Background
With the demand of data storage, data storage devices, such as Solid State Drives (SSD), are often used by a host computer or an automation device to store important data. Please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic structural diagram of a conventional data storage device. As shown in FIG. 1, a conventionaldata storage device 10 includes acontroller 11, a plurality offlash memories 13 and adata transmission interface 15.
Thedata storage device 10 is disposed in ahost computer 20 and connected to amain board 21 of thehost computer 20 through adata transmission interface 15. Thedata transmission interface 15 may also be a data transmission interface conforming to the SATA, PCIe or NVMe standard specifications. When thehost computer 20 wants to access data from thedata storage device 10, it issues an access command (e.g. read/write command) to thedata transmission interface 15 of thedata storage device 10. Then, thecontroller 11 of thedata storage device 10 will access theflash memory 13 after receiving the access command through thedata transmission interface 15.
The conventionaldata storage device 10 is used only for storing data, and has no additional function, and its application is limited. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an innovative data storage device, which has a system operation capability, and utilizes the system operation capability to process the data inputted and outputted from the data storage device, so as to expand the function of the data storage device.
Disclosure of Invention
The present invention provides a data storage device, which includes a data storage unit, a data transmission interface, a microprocessor and an input/output interface, wherein the data transmission interface and the microprocessor are connected to the data storage unit through a switch, respectively, the microprocessor is built with an embedded system, and the data storage device provides a data storage function and a system operation function. When the switch connects the circuit between the data storage unit and the data transmission interface, an electronic device can access the data in the data storage unit through the data transmission interface. When the switch connects the circuit between the data storage unit and the microprocessor, the embedded system of the microprocessor is allowed to execute specific system operation.
The present invention further provides a data storage device, wherein the data storage device includes a power port, and when a power detector detects an external power at the power port, the power detector controls the switch to connect the data storage unit to the microprocessor, so that the embedded system of the microprocessor allows a specific system operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a data storage device, wherein the switch is connected to an input/output port having a toggle key. When the trigger key is pressed, a trigger signal is generated, and the trigger signal controls the switch to conduct the circuit between the data storage unit and the microprocessor, so that the embedded system of the microprocessor allows a specific system operation to be executed.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a data storage device with system operation capability, comprising: a data storage unit including a controller and a plurality of flash memories, the controller being connected to the flash memories; a first data transmission interface connected to the data storage unit through a switch; and a microprocessor, which is connected with an input/output device through an input/output interface and is connected with the data storage unit through a switcher, and comprises an embedded system; when the circuit between the first data transmission interface and the data storage unit is conducted by the switch, an electronic device reads data in the data storage unit or writes data into the data storage unit through the first data transmission interface; alternatively, when the line between the microprocessor and the data storage unit is switched on by the switch, the embedded system of the microprocessor is allowed to execute a specific system operation.
In an embodiment of the invention, the data storage device further includes a power port through which an external power is input to the data storage device, and a power detector connected to the power port and the switch, wherein when the power detector detects the external power at the power port, the power detector controls the switch to connect the data storage unit to the microprocessor.
In an embodiment of the invention, the power port is a DC port or a power receiving interface of an ethernet network, and the external power source is a DC power source or an ethernet network power source.
In an embodiment of the invention, the switch includes a first terminal, a second terminal and a common terminal, the first terminal is connected to the first data transmission interface, the second terminal is connected to the microprocessor, the common terminal is connected to the data storage unit, when the common terminal is electrically connected to the first terminal, the circuit between the data storage unit and the first data transmission interface is conducted, when the common terminal is electrically connected to the second terminal, the circuit between the data storage unit and the microprocessor is conducted.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the switch is connected to an input/output port having a trigger key, and when the trigger key is pressed, a trigger signal is generated and transmitted to the switch to control the switch to conduct a circuit between the data storage unit and the microprocessor.
In an embodiment of the invention, the microprocessor is connected to the switch through a second data transmission interface, and when the circuit between the microprocessor and the data storage unit is conducted by the switch, the embedded system of the microprocessor reads data in the data storage unit or writes data into the data storage unit through the second data transmission interface.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the first data transmission interface and the second data transmission interface are transmission interfaces conforming to SATA, PCIe, or NVMe standard protocol data.
In an embodiment of the invention, the input/output interface is an input/output interface conforming to a USB, GPIO terminal, Type C, VGA, HDMI or DVI standard protocol.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the input/output device is a network module, and the embedded system of the microprocessor receives an operation instruction issued by a cloud platform through the input/output device, so as to execute a specific system operation according to the operation instruction.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the input/output device includes a human-machine interface device and a data output device, and the embedded system of the microprocessor processes a specific file stored in the data storage unit according to an operation action of the human-machine interface device and outputs the processed specific file through the data output device.
Detailed Description
Please refer to fig. 2, which is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a data storage device according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, thedata storage device 300 of the present invention can also be a Solid State Disk (Solid State Disk) disposed in an electronic device, such as a computer host and an automation equipment, as a storage medium of the electronic device. Thedata storage device 300 includes adata storage unit 31, a firstdata transmission interface 33, amicroprocessor 35, a second data transmission interface 352 and an input/output interface 37. Thedata storage unit 31 includes acontroller 311 and a plurality offlash memories 313. Thecontroller 311 is connected to a plurality offlash memories 313.
Thedata storage device 300 is connected to a connector on amotherboard 40 of the electronic device via the firstdata transmission interface 33, and is connected to an external input/output device 50 via the input/output interface 37. The firstdata transmission interface 33 and the second data transmission interface 352 are transmission interfaces for data conforming to SATA, PCIe or NVMe standard protocols. The input/output interface 37 is an input/output interface conforming to the USB, GPIO terminal, Type C, VGA, HDMI or DVI standard protocol.
Thedata storage device 300 further includes aswitch 39. Theswitch 39 includes afirst end 391, asecond end 392 and acommon end 393. Thefirst terminal 391 is connected to the firstdata transmission interface 33, thesecond terminal 392 is connected to the second data transmission interface 352, and thecommon terminal 393 is connected to thedata storage unit 31. Themain board 40 of the electronic device is connected to theswitch 39 through the firstdata transmission interface 33, and themicroprocessor 35 is connected to theswitch 39 through the second data transmission interface 352. Then, the switch of theswitch 39 is used to determine whether thedata storage unit 31 is electrically connected to themotherboard 40 of the electronic device or electrically connected to themicroprocessor 35.
Furthermore, thedata storage device 300 of the present invention provides a system operation function in addition to the general data storage function. Themicroprocessor 35 has an embeddedsystem 351, such as Linux, RTOS, or TinyOS. Thedata storage device 300 is capable of performing a specific system operation process by using the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35.
When thedata storage device 300 is to be used for storing data, thecommon terminal 393 of theswitch 39 is controlled to be connected to thefirst terminal 391 to connect the circuit between thedata storage unit 31 and the firstdata transmission interface 33, and then the electronic device reads the data in thedata storage unit 31 or writes the data in thedata storage unit 31 through the firstdata transmission interface 33. When thedata storage device 300 is to perform a system operation function, thecommon terminal 393 of theswitch 39 is controlled to be connected to thesecond terminal 392 to connect thedata storage unit 31 to the second data transmission interface 352 of themicroprocessor 35, and then the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 performs a specific system operation between thedata storage unit 31 and the i/o interface 37, and reads data required for performing the specific system operation from thedata storage unit 31 through the second data transmission interface 352 or writes data generated by performing the specific system operation into thedata storage unit 31.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the system operation function of thedata storage device 300 can be activated through an external power source. Thedata storage device 300 includes apower port 34, and anexternal power 60 can also be input to thedata storage device 300 through thepower port 34 of thedata storage device 300. Thepower port 34 may also be a DC port, and theexternal power source 60 may also be a DC power source provided by a power supply device, a plug of the power supply device being inserted into thepower port 34 to provide the DC power to thedata storage device 300. Alternatively, thepower port 34 may also be a power over ethernet (PoE) power receiving interface, theexternal power source 60 is an ethernet power provided by a PoE power end module, and the PoE power end module is connected to thepower port 34 through an ethernet cable to provide the ethernet power to thedata storage device 300. Further, apower detector 341 is connected to thepower port 34 and theswitch 39. Thepower detector 34 detects the presence of theexternal power source 60. When thepower detector 341 does not detect theexternal power 60 at thepower port 34, thepower detector 341 controls thecommon terminal 393 of theswitch 39 to electrically connect to thefirst terminal 391 to connect the circuit between thedata storage unit 31 and the firstdata transmission interface 33, so that the electronic device can perform a normal data access to thedata storage unit 31 through the firstdata transmission interface 33. On the contrary, when thepower detector 341 detects theexternal power 60 on thepower port 34, thepower detector 341 controls theconnection end 393 of theswitch 39 to electrically connect to thesecond end 392 to connect the circuit between thedata storage unit 31 and the second data transmission interface 352 of themicroprocessor 35, so that thedata storage device 300 can utilize the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 to perform the specific system operation between thedata storage unit 31 and the i/o interface 37.
The power source energy required for the operation of thedata storage device 300 of the present invention is provided by the firstdata transmission interface 33. The firstdata transmission interface 33 is a transmission interface with data transmission and power transmission functions, for example, the firstdata transmission interface 33 is a SATA transmission interface, the data transmission portion (7pin) is used to transmit data signals, and the power transmission portion (15pin) of the SATA transmission interface is used to transmit power. When thedata storage device 300 is plugged into the connector of themotherboard 40 of the electronic device through the firstdata transmission interface 33, a host power provided by the electronic device is input to thedata storage device 300 through the power transmission portion of the firstdata transmission interface 33, so as to provide the power energy required by the operation of thedata storage device 300.
Alternatively, the power source energy required for the operation of thedata storage device 300 of the present invention is provided by theexternal power source 60. When the firstdata transmission interface 33 is disconnected from the connector of themotherboard 40, theexternal power 60 can also be input to thedata storage device 300 through thepower port 32 of thedata storage device 300, so as to provide the power energy required by the operation of thedata storage device 300.
In an embodiment of the invention, the input/output device 50 connected to the input/output interface 37 is a network module, such as an Ethernet (Ethernet) or WiFi module. The input/output device 50 can be used to receive anoperation instruction 501 issued by a cloud platform, such as: and restoring the system to the operating instruction. Theflash memory 313 of thedata storage unit 31 stores anoperating system 3131 and a system restorefile 3133. When the system operation function of thedata storage device 300 is activated and theoperating command 501 for system recovery is received through the i/o device 50, the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 performs a system recovery procedure according to theoperating command 501 for system recovery to recover theoperating system 3131 from thesystem recovery file 3133 in thedata storage unit 31. After theos 3131 is restored, the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 reports a message of completing the system restoration to the cloud platform through the i/o device 50.
In another embodiment of the present invention, theoperation instruction 501 issued by the cloud platform is an operation instruction for collecting health degree information. Theflash memory 313 of thedata storage unit 31 stores at least onehealth information 3135. When the system operation function of thedata storage device 300 is activated and theoperation command 501 for health information collection is received through the i/o device 50, the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 performs a health information collection process according to theoperation command 501 restored by the system, so as to collect thehealth information 3135 from thedata storage unit 31. After thehealth information 3135 is collected, the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 transmits thehealth information 3135 to the cloud platform via the input/output device 50.
Moreover, the two types ofoperation instructions 501 are only some implementation aspects of the present invention, and in practical applications, the administrator of the cloud platform may also issue various types ofoperation instructions 501, such as operation instructions for data encryption, firmware update, entity destruction, and the like, to thedata storage device 300, so that the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 can execute specific system operations according to the instructions of theoperation instructions 501.
FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a data storage device according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, thedata storage device 300 of the present invention includes a plurality of input/output interfaces 371, 372, 373, such as a first input/output interface 371, a second input/output interface 372 and a third input/output interface 373. Each i/o interface 371/372/373 is connected to a corresponding i/o device 50. The first input/output interface 371 is connected to a first human interface device, such as a keyboard, the second input/output interface 372 is connected to a second human interface device, such as a mouse, and the third input/output interface 373 is connected to a data output device, such as a display. In the present embodiment, theflash memory 313 of thedata storage unit 31 stores files 3137 with various file formats, such as Word files, PDF files, AV files, and so on.
When the system operation function of thedata storage device 300 is activated, the user of thedata storage device 300 can select aspecific file 3137 from thedata storage unit 31 through an operation of the keyboard or the mouse and the screen output of the display. After thespecific file 3137 is selected, the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 parses the file format of thespecific file 3137, and utilizes an appropriate software program to open thespecific file 3137, and the openedspecific file 3137 is displayed on the display. In an embodiment of the present invention, a software program for opening thespecific file 3137 may be installed in thedata storage unit 31.
Of course, besides the keyboard, mouse or display, the input/output interface of thedata storage device 300 of the present invention can also be selectively connected to the printer, speaker or other types of input/output devices 50, so that the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 can process the specific data stored in thedata storage unit 31, and the processed specific data can be output through various input/output devices 50.
FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a data storage device according to another embodiment of the present invention. Thedata storage device 300 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 uses theexternal power source 60 to activate the system operation function of thedata storage device 300, and thedata storage device 300 of the embodiment uses a General Purpose Input/Output port (GPIO port) to activate the system operation function of thedata storage device 300. As shown in FIG. 4, theswitch 39 of the present embodiment is connected to an I/O port 32 having atrigger button 321. When thetrigger button 321 is pressed, a trigger signal, such as a high-level signal, is generated. The trigger signal is transmitted to theswitch 39 to control theconnection end 393 of theswitch 39 to connect to thesecond end 392 to connect the circuit between thedata storage unit 31 and the second data transmission interface 352 of themicroprocessor 35, so that thedata storage device 300 can utilize the embeddedsystem 351 of themicroprocessor 35 to execute the specific system operation between thedata storage unit 31 and the i/o interface 37.
The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, i.e., all equivalent variations and modifications in the shape, structure, characteristics and spirit of the present invention described in the claims should be included in the claims of the present invention.