matched, said hardware security device encrypts the data in said memory and said hardware security device is a fingerprint recognition system for inducing the user'"'"'s fingerprint.

16. The low profile storage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said housing is comprised of a top cover shell and a bottom cover shell, said top cover shell and said bottom cover shell being fastened together to house said first interface, said interface controller, said memory and said memory controller.