Patent ID: 7908424
Filing Date: 2011-03-15
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. An apparatus comprising: a first nonvolatile memory, which includes a plurality of nonvolatile memory cells storing predetermined information; and a controller giving operational instructions to the first nonvolatile memory in accordance with externally issued commands, wherein the controller comprises: a command decoding unit decoding externally issued commands including a first command and a second command; a command enable register storing a commmand validity value or a command invalidity value for each of the first command and the second command and storing a response type for each of the first command and the second command; a command detecting signal generating circuit providing a command detection signal when a command detected by the command detecting unit is enabled by the command enable register; a second nonvolatile memory storing first firmware to be executed by the controller, wherein the command validity value or the command invalidity value for each of the first command and the second command is set in the command enable register by the controller executing the first firmware so that the first command is enabled by the command validity value, and the second command is disabled by the command invalidity value, and wherein the response type for each of the first command and the second command is set by the controller executing the first firmware; a data detecting unit detecting a data form of externally entered data; a data enable register storing a data validity value or a data invalidity value of the data form, wherein the data form includes a first data form and a second data form, wherein the data validity value or the data invalidity value of each of the first data form and the second data form is set in the data enable register by the controller executing the first firmware so that the first data form is enabled by the data validity value and the second data form is disabled by the data invalidity value; a data detection signal generating unit providing a detection signal when the data form detected by the data detecting unit is enabled by the data enable register; a response generating unit providing, to an outside of the apparatus, a response according to the response type of the detected command when the detected command is enabled by the command enable register; wherein the command validity value or the command invalidity value and the data validity value or the data invalidity value settings for the command enable register and the data enable register, respectively, are altered based on execution of second firmware stored in the first nonvolatile memory so that the first command and the second command are enabled, and the first data form and the second data form are enabled, and wherein the altering of the command validity value or the command invalidity value and the data validity value or the data invalidity value settings for the command enable register and the data enable register, respectively, is performed by the controller executing the second firmware.