Patent ID: 7752363

Claim:
A peripheral device with non-working firmware, the device comprising: a serial transmission port being coupled to a host; a microprocessor being coupled to the serial transmission port for performing functions of the peripheral device utilizing the serial transmission port according to firmware instructions; a non-volatile memory for holding the firmware instructions; and a signal generating circuit being coupled to the serial transmission port for activating a serial transmission channel, which complies with Serial ATA (SATA) protocols, to the host through the serial transmission port without the help of the microprocessor to thereby retrieve the firmware instructions from the host via the serial transmission channel for installation into the non-volatile memory, wherein the signal generator includes: a trigger generator for generating a trigger signal according to a control signal received from the host via the serial transmission port; and a signal generator for transmitting an indication signal to the host via the serial transmission port according to the trigger signal to thereby activate the serial transmission channel between the host and the peripheral device.