System and method to facilitate native use of small form factor devices

• US 6,871,244 B1
• Filed: 02/28/2002
• Issued: 03/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thornton, Andrew John, Cahill, Jeremy Paul, Smith, Jonathan Vines
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): FAROOQ, MOHAMMAD O
• Application Number:
  US10/085,792
• Time in Patent Office: 1,118 Days
• Field of Search: 710/7, 710/20, 710/36, 710/62, 710/64, 710/105, 710/313, 710/314, 710/315
• US Class Current: 710/62
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4068 Electrical coupling

Abstract

A system and method to facilitate communication between an associated bus, such as employs a standard bus protocol, and a connector to which a removable SFF device can be attached. A desired operating mode is selected based on the device attached at the connector, such as either to pass the protocol between the bus and device generally unchanged or to implement suitable protocol conversion for such communication. Thus, by configuring the SFF device to appear as device currently supported by the bus, the SFF device can operate at the connector with native operating system support.

Claims

1. An apparatus to facilitate operation of a small form factor device that is removably attached at a connector, comprising:

a selection system operatively coupled to route data between a bus and the connector;

the selection system operating in a first mode to convert between a protocol supplied at the connector and a protocol of the bus if the device attached at the connector employs a different protocol from the protocol of the bus;

the selection system operating in a second mode to pass the protocol between the bus and the connector without protocol conversion if the device attached at the connector employs a protocol supported by the bus;

the selection system further comprising a first interface that implements the first mode, a second interface that implements the second mode, and a selector that connect the connector with the bus through a selected one of the first and second interfaces based on the type information; and

the connector comprising a detector operative to detect the device attached at the connector and provide type information to the selection system identifying a type of the device, the selection system selecting one of the operating modes based on the type information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the first interface component comprises a controller that, when connected to the bus, is exposed to the bus as a device controller supported by the bus.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, the device controller further comprises a mass storage controller operative to communicate data with a small form factor storage device attached at the connector.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, the second interface further comprises an electrical converter operative to accommodate power requirements of the device attached at the connector based on the type information.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, the selector comprising a multiplexer.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, the device attached at the connector being configured to employ one of the protocol of the bus and a predetermined other protocol supported by the first interface.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the selector is coupled between the first and second interfaces and the bus.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, the selector is coupled between the connector and the first and second interfaces.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a hub coupled between the first and second interfaces and the bus.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, the protocol of the bus comprising a serial bus protocol.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, the serial bus protocol conforming to one of universal serial bus, IEEE 1394.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, the selection system implemented as an integrated circuit.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, the connector is a first connector, and the selection system is coupled between the first connector and a second connector, the second connector bang configured to removably connect to a mating connector part that is electrically associated with the bus.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, the connector is a first connector, the selector and the interfaces being coupled between the first connector and a second connector, the second connector being configured to removably connect to a mating connector part that is associated with the bus, whereby the system forms part of a modular connector.

15. A system to facilitate use of an existing bus by one of a plurality of removable devices implementing at least two different bus protocols, each one of the plurality of devices being adapted to expose itself to the bus as a type of device native to the existing bus, the system comprising:

a connector configured to electrically and operatively couple with each of the plurality of removable devices;

a selector operative to selectively connect the connector with the bus through a selected one of at least two interfaces based on a protocol employed by the removable device attached at the connector; and

the first of the at least two interfaces comprising a controller that, when connected to the bus by the selector, is exposed to the bus as a device controller native to the bus operative to convert between a protocol employed by the bus and a predetermined protocol of the removable device attached at the connector.

16. The system of claim 15, the selector is operative to employ the selected interface based on information that indicates the removable device attached at the connector is a predetermined type of device.

17. The system of claim 15, the device controller further comprises a mass storage controller operative to communicate data with a small form factor storage device attached at the connector.

18. The system of claim 15, a second of the at least two interface being operative to pass data between the connector and bus without protocol conversion.

19. The system of claim 18, the second interface further comprises an electrical converter operative to accommodate power requirements of the one removable device attached at the connector.

20. The system of claim 15, the bus employs a protocol conforming to a standard serial bus protocol.

21. The system of claim 15, the selector is coupled between the interfaces and the bus.

22. The system of claim 15, the selector is coupled between the connector and the interfaces.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a hub coupled between the interfaces and the bus.

24. The stem of claim 15 implemented as an integrated circuit.

25. A method for connecting a small form factor device with an internal bus that employs a predetermined protocol, the method comprising:

detecting a type of device attached at a connector;

selecting one of at least two communications paths based on the detected type of device;

connecting the connector with the bus through the selected communications path, such that data communications with bus can occur according to the predetermined protocol of the bus;

providing type information to the selection system identifying the detected type of device in response to the detecting, and selecting one of at least operating modes having different protocol characteristics based on the type information; and

if the type information indicates a first type of device, the connecting further comprising connecting the connector with the bus through a first interface that passes data through the first interface without protocol conversion.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising controlling electrical power provided to the connector for the device based on the type information.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

if the type information indicates a second type of device, the connecting further comprising connecting the connector with the bus through a second interface that implements protocol conversion for data communicated between the bus and the device.

28. The method of claim 27, the second interface further comprises a mass storage controller operative to communicate data with a small form factor storage device attached at the connector.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising using a serial bus protocol for data communicated between each of the first and second interfaces and the bus.

30. The method of claim 29, the serial bus protocol coming to one of universal serial bus protocol and IEEE 1394.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising routing data communicated to and from a selected one of the first and second interfaces and the bus through a hub.