Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Slide Flash Memory

• US 20080233798A1
• Filed: 03/18/2008
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Super Talent Electronics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Super Talent Electronics, Inc.
• Inventors: Nguyen, David, Ni, Jim Chin-Nan, Yu, Frank I-Kang, Shen, Ming-Shiang, Ma, Abraham C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,628,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 439/607
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 17/001 in aqueous medium C09D17/003, C09D17/004 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/5621 using charge storage in a floating gate
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/0408 comprising cells containing floating gate transistors G11C16/0483, G11C16/0491 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/349 Arrangements for evaluating degradation, retention or wearout, e.g. by counting erase cycles
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/3495 Circuits or methods to detect or delay wearout of nonvolatile EPROM or EEPROM memory devices, e.g. by counting numbers of erase or reprogram cycles, by using multiple memory areas serially or cyclically

Abstract

A portable USB device with an improved configuration is described herein. According to one embodiment, a portable USB device includes a core unit having a USB plug connector coupled to one or more multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory devices and an MLC flash controller disposed therein. The portable USB device further includes a housing for enclosing the core unit, including a front end opening to allow the USB plug connector to be deployed. The portable USB device further includes a core unit carrier for carrying the core unit for deploying and retracting the core unit, including a slide button to allow a finger of a user to slide the USB plug connector of the core unit in and out of the housing via the front end opening of the housing.

Claims

1. A portable universal serial bus (USB) storage device, comprising:

a core unit having a USB plug connector coupled to one or more multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory devices and an MLC flash controller disposed therein, the MLC flash controller controlling the one or more MLC flash memory devices and the USB plug connector providing an interface for accessing the one or more MLC flash memory devices;

a housing having a top housing and a bottom housing for enclosing the core unit, wherein the top housing and the bottom housing when attached together form a front end opening to allow the USB plug connector to be deployed external to the housing; and

a core unit carrier for carrying the core unit to slide the USB plug connector in and out via the front end opening of the housing for deploying and retracting the core unit, wherein the core unit carrier includes a slide button disposed on a top surface of the core unit carrier,

wherein the top housing further includes a slide button opening, which when the top housing and the bottom housing enclose the core unit carrier carrying the core unit, causes the slide button of the core unit carrier to be exposed external to the top housing via the slide button opening, wherein the exposed button allows a finger of a user to slide the USB plug connector of the core unit in and out of the housing via the front end opening of the housing, wherein when the slide button slides forwardly towards a front end of the housing, the USB plug connector of the core unit is in a deployed position, and wherein when the slide button slides backwardly towards a backend of the housing, the USB plug connector of the core unit is in retracted position by retracting the USB plug connector into the housing.

2. The portable USB device of claim 1, wherein the core unit carrier further comprises one or more lock tabs disposed on the top surface of the core unit carrier, wherein the top housing further comprises a first set of lock grooves and a second set of lock grooves disposed on an inner wall of the top housing, and wherein when the core unit is in the deployed position, the lock tabs of the core unit carrier are interlocked with the first set of lock grooves and when the core unit is in the retracted position, the lock tabs of the core unit carrier are interlocked with the second set of lock grooves.

3. The portable USB device of claim 2, wherein the core unit carrier further comprises a first side surface and a second side surface bended downwardly to form a U-shape channel, wherein edges of the first and second side surfaces are bended inwardly to form a U-shape tray to allow the core unit to slide into the core unit carrier in order for the core unit carrier to carry the core unit.

4. The portable USB device of claim 3, wherein the top surface of the core unit carrier is made of elastic material having a front section, a rear section, and a center section coupled in between, wherein the front section and the rear section of the top surfaces are fixedly coupled to the first and second side surfaces at a frontend and a backend of the core unit carrier respectively while the center section is separately with an opening space from the first and second side surfaces respectively to allow the center section to resiliently move up and down while the front and rear sections are fixed with the frontend and backend of the core unit carrier.

5. The portable USB device of claim 4, wherein when the slide button is pressed downwardly, the center section of the top surface is resiliently pushed down which causes the lock tabs to be disengaged from the corresponding lock grooves of the top housing, and wherein when the slide button is released from pressing, the center section of the top surface resiliently recovers to a natural position which causes the lock tabs to be engaged with the corresponding lock grooves of the top housing to lock the core unit in either a deployed position or a retracted position.

6. The portable USB device of claim 5, wherein the lock tabs comprise a first lock tab disposed on a first edge of the center section and a second lock tab disposed on a second edge of the center section, wherein the first and second side surfaces comprise a first and second retaining slots respectively to retain the first and second lock tabs respectively, and wherein the first and second retaining slots are to limit amount of space downwardly that the center section can be pressed.

7. The portable USB device of claim 6, wherein the core unit carrier further comprises a fingerprint cutout and the core unit further comprises a fingerprint sensor disposed on a top surface of the core unit and exposed via the fingerprint cutout when the core unit slides into the core unit carrier, and wherein the fingerprint sensor is to scan a finger of the user to obtain an identity of the user to determine whether the user is eligible to access content stored in the MLC flash memory devices.

8. The portable USB device of claim 7, wherein the top housing further comprises a fingerprint sensing opening area to expose the fingerprint sensor when the core unit is deployed and the fingerprint sensor is covered by the top housing when the core unit is in the retracted position.

9. The portable USB device of claim 8, wherein the fingerprint sensor is disposed in a longitudinal direction with respect to the core unit to allow the fingerprint sensor to scan the finger of the user when the finger slide back and forth on the fingerprint sensor.

10. The portable USB device of claim 1, wherein the core unit is implemented in one of a regular PCB (printed circuit board) package, a slim flash memory package and a COB (chip on bard) package, and wherein the top housing and the bottom housing are attached to each other via a snap together mechanism or an ultrasonic welding technique.

11. A portable universal serial bus (USB) storage device, comprising:

a core unit having a USB plug connector coupled to one or more multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory devices and an MLC flash controller disposed therein, the MLC flash controller controlling the one or more MLC flash memory devices and the USB plug connector providing an interface for accessing the one or more MLC flash memory devices;

a housing having a top housing and a bottom housing for enclosing the core unit, wherein the top housing and the bottom housing when attached together form a frontend opening to allow the USB plug connector to be deployed external to the housing; and

a core unit carrier for carrying the core unit to slide the USB plug connector in and out via the frontend opening of the housing for deploying and retracting the core unit, wherein the core unit carrier includes a slide button disposed on a side surface of the core unit carrier,

wherein the top housing further includes a first cutout on a side surface of the top housing and the bottom housing further includes a second cutout on a side surface of the bottom housing, which when the top housing and the bottom housing enclose the core unit carrier carrying the core unit, the first and second cutouts form a slide button opening on a side surface of the enclosed housing,

wherein the slide button of the core unit carrier is exposed external to the housing via the slide button opening formed on a side of the housing, wherein the exposed button allows a finger of a user to slide the USB plug connector of the core unit in and out of the housing via the front end opening of the housing,

wherein when the slide button slides forwardly towards a front end of the housing, the USB plug connector of the core unit is in a deployed position, and wherein when the slide button slides backwardly towards a backend of the housing, the USB plug connector of the core unit is in retracted position by retracting the USB plug connector into the housing.

12. The portable USB device of claim 11, wherein the core unit carrier further comprises one or more lock tabs disposed on the top surface of the core unit carrier, wherein the top housing further comprises a first set of lock grooves and a second set of lock grooves disposed on an inner wall of the top housing, and wherein when the core unit is in the deployed position, the lock tabs of the core unit carrier are interlocked with the first set of lock grooves and when the core unit is in the retracted position, the lock tabs of the core unit carrier are interlocked with the second set of lock grooves.

13. The portable USB device of claim 12, wherein the core unit carrier further comprises a first side surface and a second side surface bended downwardly to form a U-shape channel, wherein edges of the first and second side surfaces are bended inwardly to form a U-shape tray to allow the core unit to slide into the core unit carrier in order for the core unit carrier to carry the core unit.

14. The portable USB device of claim 13, wherein the side surface of the core unit carrier having the slide button disposed thereon is made of elastic material having a front section, a rear section, and a center section coupled in between, wherein the front section and the rear section of the top surfaces are fixedly coupled to the first and second side surfaces at a frontend and a backend of the core unit carrier respectively while the center section is separately with an opening space from the first and second side surfaces respectively to allow the center section to resiliently move in and out while the front and rear sections are fixed with the frontend and backend of the core unit carrier.

15. The portable USB device of claim 14, wherein when the slide button is pressed inwardly, the center section of the side surface is resiliently pushed in which causes the lock tabs to be disengaged from the corresponding lock grooves of the top housing, and wherein when the slide button is released from pressing, the center section of the side surface resiliently recovers outwardly to a natural position which causes the lock tabs to be engaged with the corresponding lock grooves of the top housing to lock the core unit in either a deployed position or a retracted position.

16. The portable USB device of claim 15, wherein the core unit carrier further comprises a fingerprint cutout on the top surface and the core unit further comprises a fingerprint sensor disposed on a top surface of the core unit and exposed via the fingerprint cutout when the core unit slides into the core unit carrier, and wherein the fingerprint sensor is to scan a finger of the user to obtain an identity of the user to determine whether the user is eligible to access content stored in the MLC flash memory devices.

17. The portable USB device of claim 16, wherein the top housing further comprises a fingerprint sensing opening area to expose the fingerprint sensor when the core unit is deployed and the fingerprint sensor is covered by the top housing when the core unit is in the retracted position.

18. The portable USB device of claim 17, wherein the fingerprint sensor is disposed in a longitudinal orientation with respect to the core unit to allow the fingerprint sensor to scan the finger of the user when the finger slide back and forth on the fingerprint sensor.

19. The portable USB device of claim 11, wherein the core unit is implemented in one of a regular PCB (printed circuit board) package, a slim flash memory package and a COB (chip on bard) package, and wherein the top housing and the bottom housing are attached to each other via a snap together mechanism or an ultrasonic welding technique.