JP2005339002A - Portable storage medium and processor module - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable storage medium that can store bulk data in a server by use of a communication network and a processor module built into the portable storage medium. <P>SOLUTION: The portable storage medium includes a nonvolatile memory 12a for storing a server address that means, e.g., an address on the communication network of a data management server, and a login ID that can be, e.g., a media ID, a serial number, a product number and the like; and a processor module 11a that determines whether or not a logical address designated by a host device is within the memory address of the nonvolatile memory 12a and then transfers the server address and the login ID to the host device. The processor module 11a includes a host interface 111 that receives the logical address from the host device, and a controller 13a that transfers the server address and the login ID to the outside in accordance with the logical address. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a storage system using a communication network, and more particularly to a portable storage medium used in the storage system and a processor module built in the portable storage medium.

  With the rapid spread of small memory cards that incorporate electrically rewritable and erasable non-volatile memories, host devices compatible with small memory cards are rapidly increasing. However, since the storage capacity of small memory cards currently on the market is about 16 Mbytes to 512 Mbytes, a plurality of small memory cards are required to store large capacity data such as moving image data for a long time. In addition, due to the limitations of non-volatile memory miniaturization technology, it is difficult to dramatically increase the storage capacity of a small memory card. Although long-time recording is realized by compressing large-capacity moving image data at a high compression rate, the image quality of stored moving image data is degraded.

  As a first background technology for storing large-capacity data without using a portable storage medium such as a small memory card, a storage system that distributes and stores user data from a host device to local storage and remote storage has been proposed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). In this case, the local storage and the remote storage are connected to each other by a dedicated line. As a second background art, a storage system that stores user data from a host device in a server on a network and a local computer in a home network has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 2).

In order to implement the first background art, local storage, remote storage, and a dedicated line are required in addition to the host device. Also in the second background art, a home network and a local computer are required. Therefore, it is desired to establish a method that allows a user to easily store a large amount of data only by using a small memory card. If the second background art cannot connect to the network, the user data cannot be stored in either the server or the local computer on the network.
JP 2003-288243 A JP 2003-319309 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a portable storage medium and a processor module capable of storing a large amount of data.

  The first feature of the present invention is: (a) a non-volatile memory for storing a server address and a login ID; (b) a processor module for transferring the server address and the login ID to the outside in accordance with a logical address designated by the host device. The gist of the invention is that the portable storage medium includes

  A second feature of the present invention is a processor module built in a portable storage medium, and (b) a host interface that receives a logical address from a host device; (b) a server address and a login ID according to the logical address. The gist of the invention is that it is a processor module including a controller for transferring the data to the outside.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a portable storage medium and a processor module capable of storing a large amount of data.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings in this embodiment, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the storage system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a communication network 4, a data management server 3a connected to the communication network 4, a plurality of host devices 2a to 2m, and a plurality of host devices 2a to A plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n connected to 2m (m, n; an integer of 2 or more). The first portable storage medium 1a, which is one of the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n, stores a server address and a login ID. The first portable storage medium 1a includes a server address storage area 121a for storing a server address. The second portable storage medium 1b to the nth portable storage medium 1n are configured in the same manner as the first portable storage medium 1a. Here, the “server address” means, for example, an address on the communication network 4 of the data management server 3a. Thus, the server address may be an internet protocol (IP) address. As the login ID, for example, the media ID, serial number, serial number, and the like of each of the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n can be used. “Media ID” means data assigned to each of the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n. As user data, for example, image data such as still images and moving images, music data, text data, and the like can be used. The data management server 3a receives the user data transferred using the server address, and manages the user data according to the login ID.

  As each of the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n, for example, a small memory card or a personal computer (PC) card can be used. As each of the plurality of host devices 2a to 2m, mobile communication devices such as a mobile phone and a personal handyphone system (PHS) can be used. Alternatively, a digital video camera, a digital still camera, a personal digital assistance (PDA), a portable CD player, a notebook PC, or the like having a communication function may be used. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 4 includes the Internet 41, a plurality of wireless repeaters 42a to 42k, and a relay control device 43 connected between the plurality of wireless repeaters 42a to 42k and the Internet 41 ( k: an integer of 2 or more). The relay control device 43 mediates data between the Internet 41 and the plurality of wireless repeaters 42a to 42k.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the first portable storage medium 1a includes an electrically erasable and writable nonvolatile memory 12a, a processor module 11a, a command terminal 14, a plurality of data terminals 15a to 15j, a clock terminal 16, A high-level power supply terminal 17 and a low-level power supply terminal 18 are provided (j: integer of 2 or more). The processor module 11 a is connected to a command terminal 14, a plurality of data terminals 15 a to 15 j, a clock terminal 16, a high power supply terminal 17, and a low power supply terminal 18. The nonvolatile memory 12a is connected to the processor module 11a. For example, a NAND flash memory can be used as the nonvolatile memory 12a. The nonvolatile memory 12a stores a server address and a login ID. The processor module 11a transfers the login ID and server address stored in the nonvolatile memory 12a to the first host device 2a according to the logical address designated by the first host device 2a shown in FIG.

  In addition to the server address storage area 121a shown in FIG. 1, the nonvolatile memory 12a has a management data storage area 122, a confidential data storage area 123, a protected data storage area 124, and a user data storage area, as shown in FIG. 125. The management data storage area 122 stores management data such as security information and media ID of the portable storage medium. The bit length of the media ID is about 64 bits, for example. The confidential data storage area 123 stores key data used for encrypting user data, confidential data used for authentication, and the like. The protected data storage area 124 stores user data when the validity of the first host device 2a shown in FIG. 1 is proved. User data storage area 125 stores user data. The protected data storage area 124 and the user data storage area 125 are areas that can be directly accessed by the first host device 2a.

  2 includes a host interface 111, a bus line 116, a memory input / output circuit 113, a controller 13a, a ROM 114a, and a RAM 115. The host interface 111 is connected to the command terminal 14, the plurality of data terminals 15 a to 15 j, and the clock terminal 16. The bus line 116 is connected to the host interface 111. The memory input / output circuit 113, the controller 13a, the ROM 114a, and the RAM 115 are connected to the bus line 116, respectively. The ROM 114a stores a control program executed in the controller 13a. The RAM 115 is used as a work buffer memory for the controller 13a.

  The controller 13a includes an address determination unit 132, a response generation unit 133, a memory control unit 134, and a server address transmission unit 135. The address determination unit 132 determines whether the logical address designated by the first host device 2a shown in FIG. 1 is within the memory address of the nonvolatile memory 12a. For example, the address determination unit 132 compares the logical address designated by the first host device 2a with the reference address to determine whether the address is within the memory address of the nonvolatile memory 12a. Here, the “reference address” means, for example, the maximum logical address of the user data storage area 125. The response generation unit 133 generates a response according to the comparison result of the address determination unit 132. The memory control unit 134 converts the logical address specified by the first host device 2a into a physical address of the nonvolatile memory 12a, and controls writing and reading using the memory input / output circuit 113. When the memory control unit 134 performs address conversion, a defective block occurs in the nonvolatile memory 12a, and even if it is replaced with another empty block, it can be accessed with the same logical address. The server address transmission unit 135 transfers the server address and the login ID to the first host device 2a.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the server address transmission unit 135 transfers, for example, a login password, a communication protocol, a port number, and a directory name to the first host device 2a in addition to the server address and the login ID. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the case where the first host device 2a uses a file transfer protocol (FTP) as a communication protocol when transferring user data to the data management server 3a is shown. Details of FTP are published and published by Request for Comment (RFC), which is an official document of the network protocol. Further, the media ID stored in the management data storage area 122 shown in FIG. 2 is used as the login ID. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the media ID is “ftp.aaa.co.jp” and the media ID is “0x01234567890ABCDEF”. The port number is defined by the transfer control protocol (TCP) / IP, and is “21” in FIG. The directory name represents a directory in which there is a storage area allocated to the first portable storage medium 1a in the storage areas of the data management server 3a shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the first host device 2a includes a bus line 27, an input device 24, an output device 25, a wireless device 22a, a system memory 26, a storage medium interface 28, and a central processing unit (CPU) 21a. And an antenna 23a. The input device 24, the output device 25, the wireless device 22a, the system memory 26, the storage medium interface 28, and the CPU 21a are connected to the bus line 27, respectively. The antenna 23a is connected to the wireless device 22a. Although not shown, the radio device 22a is, for example, a low noise amplifier connected to the antenna 23a, a mixer connected to the low noise amplifier, an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier connected to the mixer, and a demodulation connected to the IF amplifier. Equipped with containers. As the input device 24, for example, a keypad, a touch screen, a scroll button, a mouse, and a remote controller can be used. When any one of a digital video camera, a digital still camera, a mobile phone with a camera, or the like is used as the first host device 2a, an input device 24 having an imaging function may be used. As the output device 25, for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) panel, and an electroluminescence (EL) panel can be used. The system memory 26 is used as an internal buffer memory of the first host device 2a.

  Further, the CPU 21 a includes a command control unit 222, an address designation unit 223, a transfer data generation unit 224, and a communication control unit 225. The command control unit 222 controls the command CMD transmitted to the first portable storage medium 1a. The address specifying unit 223 specifies a logical address when writing to and reading from the first portable storage medium 1a. The transfer data generation unit 224 generates transfer data to be transferred to the data management server 3a and the first portable storage medium 1a. The communication control unit 225 controls communication with the communication network 4 shown in FIG.

  The storage medium interface 28 includes a power supply circuit 284, a clock generation circuit 283, an input / output circuit 282, and a command output circuit 281. The power supply circuit 284 supplies the power supply voltage VDD and the ground voltage GND to the first portable storage medium 1a shown in FIG. The clock generation circuit 283 and a clock CLK as a synchronization signal are supplied to the first portable storage medium 1a shown in FIG. The input / output circuit 282 transmits / receives user data and the like to / from the host interface 111 shown in FIG. The command output circuit 281 transmits a command CMD to the host interface 111 via the command terminal 14 shown in FIG. 2 and receives a response transmitted from the host interface 111.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the data management server 3 a includes a CPU 31, an input device 33, an output device 34, a main storage device 35, an auxiliary storage device 36, a network interface 37, and a data storage device 32. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the input device 33, the output device 34, the main storage device 35, the auxiliary storage device 36, the network interface 37, and the data storage device 32 are respectively connected to the CPU 31. The data storage device 32 includes a plurality of data storage areas 32a to 32n corresponding to the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n shown in FIG. The CPU 31 includes a login ID recognition unit 311 that recognizes a login ID, and a communication control unit 312 that controls communication with the communication network 4 illustrated in FIG. The login ID recognition unit 311 recognizes the login password in addition to the recognition of the login ID. The data management server 3a is provided by, for example, a manufacturer of the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n.

  As the input device 33, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a recognition device such as an optical character reader (OCR), a graphic input device such as an image scanner, and a special input device such as a voice recognition device can be used. As the output device 34, for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT display, or a printing device such as an ink jet printer or a laser printer can be used. The main storage device 35 incorporates a ROM and a RAM. Furthermore, the data management server 3a includes a database control device and an input / output control device that are not shown. The database control device searches the data storage device 32 for necessary file storage locations, and performs reading and writing. On the other hand, the input / output control device receives data from the input device 33 and transmits it to the CPU 31. That is, the input / output control device is an interface that connects the CPU 31 with the input device 33, the output device 34, or the reading device of the auxiliary storage device 36 such as a CD-ROM, magneto-optical disk (MO), or flexible disk. .

  The operation of the storage system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. However, in the plurality of host devices 2a to 2m and the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n shown in FIG. 1, the operations of the first host device 2a shown in FIG. 4 and the first portable storage medium 1a shown in FIG. explain. The address space that can be used by the first host device 2a will be described with reference to the schematic diagram shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the storage capacity of each of the user data storage area 125 and the first data storage area 32a is 1 Gbyte. In FIG. 6A, the logical address of the user data storage area 125 is “real memory address”, and the logical address of the first data storage area 32 a is “virtual memory address”. The logical address values of the user data storage area 125 are “0x0000_0000” to “0x3FFF_FFFF”. Here, the logical address value is 32 bits and expressed as “0x (upper 16 bits) _ (lower 16 bits)” using a hexadecimal number.

  When a NAND flash memory is used as the nonvolatile memory shown in FIG. 2, the user data storage area 125 has a plurality of erase blocks 91a, 91b, which are unit blocks for data erase, as shown in FIG. It consists of ... The erase block 91a is composed of a plurality of sectors 93a, 93b,. Similarly, the erase block 91b is composed of a plurality of sectors 94a, 94b,. Each of the plurality of sectors 93a, 93b, ... and 94a, 94b, ... has a data part and an extension part used for error correction. The data part has a byte length of, for example, 512 bytes. The extension part has a byte length of 16 bytes, for example.

  First, a case where the first host device 2a stores user data in the first portable storage medium 1a and the data management server 3a will be described.

  (A) In step S101 in FIG. 7, when the first host device 2a shown in FIG. 4 is powered on, the first portable storage medium 1a shown in FIG. 2 is inserted into the storage medium interface 28, or the first portable device When the power supply of the first host device 2a is turned on with the storage medium 1a inserted into the storage medium interface 28, the power supply circuit 284 and the clock generation circuit shown in FIG. , Supply the power supply voltage VDD and the ground voltage GND. After supplying the clock CLK, the power supply voltage VDD, and the ground voltage GND, the first host device 2a initializes the first portable storage medium 1a.

  (B) In step S102, the command control unit 222 shown in FIG. 4 transmits a write command to the first portable storage medium 1a using the command output circuit 281. The address specifying unit 223 specifies a logical address when the user data is stored in the user data storage area 125 shown in FIG. As a result, the write command is transmitted to the first portable storage medium 1a using the logical address as an argument. The write command is transmitted to the controller 13a via the command terminal 14, the host interface 111, and the bus line 116 shown in FIG. The logical address is transmitted to the controller 13a via the plurality of data terminals 15a to 15j, the host interface 111, and the bus line 116.

  (C) In step S103, the address determination unit 132 shown in FIG. 2 compares the logical address designated by the first host device 2a with the reference address. In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, the address determination unit 132 compares “0x3FFF_FFFF” that is the maximum logical address value in the user data storage area 125 with the designated logical address. If the logical address value is “0x1000 — 0000”, that is, the designated logical address value is less than or equal to the reference address value, the process proceeds to step S104. When the designated logical address value is “0x4000 — 0000”, that is, when the designated logical address is larger than the reference address, the process proceeds to step S106.

  (D) In step S104, the response generation unit 133 shown in FIG. 2 confirms that the designated logical address is within the memory address of the user data storage area 125, and returns a response to the first host device 2a. Further, in step S105, the transfer data generation unit 224 shown in FIG. 4 transfers the user data to the first portable storage medium 1a using the input / output circuit 282. When the user data is transmitted, the memory control unit 134 illustrated in FIG. 2 stores the user data in units of sectors in an area specified by a logical address in the user data storage area 125. Alternatively, the memory control unit 134 may store user data in the user data storage area 125 in units of erase blocks.

  (E) In step S106, the server address transmission unit 135 illustrated in FIG. 2 transmits the server address illustrated in FIG. 3 to the first host device 2a. Further, the server address transmission unit 135 transmits the login ID, login password, communication protocol, port number, and directory name shown in FIG. 3 to the first host device 2a. When the server address is transmitted, the transfer data generation unit 224 shown in FIG. 4 creates a binary data file in order to save the user data in the data management server 3a. Alternatively, the user data may be binary data instead of the file format. In the example shown in FIG. 6B, a file name naming rule of “(media ID) _ (logical address) .dat” is adopted for each logical address of each sector. In FIG. 6B, the media ID “01234567890ABCDEF” is abbreviated as “MIDA”.

  (F) In step S107, the communication control unit 225 shown in FIG. 4 communicates with the data management server 3a by FTP using the server address, and transfers the login ID and the login password. Furthermore, the login ID recognition unit 311 illustrated in FIG. 5 recognizes the login ID and the login password. When the login ID recognition unit 311 confirms the login ID and the login password, the first host device 2a can store user data in the first data storage area 32a shown in FIGS. 5 and 6B. In step S108, since the data file to be transferred is in the binary format, the communication control unit 225 sets the file transfer type to binary, and transfers the data file to the data management server 3a. When there are a plurality of data files, the transfer is performed a plurality of times.

  (G) In step S109, the data management server 3a stores the user data transferred from the first host device 2a in the first data storage area 32a. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6B, the data file having the file name “01234567890ABCDEF_40000000.dat” is stored in the sector having the logical address “0x4000_0000”.

  Next, a case where the first host device 2a reads user data from the first portable storage medium 1a and the data management server 3a will be described. However, the description which overlaps with the case where the 1st host apparatus 2a preserve | saves user data in the 1st portable storage medium 1a and the data management server 3a is abbreviate | omitted.

  (A) The first portable storage medium 1a is initialized in step S101 of FIG. Step S101 is not necessary when user data is stored and read continuously. In step S202, the command control unit 222 shown in FIG. 4 transmits a read command to the first portable storage medium 1a using the command output circuit 281. The address designating unit 223 designates a logical address when reading user data from the user data storage area 125 shown in FIG. As a result, a read command is transmitted to the first portable storage medium 1a using the logical address as an argument.

  (B) In step S203, the address determination unit 132 shown in FIG. 2 compares the logical address designated by the first host device 2a with the reference address. If the designated logical address value is less than or equal to the reference address, the process proceeds to step S204. If the designated logical address value is larger than the reference address, the process proceeds to step S206.

  (C) In step S204, the response generation unit 133 shown in FIG. 2 confirms that the designated logical address is within the memory address of the user data storage area 125, and returns a response to the first host device 2a. In step S205, the memory control unit 134 shown in FIG. 2 reads user data from the area specified by the logical address in the user data storage area 125. The user data read from the user data storage area 125 is transferred to the first host device 2a.

  (D) In step S206, the server address transmission unit 135 illustrated in FIG. 2 transmits the server address illustrated in FIG. 3 to the first host device 2a. Further, the server address transmission unit 135 transfers the login ID, login password, communication protocol, port number, and directory name shown in FIG. 3 to the first host device 2a.

  (E) In step S207, the communication control unit 225 shown in FIG. 4 communicates with the data management server 3a by FTP using the server address, and transfers the login ID and the login password. Furthermore, the login ID recognition unit 311 illustrated in FIG. 5 recognizes the login ID and the login password. When the login ID recognition unit 311 confirms the login ID and login password, the first host device 2a can read data from the first data storage area 32a shown in FIG.

  (F) In step S208, the communication control unit 312 shown in FIG. 5 transfers the user data read from the first data storage area 32a to the first host device 2a. The first host device 2a receives the user data transferred from the data management server 3a.

  As described above, according to the storage system of the embodiment of the present invention, data is stored in the data management server 3a using the server addresses stored in each of the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n shown in FIG. By doing so, a large amount of data can be saved. Therefore, for example, when storing moving image data, high-quality data can be stored for a long time. When a small memory card is used as each of the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n, the user can use a large-capacity storage area simply by inserting the small memory card into the host device. Therefore, a storage system that can be easily used by the user can be provided. Furthermore, it is possible to solve the problem that the capacity becomes insufficient while user data is stored in the plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n, and the user data cannot be recorded in the middle.

(First modification)
As shown in FIG. 9, the storage system according to the first modification of the embodiment of the present invention is that the first portable storage medium 10a further includes a wireless device 22b and an antenna 23b. Different from la. That is, the first portable storage medium 10a can directly execute communication with the communication network 4. As the wireless device 22b shown in FIG. 9, for example, a wireless device compliant with IEEE 802.11 defined by the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as a standard for a wireless local area network (LAN) can be used. When connecting to a wireless LAN, the wireless device 22b adds header information conforming to IEEE 802.11 to a TCP / IP packet.

  9 is different from the processor module 11a shown in FIG. 2 in that the processor module 11b shown in FIG. 9 further includes a link controller 117 connected between the wireless device 22b and the bus line 116. The controller 13b is different from the controller 13a illustrated in FIG. 2 in that the controller 13b further includes a communication control unit 137. The communication control unit 137 controls communication with the communication network 4 shown in FIG. Other configurations are the same as those of the first portable storage medium 1a shown in the figure. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, the first host device 20a does not include the wireless device 22a, the antenna 23a, and the communication control unit 225 shown in FIG. Other configurations are the same as those of the first host device 2a shown in FIG.

  For example, when a wireless LAN card is connected to the first host device 20a shown in FIG. 10 and used, it is necessary to install a driver for the wireless LAN card in the first host device 20a. On the other hand, when the first portable storage medium 10a shown in FIG. 9 is connected to the first host device 20a and used, it is not necessary to install a driver in the first host device 20a. That is, the first host device 20a can handle the first portable storage medium 10a shown in FIG. 9 in the same manner as a normal portable storage medium. Therefore, even when the first host device 20a having no wireless communication function is used, a large amount of data can be stored.

(Second modification)
As shown in FIG. 11, the first portable storage medium 100a according to the second modification of the embodiment of the present invention includes a nonvolatile memory 12b, a confidential data storage area 123, a protected data storage area 124, and user data. The difference from the first portable storage medium 1a shown in FIG. 2 is that the storage area 125 is not provided. The controller 13c is different from the controller 13a shown in FIG. 2 in that the controller 13c does not include the address determination unit 132. Thus, it is good also as a structure which preserve | saves all user data in the data management server 3a.

(Third Modification)
The first portable storage medium 101a according to the third modification of the embodiment of the present invention is different from FIG. 2 in that the nonvolatile memory 12c does not include the server address storage area 121a as shown in FIG. In FIG. 12, the ROM 114b includes a server address storage area 140. That is, the ROM 114b can be handled as a part of the nonvolatile memory 12c. The server address storage area 140 may be provided in any of the host interface 111, the memory input / output circuit 113, the RAM 115, and the controller 13d. As described above, the server address storage area 140 may be provided inside the processor module 11d.

(Fourth modification)
As shown in FIG. 13, the storage system according to the fourth modification of the embodiment of the present invention further comprises a plurality of data storage servers 300, 301,... Connected to the data management server 3b. This is different from FIG. The plurality of data storage servers 300, 301,... Respectively store user data transferred from the data management server 3b. According to the storage system shown in FIG. 13, the amount of data that can be stored in the data management server 3b can be increased.

(Other embodiments)
As described above, the present invention has been described according to the embodiments. However, it should not be understood that the description and drawings constituting a part of this disclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples and operational techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

  In the above-described embodiment, the server address is described as being stored in the server address storage areas 121a to 121n and 140. However, the server address is stored in the management data storage area 122, the confidential data storage area 123, the protection data storage area 124, And the user data storage area 125 may be stored.

  In the description of the embodiment described above, the address determination unit 132 shown in FIG. 2 uses the maximum logical address value of the user data storage area 125 as a reference address to be compared with the logical address specified by the first host device 2a. An example of using was described. However, the reference address can be an arbitrary address value. Therefore, when the communication state deteriorates during the transfer of user data to the data management server 3a shown in FIG. 1, the user data can be stored again in the nonvolatile memory 12a.

  Furthermore, in the description of the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, an example in which a plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n and a plurality of host devices 2a to 2m are used has been described. The media 1a to 1n may be used. A plurality of host devices 2a to 2m may use one portable storage medium.

  In the description of the embodiment, an example is shown in which the data management servers 3a and 3b are configured as FTP servers. However, when the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is used as a communication protocol, the data management servers 3a and 3b are replaced with HTTP. It may be a server. Alternatively, a home server and a hard disk recorder having a communication function may be used as the data management servers 3a and 3b. In addition, a period in which user data on the data management servers 3a and 3b can be used may be set. Further, the communication with the communication network 4 is not limited to wireless communication, and may be wired communication. The data management servers 3a and 3b have been described as being managed by a plurality of portable storage media 1a to 1n manufacturers. However, the data management servers 3a and 3b are managed by host device manufacturers, third-party organizations, convenience stores, and portable storage media stores. You may do it.

  In the embodiment described above, an example in which the NAND flash memory is used as the erasable and writable nonvolatile memories 12a to 12c has been described. However, a NOR flash memory may be used. Alternatively, a nonvolatile memory such as a ferroelectric memory (FeRAM) and a magnetic memory (MRAM) may be used. Further, each of the plurality of host devices 2a to 2m includes electronic devices such as game machines, car navigation devices, scanners, printers, compact disc (CD) players, and voice recorders, watches, glasses, belts, shoes, etc. It may be one that can be worn or carried on the body. A fixed telephone, public telephone, desktop PC, and television connected to the network may be used as each of the plurality of host devices 2a to 2m. Furthermore, electrical appliances such as refrigerators and microwave ovens may be used as long as a certain information function is added.

  Thus, it should be understood that the present invention includes various embodiments and the like not described herein. Therefore, the present invention is limited only by the invention specifying matters in the scope of claims reasonable from this disclosure.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the storage system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the 1st portable storage medium which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the information used for the storage system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the 1st host apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the data management server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram showing an address space that can be used when the first host device according to the embodiment of the present invention stores user data, and FIG. 6B shows the implementation of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the user data storage device of the data management server which concerns on the form. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the data storage of the storage system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of reading of the storage system according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the 1st portable storage medium which concerns on the 1st modification of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the 1st host apparatus which concerns on the 1st modification of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the 1st portable storage medium which concerns on the 2nd modification of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the 1st portable storage medium which concerns on the 3rd modification of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the storage system which concerns on the 4th modification of embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1a-1n, 10a, 100a, 101a ... Portable storage medium 2a-2m ... Host apparatus 3a, 3b ... Data management server 4 ... Communication network 11a-11d ... Processor module 12a-12c ... Non-volatile memory 121a-121n ... Server address storage region

Claims (5)

A non-volatile memory for storing a server address and a login ID;
A portable storage medium comprising: a processor module that transfers the server address and the login ID to the outside according to a logical address designated by a host device. The processor module is
An address determination unit that determines whether or not the logical address is within a memory address of the nonvolatile memory;
If it is determined that the logical address is within the memory address, a memory control unit for writing to or reading from the nonvolatile memory;
The portable storage medium according to claim 1, further comprising: a server address transmission unit configured to transfer the server address and the login ID to the outside when it is determined that the logical address is not within the memory address.   3. The portable storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the address determination unit determines whether or not the logical address is within the memory address by comparing the logical address with a reference address.   The portable storage medium according to claim 1, further comprising: a wireless device that transfers user data from the host device to the outside using the server address. A processor module embedded in a portable storage medium,
A host interface that receives a logical address from the host device;
And a controller for transferring a server address and a login ID to the outside according to the logical address.

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