KR20040039679A - Portable storage with emulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A portable storage device is provided to generate a virtual disc based on sector and cylinder data of a disc media so that it makes various types of physical discs logically interoperable. CONSTITUTION: The device comprises a virtual disc(210), a communication interface(170) and an emulator(110). The virtual disc(210) includes at least one physical memory. The communication interface(170) communicates data with external devices. The emulator(110) enables a user to use the virtual disc like various physical discs such as a floppy disc or a CD-ROM. The emulator(110) includes a key input device(150), a programmable memory(157), a program ROM(130), and a micro controller(120). The key input device(150) allows a user to input a media kind, media selection data or write protection setting data. The programmable memory(157) stores data on a logical configuration of a memory according to the data set via the key input device(150). The program ROM(130) stores a program for performing overall system operations. The micro controller(120) analyzes a protocol of a communication interface, executes related instructions, writes data to or reads data from the virtual disc(210) according to the data stored at the programmable memory(157), and commands a series of processes according to the program stored at the program ROM(130).

Description

PORTABLE STORAGE WITH EMULATOR}

The present invention relates to a portable storage device having a virtual disk drive emulator, and more particularly to various types of disk drives, such as 3.5-inch floppy disk, 5.25-inch floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc. A portable storage device having an emulator capable virtual disk drive emulator.

Disk drive is a device that enables the reading and writing of data by using disk-shaped disc media such as hard disk, floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and so on. As used, the conventional apparatus has a slight difference in the mechanism depending on the type and company of the disk medium, but the mechanical drive unit and the main system for driving the disk medium, including a head for reading the electro-magnetic signal or optical signal. It contains a controller that controls communication with the system and operation of the entire system. In addition, in order to store data on a disk-shaped disk medium, a disk medium is called a sector (SECTOR) that is divided into a series of concentric circles called tracks (or cylinders) and disk-shaped media at a predetermined angle. Use divided into units.

This conventional physical disk technology is inevitably difficult to use where mechanical noise and abrasion and environmental resistance due to mechanical system are required. When using a large number of disks, the storage disk itself is not easy to store and manage. There are problems such as taking up a lot. First of all, if the disk media is different, it requires a different disk drive, and the compatibility between the disk media is almost impossible, such as the 3.5-inch floppy disk and 5.25-inch floppy disk. In the case of a small disk drive, the recent trend of increasing the capacity of the program, if the use of the system has a problem with the virus (Virus), to recover the system or to install a new operating system (system startup) It is only used for extremely limited purposes compared to the size of a disk drive, for example, moving small files.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and by using a mechanical drive unit and a disk medium by using a semiconductor memory to create a virtual disk based on sector and track (cylinder) information of the disk medium, It aims to provide a portable storage device that is logically fully compatible and that various disk media (floppy disks, hard disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, etc.) can be easily compatible by a program.

In addition, the present invention also provides a portable storage device that is easy to handle and use since it is implemented in various disk media and internally partitions and supports multiple disk media up to the limit of memory.

1 is a block diagram of a virtual disk drive emulator device using a semiconductor memory according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a structure of a virtual disk using the semiconductor memory of the present invention.

3 is an operational flowchart of the present invention.

**** Description of the main parts of the drawings ****

110: virtual disk emulator controller

210: semiconductor memory component 120: microcontroller

130: program ROM

140: Data Buffer RAM

150: key input unit 151: virtual disk selection key (KEY)

153: disk medium selection key

155: Write protection ON / OFF key

157: Programmable ROM for System Backup

220: internal memory 230: external memory

240: external memory controller 310: virtual disk # 1

320: sector 0350: virtual disk # 2

360: virtual disk # 3330: sector 1

340: sector M-1

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a configuration diagram of a virtual disk drive emulation apparatus using a semiconductor memory according to an embodiment of the present invention, and includes an emulation controller unit 110 for controlling a virtual disk and a virtual disk unit 210 including a semiconductor memory. have. The emulator controller 110 is a program that performs overall operations with the microcontroller 120 that interprets the interface protocol with an industrial controller or computer system (hereinafter referred to as a main system, not shown in the figure) and executes commands accordingly. A data buffer RAM 140 used as a data buffer between the stored program ROM 130 and the internal and / or external memory and the microcontroller 120, a write protection key 155 for setting write protection of a disk medium; A disk medium selection key 153 for selecting a disk medium type (for example, 3.5-inch FDD, 5.25-inch FDD, CD-ROM, HDD, DVD-ROM), and a virtual disk required when a plurality of virtual disks are set Key input unit 150 consisting of a selection key 151 for selecting a, operation display unit 160 consisting of LCD or LED to display the operating status of the system, and watching And a communication interface 170 for connection with the stem. The system backup program ROM 157 is for storing write protection setting and release information of a virtual disk and sector information of a disk medium. For example, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) may be used. The system backup program ROM 157 stores information for setting each physical memory as a virtual disk according to the type of media selected by the user. The communication interface unit 170 may include a USB (Universal Serial Bus), an IEEE 1394, a parallel port, a serial port, an internal Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) bus, and a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) method depending on a main system, an internal, and an external type. Used. The interface first transmits and receives data in the communication interface unit 170 through a physical connection circuit configured to support a standard interface standard. 120 processes and communicates with the main system.

In the above description, the key input unit 150 has been described as being composed only of hardware, but this is merely exemplary, and it can be easily implemented in software by those skilled in the art. In the case of software processing, the microcontroller 12 detects the connection with the main system using a signal generated from the communication interface unit 170, and then sets a series of stored in the program ROM 130 according to the detected signal. Have the selection displayed. In this case, the program ROM 130 must previously store a series of batch programs for displaying a series of selections. The microcontroller 120 patches and decodes the program stored in the program ROM 130 and displays the same on the operation display unit 160. In this case, the write protection key input, the disk medium selection, and the virtual disk selection may be input through an input device of the main system connected through the communication interface. In addition, although the operation display unit 160 has been described as being provided as a separate hardware display device in FIG. 1, it may be omitted when using the display device of the main system connected through the communication interface unit 170. to be.

As an embodiment of the present invention, when a 3.5-inch Floppy Disk Drive (FDD) is used as a compatible virtual disk that can be booted using a semiconductor memory using USB, which is widely used in recent years, the data is first changed to a USB standard. It is equipped with a physical connection circuit and then supports various communication interface modes in USB. Among the various modes of mass storage class, USB Floofy Interface (UFI), Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), This can be done by programming a communication interface that supports RBC (Reduced Block Command).

The virtual disk unit 210 may use the external memory 230 through the internal memory 220 or the external memory controller 240, or may use an internal and external memory together. The internal memory 220 and the external memory 230 use volatile and / or nonvolatile semiconductor memory. When the volatile memory is used, the internal memory 220 and the external memory 230 maintain data using a battery back-up from the power controller 250. When only non-volatile memory is used, the power control unit can be removed. The external memory control unit 240 is to support a connection standard according to the type of external memory, and may be used in an easily expandable form according to the configuration of an additional board, a slot, a card, and the like. In an embodiment of the present invention, when a nonvolatile ROM is used as an internal memory, a virus free disk may be used.

The overall system of FIG. 1 is divided into a virtual disk unit 210 and an emulated control unit 110, but this is for convenience of description and may be classified differently as necessary. For example, in FIG. 1, the communication interface 170 and the data buffer RAM 140 are described as belonging to the emulation controller 110. However, unlike FIG. 1, the communication interface 170 and the data buffer RAM 140 do not belong to the emulator controller 110. Of course, it can be divided into a separate configuration.

2 illustrates a logical virtual disk structure of a semiconductor memory of the present invention, in which sectors are determined according to the type of disk. When the disk media information is input to the programmable ROM 157 for system backup in advance, the microcontroller 120 emulates the internal memory 220 and / or the external memory 230 as a virtual disk based on predetermined sector information. . The semiconductor memory logically creates a virtual disk # 1 310 composed of a total of M sectors from sector 0 (320), sector 1 (330) to sector M-1 (340) according to the disk type. N virtual disks are divided into virtual disk # 2 350 and virtual disk #N 360 up to the limit. For example, a 3.5-inch 2HD 1.44MB floppy disk has 18 sectors / track, 80 tracks / plane, and 512 bytes / sector of disk information. It has 80 tracks / plane * 18 sectors * 2 = 2,880 sectors to form a virtual disk. Therefore, the total number of sectors per logical virtual disk is 2880. That is, 2,880 sectors * 512 bytes / sector = 1.44 MB. In particular, sector 0 is used to store the directory structure and file information of the disk and is called a file allocation table (FAT).

3 shows an operation flowchart of the present invention. First, a disk medium selection key 150 is set to set a disk medium type (ST 100). The media type may be, for example, a 3.5 inch floppy disk, a 5.25 inch floppy disk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or the like. If there are a plurality of virtual disks, the virtual disk # 1 310 is set as a basic disk if there is no setting of a separate virtual disk selection key 151 (ST 100). The sector and the disc information according to the disc medium type are stored in the system backup program ROM 157 through an input device such as a key input unit 150 or a ROM writer. When connected to the main system (ST 110), it is recognized by the disk recognition program already installed in the main system (ST 120), The master system reads the information contained in the disk system sector according to the disk medium (ST 130), and then allows a separate virtual disk selection key input while in the standby state (ST 140). The system sector reads the master boot record, partition boot record, and file allocation table for hard disks, depending on the disk media. Reads the PARTITION BOOT RECORD, FILE ALLOCATION TABLE, and TABLE OF CONTENTS for CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. When the virtual disk is changed in the standby state (ST 150), after waiting for the read / write / delete request of the main system (ST 160). If there is a read request from the main system, the data of the sector is transferred to the main system (ST 180) and then waits for the next request. If there is a write request from the primary system, refer to the programmable ROM (157) for system backup to check the write-protect setup information (ST 170); otherwise, write data to the corresponding sector of the virtual disk (ST 200), and If so, a write-protect setting message is displayed on the main system (ST 190). After that, the ST 140 stays on standby. If there is a deletion request from the main system, the write protection setting information is checked with reference to the programmable ROM 157 for system backup (ST 170). If not set, the corresponding sector of the virtual disk is deleted (ST 200), and If so, a write-protect setting message is displayed on the main system (ST 190).

Of the present invention By using a virtual disk drive emulation apparatus using a semiconductor memory, a mechanical disk drive unit and a disk medium can be used to create a virtual disk composed of logical sectors using a semiconductor memory, thereby providing a small noise free disk drive apparatus. Various disk media (3.5-inch floppy disk, 5.25-inch floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.) can be easily replaced and replaced by the program. In addition, the installation space can be built-in and external to the main system, and the virtual disk can use volatile and nonvolatile memory. Compared to the conventional disk media, it can be a semiconductor structure that enables more reliable data storage by minimizing environmental impact such as temperature / dust. It can be implemented in any form of media, and it is easy to handle and use since it is divided into several sheets of media internally to the limit of memory. Various drives are required depending on the disk medium, but the present invention can be easily changed by creating a logical disk by a program in one system.

Claims (4)

A virtual disk unit having at least one physical memory; A communication interface which is physically connected to an external system to process data transmission and reception; A portable storage device having an emulator provided as an emulsification unit for using the virtual disk unit in the form of a plurality of media such as a 3.5-inch floppy disk, a CD-ROM, etc. The acrylate portion A key input unit for receiving a type of media to use the memory, information for selecting a memory and information on a write protection setting when the memory is two or more; A system backup memory for storing information on a logical configuration of the memory according to the information input to the key input unit; A program ROM storing a program for performing an operation of the entire system; And Interpret a protocol of the communication interface and execute a command according thereto, read or write data from the memory of the virtual disk unit according to information stored in a programmable memory for system backup according to the input of the key input unit, and store the data in the program ROM A portable storage device having an emulator, comprising a microcontroller for instructing a series of processes according to program contents. The method of claim 1, And a data buffer for buffering the processing speed between the microcontroller and the memory. The method of claim 1, A portable storage device having an emulator, further comprising an operation display unit for displaying an operation state. The method of claim 1, The virtual disk unit is provided with at least one external memory, and a portable storage device having an emulator characterized in that it comprises an external memory control unit for controlling the external memory.