Removable Mother/Daughter Peripheral Card
First Claim
1. A non-volatile memory device assembly, comprising:
- a memory card comprising;
a first connector;
a flash array;
encoded user data stored in a first portion of the array; and
information useful to decode the encoded user data stored in a second portion of the array; and
a mother card comprising;
a second connector, whereby the mother card is removably connectable to the memory card by connecting of the first and second connectors to one another;
a third connector whereby the mother card can be removably coupled to a host, wherein the third memory connector uses a different pin connector structure from the first connectors pin connector structure; and
a module having a controller function that decodes the encoded user data using said information when the mother card is removably coupled to the host and the memory card is removably connectable to the mother card, the user data being transferrable from the memory card to the host via the mother card,wherein the information useful to decode the stored encoded user data includes a decoding algorithm used by the module to decode the encoded user data,wherein the host and the memory card lack the memory controller function, andwherein the memory card receives from the mother card through the second and first connectors program and erase voltages for respective use in storing data in, and erasing of data from, the array.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A peripheral card having a Personal Computer (“PC”) card form factor and removably coupled externally to a host system is further partitioned into a mother card portion and a daughter card portion. The daughter card is removably coupled to the mother card. In the preferred embodiment, a low cost flash “floppy” is accomplished with the daughter card containing only flash EEPROM chips and being controlled by a memory controller residing on the mother card. Other aspects of the invention includes a comprehensive controller on the mother card able to control a predefined set of peripherals on daughter cards connectable to the mother card; relocation of some host resident hardware to the mother card to allow for a minimal host system; a mother card that can accommodate multiple daughter cards; daughter cards that also operates directly with hosts having embedded controllers; daughter cards carrying encoded data and information for decoding it; and daughter cards with security features.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A non-volatile memory device assembly, comprising:
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a memory card comprising; a first connector; a flash array; encoded user data stored in a first portion of the array; and information useful to decode the encoded user data stored in a second portion of the array; and a mother card comprising; a second connector, whereby the mother card is removably connectable to the memory card by connecting of the first and second connectors to one another; a third connector whereby the mother card can be removably coupled to a host, wherein the third memory connector uses a different pin connector structure from the first connectors pin connector structure; and a module having a controller function that decodes the encoded user data using said information when the mother card is removably coupled to the host and the memory card is removably connectable to the mother card, the user data being transferrable from the memory card to the host via the mother card, wherein the information useful to decode the stored encoded user data includes a decoding algorithm used by the module to decode the encoded user data, wherein the host and the memory card lack the memory controller function, and wherein the memory card receives from the mother card through the second and first connectors program and erase voltages for respective use in storing data in, and erasing of data from, the array. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of storing user data on and retrieving user data from a non-volatile memory card, comprising:
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receiving the user data in encoded form at the memory card, receiving information useful to decode the encoded user data at the memory card, subsequently storing both the encoded user data and the information useful to decode the encoded user data in non-volatile memory on the memory card, thereafter reading both the encoded user data and the decoding information from the non-volatile memory on the memory card, and providing the read encoded user data and the read decoding information from the memory for use in decoding the read encoded user data by use of the decoding information from the memory card, thereby to obtain the user data, wherein the decoding information includes a driver useful to decode the encoded user data. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification