Insertable/removable digital memory apparatus and methods of operation thereof

• US 5,877,975 A
• Filed: 08/13/1996
• Issued: 03/02/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Winbond Electronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nexcom Technology, Inc. (Uphill Investment Co.)
• Inventors: Wong, David K., Jigour, Robin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nelms, David C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ho, Hoai V.
• Application Number:
  US08/689,687
• Time in Patent Office: 931 Days
• Field of Search: 365/51, 365/52, 365/63, 365/230.03, 365/244
• US Class Current: 365/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/409 Mechanical coupling back panels H05K7/1438
• 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 19/07741 comprising a first part operating as a regular record carrier and a second attachable part that changes the functional appearance of said record carrier, e.g. a contact-based smart card with an adapter part which, when attached to the contact card makes the contact card function as a non-contact card
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07743 External electrical contacts
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0021 for reading/sensing record carriers having surface contacts
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Each device of a family of removable digital media devices (310, 320, 330, 340, 350 and 360) may be plugged into a host to permits the host to store data in it or to retrieve data from it. The form factors of the digital media devices in the family and the connector system used by the digital media devices are compact for minimizing the volume of space occupied in portable devices and for easy storage. Some embodiments (310, 320, 330, 350 and 360) provide an elongated compact form factor that provides easy and firm grasping for insertion and removal. The digital media devices of the family have respective body portions (312, 322, 332, 342, 352 and 362) preferably of a rigid or semi-rigid material. Preferably, the digital media devices of the family use serial memory requiring few power and signal lines, so that few electrical contacts are required. In particular, a small number of durable contact pads form the contact arrays (314, 324, 334, 344, 354 and 364) on the digital media devices, which in conjunction with corresponding contact pads mounted into a suitable socket provide for easy and convenient insertion and removal and for robust and reliable electrical contact over a long insertion lifetime. Preferably, the digital media devices of the family incorporate flash memory, which permits low voltage operation, low power consumption, and high capacity non-volatile data storage. Preferably, the digital media devices of the family are fabricated using surface mount techniques (310 and 320) or particularly inexpensive "Chip on Board" techniques (330, 340, 350 and 360).

Claims

1. A storage apparatus comprising:

a body of an elongated shape having first and second ends, a first substantially constant width portion proximate the first end, and first and second opposing major surfaces;

an array of electrical contact pads integral with the body and disposed generally level with the first major surface and extending substantially across the substantially constant width portion proximate the first end of the body, the electrical contact pad array including a data pad, a power pad, a ground pad, and a clock pad;

a serial data line integral with the body and coupled to the data pad;

a power line integral with the body and coupled to the power pad;

a ground line integral with the body and coupled to the ground pad;

a clock line integral with the body and coupled to the clock pad; and

a high density memory integrated circuit integral with the body, the memory integrated circuit having a serial data port coupled to the serial line, a power node coupled to the power line, a ground node coupled to the ground line, and a clock node coupled to the clock line;

wherein the body further comprises a portion extending from the first substantially constant width portion and terminating in the second end, the extending portion being generally larger than the first substantially constant width portion for convenient grasping with the forefinger and thumb of the human hand.

2. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the body is key-shaped.

3. A storage apparatus comprising:

a generally rectangular elongated body having first and second substantially planar opposing major surfaces and first and second ends and comprising a main portion and a substrate portion;

an array of electrical contact pads integral with the body and disposed generally in the plane of the first major surface and extending substantially across a portion of the first major surface proximate the first end, the electrical contact pad array including a data pad, a power pad, a ground pad, and a clock pad, the electrical contact pad array further being disposed on a second side of the substrate portion opposing the first side and substantially coplanar with the first major surface;

a serial data line integral with the body and coupled to the data pad;

a power line integral with the body and coupled to the power pad;

a ground line integral with the body and coupled to the ground pad;

a clock line integral with the body and coupled to the clock pad;

a high density memory integrated circuit integral with the body, the memory integrated circuit having a serial data port coupled to the serial line, a power node coupled to the power line, a ground node coupled to the ground line, and a clock node coupled to the clock line, and the memory integrated circuit being disposed on a first side of the substrate portion and in a cavity of the main body portion; and

an additional memory integrated circuit disposed on the first side of the substrate portion and in the cavity of the main body portion, the additional memory integrated circuit having a serial data port coupled to the serial line, a power node coupled to the power line, a ground node coupled to the ground line, and a clock node coupled to the clock line.

4. A storage apparatus comprising:

a generally rectangular elongated body having first and second substantially planar opposing major surfaces and first and second ends;

an array of electrical contact pads integral with the body and disposed generally in the plane of the first major surface and extending substantially across a portion of the first major surface proximate the first end, the electrical contact pad array including a data pad, a power pad, a ground pad, and a clock pad;

a serial data line integral with the body and coupled to the data pad;

a power line integral with the body and coupled to the power pad;

a ground line integral with the body and coupled to the ground pad;

a clock line integral with the body and coupled to the clock pad;

a high density memory integrated circuit integral with the body, the memory integrated circuit having a serial data port coupled to the serial line, a power node coupled to the power line, a ground node coupled to the ground line, and a clock node coupled to the clock line, and the memory integrated circuit being disposed on the first major surface; and

an additional memory integrated circuit disposed on the second major surface, the additional memory integrated circuit having a serial data port coupled to the serial line, a power node coupled to the power line, a ground node coupled to the ground line, and a clock node coupled to the clock line.

5. A storage apparatus comprising:

a generally rectangular elongated body having first and second substantially planar opposing major surfaces and first and second ends, the body being about 15 mm wide, from about 54 to 25 MM long, and about 0.8 mm thick;

an array of electrical contact pads integral with the body and disposed generally in the plane of the first major surface and extending substantially across a portion of the first major surface proximate the first end, the electrical contact pad array including a data pad, a power pad, a ground pad, and a clock pad;

a serial data line integral with the body and coupled to the data pad;

a power line integral with the body and coupled to the power pad;

a ground line integral with the body and coupled to the ground pad;

a clock line integral with the body and coupled to the clock pad; and

a high density memory integrated circuit integral with the body, the memory integrated circuit having a serial data port coupled to the serial line, a power node coupled to the power line, a ground node coupled to the ground line, and a clock node coupled to the clock line.

6. A method for detecting endwise insertion of a card into a socket, comprising:

arrange a ground pad and a card detect pad on the card generally in the direction of insertion of the card into the socket;

activate a detect control signal coupled to the card detect pad through a resistive element;

monitor the card detect pad to determine whether the active detect control signal is asserted on the card detect pad and attempt to perform a card read operation, wherein;

if the active detect control signal is present on the card detect pad and the read operation is successful, the card is properly inserted and is not write protected;

if the active detect control signal is present on the card detect pad and the read operation is not successful, the card is not inserted;

if the active detect control signal is not present on the card detect pad and the read operation is successful, the card is properly inserted and is write protected; and

if the active detect control signal is not present on the card detect pad and the read operation is not successful, the card is not properly inserted.

7. A method for protecting electronic circuits during edgewise removal of a card from a socket, comprising:

arrange a ground pad and a card detect pad on the card generally in the direction of insertion of the card into the socket;

activate a detect control signal coupled to the card detect pad through a resistive element;

monitor the card detect pad to determine whether the active detect control signal is asserted, wherein a substantial period of active detect control signal on the card detect pad followed by a substantial period of inactive detect control signal on the card detect pad is indicative of card removal; and

power down circuits coupled to the card when card removal is indicated.