Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2001-64548, filed Oct. 19, 2001, in the Korean Patent Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a memory card and a digital device using the memory card, and more particularly, to a memory card for improving a data transmission speed, a digital device using the memory card, and a method of data interfacing between two apparatuses. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   Some examples of recording media used as a secondary memory of a digital device include a punch card formed by puncturing a paper card, a magnetic disk such as a floppy disk and a hard disk, an optical disk such as a CD and DVD, and a memory card such as an SMC (Smart Media Card) and MMC (Multimedia Memory Card). 
   Some of the above recording media have been modified and used in various fields. A memory card based on a flash memory recently developed is very popular due to the card&#39;s high capability of data transmission. 
   On the other hand, a Memory Stick (a registered trademark in Japan to Sony Corporation) has been introduced as a new type of memory card. The memory stick does not include an electrode unlike the SMC, thus data stability is high. In addition, the memory stick has an advantage of low cost because the memory stick does not have a built-in microprocessor in the memory card. 
     FIG. 1  is a view showing the appearance of a conventional memory stick  100 . The memory stick  100  has a small-sized socket  20  to contact with an apparatus. Yet, the length of a body  40  of the memory stick  100  is rather long because, although a data transmission method of the memory stick  100  is a serial type and a number of required signal lines is few, the memory stick  110  is constructed to have a required circuit of a predetermined size in the body  40 . 
     FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing the inner structure of the conventional memory stick  100 . The memory stick  100  has a flash memory unit  110  for storing data, an interface  120  for recording the data transmitted from a host (not shown) into the memory unit  110  or transmitting the data recorded in the memory unit  110  to the host after reading the data. The interface  120  includes S (serial)/P (parallel) and P (parallel)/S (serial) interface  111 , a register  112 , a page buffer  113 , an ECC (Error Correction Code)  114 , a flash interface sequencer  115 , a ROM  116 , and an oscillator  117 . 
   The S/P and P/S interface  111  is connected to the interface of the host and converts serial data transmitted from the host into parallel data. Furthermore, the S/P and P/S interface  111  converts the parallel data generated in the memory stick  110  into serial data, and transmits the serial data to the host. The register  112  includes a command register (not shown), a write register (not shown), and read register (not shown). The page buffer  113  temporally stores input/output data. The ECC  114  performs an error correction and generates an error correction code with respect to the temporally stored input/output data of the page buffer  113 . 
   The flash interface sequencer  115  records the input/output data stored in the page buffer  113  to the memory  110 , or reads the recorded data from the flash memory  110  and outputs the data to the page buffer  113  in response to a command recorded in the register  112 . The ROM  116  stores version information and attribution information of the memory stick  100 . The oscillator  117  generates a clock signal for a signal process timing in the memory stick  100 . 
   The memory stick  100  has ten lines for serial interfacing with the host. These lines are a data line SD 10  to transmit the data, a clock line SCLK to transmit a clock signal, a state line BS to transmit a state signal, an interrupt line INT, two earth lines VSS, two electric power lines VCC, and two reserved lines. Among the above ten lines, the signals especially related to the interface are the clock line SCLK, the state line BS, and the data line SD 10 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , an input/output operation of the memory stick  100  will be described hereinafter. When the data is output, the state line BS and the data line SD 10  in a first state BS 0  of an initial state are respectively low levels. In addition, in a second state BS 1 , the clock line SCLK and the state line BS are converted to a high level where a command TPC (Transfer Protocol Command) to operate the memory stick  100  is transmitted from the host. Once the transmission of the TPC is completed, a level of the state line BS is converted from high to low and the state line BS becomes a third state BS 2 . 
   The interface  120  performs the TPC command in the third state BS 2 . When the TPC is a data read command, the data is transmitted from the memory  110  to the page buffer  113 . Furthermore, when the data transmission from the flash memory  110  to the page buffer  113  is completed, the memory stick  100  transmits a ready signal, which means that the data is ready to be transmitted to the host through the data line SD 10 . Then, the host converts the level of the state line BS from low to high. In a fourth state BS 3  converted as above, the memory stick  100  outputs the data in the page buffer  113  to the host through the data line. When the data transmission from the memory stick  110  to the host is completed, the host stops the transmission of the clock signal and returns to the initial state by converting the level of the state line from high to low. 
   In the meantime, when the TPC is a write command, in a third state BS 3  of the state line BS, in other words, in a section of a low level, the host transmits a recording data to the memory stick  100 . Moreover, the memory stick  100  stores the transmitted data into the page buffer  113 . When the data transmission is completed, the host converts the level of the state line BS from low to high. In the fourth state BS 4 , the level of the state line BS is converted to high, the memory stick  100  records the data stored in the page buffer  113  into the memory  110 , and transmits a busy signal to the host. 
   Subsequently, when the data stored in the page buffer  113  is completely recorded into the memory  110 , the memory stick  100  transmits a recording completion signal to the host. Then, the host receives the recording completion signal from the memory stick  100 , determines that the transmitted data is completely recorded, and stops the transmission of the clock signal. Moreover, the host converts the signal level of the state line BS from high to low, and returns to the initial state. 
   The clock signal to operate the memory stick  100  is provided from the host. In other words, the clock signal provides a timing reference to the host to input and output the data to the memory stick  100 , and the host also captures the data on the basis of the clock signal. Accordingly, the host has an RTT (round trip time) from the time of providing the clock signal to the time of stopping the clock signal. 
   Furthermore, a highest speed for the operation of the memory stick  100  is determined as 20 MHz considering that the electric power is unstable in a mobile apparatus. The operation speed has a transmission rate of about 2 Mbytes/s as a serial transmission. 
   However, the capability of the conventional memory stick  100  is very low considering that the data transmission rate of the NAND-type flash memory currently available is 20 M Cycle/s and the data is transmitted in a parallel state. 
   Moreover, the round trip data transmission should be completed in one clock SCLK, making it difficult to improve the speed of the operation clock SCLK, and to store and read a moving image, multi-media data, and a still image of a vast volume. Thus, obstacles exist to perform a high-speed operation. For instance, the still image having over 400 million pixels cannot be stored in a short time with the current memory stick operating at 20 MHz, thus the speed a digital camera may photograph consecutive images is limited. Furthermore, the moving image recorded in the memory stick  100  cannot be reproduced completely. In addition, electric power is supplied as much as the time for the data transmission, thus, more battery needs to be consumed than in a case of high-speed data transmission. 
   Also, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , there is a slight delay between a clock signal ‘a’ output from the host and a clock signal ‘b’ transmitted to the interface of the memory stick  100 . Additionally, a delay exists between data output ‘c’ in the memory stick  100  and a data capture ‘d’ in the host according to the clock signals ‘a’ and ‘b’. At this time, a real capture time (a capture point) in the host has a timing margin, as shown in  FIG. 4 . The timing margin is also a factor limiting the speed of the operation of the memory stick  100 . Because the memory stick  100  has a capture point through a socket, an up/down scope of the signal is distorted and, thus, a time delay occurs. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the related art. Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a memory card with improved data transmission speed, a digital device capable of data interfacing with memory card for a high speed, and a method of a high-speed data interfacing between the memory card and the digital device. 
   To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention may be accomplished by providing a memory card, including: a memory unit storing data; an oscillator generating a first clock signal; and an interface transmitting the data synchronously read with the first clock signal to a host connected therewith, and receiving from the host recording data synchronously transmitted from the host with a second clock signal. The memory unit is either a NAND-type flash memory or a NOR-type flash memory. 
   The interface including: a first flip-flop outputting the data which is synchronously read with the first clock signal; and a second flip-flop receiving from the host the recording data synchronously transmitted with the second clock signal. 
   Furthermore, the interface includes: a clock line, commonly connected to each clock terminal of the first and the second flip-flops, receiving the second clock signal; and a first switching unit switching the first clock signal to the clock line according to an input/output of the data. 
   To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention may be accomplished by the interface further including: a single data line, commonly connected to an output terminal of the first flip-flop and an input terminal of the second flip-flop, to interface the data with the host; and a second switching unit disposed between the output terminal of the first flip-flop and the data line, preventing the data transmitted from the interface from being input to the host. Here, each of the first and the second switching units is a tri-state buffer. 
   In the meantime, the interface includes: a memory having information with regard to an existence of a function to transmit the data synchronously read with the first clock signal from the memory unit, and enables the function when an enable command is transmitted from the host, wherein the enable command is generated when the function is determined to be stored in the memory. 
   To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention may be accomplished by providing a digital device with a memory card, including: an interface receiving read data synchronously transmitted from the memory card with a first clock signal generated from the memory card; and an oscillator generating a second clock signal, wherein the interface synchronously transmits recording data to the memory card with the second clock signal generated by the oscillator. 
   To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention may be accomplished by providing the interface including: a first flip-flop receiving the read data synchronously transmitted with the first clock signal; and a second flip-flop synchronously transmitting the recording data with the second clock signal to the memory card. 
   To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention may be accomplished by providing the interface including: a clock line, commonly connected with each clock terminal of the first and the second flip-flops, receiving the second clock signal; and a first switching unit switching the first clock signal to the clock line according to an input/output of the data. 
   Furthermore, the interface further includes: a single data line, commonly connected with an output terminal of the first flip-flop and an input terminal of the second flip-flop, interfacing the data with a host; and a second switching unit disposed between the output terminal of the first flip-flop and the data line, preventing the recording data from being input. Here, each of the first and the second switching units is tri-state buffer. A control unit transmits an enable command to activate a function of transmitting the read data to the memory card, wherein the control unit detects that the function is stored in the memory card. 
   To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention may be accomplished by providing a method of data interfacing between a memory card and a digital device, including: synchronously transmitting a data read command with a second clock signal from a host to the memory card; synchronously receiving the data read command with the second clock signal; reading a data stored in the memory card according to the data read command transmitted; transmitting the data synchronously read with a first clock signal from the memory card to the host; and receiving the synchronously read data transmitted from the memory card by the host. 
   In the meantime, the method further includes: detecting an existence of a function in the memory card to transmit the data synchronously read with the first clock signal; and transmitting an enable command to the memory card when the function is detected to exist in the memory card prior to transmitting the data read command from the host to the memory card. 
   Moreover, the method further includes transmitting a signal from the host to the memory card to request synchronization with the first clock signal prior to transmitting the data synchronously read with the first clock signal. 
   In addition, the method further includes stopping the synchronization of the data read command with the second clock signal when the host receives the signal to request the synchronization with the first clock signal and prior to receiving the data synchronously transmitted with the first clock signal. 
   According to the memory card, the digital device, and the method of data interfacing between the memory card and the digital device, the data transmission speed between the memory card and the digital device can be improved, thus an application range of the digital device is expanded. 
   To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention may be accomplished by providing a method of a digital device with a memory card to store data, including: generating a first clock signal from a side transmitting the data between the digital device and the memory card; synchronously transmitting the data with the first clock signal to a host connected to the digital device; and synchronously receiving from the host recording data with a second clock signal. 
   These together with other objects and advantages, which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above-mentioned object and the feature of the present invention will be more apparent by describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention by referring to the appended drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a memory stick; 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing an inner structure of the memory stick of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIGS. 3A to 3C  are timing diagrams describing an operation of the memory stick of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIGS. 4A to 4D  are timing diagrams of the memory stick of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram showing a connection of an interface of a memory card and a digital device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 6  is a flow chart describing an operation of data reading by a host; and 
       FIG. 7  is a flow chart describing an operation of the memory card of  FIG. 5 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
   A memory card, according to an embodiment of the present invention, has a similar inner structure as the memory stick  100  of  FIG. 2 , thus, a detailed description of the inner structure of the memory stick  100  will be omitted. Yet, as the present invention has an improved data transmission speed through modified interface structure from a conventional interface structure and a NAND-type flash memory, the interface structure will be mainly described. In addition, like reference numerals shown in  FIG. 2  will be used to describe like parts of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5  is a block diagram schematically showing a connection of an interface of a memory card and a digital device according to the present invention. A memory card  200  includes a first flip-flop  111 - 1  to output data in a serial transmission, and a second flip-flop  111 - 2  to input the data. Furthermore, a first tri-state buffer  111 - 3  is disposed in order to switch a first clock signal CLK 1  to a clock line  151  in accordance with the input/output of the data. Moreover, the clock line  151  is a transmission path of a second clock signal CLK 2  generated by a host  300  and is commonly connected with clock terminals of the first and the second flip-flops  111 - 1 ,  111 - 2 . In addition, a data line  152  is commonly connected with an output terminal of the first flip-flop  111 - 1  and an input terminal of the second flip-flop  111 - 2 . A second tri-state buffer  111 - 4  is disposed between the output terminal of the first flip-flop  111 - 1  and the data line  152  to prevent the data transmitted from the host  300  from being input. 
   The host  300  includes a first flip-flop  211 - 1  to output the data in a serial transmission and a second flip-flop  211 - 2  to input the data from the memory card  200 . Additionally, the clock line  151 , as a transmission path for the second clock signal CLK 2  generated in the host  300 , is commonly connected with each clock terminal of the first and the second flip-flops  211 - 1 ,  211 - 2 . Furthermore, a first tri-state buffer  211 - 3  is disposed to switch the second clock signal CLK 2  to the clock line  151  according to the input/output of the data. The data line  152 , as a transmission path of the data, is commonly connected with the output terminal of the first flip-flop  211 - 1  and the input terminal of the second flip-flop  211 - 2 . A second tri-state buffer  211 - 4  is disposed between the output terminal of the first flip-flop  211 - 1  and the data line  152  to prevent the data transmitted from the memory card  200  from being input to the host  300 . 
   The memory card  200  and the host  300  are connected through the clock line  151  and the data line  152 , and the data is output through the first flip-flops  111 - 1 ,  211 - 1  of the memory card  200  and the host  300 , respectively, and input through the second flip-flops  111 - 2 ,  211 - 2  of the memory card  200  and the host  300 , respectively. Each of the first flip-flops  111 - 1 ,  211 - 1  transmits the data synchronously with first and second clock signals generated in the memory card  200  and the host  300 , respectively. The second flip-flops  111 - 2 ,  211 - 2  of the memory card  200  and the host  300 , respectively are constructed to receive the data synchronously with an external clock signal generated by other apparatuses. 
   The host  300  has a function, for instance, of determining whether the data can be transmitted through an inside clock signal (the first clock signal CLK 1 ) generated in the memory card  200 . The memory card  200  stores an ID indicating whether the data can be transmitted into a ROM  116 . When the host  300  recognizes the ID stored in the ROM  116 , an enable command of the function is transmitted to the memory card  200 , and the memory card  200  can operate the function in accordance with the transmitted enable command. 
   Hereinafter, a method of data interfacing between the memory card  100  and the digital device shown in  FIG. 5  will be described referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 .  FIG. 6  is a flow chart showing an operation of data reading by the host  300 . At operation S 10 , the host  300  determines whether a read data can be synchronously transmitted from the memory card  200  with the inside clock signal (a first clock signal CLK 1 ) to the host  300 . The host  300  reads a configuration of the ROM  116  included in the memory card  200 . Then, at operation S 20 , when the host  300  determines that the memory card  200  can synchronously transmit the data with the first clock signal CLK 1 , the host  300  transmits an enable command of a data transmission function by the inside clock signal (the first clock signal CLK 1 ) to the memory card  200 . Subsequently, at operation S 30 , a TPC (read command for data stored in flash memory) is synchronously transmitted to the memory card  200  with a second clock signal CLK 2  generated in the host  300 . The above operations are performed in a section of a second state BS 1  of the state line as shown in  FIGS. 3A to 3C . 
   When the TPC transmission in regard to the memory card  200  is completed, a state line BS becomes a third state BS 2 . While a busy signal is transmitted from the memory card  200  through the data line  152  in the third state BS 2 , the host  300  is on a stand-by state. A section of the third state BS 2  is a section that the data is transmitted to the page buffer  113  from the flash memory  110  of the memory card  200 . Subsequently, a special signal is transmitted after all data is transmitted from the flash memory  110  to the page buffer  113 . Specifically, at operation S 40 , a determination is made as to whether a synchronization request signal of the first clock signal CLK  1  is transmitted from the memory card  200 . 
   At operation S 50 , the host  300  stops the synchronization of the first and the second flip-flops  211 - 1 ,  211 - 2  of the host  300  using the second clock signal CLK 2 . In other words, the host  300  converts the state line BS into a fourth state BS 3 , and also converts the first tri-state buffer  211 - 3  of the host  300  into a high impedance state. The first and the second flip-flops  211 - 1 ,  211 - 2  of the host  300  are operated synchronously with the first clock signal CLK 1  transmitted from the memory card  200 . At operation S 60 , a determination is made as to whether the read data is transmitted from the memory card  200  together with the first clock signal CLK 1 . At operation S 70 , the second flip-flop  211 - 2  of the host  300  captures the read data synchronously with the first clock signal CLK 1 . 
   Further, the host  300  reads the configuration of the combined memory card  200 . At operation S 62 , the host  300  determines that the memory card  200  does not have the function of transmitting the read data synchronously with the inside clock signal (the first clock signal CLK 1 ), and the host  300  transmits the TPC (read command for data stored in flash memory) to the memory card  200  synchronously with the second clock signal CLK 2  generated in the host  300 . At operation S 42 , a determination is made as to whether the read data is transmitted from the memory card  200  synchronously with the second clock signal. At operation S 44 , the host  300  captures the read data transmitted synchronously with the second clock signal (CLK 2 ) from the second flip-flop  211 - 2  of the host  300 . If, at operation S 42 , the data is not transmitted from the memory card, at operation S 62  the data transmission function is performed. 
     FIG. 7  is a flow chart showing an operation of the memory card  200  shown in  FIG. 5 . At operation S 110 , a determination is made as to whether the read data can be transmitted through the first clock signal CLK 1  generated in the memory card  200  from the host  300 . At operation S 120 , the memory card  200  responds as to whether the read data can be transmitted. Further, the configuration data stored in the ROM  116  is transmitted to the host  300 . At operation S 130  the host  300  determines whether the configuration data has the ID with regard to the function of transmitting the data synchronously with the first clock signal CLK 1 . 
   At operation S 140 , the host  300  transmits the enable command of the function of transmitting the read data using the first clock signal CLK 1  and a determination is made as to whether the host  300  synchronously transmits the TPC (data read command) with the second clock signal CLK 2 . At operation Si  50 , the data requested in accordance with the TPC is read from the memory  110 . The NAND-type flash memory is used for the memory  110 , thus the read data is transmitted to the page buffer  113  for a high speed. When the transmission of the read data to the page buffer  113  is completed, at operation S 160 , the host  300  determines whether the data can be transmitted synchronously with the first clock signal CLK 1 . 
   When the enable command is transmitted from the host  300  at operation S 162 , the memory card  200  determines that the host  300  can receive the data synchronously with the first clock signal CLK 1 , and transmits the special signal to the host  300 . At operation S 170 , a first clock signal CLK 1  synchronization request signal is transmitted to the host  300 . At operation S 180 , the read data is transmitted to the host  300  synchronously with the first clock signal CLK 1  through the first flip-flop  111 - 1 . When the data transmission is completed, the first tri-state buffer  111 - 3  becomes high impedance, and the output of the first clock CLK 1  is stopped. When the host  300  cannot receive the data synchronously with the inside clock signal (first clock) of the memory card  200 , that is, when there is no enable command, the first flip-flop  111 - 1  is operated to synchronously transmit the data with the second clock signal CLK 2 . The first tri-state buffer  111 - 3  becomes high impedance and the first clock signal CLK 1  is not allowed to be operated. 
   Meanwhile, when the data is recorded into the memory card  200  from the host  300 , the clock signal input to the first flip-flops  111 - 1 ,  211 - 1  of the memory card  200  and the host  300  is provided from the host  300  because a direction of the data transmission is from the host  300  to the memory card  200 . When the data is transmitted from the host  300  to the memory card  200 , a clock frequency of the host  300  is increased so that the data can be transmitted. 
   According to the memory card  200  and the digital device and the method of the data interfacing between the memory card  200  and the digital device of the present invention, a skew problem between the data and the clock can be solved because the clock signal is provided from a side that transmits the data between the digital device and the memory card  200 . Moreover, a timing margin is also solved, thus the capturing operation can be stabilized. Accordingly, some hindering elements for improving the data transmission speed between the digital device and the memory card  200  are eliminated, thus the data transmission speed can be improved by increasing the clock frequency. In addition, as the data transmission speed is improved, a storage application range of a moving image and multi-media can be also extended. For example, in the case of the digital camera, the speed of consecutive photographing is increased. 
   Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention should not be limited to the described preferred embodiment, but various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is not limited within the described range but the following claims.

Technology Category: g