Patent ID: 7680974

Claim:
A method of communicating data between a non-volatile memory card and an external device, the method comprising: when a non-volatile memory card is connected with a host system via a set of electrical contacts located at a first edge of the memory card and the memory card is electrically and mechanically attached to an input-output card via a connector located at a second edge of the memory card opposite the first edge and a mating connector on the input-output card; receiving data at the memory card from the external device through the input-output card rather than through the host system, wherein receiving the data includes transferring the data received from the external device to memory located on the memory card via the input-output card and via the connector located at the second edge of the memory card and the mating connector on the input-output card while the connector located at the second edge of the memory card is attached directly to the mating connector on the input output card, but without transferring the data to the host via the electrical contacts at the first edge of the memory card; wherein the memory card comprises a secure digital (SD) memory card and wherein the set of electrical contacts comprises plural data contacts for receiving data in parallel from the host system for storage in the memory of the memory card and to send data in parallel from the memory card to the host system; and wherein one of the connector located at the second edge of the memory card and the mating connector on the input-output card includes resilient elements that are biased towards each other and the other of the connector located at the second edge of the memory card and the mating connector on the input-output card includes structures insertable between the resilient elements for effecting the electrical and mechanical attachment of the memory card to the input-output card.