Patent ID: 7818479
Filing Date: 2010-10-19
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A device interface apparatus having a physical layer, a link layer, a transport layer and an application layer, for transferring commands and data in packet format by serial transmission between a device and a host, the interface apparatus comprising: a receive FIFO disposed at the transport layer and configured to store on a first-in first-out basis a command packet or a data packet received from the host via the physical layer and the link layer; a command detector configured to detect the command packet stored in the receive FIFO during data transfer and to output a command detection signal; a receive task file register disposed at the application layer and configured to load the command content of the receive FIFO; a send task file register disposed at the application layer and configured to load a command or data for packet sending; a send FIFO disposed at the transport layer and configured to store on a first-in first-out basis the content of the send task file register, the send FIFO causing a command packet or a data packet to be sent to the host via the link layer and the physical layer; an available time generator configured to generate an available time for receiving another command packet from the host during data transfer; and a mid-transfer command processor unit, when a command packet is received from the host during the available time, configured to suspend the data transfer to decode the received command packet for execution of processing and thereafter to resume the data transfer; wherein the mid-transfer command processor comprises a firmware implemented by execution of a program, and wherein the mid-transfer command processor comprises: