Apparatus and method for transferring information between a removable memory and a computer

• US 6,340,117 B1
• Filed: 02/24/2000
• Issued: 01/22/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Company Limited (Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SmartDisk Corporation
• Inventors: Barrett, Paul, Ryan, Andrew, Tantony, Shaun, Holy, Peter, Eisele, Raymund, Burkart, Axel
• Primary Examiner(s): Frech, Karl D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TAYLOR, APRIL ALICIA
• Application Number:
  US09/512,328
• Time in Patent Office: 698 Days
• Field of Search: 235/382, 235/492, 235/486, 235/441, 235/444, 235/487
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0658 Controller construction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0679 Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/077 Constructional details, e.g. mounting of circuits in the carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07703 the interface being visual
• 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 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0013 by galvanic contacts, e.g. card connectors for ISO-7816 compliant smart cards or memory cards, e.g. SD card readers connectors in general H01R13/00; connectors for SIM cards used in mobile phones or the like H04B1/3816
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10336 the antenna being of the near field type, inductive coil
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/0327 for special applications not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 25/04 using flat record carriers, e.g. disc, card
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 31/00 Arrangements for the associated working of recording or reproducing apparatus with related apparatus with cameras or projectors G03B31/00 ; recording/reproducing of music for electrophonic musical instruments G10H1/0033; automatic arrangements for answering calls or for recording messages for absent subscribers H04M1/64; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with dictation recording and playback systems H04M11/10; connection of TV recorder with other related apparatus, e.g. TV camera or receiver, in which the TV signal is significantly involved H04N, e.g. H04N23/00, H04N5/765; combination of radio or TV with other apparatus, e.g. with vehicles H05K11/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 5/142 Contactless power supplies, e.g. RF, induction, or IR
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/00 Arrangements for writing information into, or reading information out from, a digital store G11C5/00 takes precedence; auxiliary circuits for stores using semiconductor devices G11C11/4063, G11C11/413

Abstract

An element which can be plugged into an electronic data processing (EDP) device, for receiving a user card which is equipped with components, including at least one of a processor and/or data memory, a frame having an exterior form, which is designed to accommodate the user card, a first interface for transferring data between the element and the EDP device, and a second interface formed by contacts on the user card and on the frame, for transferring data to and from the user card. The exterior form of the frame is that of a diskette so that it can be inserted into a diskette station of an EDP device. The first interface between the element and the EDP device is designed in a standard fashion, so that data can be transferred using a standard read/write device already present in the diskette station of the EDP device. The frame carries a battery for supplying current via the interface to the components located on the user card, if required, and carries an additional processor and data memory for providing the element with additional processor and storage capacity.

Claims

1. For use with a computer having a magnetic media receiving station and a processing system for executing an operating system program for controlling said magnetic media, wherein a magnetic media emulating data transfer device may be inserted into a magnetic media receiving station of said computer, said data transfer device having a frame that can be inserted into a magnetic media reading station of said computer and including a solid state memory, digital processing circuitry, and an interface for transferring data to said computer via said magnetic media receiving station, a method for controlling the accessing of information from said solid state memory comprising the steps of:

responding to a call from the computer magnetic media operating system for accessing an identified sector of a magnetic media and generating a request to access the solid state memory;

processing information indicative of said identified sector to convert said information indicative of an identified sector to access into block information; and

generating solid state memory address information using said block information.

2. The method according to claim 1, further including the step of responding to a call from the magnetic media operating system to perform an initializing function.

3. The method according to claim 1, further including the step of responding to a call from the magnetic media operating system to perform a magnetic media check related operation.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said magnetic media check related operation includes the step of determining whether a disk has been changed.

5. The method according to claim 1, further including the step of determining whether said transfer device has been inserted into said magnetic media receiving station.

6. The method according to claim 1, further including the step of determining information about the structure of the device inserted into said receiving station.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said step of determining information about the structure of the device inserted into said receiving station includes the step of accessing a boot sector associated with said transfer device.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said call from the computer magnetic media operating system for accessing an identified sector of a magnetic media is a call for reading from the identified sector.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said call from the computer magnetic media operating system for accessing an identified sector of a magnetic media is a call for writing to the identified sector.

10. For use with a computer having a magnetic media receiving station and a processing system for executing operating system programs for controlling said magnetic media, wherein a magnetic media emulating data transfer device may be inserted into a magnetic media receiving station of said computer, said data transfer device having a frame that can be inserted into a magnetic media reading station of said computer and including a solid state memory, digital processing circuitry, and an interface for transferring data to said computer via said magnetic media receiving station, a method for controlling the accessing of information from said solid state memory comprising the steps of:

constructing a request for accessing said solid state memory including providing a communication acknowledgment related value for said request;

sending the request to said data transfer device;

accessing a response to said request from said data transfer device, wherein said response includes a communication acknowledgment related value; and

comparing the request communication acknowledgment related value with the response communication acknowledgment related value.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the communication acknowledgment related value is a sequence number and further including the step of incrementing the sequence number if a request is received by said data transfer device.

12. The method according to claim 10, further including the step of resending the request to the data transfer device.

13. The method according to claim 10, further including the step of determining whether there is a communication acknowledgment related value related error.

14. The method according to claim 10, further including the step of storing the request in memory locations in the computer functioning as a request buffer.

15. The method according to claim 14, further including the step of performing a error detection related calculation on at least part of the contents of the request buffer.

16. The method according to claim 10, further including the step of storing a response from the data transfer device to a service request in a memory locations in the computer serving as a response buffer.

17. The method according to claim 12, further including the step of repetitively resending said request.

18. For use with a computer having a magnetic media receiving station and a processing system for executing operating system programs for controlling said magnetic media, wherein a magnetic media emulating data transfer device may be inserted into a magnetic media receiving station of said computer, said data transfer device having a frame that can be inserted into a magnetic media reading station of said computer and including a solid state memory, digital processing circuitry, and an interface for transferring data to said computer via said magnetic media receiving station, a method for controlling the accessing of information from said solid state memory comprising the steps of:

constructing a request for accessing said solid state memory;

sending the request to said data transfer device for processing by said digital processing circuitry;

storing said request in memory locations serving as a request buffer in said computer;

receiving a response to said request from said data transfer device; and

storing said response in memory locations serving as a response buffer in said computer.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said request and said response include associated communication acknowledgment related values, and further including the step of

comparing the request communication acknowledgment related value with the response communication acknowledgment related value.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein said communication acknowledgment related value is a sequence number and further including the step of incrementing the received sequence number if a request is received by said data transfer device.

21. The method according to claim 18, further including the step of resending the request to the data transfer device.

22. The method according to claim 21, further including the step of repetitively resending the request to the data transfer device.

23. The method according to claim 19, further including the step of determining whether there is a sequence number related error.

24. For use with a computer having a magnetic media receiving station and a processing system for executing operating system programs for controlling said magnetic media, wherein a magnetic media emulating data transfer device may be inserted into a magnetic media receiving station of said computer, said data transfer device having a frame that can be inserted into a magnetic media reading station of said computer and including a solid state memory, digital processing circuitry, and an interface for transferring data to said computer via said magnetic media receiving station, a method for controlling the accessing of information from said solid state memory comprising the steps of:

constructing a request for accessing an identified address for processing by said digital processing circuitry of said data transfer device;

sending the request to said data transfer device;

determining if the identified address can not presently be found; and

repeating the operation of sending the request if the identified address can not presently be found.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the identified address is a sector identifier.

26. The method according to claim 24, further including the step of detecting a sector not found error, and repeating the request operation in response to the failure to find an identified sector a predetermined number of times.

27. For use with a computer having a magnetic media receiving station and a processing system for executing operating system programs for controlling said magnetic media, wherein a magnetic media emulating data transfer device may be inserted into a magnetic media receiving station of said computer, said data transfer device having a frame that can be inserted into a magnetic media reading station of said computer and including a solid state memory, digital processing circuitry, and an interface for transferring data to said computer via said magnetic media receiving station, a method for controlling the accessing of information from said solid state memory comprising the steps of:

responding to a call from the computer magnetic media operating system for accessing an identified sector of a magnetic media and generating a request to access the solid state memory;

identifying at least one sector that can be used as a spare sector; and

retaining information about which at least one sector has been reserved as a spare sector.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the request to access is a request to write, and wherein said step of identifying at least one sector includes the step of gathering and storing information concerning sectors that are used as remap blocks before the write is initiated.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein said step of retaining includes the step of retaining information about which memory locations have been reserved in the event of a power loss.

30. The method according to claim 27, wherein said step of retaining includes the step of retaining information about which memory locations have been reserved in the event a different transfer device is inserted into said magnetic media receiving station.

31. The method according to claim 27, further including the steps of attempting to access a data transfer device memory location and using an identified spare if an attempt to access fails.

32. The method according to claim 27, further including the steps of attempting to access a data transfer device memory location and storing address mappings for accessing attempts which failed.

33. The method according to claim 27, further including the step of associating address remapping information with a request to access.

34. The method according to claim 27, further including the step of associating error checking related information with a request to access.

35. The method according to claim 33, wherein said address remapping information is appended to a tail field of a request to access.

36. A method of transferring image data from a digital camera having a removable memory to a computer having a magnetic media drive including a magnetic media receiving station for receiving media inserted therein, and a processing system for executing a control program for controlling said computer, said method of transferring comprising the steps of:

inserting a magnetic media emulating data transfer device into said magnetic media receiving station of said computer, said data transfer device having a frame that can be inserted into a magnetic media reading station of said computer and including a removable memory, digital processing circuitry, and an interface for transferring data to said computer via said magnetic media receiving station;

accessing information from said removable memory indicative of a characteristic of said removable memory;

encoding information to be transferred to said computer as a Modified Frequency Modulation (MFM) signal;

transferring said information indicative of a characteristic of said removable memory to said computer encoded as part of a Modified Frequency Modulation (MFM) signal; and

transferring information representing image data captured by said digital camera stored in said removable memory to said computer via said data transfer device as part of a Modified Frequency Modulation (MFM) signal.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein said characteristic of said removable memory relates to the removable memory storage capacity.

38. The method according to claim 36, further including the step of identifying a location of data in said removable memory which can not be accessed, and remapping at least a part of the removable memory address space in response to the identification of said location of data in said removable memory which can not be accessed.

39. The method according to claim 38, wherein said removable memory includes a flash memory and said step of remapping includes the step of translating memory sector numbers to absolute flash page addresses.

40. The method according to claim 36, wherein said step of encoding includes the step of encoding track header information.

41. The method according to claim 36, wherein said step of encoding includes the step of encoding sector header information.

42. The method according to claim 36, wherein said step of encoding includes the step of encoding data header information.

43. The method according to claim 36, wherein said step of encoding includes the step of encoding tail information.

44. The method according to claim 36, wherein said step of encoding further includes the steps of outputting a track header, outputting a sector header for each sector, outputting a data header, and outputting data.

45. The method according to claim 36, further including the step of selecting the source of information to output to the computer.

46. The method according to claim 36, wherein said step of selecting includes the step of setting a control register to a predetermined value to indicate the information source.