Patent ID: 7827320

Claim:
A Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) device for communicating with a host, the SATA device comprising control circuitry operable to: enter a Transmit Ready (XRDY) state in preparation for sending data to the host; receive a first XRDY from the host while in the XRDY state and set a Receive/Transmit ready (RXRDY) flag; after receiving the first XRDY, receive a Receive Ready (RRDY) from the host while in the XRDY state; transmit a data block to the host in response to the RRDY; enter an idle state after transmitting the data block to the host; and if the RXRDY flag is set while in the idle state, wait for the host to transmit a second XRDY, receive the second XRDY while in the idle state; and after receiving the second XRDY, receive a Frame Information Structure from the host comprising intra-command data.