Thin flash-hard-drive with two-piece casing
First Claim
1. A flash-memory drive comprising:
- an upper case;
a lower case;
a printed-circuit board assembly (PCBA) that comprises;
a circuit board having wiring traces;
a plurality of flash-memory chips mounted to the circuit board;
a controller chip mounted to the circuit board, the controller chip having a input/output interface circuit for interfacing to an external computer, and a processing unit for accessing the plurality of flash-memory chips in response to commands from the external computer received by the input/output interface circuit;
a connector mounted to the circuit board, for connecting the controller chip to the external computer;
wherein the upper case is attached to the lower case during assembly with the PCBA between the upper case and the lower case, with the connector passing through an opening between the upper case and the lower case, the upper and lower cases encapsulating the circuit board,wherein the plurality of flash-memory chips are block-addressable and not randomly-addressable;
wherein the connector is an integrated device electronics (IDE) connector or a small-computer system interface (SCSI) connector.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A flash-memory drive replaces a hard-disk drive using an integrated device electronics (IDE) interface. The flash drive has a printed-circuit board assembly (PCBA) with a circuit board with flash-memory chips and a controller chip. The controller chip includes an input/output interface circuit to an external computer over the IDE interface, and a processing unit to read blocks of data from the flash-memory chips. The PCBA is encased inside an upper case and a lower case, with an IDE connector that fits through and opening between the cases. The cases can be assembled with the PCBA by a snap-together, ultrasonic-press, screw-fastener, or thermal-bond adhesive method. Center lines formed on the inside of the cases fit between rows of flash-memory chips to improve case rigidity. The connector has two rows of pins that straddle the center line of the circuit board for a balanced design.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A flash-memory drive comprising:
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an upper case; a lower case; a printed-circuit board assembly (PCBA) that comprises; a circuit board having wiring traces; a plurality of flash-memory chips mounted to the circuit board; a controller chip mounted to the circuit board, the controller chip having a input/output interface circuit for interfacing to an external computer, and a processing unit for accessing the plurality of flash-memory chips in response to commands from the external computer received by the input/output interface circuit; a connector mounted to the circuit board, for connecting the controller chip to the external computer; wherein the upper case is attached to the lower case during assembly with the PCBA between the upper case and the lower case, with the connector passing through an opening between the upper case and the lower case, the upper and lower cases encapsulating the circuit board, wherein the plurality of flash-memory chips are block-addressable and not randomly-addressable; wherein the connector is an integrated device electronics (IDE) connector or a small-computer system interface (SCSI) connector. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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2. A flash-memory drive comprising:
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an upper case; a lower case; a printed-circuit board assembly (PCBA) that comprises; a circuit board having wiring traces; a plurality of flash-memory chips mounted to the circuit board; a controller chip mounted to the circuit board, the controller chip having a input/output interface circuit for interfacing to an external computer, and a processing unit for accessing the plurality of flash-memory chips in response to commands from the external computer received by the input/output interface circuit; a connector mounted to the circuit board, for connecting the controller chip to the external computer; wherein the upper case is attached to the lower case during assembly with the PCBA between the upper case and the lower case, with the connector passing through an opening between the upper case and the lower case, the upper and lower cases encapsulating the circuit board, wherein the plurality of flash-memory chips are block-addressable and not randomly-addressable; wherein the connector is a compact flash, serial AT attachment (SATA), PCI Express, ExpressCard, or Firewire (IEEE
1394) connector.
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14. A flash-memory device comprising:
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upper case means for partially encasing the flash-memory device; lower case means for partially encasing the flash-memory device; a printed-circuit board assembly (PCBA) that comprises; circuit board means for connecting chips with wiring traces; a plurality of flash-memory chip means for storing blocks of data, the plurality of flash-memory chip means being mounted to the circuit board means, wherein the plurality of flash-memory chip means are block-addressable and not randomly-addressable; controller chip means, mounted to the circuit board means, for controlling access to the plurality of flash-memory chip means, the controller chip means comprising an input/output interface means for interfacing to an external computer, and processing unit means for accessing the plurality of flash-memory chip means in response to commands from the external computer received by the input/output interface means; and connector means, mounted to the circuit board means, for connecting the controller chip means to the external computer; wherein the upper case means is attached to the lower case means during assembly with the PCBA between the upper case means and the lower case means, with the connector means passing through an opening between the upper case means and the lower case means. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification