Abstract:
A portable storage device having a subject identification information utilizes a user authentication module to update the subject identification information and displays the subject identification information. The portable storage device includes a control unit, a storage medium, a display unit, a system interface, and a user authentication module. The control unit includes an identification information display module and is used for processing the subject identification information. The storage medium utilizes the control unit to partition an identification information protection area that stores the subject identification information. The display unit is used to indicate the subject identification information. The system interface is used for connecting and linking with a host application system. The user authentication module is used for executing a user authentication process. After authenticated through the user authentication process, the user may than configure the information on the identification information protection area.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a portable storage device that can display subject identification information to be identified by a user and a configuration method thereof. In particular, this invention relates to a portable storage device that can display a subject identification information and a configuration method for the subject identification information.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     In the information age requiring frequent data exchange, the portable storage device becomes very popular due to its&#39; convenience for exchanging data and portability.  
         [0005]     The conventional portable storage devices have been standardized by the manufacturer and are made by mass production for economic scale. Specific portable storage device purchased by an individual user may appears to be the same as or similar to others. In order to distinguish the portable storage device from others, user may intends to pastes a label or makes marking on the surface of the portable storage device.  
         [0006]     Although volume label assigned to portable storage device can be indicated on its&#39; host system, it can be easily modified by anyone using the host system. Hence, identification information assigned by owner is not properly protected and the indicated volume label can&#39;t be used reliably to identify specific user or utilization of the storage device.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     One particular aspect of the present invention is to display the specified application information of the portable storage device, such as owner&#39;s name, user&#39;s name, specific product utilization or certain graphical logo, etc. In addition, user authentication process is utilized to authenticate user before indicated information, including text and graphic, may be altered.  
         [0008]     The present invention provides a portable storage device having a subject identification information. A user authentication module is utilized to verify user authorization and further the subject identification information is updated and displayed. The portable storage device includes a control unit, a storage medium, a display unit, a system interface, and a user authentication module. The control unit includes an identification information display module and is used for processing the subject identification information. The storage medium is connected with the control unit. The storage medium utilizes the control unit to partition an identification information protection area and the identification information protection area stores the subject identification information. The display unit is connected with the control unit and is used for displaying the subject identification information. The system interface is connected with the control unit and is used for linking with a host application system. The user authentication module is utilized to execute user authentication and authorization operation. Once authenticated, the user may then edit the subject information stored on the identification information protection area.  
         [0009]     Thereby, subject information specified only by authorized user may be displayed and maintained on the portable storage device. Therefore, specific subject matter, such as owner, user, or application of the portable storage device may be identified easily by the indicated subject information that is protected and may be setup or changed only by authorized personnel. And hence, device property and usage right may be ensured.  
         [0010]     Indicating subject information in conventional means, such as pasting a label or changing disk volume label, is insecure for indicated information may be easily removed or modified. Conversely, the present invention may protect indicated subject information by ensuring only authorized user may setup or configure the information to be displayed and hence the correctness of such information.  
         [0011]     For further understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following detailed description illustrating the embodiments and examples of the invention. The description is only for illustrating the invention and is not intended to be considered limiting of the scope of the claim. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     The drawings included herein provide a further understanding of the invention. A brief introduction of the drawings is as follows:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart of a configuration method for a portable storage device with a subject identification information of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0016]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. In a control unit  11  there are an identification information display module  111  and a user authentication module  113 . The control unit  11  is connected with a storage medium  13 , a display unit  15  and a system interface  17 . An identification information protection area  131  is partitioned from the storage medium  13  by the control unit  11 . The identification information protection area  131  is used for storing the subject identification information and the security authentication information. The subject identification information is a data, including text, string and/or certain graphical logo that may be used to identify ownership or other subject information of the device. The identification information display module  111  displays the subject identification information on the display unit  15 . The display unit  15  is a bistable display device, or there is an independent power located in the portable storage device for providing the power to the display unit  15 . Thereby, the subject identification information can be displayed on the display unit  15  at any time. The system interface  17  is connected and linked to a host application system for transmitting the data. The host application system may be a computer or a device that require read/write access to the portable storage device.  
         [0017]     The user authentication module  113  is used to identify the operating user and utilizes a user authentication process to authenticate if the user is authorized. After the user is authenticated by the user authentication process, the authorized user may then modifies the subject identification information and the security authentication information in the identification information protection area  131 . The security authentication information is a database provided for the user verification module  113  to authenticate user authorization. In other words, whether the user verification module  113  authenticates the user, by using password, issued identification token or biometric identification, the outputted identification data is verified with the security authentication information in the storage device. The result of the verification determines whether the user is authorized or not. The security authorization information is located in the identification information protection area  131  and can be modified only after the user passes the user authentication process.  
         [0018]     In this embodiment, the user authentication module  113  is a fingerprint verification module. The portable storage device reads a subject identification information located on the identification information protection area  131  via the identification information display module  111  and displays the subject identification information on the display unit  15 . For example, the subject identification information is “a portable disk of a R&amp;D division”, “Jason&#39;s memory”, “#1234” and/or images. If someone wishes to modify the subject identification information indicated on the display unit, the user has to be authenticated by the fingerprint verification module on the portable storage device. After the user passes the user authentication process, the user may then change the subject identification information indicated on the display unit  15 .  
         [0019]     After the fingerprint verification module identifies the biometric identification of the user&#39;s fingerprint, the fingerprint verification module outputs an identified data. Then, the identified data is verified with the security authentication information configured by the owner in the identification information protection area  131 . If the identified data matches with the security authentication information, the user is authenticated by the fingerprint verification module as an authorized user. The authorized user is allowed to setup or modify the security authentication information and the subject identification information. If the verification result is miss-match, the user is not authorized by the fingerprint verification module to modify the security authentication information and the subject identification information in the identification information protection area  131 . Therefore, the subject identification information configured by authorized personnel is retained and the indication on the display unit  15  remained unchanged.  
         [0020]     Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which shows a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention. The figure shows a block diagram of the portable storage device  1  connected and linked with a host application system  2  via the system interface  17  and  23 . The user authentication module  21  of the host application system  2  is implemented by an operation interface  211  and an application program  213 . The user enters a verification signal via the operation interface  211  and the application program  213  obtains a security authentication information  1311  in the portable storage device via the system interface  17  and  23 . The verification signal entered by the user is verified with the security authentication information  1311  to determine whether the user is the authorized or not. The security authentication information  1311  is configured by authorized personnel and is stored in the identification information protection area  131 . The identification information protection area  131  is located in the storage medium  13  and is partitioned by the control unit  11 . The identification information protection area  131  further comprises a subject identification information  1313 . The subject identification information  1313  may be text, string and/or graphical logo that may be used to identify ownership or other subject information of the device. The identification information display module  111  displays the subject identification information  1313  on the display unit  15 . The display unit  15  is a bistable display device, or there is an independent power located at the portable storage device  1  for providing the power to the display unit  15 . Thereby, the subject identification information  1313  can be displayed on the display unit  15  at any time.  
         [0021]     The user verification module  21  on the host application system  2  executes a user verification process to authenticate the user by using password, issued identification token or biometric identification. The user authentication process is executed by the application program.  
         [0022]     In this embodiment, the application system  2  utilizes the user authentication module  21  with password authentication. The portable storage device  1  reads a subject identification information  1313  located on the identification information protection area  131  via the identification information display module  111  and displays the subject identification information  1313  on the display unit  15 . For example, the subject identification information  1313  displayed on the display unit  15  is “a portable disk of a R&amp;D division”, “Jason&#39;s memory”, “#1234” and/or images. If someone wishes to modify the subject identification information  1313 , the user has to connects the portable storage device  1  to the host application system via the system interface  17  and  23  and the user verification module  21  on the host application system  2  is a password authentication module and is implemented by an operation interface  211  and an application program  213 . The operation interface  211  is a character input device (such as keyboard). The application program  213  executes a user authentication process.  
         [0023]     After the user inputs a password via the operation interface  211 , the application program  213  reads the security authentication information  1311  in the identification information protection area  131  of the portable storage device  1 . Then, the security authentication information  1311  is verified with the user entered password to determine whether the user is authorized. If entered password is authenticated, the user is then authorized to modify the subject identification information  1313  and reset the safety verification information  1311 . The verified user can set or change the safety identification information and the subject identification information. If the verification code is wrong, the user is not verified by the user verification process, the user is not allowed to modify the subject identification information  1313  displayed on the display unit  15 .  
         [0024]     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which shows a flow chart of a configuration method for a portable storage device with a subject identification information of the present invention. Firstly, the power of the portable storage device is turned on and at the mean time a subject identification information is displayed on the display unit (the step S 301  as shown in the figure). Then, connection status of the portable storage device is checked (S 303 ). If the portable storage device is on off-line status, connection status is repeatedly checked (S 305 ). If portable storage device is on on-line status, the system interface is started to execute a linking process (S 307 ). After the portable storage device is linked with the system, the portable storage device is ready to execute read/write operations as a general storage device (S 309 ). If the user wishes to modify or reconfigure the subject identification information, the security authentication information or others, the method judges whether the user authentication process is required (S 311 ). If the user authentication process is not required, the method returns to the step S 309  and executes a read/write operation as a general storage device. If the user wishes to modify or reconfigure the subject identification information and the security authentication information while the user verification process is required, the portable storage device verify the security authentication information located on the identification information protection area with the authentication information entered by the user and processed by the user authentication module to determine whether the user passes the user authentication process (S 313 ). If the verification result is miss-match, the user not authorized and the process return to the step S 309  to execute read/write operations as a general storage device. If the verification result is match, the user is authorized to enter new subject identification information (S 315 ). The display module updates the subject identification information in the identification information protection area and displays the subject identification information on the display unit according to the subject identification information entered at step S 315  (S 317 ). Moreover, the method judges whether the security authentication information needs to be reconfigured or not (S 319 ). If the security authentication information does not need to be reconfigured, the method returns to the step S 309  to execute read/write operations as a general storage device. If the security authentication information needs to be reconfigured, the control unit on the portable storage device utilizes the user authentication module to obtain the new subject identification information and update the subject identification information in the identification information protection area (S 321 ). After the subject identification information is updated, the method returns to the step S 309  to execute read/write operations as a general storage device.  
         [0025]     The above user authentication module may be installed in the host application system. The user authentication process is implemented by the user operation interface and the application program and is executed in the host application system. Alternatively, the user verification module may be configured in the portable storage device and the user authentication is executed in the portable storage device. After the user is authenticated, the subject identification information displayed on the display unit may be modified. Thereby, correctness of the indicated subject identification information is ensured. Therefore, the righteous subject or user may be easily identified by the indicated subject identification information.  
         [0026]     The description above only illustrates specific embodiments and examples of the invention. The invention should therefore cover various modifications and variations made to the herein-described structure and operations of the invention, provided they fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the following appended claims.