Patent Publication Number: US-2005132100-A1

Title: Method and device capable of sharing inside data of an external USB device

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a method and device capable of sharing the inside data of an externally connected USB device, and particularly, to a method for copying the inside data of an externally connected USB device to a network storage device by means of pressing an input bottom so as to share the data in the computers connected to the network.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Nowadays, the local area network is so popular that the enterprises generally apply the local area network to access the internal data. Based on the related researches, it is discovered that some of the files and data used in the internal computers of the enterprises are repeatedly used, and therefore, the amount of repeatedly used files and data transmitted between the computers has to be decreased so as to reduce the load of each of the computers.  
      For example, the digital camera is connected to a computer via a transmission line so as to transmit the inside image data to the computer. Therefore, the computer can transmit the image data to a printer for printing out the image data, or the computer can re-transmit the image data to another computer. As results, the image data will be repeatedly stored in several computers so as to waste the system resources.  
      Therefore, by applying the local area network, a network storage device is provided for connecting the internal computers of the enterprise so as to store the repeatedly used or commonly shared files and data in the network storage device. The internal computers of the enterprise are connected to the local area network for accessing the files and data stored in the network storage device. Presently, the most usually used network storage device by the enterprises is a network attached storage (NAS) device capable of storing the shared files by the clients and servers with different platforms, including the Unix, Windows, Linux, Netware, and so on. Therefore, the object of transforming the file formats and sharing the resources of files and homepages between the different platforms can be achieved.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      In order to conveniently store the commonly shared files and data in the network storage device, the present invention applies the characteristics of the USB interface, high transmission rate and hot-swappability, to store the files and data to be shared from an externally connected USB device, such as a digital camera, to a network storage device via a USB interface. Therefore, a method and device capable of sharing the inside data of an externally connected USB device is provided. An input bottom is designed to be pressed for automatically copying the inside data of the externally connected USB device to the network storage device. The present invention provides the following means to achieve the object of automatically copying and sharing the inside data of the externally connected USB device.  
      The present invention provides a method capable of copying the inside data of the externally connected USB device. In this method, an input bottom is pressed so as to execute a copy process. First, it will be detected whether the USB interface is connected to an externally connected USB device. If yes, a fixed storage area is built in the network storage device, and then the inside data of the externally connected USB device will be read one by one. Thereafter, the data will be sequentially stored in the fixed storage area until all of the data is stored in the fixed storage area. Thus, the object of automatically copying the inside data of the externally connected USB device is achieved.  
      The present invention further provides a network storage device capable of sharing the inside data of the externally connected USB deice. The network storage device is connected to a local area network, and connected to at least one computer. The network storage device at least comprises at least one USB interface unit connected to the externally connected USB device, and at least one network interface unit connected to the local area network, a storage unit and a control unit. An input bottom is pressed to initiate a copy process for storing the digital data of the externally connected USB device in the storage unit so as to be shared by the computers connected to the local area network. Therefore, the object of commonly sharing the digital data of the externally connected USB device can be achieved.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of the specification in which like numerals designate like parts, illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective diagram of a structure according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the network storage device  1  according to the present invention; and  
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart of the copy process according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a perspective diagram of a structure according to the present invention. The present invention applies a network storage device  1 , and the network storage device  1  can be a disk array server or a network attached storage (NAS) device to be connected to a local area network  2 . The local area network  2  is connected to a plurality of computers  21 .  
      The network storage device according to the present invention is further connected to an externally connected USB device  3 , such as a digital camera, a memory card reader or a USB mobile disk, and so on. An input bottom  11  is installed on the device  3  to be pressed that a copy process  12  will be automatically executed to copy the digital data inside the externally connected USB device (such as the images) to the network storage device  1 . Therefore, each of the computers  21  connected to the local area network  2  can commonly share the digital data in the network storage device.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the network storage device  1  according to the present invention. The network storage device  1  comprises a USB interface unit  13 , a network interface unit  14 , a storage unit  15  and a control unit  16 . The control unit  16  is connected to the USB interface unit  13 , the network interface unit and the storage unit  15  via a bus  17 . The control unit  16  is used for executing the copy process  12 . The USB interface unit  13  further comprises a USB connection port  131  and a USB chipset  132 . The USB connection port  131  is removably connected to the externally connected USB device  3 , and the USB chipset  132  is connected to the USB connection port  131  and the bus  17  for controlling the data transformation between the USB connection port and the bus  17 .  
      The network interface unit  14  further comprises a network connection port  141  and a network chipset  142 . The network connection port  141  can be a RJ-45 connection port for an Ethernet, and is connected to the local area network  2  via a network line. The network chipset  142  is connected to the network connection port  141  and the bus  17  for controlling the data transformation between the network connection port  141  and the bus  17 .  
      The storage unit  15  comprises a hard disk drive  151 , such as an IDE interface hard disk drive or a SCSI interface hard disk drive, for storing digital data. When the hard disk drive  151  is the IDE interface hard disk drive, it has an IDE connection port  152  and an IDE control chipset  153 . The IDE connection port can be connected to the hard disk drive  11 , and the IDE control chipset  153  can be connected to the IDE connection port  152  and the bus  17  for controlling the data transformation between the IDE connection port  152  and the bus  17 .  
      When the storage unit  15  is the SCSI interface hard disk drive, it has a SCSI connection port  154  and a SCSI control chipset  155 . The SCSI connection port  154  is connected to the hard disk drive  151 , and the SCSI control chipset  155  is connected to the SCSI connection port  154  and the bus  17  for controlling the data transformation between the SCSI connection port  154  and the bus  17 .  
      Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a flowchart of the copy process according to the present invention. The control unit  16  will execute the copy process. First, the input bottom  11  is pressed to initiate the copy process ( 110 ). Then, it is detected whether the USB interface unit  13  is connected to the externally connected USB device ( 112 ). If no, the copy process will be terminated. If yes, a fixed storage area is built in the storage unit  15  ( 114 ), and then the digital data inside the externally connected USB device  3  is read one by one ( 116 ). The read digital data will be sequentially stored in the fixed storage area of the network storage device  1  ( 118 ). When all of the digital data is copied, the copy process will be terminated.  
      When the digital data of the externally connected USB device is stored in the network storage device  1 , the network storage device  1  has to be connected to the local area network  2  ( 120 ) so that the computers  21  connected to the local area network  2  can access the digital data stored in the fixed storage area of the storage unit  15  via the network interface  14  ( 122 ).  
      Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.