JP2003308488A - Pc card adaptor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem in a conventional PC card adaptor that as the CIS information for the PC card adaptor is not included in a small card, the fixed CIS information existing in the PC card adaptor is used even when the small card or very new type is inserted, and a host computer also selects a conventional driver for the small card, which prevents the PC card adaptor with the small card of new type being inserted from being normally operated. <P>SOLUTION: This detachable PC card adaptor for the small card comprises a function for creating the new CIS information by combining the unique information of the small card with the CIS information as the PC card adaptor, and holding the same, and a function for reading out the CIS information from the host computer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a PC Card.
The present invention relates to a standard PC card adapter technology. For more information, see PC Card St
Insert a small card with an interface that does not conform to the andard PC card ATA standard to PC card ATA
This is for converting to a PC card conforming to the standard so that the host computer can select an appropriate driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, PC cards have been used in personal computers, digital cameras, PDAs, handy terminals and the like. For digital cameras, PC
A small card such as a smart media card that does not comply with the card ATA standard interface is often used for storing image data, and a PC card adapter for allowing the host computer to read and write the image data stored in the small card is also often used. Has been done.

The conventional PC card adapter uses the PC card ATA standard as an interface of the PC card. When you connect the PC card adapter to the host computer, the PC card adapter
CIS (Card In described in andard
The information about the formation structure is read out, and the host computer selects a driver based on the information and operates the PC card adapter. That is, the CIS information of the PC card adapter is important information used by the host computer to select the driver. In the case of the conventional PC card adapter, regardless of the small card to be inserted, the PC card adapter has fixed CIS information, and the smart card, such as a smart media card, has CIS information for the PC card adapter. Yes, there are two cases in which the CIS information is taken into the PC card adapter and held.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional PC card adapter, there is no CIS information for the PC card adapter in the small card, and even when a completely new kind of small card is inserted, the fixed card in the PC card adapter is fixed. CIS information will be used. As a result, the driver selected by the host computer is a driver for a conventional small card, which has a drawback that a new type of small card and a PC card adapter cannot be operated normally.

Further, even if the setting of the host computer is changed so as to select a driver compatible with a new type of small card, when a conventional small card is inserted, the driver for the new small card is selected. Therefore, each time the user changes the small card, the driver must be changed to a corresponding driver, which is very inconvenient and inconvenient.

As a method of storing the unique information of the small card in the PC card adapter, if the unique information of the small card is stored in the PC card adapter as it is, R
There is a problem that the AM area increases and the manufacturing cost increases.

The present invention solves such a conventional problem, and enables a driver for a small card inserted in a PC card adapter to be properly selected and operated normally, and to reduce the manufacturing cost. The purpose is to provide a PC card adapter that can be made cheaper.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, a PC card adapter according to claim 1 of the present invention is a method for connecting a removable small card to a PC card ATA standard interface of a host computer. , A connecting means 1 for connecting the small card, a connecting means 2 for connecting to a PC card ATA standard interface of the host computer, a means for reading the unique information stored in the small card, and a PC card ATA standard of the host computer. PC card ATA standard interface control means for transferring data to the host computer through the interface is provided, and new CIS information is created by combining the CIS information as a PC card adapter with the unique information of the small card. Host computer Those having a structure having a function capable of data reads.

The PC card adapter according to claim 2 of the present invention uses the arithmetic circuit used when the PC card adapter communicates with the host computer and the small card as a method of creating the CIS information according to claim 1. , A function to reduce the data size of the unique information of the small card, incorporate it into the CIS information originally provided in the PC card adapter, create new CIS information, and allow the host computer to read this CIS information It has a different configuration.

With the above structure, the PC card adapter according to claim 1 of the present invention is a PC card depending on the type of the small card.
Since the CIS information of the card adapter changes, the host computer can read the difference in the CIS information and select an appropriate driver. Also, due to this, the driver for operating the small card via the PC card adapter is not selected correctly, and it becomes impossible to operate normally, and the driver is set to be suitable each time the user changes the type of the small card. Can solve the problem of having to change.

The PC card adapter according to claim 2 of the present invention can be stored in a small size in the PC card adapter even if the size of the unique information of the small card is large.
It is preferable because a large RAM area is not required and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
A description will be given with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 shows a PC card adapter according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, PC card adapters are mainly 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 1
It consists of 6 parts. 11 is a connector for an ATA standard interface for connecting to a host computer,
Reference numeral 13 is a connector for connecting the PC card adapter and the small card, 12 is a guide for smoothly connecting the PC card adapter and the small card, and 15 is a CIS of the PC card adapter in the controller IC 10.
ROM area for storing basic data of information, 1
6 is a RAM area in the controller IC 10 for storing the unique information read from the small card. A controller IC 10 is a small card connected to the connector 13, a host computer connected to the connector 11, and an AT.
It is for controlling the A standard interface. Further, the controller IC 10 responds to the read request of the CIS information from the host computer with the ROM area 15 and the R area.
It has a function of generating CIS information from the data in the AM area 16 and making a response. Reference numeral 14 is a peripheral circuit component for operating the controller IC.

FIG. 2 shows a small card A according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 21 denotes a unique information area of the small card A, which includes CIS information itself for the PC card adapter and information unique to the card such as memory capacity. Reference numeral 22 is a memory area that realizes other functions of the small card A. A typical example of the small card A is a smart media card.

FIG. 3 shows a small card B in the first embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 31 denotes a unique information area of the small card B, which contains card-specific information such as memory capacity, but is not the CIS information itself for the PC card adapter. Reference numeral 32 is a memory area for realizing other functions of the small card B. A typical example of the small card B is S
It is a D card, MultiMediaCard.

The difference between the small cards A and B in FIGS. 2 and 3 is that
The big difference is whether or not the CIS information for the PC card adapter is included.

FIG. 4 shows the PC card adapter in a state before the small card is inserted.

FIG. 5 shows P with a small card inserted.
It shows a C card adapter.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation of the PC card adapter of the present invention.

In this embodiment, when a small card A typified by a smart media card is inserted in a PC card adapter, the CIS information in the small card A is held in the PC card adapter and transmitted to the host computer. There is no problem because it is sufficient, but in the case of a small card B typified by an SD card, C for a PC card adapter
Since it does not include IS information, it applies to the problem to be solved by the invention. Therefore, next, referring to FIG.
The operation of the C card adapter will be described in detail below.

The steps when the small card B is inserted into the PC card adapter of the present invention and first connected to the host computer will be described. In step S1, the small card B is inserted into the PC card adapter of the present invention. After the insertion, the form shown in FIG. 5 is obtained. Then step S
In step 2, the PC card adapter of the present invention is inserted into a host computer having an ATA standard interface.

Next, in step S3, the PC card adapter of the present invention reads the unique information of the small card B and stores it in the RAM area in the PC card adapter.

Next, in step S4, the host computer issues a CIS information read request to the PC card adapter of the present invention.

Next, in step S5, as a response to S4, new CIS information is created by combining the CIS information originally provided in the PC card adapter of the present invention and the information of the small card stored in the RAM area, and the host computer Pass that data to. However, RA
When combining the information of the small cards stored in the M area, the data of 00h and FFh are 00h and F.
Change to data other than Fh to obtain new CIS information.

Next, in step S6, the host computer interprets the CIS information read from the PC card adapter of the present invention, and confirms that the PC card adapter has been inserted for the first time.

Next, step S7 in the case of handling as a PC card adapter inserted for the first time will be described. In step S7, since the PC card adapter of the present invention is connected to the host computer for the first time, the host computer requests the user to install an appropriate driver. However, this installation work is
It may be omitted if the user previously installed the appropriate driver.

Next, in step S8, the host computer can use the driver selected by the user in step S7 to operate the PC card adapter normally. Further, the host computer manages so that the driver selected in step S7 is automatically selected when the PC card adapter having the same CIS information is inserted next time.

Next, the steps when the small card B is inserted into the PC card adapter of the present invention and has been connected to the host computer before will be described.

The steps S1 to S5 are the same, but the P inserted only after the CIS information is interpreted.
In step S6 of confirming whether the card is a C card adapter, it is determined that the card card is not the first PC card adapter, so the process proceeds to step S9.

In step S9, the host computer uses the driver previously selected in step S7,
The PC card adapter can be operated normally.

Next, a description will be given of steps in the case where a different type from the small card B, that is, a small card B'having different unique information is inserted into the PC card adapter of the present invention and first connected to the host computer. In the case of the PC card adapter of the present invention, the procedure proceeds to the step S4 when the small card B is inserted, but the CIS information different from that when the small card B is inserted into the PC card adapter is passed to the host computer in the step S5. Be done. Therefore, the process can proceed to step S7, and the user can install an appropriate driver.

After that, when the small card B'is inserted and connected to the same host computer,
Since the driver selected in step S7 for the small card B'is used in step S9, normal operation can be achieved.

By doing so, the PC card adapter of the present invention solves the problem that a conventional small card driver is selected when a new kind of small card is inserted and cannot operate normally. In addition, it is possible to solve the inconvenience that the user has to change the driver to an appropriate driver every time the small card is changed, and it is easy to use and the small card can be normally operated through the PC card adapter.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a method for the PC card adapter in step S3 to read the unique information of the small card and store it in the RAM area will be described.

In step S3, the unique information of the small card is read and then stored in the RAM area. At that time, the PC card adapter of the present invention uses the arithmetic circuit already inside the unique information of the small card. Is converted into several bytes and secured in the RAM area. The arithmetic circuit in the PC card adapter is an error detection circuit used when data is transferred between the PC card adapter and the small card or between the PC card adapter and the host computer, for example, SD Card Speci
CRC (Cyclic Red) described in fication
UndancyCheck) 16 arithmetic circuit (see FIG. 7) and SmartMedia Specificati
ECC (Error Correction)
Circuit) and the like.

Specifically, the CIS which converts the unique information into several bytes by using the CRC16 and holds it by the PC card adapter
The information will be described below.

In step S3, the PC card adapter of the present invention reads the unique information of the small card B. When the read data is calculated by the CRC16 shown in FIG. 7, 2-byte data is obtained, and is stored in the RAM area.
However, if the obtained data includes 00h and FFh, different values are set.

Then, the data stored in the RAM area is converted into the address CEh of the CIS information originally provided in the PC card adapter shown in FIGS. 8, 9, 10 and 11.
The data is D0h.

By doing the above, several kilobytes ~
From the unique information of a small card consisting of several tens of kilobytes,
The information for identifying this card can be significantly compressed to a few bytes (2 bytes in this embodiment), and this information is originally provided in the PC card adapter.
It can be stored in an empty area of the S information storage area. That is, PC
Since there is no need to specially secure the RAM area for storing the unique information of the small card in the card adapter, and the one already equipped with the arithmetic circuit for obtaining the identification information can be used as it is, the present invention can be implemented. Does not need to add any new hardware, so
It does not increase the manufacturing cost.

Further, the synthesized CIS information is PC C
It conforms to the standard standard and can be used as a PC card adapter without any problem without deviating from the standard.

In this embodiment, the base CI
Although the S information is as shown in FIG. 8, this is an example, and it does not have any meaning in strictly defining the data therein.

Further, in the present embodiment, the data to be stored in the RAM area is 2 bytes, but the data to be stored and the capacity thereof can be stored by using other calculation methods or a part of the small card specific information as it is. It goes without saying that you can change the.

[0043]

As described above, the PC card adapter according to claim 1 of the present invention is a method for connecting a removable small card to a PC card ATA standard interface of a host computer, and connecting the small card. Connection means 1 and a PC card ATA of the host computer
A connection means 2 for connecting to the standard interface, a means for reading the unique information stored in the small card, and a PC card ATA standard interface control means for transferring data to the host computer through the PC card ATA standard interface of the host computer. Equipped with CIS (Card Card Adapter)
Information Structure) information is combined with the specific information of the small card to create new CIS information, and this CIS information is held so that it can be read by the host computer. Since the CIS information of the PC card adapter changes depending on the type, the host computer can read the difference in the CIS information and select an appropriate driver. In addition, as a result, the driver for operating the conventional small card is selected via the PC card adapter, and the new small card cannot be operated normally, or the user changes the type of the small card. You can solve the problem that you have to change the setting to a driver that is compatible with.

The PC card adapter according to claim 2 of the present invention uses the arithmetic circuit used when the PC card adapter communicates with the host computer and the small card as a method of creating the CIS information according to claim 1. , The data size of the unique information of the small card is reduced, it is incorporated into the CIS information originally provided in the PC card adapter, new CIS information is created, and this CIS information is retained so that it can be read by the host computer. Even if the size of the unique information of a small card is large,
Since the CIS information in the PC card adapter can be stored in a small size, there is an effect that a large RAM area is not required and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of main parts of a PC card adapter.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a small card A having CIS information for a PC card adapter.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a small card B for which there is no CIS information for a PC card adapter.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a PC card adapter before a small card is inserted.

FIG. 5 shows a PC card adapter with a small card inserted.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation at the time of insertion.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a calculation formula of CRC16.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing CIS information.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing CIS information.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing CIS information.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing CIS information.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Controller IC 11 Connector for ATA standard interface 12 Guide for connecting PC card adapter and small card smoothly 13 Connector for connecting PC card adapter and small card 14 Peripheral circuit parts 15 Basic data of CIS information To store R
OM area 16 R that stores unique information read from a small card
AM area 21 Unique information area of small card A 22 Memory area 31 realizing other functions of small card A 31 Unique information area of small card B 32 Memory area realizing other functions of small card B

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of connecting a removable small card to a PC card ATA standard interface of a host computer, the connecting means 1 connecting the small card.
And a means for connecting to the PC card ATA standard interface of the host computer, a means for reading the unique information stored in the small card, and a PC card ATA standard interface of the host computer for data transfer to the host computer. PC to do
Card ATA standard interface control means,
CIS (Card Info) as a C card adapter
PC card adapter having a function of creating new CIS information by combining the information on the size of the card and unique information of the small card, and storing the CIS information so that the host computer can read the CIS information. . 2. The method for generating CIS information according to claim 1, wherein the PC card adapter uses an arithmetic circuit used when communicating with the host computer and the small card to reduce the data size of the unique information of the small card. A PC having a function of incorporating the CIS information originally provided in the PC card adapter to create new CIS information and holding the CIS information so that the host computer can read the CIS information. Card adapter. 3. The arithmetic circuit according to claim 2, wherein the arithmetic circuit is a circuit for performing error correction or error detection, and the information originally included in the PC card adapter includes information specific to the small card in the arithmetic circuit. PC which is data obtained as a result of calculation by
Card adapter.