JP2008276691A - Interface card emulating hard disk interface - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an interface card emulating a hard disk interface. <P>SOLUTION: This interface card of the present invention emulating the hard disk interface provides an IDE interface by an emulation method, without installing other driver onto a mother board having mainly no IDE (PATA) interface. A controller in the interface card responds to a manufacturer of a hard disk device connected electrically, an equipment number, and a type of the device, in response to a query of a BIOS by a bus interface, and expands the hard disk interface of a type not supported inherently by the mother board, by emulating a hard disk control unit existing on the mother board. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a kind of hard disk card, and particularly refers to an interface card that simulates a hard disk interface.

  The technique described in Patent Document 1 “Circuit for Protecting Hard Disk Data” is a kind of technique for protecting data stored in a storage device (ie, hard disk) with hardware. The main feature of this technology is that after the device described in the patent is additionally installed between the well-known hard disk interface and the bus, the data stored in the storage device can be directly accessed by hardware. Therefore, in any operation system (OS), a hard disk additionally provided with this technology is not so different from a general hard disk. In summary, this technology does not adversely affect the access efficiency of the original data, and it is not necessary to install additional drivers, so there is no burden on the OS. Protective measures can be provided.

  However, since this technology is limited to the hardware architecture as a matter of course, two physical or logical IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) interfaces that can be supported must be used simultaneously. Otherwise, it will not be possible to access free spaces other than the main data space and virtual data space. In the IDE interface, a well-known device uses two channels provided by this interface to partition free space as a virtual disk and make it usable disk space.

  However, the SATA interface can only support a single hard disk. Therefore, even if the above-mentioned well-known hard disk data protection technology is used, free space cannot be used by partitioning the virtual disk, so that the protection technology clearly lacks support for new specifications. In addition, with the development of technology, the demand for bandwidth has become higher, and the existing IDE (PATA) interface has been gradually replaced with a new specification such as SATA. Therefore, in order to continue to use the well-known hard disk data protection technology in future computer devices, it is definitely necessary to support PCI interface cards that provide an IDE interface. However, a PCI interface card that is not a standard specification is not recognized by the basic input / output system (BIOS) in the boot process, and thus the OS cannot be directly installed on a hard disk drive in a hard disk data protection architecture.

  BIOS—strictly speaking, ROM-BIOS is an abbreviation for read-only memory basic input / output system. In fact, it is a program that is fixed to the computer and provides direct hardware control to the computer at the lowest level. To be precise, a BIOS is also a “converter” or interface between hardware and software programs (although it is itself a program). It is a system that solves an immediate demand for hardware and is responsible for the software executing a specific operation request for the hardware.

Functionally, the BIOS is divided into three parts,
1. Self-test and initial program.
2. Hardware interrupt handling.
3. Program service request.

  The self-test and the initial program are mainly responsible for starting up the computer and are divided into three parts. The first part is used to measure hardware when the computer power supply is just connected, and is also called a power-on self-test (POST). This function is to check whether the state of the computer is normal, for example, whether there is a failure in the memory. The second part is initialization work, which includes establishment of interrupt vectors, register installation, initialization and measurement of peripheral devices, and the like. A fairly important part of this is the BIOS settings. It is mainly a number of parameters for hardware settings, which are read and compared with the actual hardware settings at computer startup. If there is a non-conformance, it will affect the system startup.

  The last part is to guide the program. It is a function that guides DOS or other OS. . The BIOS first reads a boot record from the boot sector of a floppy disk or hard disk. If no boot record is detected, a message is displayed that the boot device does not exist on the monitor. If detected, the computer control right is transferred to the boot record, and the OS is introduced into the computer by the boot record. After that, if the computer can be started up successfully, it is assumed that the BIOS has also completed its role in this part.

  In a power-on self-test (Power On Self Test, POST), after the computer is connected to a power source, the system first tests each internal device by a program. In general, POST is executed on CPU, 640K basic memory, 1M or more expansion memory, ROM, main board, CMOS memory, parallel-serial port, video card, floppy disk / hard disk subsystem and keyboard. Measure against it. If a problem is detected during this test, the system displays a message or alerts the user. The computer system can also include a plurality of BIOS firmware chips. In addition to boot BIOS (mainly contains program code to access basic hardware unit, eg keyboard or floppy disk drive), additional interface card (eg SCSI or USB hard disk interface card, or Network cards and video cards) themselves also have BIOS and are used to supplement or replace the system BIOS program code of existing units.

  To detect extended read-only memory mapped to these memories at startup, the BIOS scans physical memory and detects a signature of 0x55 0xaa at the 2 KB boundary from 0xC8000 to 0xF0000. Bits are then appended to indicate the actual memory space occupied by the 512-bit block of extended read-only memory. Subsequently, the BIOS immediately jumps to the address managed in the extended read-only memory, provides the user setting interface using the BIOS service, registers the interrupt vector service, and provides it for use of the application program after startup. Or display diagnostic data.

  If you want to change the system startup method with expanded read-only memory (for example, startup from a network or SCSI interface card that does not have a driver in the BIOS), use the BIOS boot standard (BBS) programming interface You can make this change by registering the function. Once this extended read-only memory is registered with BBS APIs, the user can select these available boot menus from the BIOS user interface. This is why most PC BIOS compatible with BBS does not allow users to access the BIOS user interface. For access, these expanded read-only memories are fully executed and can only be executed after having registered themselves using the BBS API.

  In order to control the added interface card by the operation system (OS), first, a device driver, that is, an abbreviation of a driver, must be installed. The device driver allows an interactive program of computer software and hardware. These programs established an interface that allows hardware to exchange information between hardware or software. This interface is connected to hardware via a motherboard bus or other information exchange subsystem, allowing data exchange on the hardware device.

  For the IDE interface, when the BIOS executes the POST process, the controller responds with information such as the manufacturer of the hard disk device, equipment number, device type, etc., and the OS determines the I / O port address or memory location of the hard disk device appropriately. Must be reset to the correct position. Specifically, when channel 0 of the IDE interface is used, the hard disk device occupies IF port addresses 1F0H to 1F7H and 3F6H. When channel 1 is used, the OS can control the hard disk device for the first time by occupying 170H to 177H and 376H.

  However, not all PCI interface cards in the well-known IDE interface belong to the standard IDE interface. Therefore, the above-described reset process must be performed by a command additionally provided from the BIOS or the driver. Only after this process is performed, the OS can control the hard disk device connected to the PCI interface card in the IDE interface card. Furthermore, the OS can be installed on a hard disk device in the hard disk data protection architecture, and the advantages brought about by this technology can be realized.

  However, with this method, since the hard disk device belonging to the device driver must be driven before entering the OS, it is not possible to install this device driver with a Windows (registered trademark) OS that is easy to operate. This is very difficult and inconvenient for general users. Unless the device driver installation procedure can be omitted, the well-known hard disk data protection technology will simply become an expert-level technology and will not be widely spread among a wide range of general users.

Taiwan Patent No. 480384 Specification

  The main object of the present invention is to provide a kind of interface card that simulates a hard disk interface. With the interface card, the unit and interface related to the IDE interface originally installed on the motherboard are newly installed on the PCI interface card. This extends the type of hard disk interface that the motherboard does not natively support.

  For the above-described purpose, the interface card simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention can provide an IDE interface by a simulation method without additionally installing a device driver on a motherboard without an IDE (PATA) interface. The controller in the interface card responds to the BIOS query through the bus interface, and returns the manufacturer, equipment number, and device type of the electrically connected hard disk device. This simulates hard disk control components on the motherboard and expands hard disk interfaces of the type that are not originally supported by the motherboard.

The invention of claim 1 is an interface card simulating a hard disk interface inserted into a corresponding interface slot on a motherboard, the motherboard including at least a basic input / output system and a central processing unit, and the interface card includes a hard disk interface and a bus interface. And the hard disk interface can be electrically connected to a hard disk device, the bus interface can be inserted into the corresponding interface slot on the motherboard, and can be electrically connected to the bus of the motherboard,
The controller responds to the BIOS query through the bus interface, responds to the manufacturer, equipment number, device type, etc. of the hard disk device to be electrically connected, and simulates the hard disk control unit on the motherboard. Thus, an interface card simulating a hard disk interface characterized by extending the hard disk interface of the type that the motherboard does not originally support.
The invention according to claim 2 is an interface card simulating the hard disk interface according to claim 1, wherein the controller executes a reset program of an I / O port position or a memory position for the hard disk device. .
According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the hard disk interface is a parallel ATA interface, the controller directly controls the hard disk device through the hard disk interface. It is a card.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the hard disk interface is a parallel SATA interface, the controller performs indirect control on the hard disk device through the hard disk interface via an IDE / SATA bridge. The interface card simulates the hard disk interface described.

  The present invention is to provide a kind of interface card that simulates a hard disk interface. With the interface card, the unit and interface related to the IDE interface originally installed on the motherboard are newly installed on the PCI interface card. This extends the type of hard disk interface that the motherboard does not natively support.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the hardware architecture of the motherboard of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in the hardware architecture of the motherboard of the present invention, a central processing unit (CPU) 10 is electrically connected to a host / PCI bridge 12 by a host bus, and the host / PCI bridge. The PCI bus 2 on the opposite side of 12 is electrically connected to the standard PCI devices 11, 13, the PCI / PCI bridge 14, and the PCI / ISA bridge 16. The PCI / PCI bridge 14 is electrically connected to the PCI standard device 17 through the PCI interface 4 on the motherboard 4, the PCI interface slot on the motherboard, the interface card 20 simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention, and the hard disk device 19 connected thereto. Connecting. The PCI / ISA bridge 16 is electrically connected to the ROM BIOS 18 through the ISA bus 3.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the first embodiment showing an interface card simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the interface card simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention mainly includes IDE hard disk interfaces 24a and 24b, a PCI bus interface 22, and a controller 26 installed on the circuit board 20a. The IDE hard disk interfaces 24a and 24b can be electrically connected to four hard disk devices. The PCI bus interface 22 can be electrically connected to the PCI bus 4 of the motherboard by being inserted into a corresponding interface slot on the board.

  In order to extend the hard disk interface of a type that is not originally supported by the motherboard and at the same time, avoid the troublesome installation of the device driver, the controller 26 in the interface card 20 simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention makes a query to the BIOS 18 through the PCI bus interface 22. In response, it responds with information such as the manufacturer, equipment number, and device type of the hard disk device to be electrically connected. In this way, the hard disk control unit on the motherboard is simulated, and an IDE hard disk interface of a type that is not originally supported by the motherboard is expanded.

  In other words, the interface card 20 simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention is mainly configured by integrating all the controllers and units related to the IDE interface originally installed on the motherboard into a single PCI interface card and installing them on the motherboard. Simulates like a controller or unit. In response to the query from the BIOS 18, the reset program for the I / O port location or the memory location of the hard disk device 19 is executed. Further, under the control of the CPU 10, the hard disk device 19 connected to the interface card 20 simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention can be controlled by the OS. As a result, the OS can be installed on a hard disk device of a hard disk data protection architecture (which may be integrated into the interface card 20 simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention), and the advantages brought about by this technology can be utilized. In addition, taking advantage of the characteristics of the IDE interface that supports the support of two hard disks with a single interface, free space can be controlled with hard disk data protection technology. It is particularly important to note that if there is information or data that needs to be written to or read from the hard disk device 19, the controller 26 converts the well-known native PCI to IDE (native PCI to IDE). Must be processed using techniques.

  The controller 26 described above can be selected to use an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). An FPGA is a semiconductor device including an editable unit, and is a logic gate that can be encoded by a user. The circuit design completed with the current hardware description language (Verilog or VHDL) can be immediately burned into the FPGA and measured by simple synthesis and placement, and has become the mainstream of modern IC design verification technology. ing. These editable units are used to implement basic logic gate circuits (eg, AND, OR, XOR, NOT) or more complex composite functions (eg, decoders or mathematical equations). Among the majority of FPGAs, these editable units also include recording elements (eg, flip-flops, flip-flop circuits) or other more complete memory chunks.

  Further, the hard disk interfaces 24a and 24b described above may be parallel SATA (Serial ATA, SATA) interfaces in addition to parallel ATA (Parallel ATA, PATA) interfaces.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a second embodiment of the interface card simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the interface card simulating the hard disk interface of the present invention mainly includes IDE hard disk interfaces 24a and 24b, a PCI bus interface 22 and a controller 26 installed on the circuit board 20a. However, an IDE / SATA bridge 28 is additionally installed between the controller 26 and the SATA hard disk interfaces 30a and 30b. Thus, the controller 26 performs a control operation on the hard disk device through the hard disk interfaces 30a and 30b via the IDE / SATA bridge 28.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a hardware architecture of the motherboard of the present invention. It is the schematic which showed 1st Example of the interface card which simulated the hard disk interface of this invention. It is the schematic which showed 2nd Example of the interface card which simulated the hard disk interface of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Host bus 2, 4 PCI bus 3 ISA bus 10 Central processing unit (CPU)
12 Host / PCI bridge 11, 13, 17 Standard PCI device 14 PCI / PCI bridge 16 PCI / ISA bridge 18 BIOS
19 Hard Disk Device 20 Interface Card 20a Simulating Hard Disk Interface Circuit Board 22 PCI Bus Interface 24a, 24b IDE Hard Disk Interface 26 Controller 28 IDE / SATA Bridge

Claims (4)

In an interface card simulating a hard disk interface to be inserted into a corresponding interface slot on the motherboard, the motherboard includes at least a basic input / output system and a central processing unit, and the interface card includes a hard disk interface, a bus interface, and a controller;
The hard disk interface can be electrically connected to a hard disk device, the bus interface can be inserted into the corresponding interface slot on the motherboard, and can be electrically connected to the motherboard bus.
The controller responds to the BIOS query through the bus interface, responds to the manufacturer, equipment number, device type, etc. of the hard disk device to be electrically connected, and simulates the hard disk control unit on the motherboard. An interface card simulating a hard disk interface, which extends the hard disk interface of the type that is not originally supported by the motherboard.   2. The interface card simulating the hard disk interface according to claim 1, wherein the controller executes a reset program of an I / O port position or a memory position for the hard disk device.   2. The interface card simulating a hard disk interface according to claim 1, wherein when the hard disk interface is a parallel ATA interface, the controller directly controls the hard disk device through the hard disk interface.   2. The hard disk interface according to claim 1, wherein when the hard disk interface is a parallel SATA interface, the controller performs indirect control for the hard disk device through the hard disk interface via an IDE / SATA bridge. Interface card.

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