Removable memory card discrimination systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9367447-B2
Application number	US-201314080852-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2013
Priority date	Nov 15, 2013
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

Removable memory card discrimination systems and methods are disclosed. In particular, exemplary embodiments discriminate between secure digital (SD) cards and other removable memory cards that comply with the SD form factor, but support the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) protocol. That is, a host may have a receptacle that supports the SD card form factor and is configured to receive a device. In use, a removable memory card is inserted into the receptacle and, using an SD compliant interrogation signal, the host interrogates a common area on the card so inserted. The common area includes information related to capability descriptors of the card. An SD compliant card will respond with information such as capability descriptors about the SD protocol capabilities, while a UFS compliant card will respond with an indication that the card is UFS compliant. The host may then restart the communication with the card using the UFS protocol.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for discriminating between removable memory cards configured to communicate with a host system according to different communication protocols placed into a host of a computing device, comprising:
the host sending a secure digital (SD) protocol compliant interrogation signal to a common area on a removable memory card;
the host receiving a capability descriptor stored in the common area from the removable memory card if the removable memory card is SD protocol compliant;
the host receiving an indication that the removable memory card is Universal Flash Storage (UFS) capable if the removable memory card is UFS protocol compliant; and
the host restarting communication using a UFS protocol if the host receives the indication that the removable memory card is UFS capable.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting insertion of the removable memory card into a receptacle on the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein detecting insertion of the removable memory card comprises mechanically detecting insertion.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein detecting insertion of the removable memory card comprises electrically detecting insertion.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising subsequently operating according to an SD protocol.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising subsequently operating according to the UFS protocol.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein subsequently operating according to the UFS protocol comprises using a pin on the removable memory card in a manner differently than the pin would be used operating under an SD protocol.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
detecting insertion of a second removable memory card in a receptacle of the computing device; and
operating according to an SD protocol with the second removable memory card.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a mobile terminal.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the SD protocol compliant interrogation signal comprises sending a low speed serial signal.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein sending the low speed serial signal comprises sending a signal without a clock component.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the SD protocol compliant interrogation signal comprises sending an interrogation signal to a common area on a removable memory card conforming to a form factor selected from the group consisting of: SD, miniSD, microSD, secure digital high capacity (SDHC), miniSDHC, microSDHC, and secure digital extended capacity (SDXC).

13. A method for discriminating between removable memory cards configured to communicate with a host system according to different communication protocols placed into a computing device, comprising:
sending a secure digital (SD) protocol compliant interrogation signal to a common area on a removable memory card;
receiving a response that informs the computing device if the removable memory card is SD protocol compliant or is compliant with a Universal Flash Storage (UFS) protocol; and
restarting communication with the removable memory card using the UFS protocol if the response informs the computing device that the removable memory card is UFS protocol compliant.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the response comprises two bits.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the response provides a capability descriptor to inform the computing device that the removable memory card is SD protocol compliant.

16. A computing device comprising:
a user interface having one or more hardware elements configured to interface with a user;
a removable memory card receptacle configured to receive a removable memory card; and
a control system operatively coupled to the user interface, the control system configured to:
send a secure digital (SD) protocol compliant interrogation signal to a common area on the removable memory card;
if the removable memory card is SD protocol compliant, receive a capability descriptor stored in the common area from the removable memory card;
if the removable memory card is universal flash storage (UFS) protocol compliant, receive an indication that the removable memory card is UFS capable; and
subsequently restarting communication with the removable memory card if the indication that the removable memory card is UFS capable is received.

17. The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the computing device is a mobile terminal and the mobile terminal is selected from the group consisting of: a camera, a phone, a tablet computer, an audio player, a video player, and a laptop computer.

18. The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the removable memory card receptacle is configured to receive a form factor conforming to a protocol selected from the group consisting of: SD, miniSD, microSD, secure digital high capacity (SDHC), miniSDHC, microSDHC, and secure digital extended capacity (SDXC).

19. The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the control system is further configured to detect insertion of the removable memory card in the removable memory card receptacle.

20. The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the removable memory card receptacle comprises pins and wherein the pins operate according to a first purpose when the computing device operates in an SD mode and the pins operate according to a second purpose when the computing device operates in a UFS mode.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Shacham Assaf
• Gil Amit

Classifications

• G06F13/4068 Primary

  Electrical coupling · CPC title

• G06F12/0238

  Memory management in non-volatile memory, e.g. resistive RAM or ferroelectric memory · CPC title

• G06F12/0246 Primary

  in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory · CPC title

• G06F2212/7207

  management of metadata or control data · CPC title

• G06F3/0655

  Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices · CPC title