Communication card with three operational states

• US 20080307142A1
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: David Sun
• Inventors: Sherman, Itay, Segalov, Yaron, Cohen, Itay
• Granted Patent: US 7,552,245 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/301
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/385 for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A communication card with three operational states, including a controller, a battery, a flash storage unit, a wireless modem, and a connector for connecting the communication card to a shell host and to an electronic device host, wherein the communication card (i) operates in a standalone mode when the connector is not connected to a device, (ii) functions as a master when the connector is connected to the shell host, and (iii) functions as a slave when the connector is connected to the electronic device host. A method and a computer-readable storage medium are also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A communication card with three operational states, comprising:

a controller;

a battery;

a flash storage unit;

a wireless modem; and

a connector for connecting the communication card to a shell host and to an electronic device host;

wherein the communication card (i) operates in a standalone mode when said connector is not connected to a device, (ii) functions as a master when said connector is connected to the shell host, and (iii) functions as a slave when said connector is connected to the electronic device host.

2. The communication card of claim 1 further comprising circuitry for determining whether said connector is connected to a host and, if so, whether the host is the shell host or the electronic device host.

3. The communication card of claim 1 wherein said battery is used to power the shell host when the shell host is connected thereto.

4. The communication card of claim 1 wherein the shell host has its own battery, and wherein said battery is charged by the shell host'"'"'s battery when the shell host is connected to said connector.

5. The communication card of claim 1 further comprising a USB connector.

6. The communication card of claim 1 wherein said wireless modem comprises an audio player.

7. A method for determining the operational state of a communication card, comprising:

providing a communication card that has three operational states, namely, (i) the communication card in a standalone mode (State I), (ii) the communication card connected to a shell (State II), and (iii) the communication card connected to a host (State III);

monitoring a first signal on the communication card; and

if the first signal has a voltage level lower than a first designated threshold, then concluding that the communication card is in State I;

otherwise, concluding that the communication card is connected to a device, and;

monitoring a second signal on the communication card; and

if the second signal has a voltage level lower than a second designated threshold, then concluding that the communication card is in State II;

otherwise,

concluding that the communication card is in State III.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first signal is a battery voltage.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the first designated threshold is 0.5V.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the second signal is a battery voltage.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the second designated threshold is 0.5V.

12. A computer readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computing device to determine the state of a communication card that has three operational states, namely, (i) the communication card in a standalone mode (State I), (ii) the communication card connected to a shell (State II), and (iii) the communication card connected to a host (State III), by:

monitoring a first signal on the communication card; and

if the first signal has a voltage level lower than a designated threshold, then concluding that the communication card is in State I;

otherwise, concluding that the communication card is connected to a device, and;

monitoring a second signal on the communication card; and

if the second signal has a voltage level lower than the designated threshold, then concluding that the communication card is in State II;

otherwise,

concluding that the communication card is in State III.

13. A communication card with three operational states, comprising:

a card connector for connecting a communication card to a shell and to an electronic device, comprising;

a connector for incoming and outgoing audio signals;

a connector for a power supply;

a universal serial bus (USB) connector; and

a communication bus, wherein (i) no signals are routed to the communication bus when the card operates in a standalone mode (State I), (ii) secure digital (SD) card signals are routed to the communication bus when the card is connected to a shell (State II), with the card functioning as master, and (iii) SD card signals are routed to the communication bus when the card is connected to an electronic device (State III), with the card functioning as slave; and

circuitry for automatically detecting whether the card is operating in State I, State II or State III.