WO2005066806A1

WO2005066806A1 - Semiconductor storage apparatus for serial advanced technology attachment-based

Info

Publication number: WO2005066806A1
Application number: PCT/CN2004/001444
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xiaohua Cheng
Original assignee: Netac Technology Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2003-12-31
Filing date: 2004-12-14
Publication date: 2005-07-21
Also published as: CN1635577A; CN100565482C

Abstract

The present invention discloses a data storage apparatus for serial ATA bus-based, including a data storage unit for data storage which consists of at least one semiconductor storage chip, a SATA interface connector connects to the bus based-on SATA, said connector provides input/output port for the data in the data storage apparatus, and sends data to the bus based-on SATA, and receives data from the bus based-on SATA, a SATA storage controller which provides data connecting between the data storage unit and the SATA interface connector, and carries out operating instruction of input for said data storage apparatus, and carries out data operating for the data storage unit. The advantages of the data storage apparatus of the present invention can be so described: said data storage apparatus has anti-impaction, little cubage, low power, low noise, quickly reading/writing, because of the usage of flash storage module, and it can be hot plug-pull.

Description

Semiconductor storage device based on serial advanced technology structure interface

The present invention relates to the field of data storage, and in particular, to a semiconductor storage device based on a serial ATA interface. Background technique

In computer systems, storage devices such as hard disks, CD or VD drives, large-capacity removable storage devices, and CDRW drives are usually connected to the computer using an interface. This interface is mainly used to define the physical and logical requirements for data input and output. As the information storage capacity of the hard disk is greatly improved, the capacity of the information stored in the hard disk is getting larger and larger, and the host system has higher and higher requirements for the interface of the hard disk.

The most widely used hard disk interface in computer systems is the integrated disk electronic interface, referred to as IDE Drive (Integrated Drive Electronics). IDE interface, more accurately called ATA interface (Advanced Technology Attachment, advanced technology structure), because this interface is a parallel interface method, also known as parallel ATA interface, this interface started in 1986, formed a standard in 1988 This standard mainly provides a standardized method for attaching the disk to the structure of a personal computer. In recent years, in order to meet the improvement of the data access speed of the hard disk by the processing unit, the continuous development of ATA interface technology has formed a variety of standard specifications, such as ATA / ATAPI, EIDE, ATA-2, High-speed ATA, ATA-3, UltraATA, Ultra DMA, ATA / ATAPI-4, ATA / ATAPI-5, ATA / ATAPI-6, etc.

The parallel ATA interface dominates the connection between the hard disks inside the current desktop and portable computers because of its simplicity and low cost. However, the parallel ATA interface has a series of limiting factors that make people tired of continuously increasing their performance. . These limited factors include: high pin count, 40-pin 80-core cable, and short cable length, which is inconvenient for hard disk access and system heat dissipation requirements. These and other characteristics of the parallel ATA interface have prevented the data transmission rate of the interface from developing rapidly in the past, so that the parallel ATA interface is approaching its performance capacity and cannot meet the computer's further increase in data transmission speed.

Based on these factors, in order to meet the development needs of next-generation interface technology, serial ATA Interface (Serial ATA) has evolved into the next generation ATA specification. S-ATA is the development of parallel ATA physical memory interface. This technology has a much lower pin number than parallel ATA in software. Only 4 pins are needed. The cable is softer and provides a longer access cable for hard disks. Convenient hard disk access to the host system, and supports hot swap. In addition, the lower pin count of the S-ATA interface is also beneficial to the system design of the motherboard, including chips and other integrated silicon components.

However, with the rapid development of computer technology, the ability to process information has been continuously improved, and the development of computer hard disks has only continued to increase the storage capacity, and as mentioned earlier, the way to increase the hard disk interface to increase the storage speed of hard disk data, In order to meet the needs of the host for high-speed data access, the method of storing information has not been improved. The hard disk reads and writes data in a mechanical way, which not only has the disadvantages of slow speed, high noise, poor seismic resistance, and high energy consumption. These shortcomings of hard disk storage directly limit the use of computers in many fields, especially in applications in vibration environments. Once the hard disk fails, it causes permanent loss of stored data. For computer users, the loss is irreparable.

Because the way the hard disk reads data is mechanical, the volume of the hard disk is usually large, which limits the development of some miniaturized and portable products, which is not conducive to the application of mobile storage. Summary of the invention

Since the existing mechanical hard disk cannot store data safely and stably in a vibration environment, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a semiconductor storage device capable of safely storing data in a vibration environment.

Another technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a semiconductor storage device which has a high data storage speed and is convenient for mobile storage requirements.

To this end, the technical solution of the present invention to solve the technical problem is to provide a semiconductor storage device, including: a data storage unit, the data storage unit is composed of at least one semiconductor storage chip for data storage; and a definition with S-ATA A bus-connected S-ATA interface connector, providing a data input and output port of the data storage device, sending and receiving data to and from the S-ATA-defined bus; and an S-ATA storage controller Provide a data connection between the data storage unit and the S-ATA interface connector, execute an input operation instruction of the data storage device, and perform data operations on the data storage unit.

Compared with the prior art, the semiconductor storage device of the present invention has the following beneficial effects: First, because the storage medium of the data storage device of the present invention uses a semiconductor storage medium, It has shock resistance, and can work normally under the environment of great acceleration change or high vibration. Secondly, there is no relative mechanical movement during the reading of the data, and it has small size, low energy consumption and no noise. Again, The data storage device uses an S-ATA interface, with fast read and write speeds, a bus speed of up to 600MB / S, and serial ATA supports hot plugging. Like USB and IEEE1394, it can be used without shutting down. Can complete the work of data storage device access or removal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the main components of the data storage device of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the main components of the data storage device of the present invention.

3 is a principle diagram and a system schematic block diagram of the connection between the data storage device and the host system shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a flowchart of initialization and data operation of the data storage device accessing the host system according to the present invention;

5 is a flowchart of a data operation on a data storage device according to the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a connection principle of the main components of a data storage device according to another embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic block diagram of a semiconductor storage device 200 provided according to the present invention. The semiconductor storage device 200 includes a data storage unit 230. The data storage unit 230 is composed of at least one semiconductor storage chip for data storage. An S-ATA interface connector 220 connected to the S-ATA-defined bus, providing a port for data input and output of the semiconductor storage device 200, sending data to the S-ATA-defined bus and receiving data from the S-ATA bus; and An S-ATA storage controller 210 provides a data connection between the data storage unit 230 and the S-ATA interface connector 220, executes an operation instruction input to the semiconductor storage device 200, and performs data operations on the data storage unit 230.

Referring to FIG. 2, the S-ATA interface connector 220 includes an S-ATA interface slot 222 and an interface controller 224. The S-ATA interface slot 222 provides a data input / output port of the semiconductor storage device 200. The interface controller 224 is provided with firmware that implements interface standard functions, thereby supporting S-ATA functions that comply with the S-ATA standard. The S-ATA interface functions required by the semiconductor storage device 200 are identified, enumerated, configured, and registered on the bus.

The functional component that plays an important role in the semiconductor storage device 200 is the S-ATA storage control unit 210. The S-ATA storage control unit 210 provides an interface for connecting the S-ATA interface connector 220 and the data storage unit 230. The S-ATA storage control unit 210 is provided with management and operation of files in the data storage unit 230. Firmware of a file system that complies with the corresponding operating system specifications, processes commands and data from external systems, and executes data storage units. 230 operations, including data read, write or erase. The S-ATA storage control unit 210 may implement the above functions by a single integrated circuit chip, or may be composed of multiple integrated circuit chips with different functions to implement the above functions.

An optimized method can integrate the interface controller 224 of the S-ATA interface connector 220 and the storage control unit 210 into a single chip, and control the data access of the data storage unit 230 and realize the interface function by setting the integrated chip The firmware can realize the integrated single chip with the functions of controlling data storage and interface.

The data storage unit 230 is a flash memory. This flash memory is a large-capacity electronic memory chip, which has a small size and a fast storage speed. The data can be read or written randomly or sequentially, and can be erased. In addition, it is a non-volatile storage medium with the function of saving data when power is off. The data storage medium of the semiconductor storage device 200 of the present invention using flash memory is only a specific implementation. Other non-volatile storage media with non-mechanical characteristics can be used by the present invention, such as magnetoresistive random storage. Access memory (MRAM), DRAM, SDRAM, EPROM, EEPROM or SRAM.

Since the S-ATA interface standard has a hot plug function, like USB and IEEE1394, it can complete the work of adding or removing data storage devices without shutting down the host, and it will not affect the semiconductor storage device 200 and its The internal storage controller 210 causes damage, which facilitates users to expand the storage capacity of the computer system and realize data transfer.

In the semiconductor storage device 200 provided by the present invention, the S-ATA storage control unit 210 and the data storage unit 230 are inserted on the same circuit board for electrical connection, and the S-ATA interface connector 220 and the S-ATA storage control unit 210 are electrically connected. The connection can be performed through the cable 240, and the change in the length of the cable 240 can provide convenience for the semiconductor memory device 200 to access. Another connection method between the S-ATA interface connector 220 and the S-ATA storage control unit 210 is, The long cable 240 is not needed, but the S-ATA interface connector 220 is directly set on the circuit board to establish a close connection with the S-ATA storage control unit, and the whole package is provided, which can meet the semiconductor storage device 200 pair mobile The storage requirements are convenient for users to move storage.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a schematic block diagram of the principle of the connection between the semiconductor memory device 200 and the host system loo implemented in accordance with the present invention and the main system yak. The host system loo includes a host controller 110. The host controller 110 performs data operations on the semiconductor storage device 200 connected to the host system 100 via the S-ATA interface connector 120, so that the semiconductor storage device 200 becomes the host system. 100 data storage space. The host system 100 may be a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a server, or a dedicated machine.

The semiconductor storage device 200 implemented by the present invention may also be connected with other external devices to realize data storage. The external devices may be, but are not limited to, card readers, communication devices, digital cameras, computer peripherals, or other special equipment;

The semiconductor storage device 200 proposed by the present invention is connected to the S-ATA interface connector 120 of the host system 100 through the S-ATA interface plug 220 to establish a data connection between the semiconductor storage device 200 and the host system 100. The main function part is the host controller 110, which is used to control and manage all S-ATA data transmission on the S-ATA bus, and other devices in the host system 100 and connected to the host system 100 or Operation of parts.

When the semiconductor memory device 200 is connected to the host system 100, a standard S-ATA enumeration process is generated. In this process, the host system 100 configures the semiconductor memory device 200 and the configuration mode of the semiconductor memory device 200. Although there are many different configurations that can implement the data connection between the semiconductor memory device 200 and the host system 100, the semiconductor memory device of the present invention The interface between the 200 and the host system 100 adopts the S-ATA standard. According to the working procedure of the firmware in the S-ATA storage control unit 210, the data storage device is initialized in cooperation with the host operating system, and according to the requirements of the host operating system. To perform standard interface operations and accept special operation requests set by the firmware of the semiconductor storage device 200 to configure the semiconductor storage device 200, such as sending a prompt to the host operating system to the semiconductor storage device 200 or sending a short blessing to the user, or Other Information.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a flowchart of initialization and data operation of accessing the semiconductor storage device 200 of the present invention to the host system 100. The user connects the semiconductor storage device 200 to the S-ATA interface connector corresponding to the host system 100 through the S-ATA interface connector 220 (step 1). When the corresponding S-ATA interface connector of the host system 100 detects that a device is connected, it supplies power to the accessed semiconductor storage device 200 (step 2).

Next, the host system 100 issues an inquiry instruction to the semiconductor memory device 200 to inquire the descriptor of the semiconductor memory device 200. The semiconductor storage device 200 obtains a device descriptor from the S-ATA storage control unit 210 according to the inquiry instruction. The device descriptor contains a flag indicating that the semiconductor storage device 200 allows one or more drive letters. The semiconductor storage device 200 returns the device descriptor to the host system 100 (step 3). After receiving the descriptor, the host system 100 assigns a logical address to the semiconductor memory device 200 (step 4).

Next, the host system 100 issues an inquiry instruction again, inquires the configuration, the endpoint, and the interface descriptor, and the semiconductor storage device 200 obtains the above descriptor according to the inquiry instruction and returns it to the host system 100 (step 5). The descriptor contains information that supports the maximum number of logical units (LUNs), that is, a flag of how many drive letters are required to be generated. The host system 100 checks the returned descriptors to check whether the descriptors meet the specifications (step 6). If the descriptors do not conform to the specifications, it is prohibited to configure the device. Before returning to the first query of the descriptors, query again (step 7,) .

If the descriptor conforms to the specification, the host sends an instruction to the semiconductor memory device 200 to permit the configuration of the device (step 7), and starts a series of configuration operations of the semiconductor memory device 200-the host issues an inquiry command to ask the device related information (step 8), The information includes the device manufacturer name, product name, etc .; start the corresponding device driver, select the interface, endpoint (pipe), and determine the transmission method. The semiconductor memory device 200 responds to the inquiry command and returns the above information (step 9). The host operating system assigns one or more drive letters to the semiconductor storage device 200 according to the requirements of the semiconductor storage device 200 (step 10). So far, the process of identifying and configuring the semiconductor storage device 200 by the host is complete.

Next, the host system 100 sends an operation instruction (step 11) through the host controller 110 to request the semiconductor storage device 200 for service. The host controller 110 sends these operation instructions to the S-ATA interface connector 120, and these operation instructions are received by the S-ATA storage control unit 210 via the S-ATA interface connector 220 (step 12). Then, the S-ATA storage control unit 210 interprets and executes the operation instruction request (step 13), and the instruction execution result, The system information, operation data, etc. are returned to the host system 100 (step 14). The above process is repeated to execute the operation instruction until the user removes and closes the semiconductor memory device 200 (step 15).

After receiving the signal from the user to remove and close the semiconductor storage device 200, the host system 100 and the semiconductor storage device 200 complete all operational tasks and stop power supply (step 16). At this time, the semiconductor storage device 200 is disconnected from the host. The entire process End.

When the user unplugs the data storage device from the S-ATA interface of the host, the host operating system automatically detects that the device has been unplugged from the host system 100, and the host operating system eliminates the storage device corresponding to the semiconductor storage device 200. Device symbol.

In the above process, the basic data operation instruction of the host system 100 to the semiconductor storage device 200 includes a read data operation, a write data operation, an erase operation, or a format operation. The specific data operation process is the data operation instruction of the host operating system. Send to the driver (the driver is set in the operating system). The driver first packages the operation instruction with S-ATA, and sends the packaged operation instruction to the underlying operating system, and the underlying operating system sends the operation request to the S- running in the semiconductor storage device 200 through the S-ATA interface. The firmware in the ATA storage controller then executes the operation instruction by the firmware to perform data operations on the data storage unit 230, and returns the results of the data operations to the driver through the underlying operating system, which is sent to the host operating system by the driver. .

For different types of operation instructions, the specific execution process of the semiconductor memory device 200 is different. In order to better understand the basic data operation instructions of the host system 100 to the semiconductor storage device 200, please refer to the specific execution flow of the basic data operation instructions shown in FIG. 5, and refer to FIG. 4 in detail as follows:

After receiving the operation command sent by the host system 100, the semiconductor storage device 200 interprets the operation command (step 1) and selects a different method for processing according to the type of the operation command (step 2).

For the read data operation instruction (step 3), the data in the specified address in the data storage unit 230 needs to be read out, and the S-ATA storage control unit 210 of the semiconductor storage device 200 reads the specified data from the data storage unit 230 (step 4) If the read operation is successful (step 5), the data is returned to the host system 100 (step 6); otherwise, the operation failure information is returned to the host system 100 (step 6 ').

For the write data operation instruction (step 7), data needs to be written to the designated address of the data storage unit 230, and the S-ATA storage control unit 210 of the semiconductor storage device 200 stores the data Write to the address specified by the data storage unit 230 (step 8), and return data write success information (step 10) or failure information (step 10,) to the host system 100 according to the operation completion status (step 9).

For the erase operation instruction (step 11), the S-ATA storage control unit 210 of the semiconductor storage device 200 performs an erase operation on the data storage unit 230 according to the file system specification (step 12), and sends the operation to the operation completion condition (step 13). The host returns a formatted success message (step 14) or a failure message (step 15).

It should be noted that the premise that the data storage unit 230 can perform a write operation is that the written address is blank. If the specified location written by the flash storage medium already contains valid data, new data cannot be written. Only when valid data at this location is erased can new data be written. For this reason, the driver converts write operations into three different internal operations in the order of execution: read operations, internal erase, and data reorganization and write-back operations. First, the driver performs an internal read operation, as described above, reads out and saves the original data at the write location; then, performs an internal erase operation to clear all data at the write location; and finally, writes the data that needs to be written The new data is combined with the original data, and an internal write operation is performed on the combined data.

Based on the above method, the semiconductor memory device 200 can also be improved and auxiliary functions can be expanded, for example, the data capacity of the semiconductor memory device 200 can be increased by increasing the number of memory chips, that is, for the data of the semiconductor memory device 200 of the present invention The storage unit 230 is not limited to a single chip, and may be configured by using a plurality of flash memory chips.

In addition, for the semiconductor storage device 200, a light emitting diode can be used as an indicator light, and the working status of the semiconductor storage device 200 is reflected to the user through the working state of the light emitting diode. The light emitting diode is electrically connected to the S-ATA storage control unit 210 and is controlled by it.

Referring to FIG. 6, in order to better implement direct data operation on the semiconductor storage device 200, an input / output unit 250 may be further provided to the semiconductor storage device 200, and the input / output unit 250 and the S-ATA storage control unit are respectively provided. 210 connection, accept its control. A preferred solution is that the input / output unit can be implemented by the same touch screen. Of course, to achieve direct data operation on the semiconductor storage device 200, the semiconductor storage device 200 is further provided with an independent power supply 260.

The input unit provides a user's input operation to the semiconductor storage device 200, including turning on / off the semiconductor storage device 200, performing simple instructions such as file deletion, copying, and the like. The unit can be implemented by a simple combination of buttons or voice input.

The output unit is a display module such as a liquid crystal, and is used to display parameter information of files in the semiconductor storage device 200, including the number and size of the files, the used space and remaining space of the semiconductor storage device 200, and operation instructions input to the input unit. Execution status information. In addition to the display unit, the output unit may also be a voice output module, such as a speaker and a headphone interface.

According to the user's requirements for the nature of data storage, the data storage unit can be divided into 230 rows. It can be divided into multiple different storage areas, such as the public area and the confidential area. The corresponding drive letters are assigned to improve the storage of user data. Safety. For the public area: It can provide any user with an open data storage space. Any user who can use the semiconductor storage device 200 can read and write in the public area. In the public, the user cannot see the drive letter of the confidential area. It is impossible to read the contents of the secret zone; For the secret zone: All data operations in the secret zone are the same as in the public zone, but only after executing an executable file located in the public zone and entering the correct password, can the data be read Otherwise, you cannot perform data operations on the confidential area.

For the data storage unit 230 of the semiconductor storage device 200 being a single chip, the partition operation is set by software; for the case where the data storage unit 230 is multi-chip, the partition operation can be set by software in addition to being set by software. Set in hardware mode, and select one or more chips as the security zone.

In order to prevent data loss caused by misoperation, a write protection switch can also be set for the semiconductor storage device 200, and the write protection function for the entire data storage device can be realized by placing the write protection switch in different positions. 230 is a single chip. In addition to the hardware method, the write protection can also implement the write protection function of the semiconductor memory device 200 by software. For the data storage unit 230 is composed of multiple chips, the write protection can be implemented not only by software or hardware. To implement the write protection function of the entire semiconductor memory device 200, and one or more of the memory chip portions may also be selected to implement the write protection of the semiconductor memory device 200, so that some regions of the semiconductor memory device 200 have a write protection function, while others Part of it does not have a write protection function to strengthen the security protection of important data. The way to achieve write protection of this part includes suspending the CS line of some memory chips by means of hardware. The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be noted that, for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principle of the present invention, several improvements and retouches can be made. These improvements and retouches should also be made. It is regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claim

1. A semiconductor storage device, comprising:

A data storage unit, which is composed of at least one semiconductor storage chip and is used for data storage;

An S-ATA interface connector connected to the S-ATA-defined bus, providing an interface for data to be sent to and received from the S-ATA-defined bus; and

An S-ATA storage controller provides a data connection between a data storage unit and an S-ATA interface connector, executes an operation instruction input to the data storage device, and performs data operations on the data storage unit.

2. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein: said semiconductor chip comprises Flash, MRAM, DRAM. SDRAM, EPROM, EEPROM or SRAM.

3. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein the data storage unit is divided into a plurality of data storage areas with different security requirements.

4. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein the connection between the S-ATA storage controller and the S-ATA interface connector is a cable method or a tight connection method.

5. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein the S-ATA storage controller is configured by one or more semiconductor chips.

6. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein the data storage device further comprises an input / output unit.

7. The data storage device according to claim 6, wherein: the input unit includes a button combination and / or a voice input mode, and the output unit includes a display module and / or a voice module.

8. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein the data storage device further comprises a write protection switch.

9. The data storage device according to claim 8, wherein the write protection switch is implemented in a hardware manner and / or a software manner.

10. The data storage device according to claim 1, wherein: the data storage device has a whole or part of a write protection.