Efficient information exchange between an electronic book and a cartridge

• US 6,314,474 B1
• Filed: 10/16/1998
• Issued: 11/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gemstar Ebook Group Limited
• Original Assignee: SoftBook Press, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Walter, Erik, Wotiz, Richard, Conboy, Garth, Sachs, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Backer, Firmin
• Application Number:
  US09/173,907
• Time in Patent Office: 1,117 Days
• Field of Search: 710/14, 710/20, 710/33, 709/201, 709/203, 709/213, 709/232, 711/144, 711/154, 711/156, 707/103, 707/10, 701/201
• US Class Current: 710/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0283 for data storage and retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/062 Combinations of audio and printed presentations, e.g. magnetically striped cards, talking books, magnetic tapes with printed texts thereon

Abstract

The present invention is a method and apparatus for exchanging information between an electronic book and a cartridge. The electronic book has an on-board storage and the cartridge contains a cartridge storage. It is determined if the cartridge is present. If the cartridge is present, a transfer mode is identified. The information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage is then transferred according to the identified transfer mode.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

(a) matching an upgrade tag in a cartridge with a predefined tag code stored in an electronic book to determine if the cartridge is present at a port of the electronic book having an on-board storage, the cartridge containing a cartridge storage and an upgrade code;

(b) if the cartridge is present, identifying a transfer mode; and

(c) executing the upgrade code to transfer information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage according to the identified transfer mode.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein executing the upgrade code comprises transferring the upgrade code to the electronic book.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the transfer mode is one of a copy mode and a restore mode.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein transferring information transfers content of the on-board storage to the cartridge storage when the identified transfer mode is the copy mode.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein transferring information transfers content of the cartridge storage to the on-board storage when the identified transfer mode is the restore mode.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the on-board storage is one of a full data programmable read-only memory (PROM) and a flash file system.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the cartridge storage is one of a cartridge programmable read-only memory (PROM) and a cartridge content.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the full data PROM corresponds to the cartridge PROM during a transfer of information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the flash file system corresponds to the cartridge content during a transfer of information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the transfer mode is selected by a user.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a cartridge storage accessible to a processor in an electronic book having a port and an on-board storage;

an upgrade tag; and

an upgrade code accessible to the processor;

wherein if the processor determines the cartridge storage is present at the port of the electronic book by matching the upgrade tag with a predefined tag code in the electronic book and identifies a transfer mode, the processor executes the upgrade code to transfer information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage according to the identified transfer mode.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the upgrade code is transferred to the electronic book before being executed.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the transfer mode is one of a copy mode and a restore mode.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the processor transfers content of the on-board storage to the cartridge storage when the identified transfer mode is the copy mode.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the processor transfers content of the cartridge storage to the on-board storage when the identified transfer mode is the restore mode.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the on-board storage is one of a full data programmable read-only memory (PROM) and a flash file system.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the cartridge storage is one of a cartridge programmable read-only memory (PROM) and a cartridge content.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the full data PROM corresponds to the cartridge PROM during a transfer of information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the flash file system corresponds to the cartridge content during a transfer of information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the transfer mode is selected by a user.

21. A system comprising:

an electronic book containing a processor, an on-board storage, and a port; and

a cartridge comprising;

a cartridge storage accessible to the processor for storing information corresponding to the on-board storage,

an upgrade tag, and

an upgrade code accessible to the processor,

wherein if the processor determines the cartridge storage is present at the port of the electronic book by matching the upgrade tag with a predefined tag code in the electronic book and identifies a transfer mode, the processor executes the upgrade code to transfer information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage according to the identified transfer mode.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the upgrade code is transferred to the electronic book before being executed.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the transfer mode is one of a copy mode and a restore mode.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the processor transfers content of the on-board storage to the cartridge storage when the identified transfer mode is the copy mode.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein the processor transfers content of the cartridge storage to the on-board storage when the identified transfer mode is the restore mode.

26. The system of claim 21 wherein the on-board storage is one of a full data programmable read-only memory (PROM) and a flash file system.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the cartridge storage is one of a cartridge programmable read-only memory (PROM) and a cartridge content.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the full data PROM corresponds to the cartridge PROM during a transfer of information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the flash file system corresponds to the cartridge content during a transfer of information between the on-board storage and the cartridge storage.

30. The system of claim 21 wherein the transfer mode is selected by a user.