Patent ID: 7752471

Claim:
A bridge device for connecting a host computer to an ATA storage device via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) comprising in combination: a USB interface which receives USB commands from said host via said USB, a ATA interface which provides ATA commands to said ATA storage device, a memory for storing information concerning the amount of power required by each particular USB command, a microprocessor and an associated program which interrogates said memory each time a command is received on said USB interface to determine the amount of power required to execute said command, wherein the associated program determines whether sufficient power is available for executing the command based on whether a particular power supply is connected with the ATA storage device, and wherein the program executes said command if sufficient power is available, and if sufficient power is not available, the program determines if said command is able to be delayed, wherein the program delays execution of said command if said command can be delayed and the program fails said command if said command is not able to be delayed.