Intelligent storage device signal transmission method for backing up data on intelligent storage module based on system type of electronic device

• US 10,248,598 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2017
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Power 7 Technology Corp
• Original Assignee: Power 7 Technology Corp
• Inventors: Chen, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Raymond N
• Application Number:
  US15/453,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20180137072A1
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• Field of Search: 710 8- 17
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/385 for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4081 Live connection to bus, e.g. hot-plugging current or voltage limitation during live insertion H02H9/004
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system

Abstract

An intelligent storage device signal transmission method includes steps of: electrically connecting intelligent storage module and electronic device; enabling built-in identification system of intelligent storage module uses numeric identification code to identify system type of electronic device and enabling USB communication protocol channel for signal transmission between intelligent storage module and electronic device so that file system of downloaded APP of electronic device can identify file format of intelligent storage module and microprocessor unit of intelligent storage module can define data packet format of DATA block and then transmit data packet to APP of electronic device for data packet resolution. Thus, built-in file system of App of electronic device can identify and solve received data packet and provide file data of resolved data file to data storage software of electronic device for application; and electronic connection between intelligent storage module and electronic device is disconnected after signal transmission is completed.

Claims

1. An intelligent storage device signal transmission method, comprising the steps of:

(A1) electrically connecting an intelligent storage module and an electronic device;

(A2) enabling a built-in identification system of a microprocessor unit of said intelligent storage module to identify whether or not said electronic device is an iOS device by means of a numeric identification code, and then proceeding to step (A3) if yes, or step (A4) if not;

(A3) said electronic device being an iOS electronic device, enabling a USBMUX communication protocol channel for signaling between said intelligent storage module and the said iOS electronic device, and then proceeding to step (A5);

(A4) said electronic device being an Android smart phone or tablet computer, and thus, enabling an Android USBAOA communication protocol channel for signaling between said intelligent storage module and said Android electronic device, and then proceeding to step (A5);

(A5) enabling a file system of a downloaded application software (APP) of said electronic device to identify the file format of said intelligent storage module;

(A6) enabling said microprocessor unit of said intelligent storage module to define a data packet format of a DATA block through a USBMUX or USBAOA communication protocol channel;

(A7) enabling said intelligent storage module to transmit data packets to the said application software (APP) of said electronic device for data packet resolution;

(A8) using a built-in file system of the said application software (App) of said electronic device to identify and solve received data packets;

(A9) providing the file data of the resolved data file to a data storage software of said electronic device for application; and

(A10) enabling said intelligent storage module and said electronic device to transmit signal therebetween, and then releasing the electronic connection between said intelligent storage module and said electronic device after the signal transmission is completed,

wherein in step (A2), the said identification system that is built in said microprocessor unit of said intelligent storage module is capable of using a numeric identification code of USB VID or PID to identify whether said electronic device is an iOS device or Android device;

the said file system that is built in said microprocessor unit said intelligent storage module is capable of enabling a USB MUX or AOA communication protocol channel to define the packet format for the iOS device or the Android device;

said intelligent storage module comprises a storage unit a docking interface and a power supply unit electrically connected to said microprocessor unit;

in step (A10), during data signal transmission between said intelligent storage module and said electronic device through one said docking interface of said intelligent storage module and one said transmission interface of said electronic device for backup, said power supply unit of said intelligent storage module charges said electronic device via one said docking interface and the said transmission interface.

2. The intelligent storage device signal transmission method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in step (A1), said electronic device is a mobile electronic device selected from the group of smart phones, tablet computers, notebook computers and global positioning systems;

said electronic device comprises a processor and at least one transmission interface electrically connected to said processor, said processor having the said data storage software built therein, said data storage software comprising a data browser operation interface, an application layer for the implementation of the operation interface, a data system layer that supports the data system related storage protocols (iOS or Android) of FAT32/NTFS/exFAT/Ext, a disk block operation protocol layer, a data transport protocol layer and a data storage layer, each said transmission interface being an electric connection interface selected from the group of USB2.0, USB3.0, USB Type-C, USB3.1, Micro USB, Mini USB and Apple Lightning;

said intelligent storage module comprises at least one docking interface, the said microprocessor unit, a power supply unit and a housing that houses said at least one docking interface, the said microprocessor unit and said power supply unit, said at least one docking interface being extended out of at least one side of said housing, said housing comprising a mobile device holder extended from an outer wall thereof for holding said electronic device, said at least one docking interface being respectively selected from the group of USB2.0, USB3.0, USB Type-C, USB3.1, Micro USB, Mini USB and Apple Lightning, said microprocessor unit being selectively a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor or a processor IC that has built therein a detection software for detecting and identifying the backup date, backup time, update date, tag name, and capacity size of a data or electronic signal being received from said electronic device.

3. The intelligent storage device signal transmission method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in step (A6) the procedure of defining the data packet format of the DATA block is to divide the data packet into six defined blocks, including:

start flag, packet sequence number coding, opcode, data length, block number, and data.

4. The intelligent storage device signal transmission method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in step (A8), said file system of said application software (APP) of said electronic device is selectively FAT32 file system (the size of each individual file does not exceed 4 GB), or exFAT file system (that allows individual files larger than 4 GB);

according to file management requirements, the storage space of said intelligent storage device is divided into a plurality of spaces having different functions to facilitate managing the storage, reading, or querying of files so as to obtain the root of the file according to the file name or attribute and to further obtain the file data of the information of the relevant properties of files through the analysis of the root directory of the directory entry for storage.

5. The intelligent storage device signal transmission method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said FAT32 file system consists of DBR and the preserved magnetic sectors, FAT1, FAT2, and DATA.

6. The intelligent storage device signal transmission method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the process of reading the file includes the step of accessing to the file name and file attributes [the most important is the file starting cluster], and the step of using the FAT table to calculate the actual allocation of the file in the storage space [i.e., sector (magnetic sector)] via the beginning of the file cluster (starting cluster), and the step of going to the sector where the file content is allocated and then fetching the file content;

the step of access to the file name and file attributes includes (A) access root directory file and (B) access to subdirectory file;

reading the content of the file is to obtain the file start cluster through the analysis of directory entry, and then to calculate the start sector of this cluster, the method for calculating the start sector of the cluster;

cluster start sector=(cluster number-2)×

the number of sectors per cluster+the start sector of the root directory.