KR100715202B1 - Apparatus and method for using storage device in portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for using a storage medium connected to another control unit in a portable terminal having at least two control units, and processes data of a predetermined area stored in the storage medium in an application unit on a file basis. A file system to control the file system, a virtual memory connection unit connected to the memory connection unit of the other control unit to control the storage system of the other control unit in the file system, and a communication between the virtual memory connection unit and the memory connection unit of the other control unit. Including the communication control unit to be connected, since the application program only needs to be implemented in one control unit, the implementation amount is reduced, and there is an advantage in that the use efficiency of memory resources can be increased.

Dual CPU, file system, storage media, virtual memory connections

Description

Apparatus and method for using a storage medium in a mobile terminal {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR USING STORAGE DEVICE IN PORTABLE TERMINAL}

1 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for using a storage medium of another control unit in a portable terminal according to the prior art;

2 is a block diagram of a portable terminal according to the present invention;

3 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a control unit of a portable terminal according to the present invention;

4 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for using a storage medium of another controller in a portable terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

5 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for providing data stored in a storage medium to another controller according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a device and a method for using a storage medium of another control unit in a portable terminal, and more particularly, to use a storage medium of another control unit in a file system of one control unit in a portable terminal having two or more control units. An apparatus and method are provided. In this case, the storage medium includes a flash memory, a memory card, a hard disk, and the like.

The portable terminal controls the overall operation using the control unit. Furthermore, the controller controls the application data to be processed on a file basis using a file system. In this case, the file system uses only a storage medium hardware-connected to the controller.

Recently, the portable terminal provides not only a call function but also various additional services such as an MP3, a digital camera, and a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB). Therefore, since the operation of the portable terminal which can be processed and controlled by one controller of the portable terminal is limited, two or more controllers are used to process and control the various additional services.

When two or more controllers are used in the portable terminal, the file system included in each controller uses only a storage medium hardware-connected to each controller. That is, each control unit can store or read data only in a storage medium connected thereto.

As described above, in a portable terminal having two or more controllers, each controller may use or store only data of a storage medium connected by hardware. Therefore, since each control unit must implement an application program in each control unit to reproduce data of a storage medium connected by hardware, the implementation is complicated and the storage medium is inefficiently used. For example, when the portable terminal uses two controllers, it is assumed that MP3 files are stored in storage media connected to the controllers, respectively. In this case, the two controllers must implement MP3 players to play MP3 files stored in a storage medium connected by hardware. In addition, when using a video file or a photo file, a decoder must be implemented separately in each control unit so that the video file or photo file stored in the storage medium of each control unit can be played.

When the portable terminal cannot use the storage medium connected to the other control unit, since the use efficiency of the storage medium decreases and the implementation becomes complicated, the storage medium connected to the other control unit can be used through communication to each control unit as shown in FIG. have.

1 illustrates a procedure for using a storage medium of another controller in a portable terminal according to the prior art. In the following description, it is assumed that two control units are provided, and an example of reproducing an MP3 file stored in a second storage medium connected to the second control unit 103 in the first control unit 101 having an MP3 player will be described. .

Referring to FIG. 1, first, the first controller 101 requests a list of MP3 files from the second controller 103 to play an MP3 file stored in the second storage medium (step 111). Thereafter, the second control unit 103 that has received the MP3 file list is generated and transmits the MP3 file list stored in the second storage medium to the first control unit 101 using the file system (steps 113 to 115). .

Upon receiving the MP3 file list from the second control unit 103, the first control unit 101 selects an MP3 file to play and requests the second control unit 103 (steps 117 to 119).

The second control unit 103 that has received the MP3 file checks sector information in which the requested file is located by using a file system. Thereafter, a file is generated using the sector data stored in the second storage medium, and the generated file is transmitted to the first controller 101 (steps 121 to 123).

The first control unit 101 receiving the MP3 file plays the MP3 file (step 125).

As described above, when one control unit uses a storage medium of another control unit, a first control unit having an application program and a second control unit to which the storage medium is connected to generate a file using sector data stored in the storage medium. There is a problem that all should work. In addition, there is a problem that the amount of data to be transmitted is too large because the file is transmitted and received between the two control units.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for using a storage medium connected to another control unit in a portable terminal having two or more control units.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for using a storage medium connected to another control unit in a file system included in the first control unit in a portable terminal having two or more control units.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for using a storage medium connected to another control unit by using a virtual memory connection unit in a portable terminal having two or more control units.

According to a first aspect of the present invention for achieving the above objects, a control unit configuration device for using a storage medium connected to another control unit in a portable terminal having at least two control units, the data of a predetermined area stored in the storage medium; A file system for controlling an application to process on a file basis, a virtual memory connection unit connected to a memory connection unit of the other control unit for controlling the use of a storage medium of the other control unit in the file system, and the virtual memory connection unit And a communication control unit for connecting communication with the memory connection unit of the other control unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a portable terminal having at least two controllers, an operation method of a controller for using a storage medium of another controller may be performed when the data stored in the storage medium of the other controller is used. Checking the storage area of the data stored in the storage medium of the controller; and if the storage area of the data is identified, requesting data of the storage area from the storage medium of the other controller through a virtual memory connection unit; When the requested data is received, the method may include generating a file by using the received data.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of a technique for using a storage medium of another control unit in a portable terminal including two or more control units (CPUs). Here, the storage medium includes a flash memory, a memory card, a hard disk, and the like, and is referred to as a memory in the following description.

In the following description, the portable terminal includes two control units, and describes an example of playing an MP3 file. Here, the same applies to the case where three or more control units are provided. In addition, the same applies to the case of playing a video file and a photo file or providing a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) service.

2 shows a block configuration of a portable terminal according to the present invention. In the following description, the portable communication terminal is a cellular phone, a personal communication system (PCS), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an international mobile communication-2000 (IMT2000) terminal, 4 years old. It is meant to include both a broadband system terminal and the like, the following description will be described with the general configuration of the above examples.

Referring to FIG. 2, first, the controller 200 includes a first controller 220 and a second controller 222, and controls the overall operation of the terminal. For example, processing and control for voice and data communication, MP3 playback, and the like are performed. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the memory of the other controller is controlled using the virtual memory connection unit included in each controller.

The memory includes a first memory 202 connected to the first control unit 220 and a second memory 204 connected to the second control unit 222. The memory stores a program for controlling the overall operation of the terminal, temporary data generated during operation of the terminal, system parameters and other storage data (telephone number, SMS message, etc.).

A keypad 206 provides key input data corresponding to a key pressed by the user to the controller 200. The display unit 208 displays status information (or indicators) generated during operation of the terminal, text input by the user, moving pictures, still pictures, and the like.

An audio codec (Coder-Decoder) 210 connected to the control unit 200 and a speaker and a microphone connected to the codec 210 are voice input / output blocks used for a voice call. The communication unit 212 processes a radio frequency (RF) signal transmitted and received through an antenna.

The control unit for using the memory connected to the other control unit in the portable terminal having the configuration as shown in FIG. 2 is configured as shown in FIG.

3 shows a detailed configuration of a control unit of a portable terminal according to the present invention. In the following description, since the first control unit 220 and the second control unit 222 have the same configuration, the description of the second control unit 222 is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first controller 220 includes a file system 301, a memory connector 303, a virtual memory connector 305, and an IPC controller 307. .

The file system 301 controls the application to process data in file units. For example, when the application program requests a file to the file system 301, the file system 301 uses the memory connection unit 303 to sector in which the file is stored in the first memory 202. Check the information. Thereafter, the data of the identified sector is requested to the memory connector 303, a file is generated using data of the sector provided from the memory connector 303, and the generated file is transferred to the application program. send.

In addition, when data is stored in the first memory 202, the file system 301 transmits and stores data to the first memory 202 through the memory connection unit 303.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the file system 301 uses the second memory 204 connected to the second control unit 222 using the virtual memory connection unit 305.

For example, when a file is requested from the application program to the file system 301, the file system 301 stores the file in the second memory 204 using the virtual memory connection unit 305. Check the sector information. Thereafter, the virtual memory connector 305 requests the data of the corresponding sector, generates a file by using the sector data provided from the virtual memory connector 305, and then transmits the generated file to the application program. .

In addition, when data is stored in the second memory 204, the file system 301 transmits and stores data to the second memory 204 through the virtual memory connection unit 305.

The memory connection unit 303 controls communication between the file system 301 and the first memory 202. That is, when a file to be stored from the file system 301 is provided, the file is divided into sectors and stored in the first memory 202. When the data of a specific sector is requested from the file system 301, the sector data stored in the first memory 202 is read and transmitted to the file system 301.

In addition, when the memory connector 303 receives sector data from the virtual memory connector 315 of the second controller 222, the memory controller 222 reads the sector data from the first memory 202 and the second controller 222. ) To the virtual memory connection unit 315.

The virtual memory connector 305 is connected to the memory connector 313 of the second controller 222 so that the second memory 204 is a memory connected to the first controller 220 in the file system 301. Be aware. In other words, the virtual memory connection unit 305 of the IPC control unit 307, 317 and the second control unit 222 to use the data stored in the second memory 204 in the first control unit 220. The file system 301 is connected to the second memory 204 through a memory connector 313.

For example, the virtual memory connector 305 requests the sector data requested by the file system 301 to the memory connector 313 of the second controller 222 through the IPC controllers 307 and 317. . In this case, the memory connector 313 of the second controller 222 reads the sector data stored in the second memory 204 and transmits the sector data stored in the second memory 204 to the virtual memory connector 305 according to a request of the first controller 220. do.

The IPC controller 307 controls to perform communication between the first controller 220 and the second controller 222. According to the present invention, communication between the virtual memory connectors 305 and 315 of the controllers 220 and 222 and the memory connectors 313 and 303 of the different controllers 222 and 220 are controlled.

An operation for using the second memory 204 connected to the second control unit 222 in the first control unit 220 of the portable terminal having the above-described configuration is shown in FIG. 4, in which case, the second control unit Operation of 222 is shown in FIG. 5 below.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for using a storage medium of another controller in a portable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, the first controller 220 checks whether the MP3 module is executed by the user's key manipulation in step 401. If the MP3 module is not executed, the first controller 220 proceeds to step 417 to perform a corresponding mode (eg, a standby mode).

Meanwhile, when the MP3 module is executed, the first controller 220 proceeds to step 403 in which the MP3 file is stored in the first memory 202 and the second memory 204 using the file system 301. Search the list. That is, the file system 301 identifies sectors necessary for retrieving the file list from the first memory 202 and the second memory 204 through the memory connector 303 and the virtual memory connector 305. The virtual memory connector 305 requests the sectors necessary for the file list search to the memory connector 313 of the second controller 222 through the IPC controllers 307 and 317 to the second memory 204. Identify sectors required for retrieving the file list stored in.

When the list of all MP3 files is found, the first controller 220 proceeds to step 405 and displays the searched list of MP3 files on the display unit 204.

In operation 407, the first controller 220 determines whether an MP3 file for execution is selected among the displayed MP3 file lists by a user's key manipulation. If the MP3 file to be executed is selected, the first controller 220 proceeds to step 409 and checks whether the selected MP3 file is a file stored in the first memory 202.

If the selected MP3 file is a file stored in the first memory 202, the first controller 220 proceeds to step 415 by using the file system 301 and the memory connection unit 303. 1 The data stored in the memory 202 is read to generate a file. Thereafter, the first controller 220 plays the generated file.

If the selected MP3 file is not a file stored in the first memory 202, the first control unit 220 proceeds to step 411 in which the second control unit 222 of the second control unit 222 passes through the virtual memory connection unit 305. The memory connector 313 requests sector data for the file. For example, the file system 301 of the first controller 220 confirms sector information in which the selected file is stored in the second memory 204 through the virtual memory connector 305. Thereafter, the file system 301 requests corresponding sector data through the virtual memory connector 305.

In operation 413, the first controller 220 determines whether the requested sector data is received from the memory connection unit 313 of the second controller 222. If the sector data is received, the first controller 220 proceeds to step 415 and generates and plays a file using the received sector data. Thereafter, the first control unit 220 ends the present algorithm.

The above-described embodiment has been described with an example of selecting and playing a specific file. Not only this, but also when playing other whole files, it is equally applicable.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for providing data stored in a storage medium to another controller according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the second controller 222 first checks whether a sector data request signal is received from the first controller 220 in step 501. In this case, the sector data request signal is received by the memory connection unit 313 through the IPC controller 317.

If the sector data request signal is received, the second control unit 222 proceeds to step 503 in response to the request signal, and uses the memory connection unit 313 to store corresponding sector data in the second memory 204. Check.

If the corresponding sector data is confirmed, the second controller 222 proceeds to step 505 and transmits the checked sector data to the first controller 220. Thereafter, the second control unit 222 ends the present algorithm.

For example, when a data request signal of a sector for retrieving a list of files stored in the second memory 204 is received from the first controller 220, the first controller 220 checks the corresponding sector data. To send.

In addition, when the first control unit 220 requests sector data in which the file is stored in order to play the file, the first control unit 220 checks the data of the corresponding sector and transmits the data to the first control unit 220.

The above-described method has been described with an example of reading and playing data stored in a storage medium of another controller. In another embodiment, the same applies to the case of storing data in a storage medium of another controller.

Meanwhile, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

As described above, in the portable terminal having two or more controllers, by using the storage medium of the other controller using the virtual memory connection unit, the application program can be implemented in only one controller, thereby reducing the amount of implementation and improving the efficiency of using the memory resources. There is an advantage that can be increased.

Claims (13)

A control unit configuration device of a portable terminal having at least two control units including storage media corresponding to each control unit, A file system for controlling data of a predetermined area stored in the storage medium to be processed in units of files in a predetermined application; A virtual memory connection unit connected to a memory connection unit of another control unit other than the corresponding control unit to control the file system to use a storage medium of the other control unit; And a communication control unit for connecting communication between the virtual memory connection unit and the memory connection unit of the other control unit. The method of claim 1, The virtual memory connection unit, When using the storage medium of the other controller, request data of a predetermined area requested by the file system to the memory connection unit of the other controller, And when the data of the predetermined area is received from the memory connection unit of the other controller, transmitting the received data to the file system. The method of claim 1, The storage medium may include at least one of a flash memory, a memory card, and a hard disk. The method of claim 1. The predetermined area of the storage medium is divided into sectors. The method of claim 1, The communication control unit, characterized in that for connecting the communication between the control unit using the IPC (Inter Processor Communication). The method of claim 1, And a memory connection unit for controlling the file system to use the storage medium connected to the control unit. The method of claim 6, The memory connection unit, When the other control unit uses the storage medium connected to the control unit, checks data of a predetermined area requested by the other control unit, And transmitting the data of the identified predetermined area to the virtual memory connection unit of the other controller through the communication controller. A method of operating a control unit in a portable terminal having at least two control units including a storage medium corresponding to each control unit, Checking the storage area of the data stored in the storage medium of the other control unit when the data stored in the storage medium of the other control unit other than the control unit is used; When the storage area of the data is identified, requesting data of the storage area to a storage medium of the other controller through a virtual memory connection unit; And when the requested data is received, generating a file by using the received data. The method of claim 8, The storage area of the storage medium is divided into sectors. The method of claim 8, The requesting data of the storage area may include: Requesting data of the storage area to the memory connection unit of the other controller through the virtual memory connection unit. The method of claim 8, The received data is, And transmitting and reading data of the storage area from a storage medium of the other control part by a memory connection part of the other control part that has received the data of the storage area. The method of claim 8 The storage medium includes at least one of a flash memory, a memory card, and a hard disk. The method of claim 8, When storing data in a storage medium of the other controller, dividing the data to be stored into a storage area size of the storage medium; And transmitting the divided data to the memory connection unit of the other controller using the virtual memory connection unit.

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