Patent ID: 6813668
Filing Date: 2004-11-02
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A multi-functional electronic card capable of detecting removable cards, said multi-functional electronic card comprising:at least one functional device; a controller having a status register and a device detecting pin, wherein the status register is an Extended Status Register (ESR) of a Function Control Register (FCR) defined in an attribute memory of the electronic card according to a PCMCIA/CF specification and has first bit and a second bit; a host interface arranged to be inserted into a host device, the host interface having a card detecting pin fixed at a level representing that the card has been inserted into the host device; and a removable card interface into which a removable card with another function device may be inserted, the removable card interface having an elastic switch connected to the device detecting pin of the controller, the elastic switch being on or off due to insertion or removal of the removable card so as to change a level of the device detecting pin; wherein, in response to a level change of the device detecting pin, the first bit status register indicates whether the removable card is inserted into the removable card interface and the second bit of the status register indicates an occurrence of insertion and removal of removable card to and from the removable card interface, and wherein the controller detects the occurrence and status of card insertion and removal based on said first and second bits in the status register and informs the host device through the host interface so that the host device reads the status register to determine whether the removable card is inserted or removed.