Abstract:
A device and method of network communication can receive a control/data signal from a computer motherboard via a storage interface bus and output a storage/network data packet to a network via a network connection port, so that the computer can access the network and a storage device such as hard disk via the device or the method of the present invention. Therefore, the cost of maintaining the storage device and the risk of destruction by computer virus is reduced. Wherein the device of the present invention includes a storage controller for converting the control/data signal into a storage signal, a network microprocessor for converting the storage signal into a storage data packet and a wireless/wired switching agent for converting the storage data packet and a network data packet into the storage/network data packet.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a device and method of network communication.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     With its technological improvements, the computer is becoming a more and more common device. Because there are always some bugs existing in an operation system or application software, and hackers try to break into the operation system, software technicians must continuously update new hardware and download newer patches to avoid software or hardware failures and protect the system from the hackers. Furthermore, with the convenience and speedy data transmission on the Internet, network information sharing has become a significant communication tool, and the capability of network transmission has become one of the most importantly basic functions of a personal computer. Businesses use networking to increase the efficiency of data transmission and to overcome distance limitations to reduce costs.  
         [0005]     Since personal computers utilize hard disks as a storage device, problems associated with hard disks can arise during system maintenance, such as the limitation of the storage capability, fragility, high temperature and noise during working, or even being put out of operation by a virus. Therefore, the newest technology is proposed to replace hard disks with a network resource to reduce manpower, cost and maintenance.  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a schematic drawing of a personal computer, a storage device and a network card. A personal computer  11  has a storage device  13  (such as a hard disk) which is connected to a storage interface (such as an AT attachment interface, ATA)/(AT Attachment Packet Interface, ATAPI) of the personal computer  11  and sends or receives storage control signals and storage data from the personal computer  11 . Furthermore, the personal computer  11  sends or receives network packets to the network via a network card  12  such as an Ethernet card. This personal computer  11  is adapted as a terminal in a typical business office; however, it is very difficult to maintain failure-free operations, and to upgrade the system.  
         [0007]     Therefore, it is desirable to provide an network communication device having a storage interface with network functionality to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     An objective of the present invention is to provide a device of network communication, which comprises: a storage controller connects to a computer motherboard via a storage interface bus and adapts to convert a control/data signal from the computer motherboard into a storage signal or converts the storage signal into the control/data signal; a network microprocessor adapts to convert the storage signal from the storage controller into a storage data packet or adapts to convert the storage data packet into the storage signal; and a switching agent connects to the computer motherboard via a extension slot and adapts to convert the storage data packet and a network data signal form the computer motherboard into a storage/network data packet and outputs the storage/network data packet to a network or adapts to convert the storage/network data packet into the storage data packet and the network data signal.  
         [0009]     A further objective of the present invention is to provide a method of network communication, which includes: (A) obtaining the control/data signal; (B) converting the control/data signal to a storage signal and outputting the storage signal; (C) converting the storage signal into a storage data packet and outputting the storage data packet; (D) obtaining a network data signal; (E) converting the network data signal into the network data packet; and (F) converting the storage data packet and the network data packet into a storage/network data packet.  
         [0010]     The method of the present invention further includes: (G) obtaining and converting the storage/network data packet from the network into the storage data packet and the network data packet; (H) converting the network data packet into the network data signal; (I) switching and converting the storage data packet into the storage signal; (J) converting the storage signal into the control/data signal; and (K) outputting the control/data signal to the computer motherboard.  
         [0011]     The storage interface bus may be an ATA, ATAPI, SCSI, SATA, IEEE1394 or USB, and the extension slot may be an ISA, PCI, PCI-X or PCI-Express.  
         [0012]     Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a schematic drawing of a personal computer, a storage device and an ethernet card;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a schematic drawing of a personal computer according to the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a functional block diagram of the device of network communication according to the present invention with peripheral units;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is an embodiment of a network microprocessor;  
         [0017]      FIG. 5A  to  FIG. 5D  are functional block diagrams of first to fourth embodiments of the switch agent  33 ;  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart of a transmission procedure of a method of according to the present invention; and  
         [0019]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart of a receipt procedure of a method of according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0020]      FIG. 2  is a schematic drawing of a personal computer with a device of network communication  24  of the present invention. A personal computer  11  receives and sends a storage/network data packet to a storage device of a remote server on a network via the device of network communication  24 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a functional block diagram of the device of network communication with peripheral units. The device of network communication  24  comprises a storage controller  31 , a network microprocessor  32  and a switch agent  33 . The storage controller  31  of the device of network communication  24  is connected to the personal computer  11  via a storage interface bus  34  and adapted to send or receive a control/data signal. The network microprocessor  32  is placed between the storage controller  31  and the switch agent  33 . The storage controller  31  converts the control/data signal to a storage signal and sends it to the network microprocessor  32 , or receives the storage signal sent from the network microprocessor  32  and converts it to the control/data signal and then sends the control/data signal to the storage interface bus  34 . The network microprocessor  32  processes the storage signal to generate a storage data packet, and sends the storage data packet to the switch agent  33 , or receives the storage data packet sent from the switch agent  33  and processes it to generate the storage signal that is sent to the storage controller  31 . The switch agent  33  is capable of serving as a hub switch, which sends the storage data packet from the network microprocessor  32  to a network via a network connection port  36 ; furthermore, the switch agent  33  converts the network data signal sent from an extension slot  35  into a network data packet, and sends the network data packet to the network via the network connection port  36 . Conversely, the network data packet sent from the network connection port  36  is divided into a storage data packet and a network data signal by the switch agent  33 , then the storage data packet is sent to the network microprocessor  32  and the network data signal is sent to the extension slot  35  respectively. However, the existence of the extension slot  35  is depended on the demand of the user and is optional for the reason. The storage/network data packet from the network connection port  36  will be replaced with the storage data packet if the extension slot  35  is absent and the switch agent  33  just provides the function of switching.  
         [0022]     The network microprocessor  32  may be an ARM7 (Samsung S3C4510B), an ARM9 (Samsung S3C2510A), an ARM10, a Broadcom processor (BCM 112X series or BCM 1250), an Intel processor (IXP series or IOP series), an RDC processor (RDC 1620C or RDC 2020C), a Motorola processor (MPC8272 series), a Realtek processor (RTL8181), or other similar types of microprocessors. The storage interface bus  34  can be ATA, ATAPI, small computer system interface (SCSI), serial AT attachment interface (SATA), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394 standard for high performance serial bus (IEEE1394), or universal serial bus (USB); the slot can be an Industry Standard Architecture expansion bus (ISA), peripheral component interconnect bus (PCI), PCI eXtended bus (PCI-X) or PCI Express bus (PCI-Express).  
         [0023]      FIG. 4  is an embodiment of the network microprocessor  32 . In this embodiment, the network microprocessor  32  comprises a microprocessor core unit  41 , a cache module  42 , a security module  43  and a network module  44 . The cache module  42  and the security module  43  are used for controlling transmission speed and transmission security respectively. The microprocessor core unit  41  is adapted to convert the storage signal to the storage data, and one end of the microprocessor core unit  41  is connected to the storage controller  31  to send or receive the storage signal and another end is connected to the cache module  42  to send or receive the storage data. The cache module  42  is placed between the microprocessor core unit  41  and the security module  43 , and is capable of buffering data signal transmissions and increasing the efficiency of data transmission. One end of the cache module  42  is connected to the microprocessor core unit  41  and another end is connected to the security module  43 . The security module  43  is placed between the cache module  42  and the network module  44 , and is capable of encrypting the storage data to increase data transmission security. One end of the security module  43  is connected to the cache module  42  to send or receive the storage data, and another end is connected to the network module  44  to send or receive encrypted storage data. The network module  44  converts the encrypted storage data to a storage data packet; similarly, the network module  44  receives and converts the storage data packet from the switch agent  33  to the encrypted storage data, and sends it to the security module  43  to decode.  
         [0024]      FIG. 5A  to  FIG. 5D  are functional block diagrams of first to fourth embodiments of the switch agent  33 . A network chip integrated with a switch hub  51  shown in  FIG. 5A  is the first embodiment of the switch agent  33 , the network chip integrated with a switch hub  51  provides both functionalities of a standard switch hub and a standard network chip. The network chip integrated with a switch hub  51  converts the network data signal to the network data packet and sends it to the network connection port  36 . Conversely, the network chip integrated with a switch hub  51  also converts the network data packet into the network data signal and the storage data packet. It is well known that the network chip integrated with a switch hub  51  switches the storage data packet to the network microprocessor  32  or the network connection port  36 .  
         [0025]      FIG. 5B  shows a functional block diagram of the switch agent  33  according to a second embodiment, and the switch agent  33  comprises a switch hub  52  and a network chip  53 . The network chip  53  converts the network data signal to the network data packet and sends the network data packet to the switch hub  52 . The network chip  53  receives the network data packet from the switch hub  52  and converts it to the network data signal. The switch hub  52  is a standard network device and switches the storage/network data packet into the storage data packet and the network data packet, vice versa.  
         [0026]      FIG. 5C  shows a functional block diagram of the switch agent  33  according to a third embodiment, and the switch agent  33  comprises a wireless switch hub  54  and a network chip  53 . The network chip  53  converts the network data signal to the network data packet and sends it to the wireless switch hub  54 ; conversely, the network chip  53  simultaneously converts the network data packet from the wireless switch hub chip  54  into the network data signal. The wireless switch hub  54  is a standard wireless network device and switches the storage/network data packet into the storage data packet and the network data packet, vice versa.  
         [0027]      FIG. 5D  shows a functional block diagram of the switch agent  33  according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and the switch agent  33  comprises a wireless module  55 , a switch hub  52  and a network chip  53 . The functions of the network chip  53  and the switch hub  52  are as described as above-mentioned and thus a detailed description is deemed unnecessary. The wireless module  55  is a standard wireless communication device and adapted to wirelessly transmit and receive the storage/network data packet. In the foregoing embodiments, the network chip  53  and the provided function thereof are optional and depended on the demand of the user.  
         [0028]     The method of network communication according to the present invention includes a transmission procedure and a receipt procedure. The transmission procedure of the method of network communication is shown in  FIG. 6  and comprises the following steps:  
         [0029]     Step  61 : obtaining the control/data signal.  
         [0030]     Step  62 : converting the control/data signal to the storage signal and outputting the storage signal.  
         [0031]     Step  63 : converting the storage signal into the storage data packet and outputting the storage data packet.  
         [0032]     Step  64 : obtaining the network data signal.  
         [0033]     Step  65 : converting the network data signal into the network data packet.  
         [0034]     Step  66 : converting the storage data packet and the network data packet into the storage/network data packet and outputting the storage/network data packet. Because the network chip  53  and the provided function thereof are optional, the steps  64  and  65  are also optional, and the step  66  will be replaced with switching the storage data packet into the storage/network data packet and outputting the storage/network data packet.  
         [0035]     The receipt procedure of the method of network communication is shown in  FIG. 7  and comprises the following steps:  
         [0036]     Step  71 : obtaining and converting the storage/network data packet into the storage data packet and the network data packet.  
         [0037]     Step  72 : converting the network data packet into the network data signal.  
         [0038]     Step  73 : converting the storage data packet into the storage signal.  
         [0039]     Step  74 : converting the storage signal into the control/data signal.  
         [0040]     Step  75 : outputting the control/data signal into the computer motherboard. Because the network chip  53  and the provided function thereof are optional, the step  72  is also optional, and the step  71  will be replaced with obtaining and switching the storage/network data packet into the storage data packet.  
         [0041]     Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.