A transmission line for data transmission and data storage

Transmission line for data transmission and data storage

This creation is about a transmission line that provides data transmission and data storage, and in particular, a transmission line that provides data transmission and data storage without the need to manually install a driver.

Generally, data transmission between two electronic storage devices can be performed in the following ways: disk operation, other storage devices (CD, MO, and ZIP), direct cable connection (LL3/LL5 transmission line), and regional network. , universal serial bus transmission line, and so on.

However, the use of the magnetic disk operation has a small storage capacity and a slow transmission speed. Currently, the memory capacity of each magnetic disk is only about 1.44 MB. If the file to be transmitted exceeds 1.44 MB, only the slice copy can be selected. Or to slice compression, trouble and inefficiency. Using other storage devices (CD, MO and ZIP), although these storage media have a large capacity, when transferring a large amount of data, you must first transfer the file of the A computer to its opposite storage medium (burner, Mo or ZIP reader). ) burned into discs or stored on MO and ZIP. Then, the file is copied to the B computer via the CD player, Mo or ZIP reader in the B computer, and the program is not convenient enough.

Using LL3/LL5 transmission line, this method has the advantage of not passing through the storage medium, but its transmission speed is slow (230Kbps), and the LPT port and the effective transmission distance are short. It is a very convenient way to transmit via the local area network via the network route, and its application is limited. Data transfer between computers and network routes is required between computers. In addition to the office, the average family does not have a regional network environment, unless there are more than three computers in the average family, there will be a erection area. For modern people, it is common for a family to have both a laptop and a desktop. The large amount of data transfer between these two computers is often an annoying problem if it is not via the local area network. The above problem can be solved by using a USB data link cable. However, the current universal serial bus transmission line system supports the network device interface specification (NDIS), and both computers need to install the driver attached to the manufacturer before the data can be transmitted. In other words, in order to use the existing universal serial bus transmission line in different situations, the user must carry the driver with him or her. Also, after installing the driver, you must turn the computer back on to transfer through this transmission line. Obviously, the existing universal serial bus transmission line is quite inconvenient for the user.

The main purpose of this creation is to provide a transmission line that provides data transfer between the two hosts without the need to manually install the driver.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a transmission line that provides data transmission and data storage, allowing users to transfer data between two hosts and store data.

The transmission line according to the present invention comprises two connectors, a control unit and a storage unit, wherein the controller supports a large number of storage device categories and is used to coordinate data transmission between the two hosts connected by the transmission line.

In an embodiment, the storage unit includes a plurality of blocks, each block corresponding to a unique logical unit number, and the information is only provided to one of the connected hosts. An application is stored in the storage unit, and the application supports the host operating system to automatically execute the function of the application software, and the application is executed on the host to communicate with the controller of the transmission line for data transmission.

The transmission line provided by the present invention does not require manual installation of the driver, and can also have the function of data storage, which is quite convenient for the user.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and understood.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the characteristics of this creation, the following description still illustrates the technical content of this creation by taking the universal serial transmission bus transmission line as an example.

The USB transmission line according to this creation is as shown in the first figure. The transmission line includes connectors 10 and 12 for connecting the first host and the second host, a storage unit 16 is coupled to a controller 14, and the controller 14 is coupled to the connector 12 via the cable 18, respectively. A register 142 is included in the controller. In various embodiments, storage unit 16 may be, for example, a flash memory, an electronically erasable programmable read only memory, a masked read only memory or a hard disk. In this embodiment, the connectors 10 and 12 are both universal serial bus connectors, and the first host and the second host are computers.

Unlike the current USB transmission line, the controller 14 according to the present invention supports a large number of storage class (Mass Storage Class) standards, and can be driven by a large number of storage device type drivers provided by the operating systems of the first host and the second host. . The storage unit 16 further stores an application 162 to support the function of automatically executing the application software in the operating system of the first host and the second host, so that the program 162 can be automatically executed when the first or second host is connected to the transmission line. For example, an existing Windows-published operating system can execute an archive named autorun.inf in a storage device when inserted or connected to a storage device.

Next, the transmission method according to the present invention will be explained by the second and third figures. Please also refer to the first figure. After the connector 10 is inserted into the first host, step S20 is performed, the operating system of the first host queries the controller 14 for its basic data, and the response of the controller 14 indicates that it supports a large number of storage device categories. Then, in step S22, the first host uses a large number of storage device class drivers in its operating system to drive the controller action, thereby establishing a transmission pipeline between the first host and the controller 14. In steps S20 and S22, the first host automatically establishes a transmission channel by treating the transmission line as a mass storage device. Similarly, after the connector 12 is inserted into the second host, the transmission path between the second host and the controller 14 is established through the same steps.

After the transmission channel between the two hosts and the transmission line is established, the application 162 executing on the first host queries the controller 14 for the transmission status to know whether the second host wants to transmit data to the first host. In step S26, if the response of the controller 14 indicates that the second host (relative to the remote host of the first host) wants to transmit data to the first host, the first host notifies the controller to perform data transfer, ie Step S28. If the response from the controller 14 indicates that the second host does not want to transmit data to the first host, then return to step S24 to query the controller 14 again. As for the application 162 executing on the second host, the same steps are performed. In short, the applications executed on the first host and the second host are both through the Q&A with the controller to know whether the remote host has data to transmit.

The process of transferring data is shown in the third figure. For example, if the first host copies the file to the second host, after the user operates, the application 162 executed on the first host notifies the controller 14 that the data is to be transmitted to the second host, that is, step S30, The transmission of the data will be carried out according to the response of the controller 14, that is, step S32. If the response from the controller 14 indicates that the transfer is possible, the application 162 executing on the first host begins the transfer of the data. The data is transferred to the register 142 of the controller 14, which in turn transfers the data in the register 142 to the second host. If the response from the controller 14 indicates that the second host has to transmit the data first, the application 162 on the first host first receives the data, and then transmits the data to the second host later.

As can be appreciated from the above description, the operation of controller 14 includes coordinating data transfer between the first host and the second host. The transmission of data is performed by an inquiry mechanism between the application 162 and the controller executed on the first host and the second host.

According to the transmission line and the transmission method provided by the present invention, the user does not need to manually install the driver, and the user can more easily carry out data transmission between the two hosts (for example, a computer). In other embodiments, the content of the transmitted material may be an instruction. Therefore, it is also possible to perform other actions on the file of the remote host by the present creation, such as deleting the file.

According to an embodiment of the present creation, the storage unit 16 further includes a plurality of blocks, as shown in the fourth figure. Each block is represented by a logical unit number LUN0 to LUN3 (Logical Unit Number; LUN). In one embodiment of the present invention, the block of LUN0 is simulated into an optical disk drive, and the other blocks are simulated as a device such as a removable storage device (Removable Storage Device) to provide a user to store data. Therefore, when the user transmits data using the transmission line, the data can also be stored in the transmission line.

The controller 14 can provide information of the plurality of blocks to the first host or the second host. For example, if the first host first connects the transmission line, the controller 14 provides all the block information to the first host. When the second host connects to the transmission line later, the controller 14 only exposes the block information of the LUN0. In other embodiments, the controller 14 may also be configured to provide all block information for the host connected to the connector 10. For the host connected to the connector 12, only the information of LUN0 is provided.

Of course, in different embodiments, it is also possible to plan two or more storage units for storing the application 162 and the data respectively. The controller only exposes the basic information of all the storage units to one of the connected hosts.

Of course, in addition to the USB specification, this creation can also be applied to other transmission specifications, such as IEEE1394, SATA, etc., and those skilled in the art are aware that such changes are possible.

To sum up, in the transmission line of data transmission and data storage proposed in this creation, when two hosts want to transmit data, there is no need to manually install the driver, and it can also have the function of data storage, which is quite equivalent for the user. Convenient.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and anyone skilled in the art can make some changes and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of protection is subject to the definition of the scope of the patent application.

<p>10, 12. . . Connector</p><p>14. . . Controller</p><p>16. . . Storage unit</p><p>18. . . Cable</p><p>142. . . Register</p><p>162. . . application</p><p>LUN0~LUN3. . . Logical unit number</p><p>S20~S28, S30~S32. . . Steps of the embodiment of the present invention</p>

The first figure is shown as a USB transmission line according to the present creation.

The second and third figures illustrate a flow chart of the transmission method of the present creation.

The fourth figure depicts a block diagram of a storage unit 16 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.