Patent Publication Number: US-2005122648-A1

Title: USB storage device with at least one I/O apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to USB storage devices and, more particularly, to such a USB storage device with at least one I/O (input/output) apparatus.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      Currently, the trend of electronic products (e.g., notebook computers, palm computers, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), digital still cameras (DSCs), etc.) is towards being light, compact, and portable due to continuous progress in electronics and assembly science. The portable device can provide users with great convenience particularly in an out-of-office operating environment. Typically, such a portable device just provides several basic functionalities due to its compact size. But it provides one or more ports and each port is adapted to couple to a portable electronic device in the shape of card for providing an additional function thereby.  
      Currently, USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports are widely disposed in such small, portable electronic devices. By configuring as above, the small electronic device may be electrically coupled with a memory card, a modem card, a GPS (Global Positioning System) card or a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) card so as to enhance the functions of storage, dialing, global positioning and wireless communication respectively. Furthermore, increasing amounts of additional functions are required due to the ever growing applications of the functional module, and in turn, the quantity of memory cards connected thereto is increased. However, the provision of USB ports on the small electronic device is limited due to the small size of device. The USB ports are typically arranged in a row but the space will be very crowded if several cards are plugged in the USB ports. Even worse, some USB ports may be not accessible if one or more relatively large cards are plugged in.  
      Therefore, it is desirable to provide a USB device with an I/O apparatus so that other extended modules can electrically connect to the I/O apparatus instead of the portable electronic device in order to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      To avoid above defects, the present invention provides a USB storage device with at least one I/O apparatus. The USB storage device incorporates at least one I/O apparatus and memory device and therefore provides both characteristics of function extension and data storage, wherein the USB storage device coupled with other electronic devices just plugs into one USB port of the portable electronic device.  
      The present invention discloses the USB storage device with at least one I/O apparatus comprising: a USB connector adapted to couple to a USB port of an electronic device to obtain a USB signal; a memory unit adapts to be a storage device; at least one I/O apparatus adapted to provide at least one I/O function; a bridge; and a USB hub coupled to the USB connector and the memory unit respectively and further coupled to the at least one I/O apparatus via the bridge such that the USB hub adapts to communicate with the memory unit and the at least one I/O apparatus respectively; wherein the bridge adapts to either convert the USB signal from the USB hub into an I/O signal prior to sending to the at least one I/O apparatus or convert at least one I/O signal from the at least one I/O apparatus into the USB signal.  
      The present invention discloses the USB storage device with at least one I/O apparatus comprising: a USB connector adapted to couple to a USB port of an electronic device to obtain a USB signal; a memory unit adapted to be a storage device; a connector adapted to couple to an external I/O apparatus; a bridge; and a USB hub coupled to the USB connector and the memory unit respectively such that the USB hub communicates with the memory unit and the external I/O apparatus respectively; wherein the bridge adapts to either convert the USB signal from the USB hub into an I/O signal prior to sending to the external I/O apparatus or convert an I/O signal from the external I/O apparatus into the USB signal.  
      Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a first preferred embodiment of USB storage device according to the invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a second preferred embodiment of USB storage device according to the invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a third preferred embodiment of USB storage device according to the invention; and  
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a fourth preferred embodiment of USB storage device according to the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      With reference to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a USB storage device in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the invention. As shown, the USB storage device comprises a USB connector  11 , a USB hub  12 , a memory unit  13 , a bridge  14 , and an I/O apparatus  15 . Each component will be described in detail below. The memory unit  13  comprises a memory control  131  and a memory module  132  for storing data. The I/O apparatus  15  is implemented as a Bluetoothor GPRS module for providing an I/O function. The USB connector  11  of the USB storage device is adapted to plug into a USB port of the portable electronic device (not shown), thereby the electronic device can communicate with the USB storage device.  
      The USB hub  12  is not only coupled to the USB connector  11  and the memory unit  13  respectively, but is also coupled to the bridge  14  which is in turn coupled to the I/O apparatus  15 . By configuring as above, signals obtained from the USB connector  11  are output to the memory unit  13  and the I/O apparatus  15  respectively. In other words, both the memory unit  13  and the I/O apparatus  15  share the total bandwidth of the USB communication.  
      Preferably, the memory module  132  of the memory unit  13  is a flash memory. The memory control  131  accesses the memory module  132  based on the signal received from the portable electronic device via the USB connector  11  and the USB hub  12 , therefore either data from the portable electronic device is able to write into the memory unit  13  or the portable electronic device is able to read data from the memory unit  13 .  
      The bridge  14  is adapted to convert a USB signal (e.g., VCC, D+, D−, or GND) from the USB hub  12  into an I/O signal which is in turn sent to the I/O apparatus  15 . Alternatively, the bridge  14  is adapted to convert an I/O signal from the I/O apparatus  15  into a USB signal. Preferably, the I/O apparatus  15  is a serial apparatus (e.g., UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter)). Generally, the I/O apparatus  15  does not provide high-speed data transmission. As such, the I/O apparatus  15  can be implemented as a low speed UART apparatus. It is well known that the low speed I/O apparatus  15  and the memory unit  13  can communicate with the USB hub  12  simultaneously because of the superior bandwidth of the USB communication.  
      With reference to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a USB storage device in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the invention. The second preferred embodiment substantially has a similar structure as the first preferred embodiment. The differences between the first and the second preferred embodiments, i.e., the characteristics of the second preferred embodiment are detailed below. The USB storage device of the second preferred embodiment further comprises a plurality of I/O apparatuses  15  and a plurality of corresponding bridges  14 . Each bridge  14  connects to the I/O apparatus  15  and the USB hub  12  respectively. The I/O apparatuses  15  work slowly so that the I/O apparatuses  15  and the memory unit  13  can communicate with the USB hub  12  simultaneously.  
      With reference to  FIG. 3 , there is shown a USB storage device in accordance with a third preferred embodiment of the invention. The third preferred embodiment substantially has a similar structure as the first preferred embodiment. The differences between the first and the third preferred embodiments, i.e., the characteristics of the third preferred embodiment are detailed below. The USB storage device of the third preferred embodiment further comprises a second bridge  14  and a connector  31  adapted to connect with an external I/O apparatus  32 . The connector  31  communicates with the USB hub  12  via the second bridges  14 . By configuring as above, the second bridge  14  converts a USB signal from the USB hub  12  into an I/O signal which is in turn sent to the I/O apparatus  32  via the connector  31 . Alternatively, the second bridge  14  also converts an I/O signal from the I/O apparatus  32  via the connector  31  into a USB signal which is in turn sent to the USB hub  12 .  
      With reference to  FIG. 4 , there is shown a USB storage device in accordance with a fourth preferred embodiment of the invention. The fourth preferred embodiment substantially has a similar structure as the first preferred embodiment. The differences between the first and the fourth preferred embodiments, i.e., the characteristics of the fourth preferred embodiment are detailed below. In the embodiment, the I/O apparatus  32  is an external device, instead of an internal device. The external I/O apparatus  32  is coupled to a connector  31  of the USB storage device and the connector  31  is in turn coupled to the bridge  14 . As such a configuration, the bridge  14  converts the USB signal from the USB hub  12  into an I/O signal which is in turn sent to the I/O apparatus  32  via the connector  31 . Alternatively, the bridge  14  also converts an I/O signal from the I/O apparatus  32  via the connector  31  into a USB signal which is in turn sent to the USB hub  12 .  
      In view of the foregoing, it is known that the invention employs a USB hub to communicate with the memory unit and at least one I/O apparatus such that a simultaneous operation of the I/O apparatus and the memory unit is made possible. Hence, by connecting a single USB storage device to a USB port it is possible to expand the storage capability and I/O functions of an electronic device, thereby achieving the purpose of decreasing the quantity of USB ports to be coupled to.  
      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.