TWI514412B - Interface controller, external electronic device, and external electronic device control method - Google Patents

Description

Interface controller, external electronic device, and external electronic device control method

The present invention relates to an external electronic device and a control method thereof, and relates to an interface controller required for an external electronic device.

In order to establish a connection between a host and an external electronic device, the host must request the external electronic device to provide the connection information. However, some of the connection information of the external electronic device must be obtained from the device body of the external electronic device, and therefore must be supplied after the device body is stably operated. If the main body of the device takes a long time to operate stably (in the case of a hard disk, in which the motor takes a while to stabilize after the power is turned on), the host will misinterpret the link because it cannot wait for the link information.

An interface controller implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is configured to couple a device body of an external electronic device to a host. The interface controller includes a non-volatile memory and a control unit. The control unit sends a terminal access signal to the host after filling the connection information read from the main body of the device into the non-volatile memory, and when the host sends at least one link information request according to the terminal access signal, The control unit is capable of using the non-volatile type The above link information of the memory responds to the above link information request.

In one embodiment, the control unit performs the triggering of the connection between the interface controller and the host, but the non-volatile memory is not provided with the link information read from the device body. The link information is read from the device body and filled in the non-volatile memory, and then the terminal access signal is sent. If the non-volatile memory has already been provided with the connection information read from the main body of the device, the control unit may send the terminal access signal to the host to respond to the interface controller and the host without limiting whether the device body is stable or not. The trigger that occurs between the links. At this time, the host obtains the link information from the non-volatile memory according to the link information request sent by the terminal access signal.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the above interface controller is combined with the device body to form an external electronic device.

An external electronic device control method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: providing an interface controller to couple a device body of an external electronic device to a host; and reading information from the device body Filling in the non-volatile memory in the interface controller; sending a terminal access signal to the host after filling the connection information read from the main body of the device into the non-volatile memory; and the non-volatile memory The stored link information is returned to the host according to at least the link information request issued by the terminal access signal.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

100‧‧‧External electronic devices

102‧‧‧Device body

104‧‧‧Interface controller

106‧‧‧Host

108‧‧‧ Non-volatile memory

110‧‧‧Control unit

114‧‧‧ activities, the connection information is read from the device body 102, and is stored in the non-volatile memory 108 by the interface controller 104.

116‧‧‧ activities, interface controller 104 sends a terminal access signal to host 106

118‧‧‧ activities, the host 106 sends a link information request according to the terminal access signal, and the interface controller 104 uses the connection information stored by the non-volatile memory 108 to respond to the link information request issued by the host 106

200‧‧‧ procedures describing the control methods of external electronic devices

S202...S210‧‧‧Steps

300‧‧‧ procedures describing the control methods of external electronic devices

S302...S306‧‧‧Steps

1 is a block diagram of an external electronic device 100 implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an external electronic device control method 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention; The flowchart illustrates an external electronic device control method 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The following description sets forth various embodiments of the invention. The following description sets forth the basic concepts of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention. The scope of the actual invention shall be defined in accordance with the scope of the patent application.

FIG. 1 illustrates an external electronic device 100 implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, including a device body 102 and an interface controller 104. The interface controller 104 is coupled to the device body 102 to a host 106. The interface controller 104 includes a non-volatile memory 108 and a control unit 110.

The first diagram further illustrates the activity between interface controller 104 and device body 102 and host 106 as 114, 116, and 118. The device body 102 is stabilized prior to the activity 114. At activity 114, control unit 110 in interface controller 104 reads the link information from device body 102 and stores it in non-volatile memory 108 by control unit 110. The activity 116 is arranged after the link information read (activity 114), wherein the control unit 110 sends a termination on signal to the host 106. At activity 118, the host 106 issues at least one link information request based on the terminal access signal. In an embodiment in which the surface controller 104 communicates with the host 106 via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, the activity 118 is an enumeration program that is executed after the host 106 detects the terminal access signal (enumeration). Process), and the above link information request is a setting instruction (Setup_Commands) in the enumeration program, including an interface address setting instruction Set_Address, a description information request Get_Descriptor, and the like. At activity 118, the control unit 110 uses the connection information stored by the non-volatile memory 108 to respond to the link information request issued by the host 106 to complete the enumeration process of the external device 100 by the host 106 to restore or establish interface control. A link between the device 104 and the host 106.

In an embodiment, the control unit 110 determines whether the non-volatile memory 108 is provided with a link read from the device body 102 when a link between the interface controller 104 and the host 106 is triggered. News. If the non-volatile memory 108 does not have the connection information read from the device main body 102, the control unit 110 waits for the device main body 102 to operate stably, and then performs the above-mentioned connection information from the device main body 102 and fills in the non-volatile type. The memory 108 (activity 114), and then the action of the terminal access signal (activity 116) is re-issued. If the non-volatile memory 108 already has the link information read from the device body 102, the control unit 110 may issue the terminal on signal to the host without limiting whether the device body 102 operates stably. 106, in response to the triggering that should occur between the interface controller 104 and the host 106. At this time, the host 106 can directly obtain the connection information from the non-volatile memory 108 according to the connection information request sent by the terminal access signal, and does not wait for the device main body 102 to operate stably, and reads from the device main body 102.

The aforementioned link between the interface controller 104 and the host 106 (link) In some embodiments, the host 106 is powered to the external electronic device 100; in the embodiment where the interface controller 104 communicates with the host 106 via the USB interface, it refers to the D+ and D-contacts of the USB. A change in voltage occurs. This trigger may occur when the external electronic device 100 is physically connected to the host 106, and may also occur when the host 106 wakes up from a sleep state. In an embodiment, when the host 106 enters the sleep mode (for example, the S3/S4 mode), the external electronic device 100 also enters a sleep state. Therefore, when the host 106 wakes up from the sleep mode, the external electronic device wakes up. The device 100, at this time, the connection between the interface controller 104 and the host 106 may also be triggered. If the device main body 102 is stabilized after the operation, the connection information is read from the device main body 102, and then the terminal access signal is sent. To the host 106, the host 106 has to wait for a considerable amount of time, causing the host 106 to determine that the external electronic device 100 has been disconnected before receiving the terminal access signal. If the host 106 is copying the data of the device body 102 before hibernation, after the sleep wakes up, the host 106 may treat the external electronic device 100 as a newly inserted device due to a misjudgment of the open connection, resulting in a sleep before the sleep. The copy action failed. In the present invention, after the host 106 wakes up from the sleep mode and triggers a link between the interface controller 104 and the host 106, if the non-volatile memory 108 already has the link information, the interface controller 104 can The terminal access signal is then sent to the host 106 to trigger the trigger, without waiting for the device body 102 to operate stably, thereby avoiding the problem of misjudgment.

In one embodiment, the connection information read by the control unit 110 from the device body 102 and filled in the non-volatile memory 108 includes, for example, a manufacturer identification code (VID) and a product identification code (PID) of the device body 102. Device Serial Number and product description string (Product String), etc. at least one of them.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an external electronic device control method 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention, which will be described below with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, when a trigger occurs between the interface controller 104 and the host 106 (the host 106 is powered to the external electronic device 100; for example, a voltage change occurs at the D+ and D-contacts of the USB), as disclosed in FIG. The method 200 proceeds to step S202 to determine whether the non-volatile memory 108 has been provided with link information read from the device body 102. If it is determined in step S202 that the non-volatile memory 108 has not been provided with the link information read from the device main body 102, step S204 is performed to wait for the device main body 102 to operate stably. When the operation of the device main body 102 is stable, the process proceeds from step S206 to read the connection information from the device main body 102 and fill in the connection information to the non-volatile memory 108. Step S208, which is executed after step S206, transmits a termination on signal to the host 106. In step S210, the connection information stored by the non-volatile memory 108 and taken from the device body 102 is used to respond to at least one link information request issued by the host 106 according to the termination on signal.

If the step S202 determines that the non-volatile memory 108 has the link information read from the device body 102, the steps S204 and S206 are skipped to perform the step S208, and the device body 102 is not limited to be stable. The trigger on signal returns to the host 106 the trigger generated by the connection between the interface controller 104 and the host 106, and then proceeds to step S210 to store and retrieve the non-volatile memory 108 from the device. The link information of the main body 102 is used to respond to the host 106 access signal according to the terminal. (termination on signal) at least one link information request.

In this way, the technology of the present invention enables the link information requests issued by the host 106 based on the termination on signal to be affected by the stable operation of the device body 102, and can be obtained by the non-volatile memory 108 in time. Link information.

Taking the sleep mode (for example, S3/S4 mode) as an example, after the host 106 enters the sleep mode, the external electronic device 100 may also enter a sleep state, so when the host 106 wakes up from the sleep mode, the external electronic device 100 is triggered. At the time of the connection, the device body 102 may take a long time from startup to stabilization. However, with the technique disclosed in the present disclosure, the non-volatile memory 108 must have the connection information taken from the device body 102 before the sleep. Therefore, the sleep wake-up control unit 110 can perform steps S208 and S210 by skipping steps S204 and S206 as shown in FIG. In this way, even if the device body 102 that wakes up is not stable, the connection between the host 106 and the external electronic device 100 can be established as usual. The host 106 does not misjudge that a disconnection reconnection event (reconnected, as a new plug) occurs because the device body 102 sleeps for too long.

One embodiment is to design a "sleep indicator" flag to indicate whether the host 106 is dormant wake-up. A flag technique can be used to implement the sleep flag, which is erected by the control unit 110 when the host 106 is asleep. In this way, in response to the trigger generated by the connection between the interface controller 104 and the host 106 when the host 106 wakes up, the control unit 110 can determine that the non-volatile memory 108 is ready for reading according to the erected sleep flag. The connection information from the device main body 102 is skipped, and steps S208 and S210 are performed in steps S204 and S206 in the second embodiment. In this way, even if the device body 102 that wakes up by sleep has not been stably operated, the host The connection of the 106 to the external electronic device 100 can be established as usual. Because if the trigger is caused by the sleep wakeup of the host 106, it is explained that before the external electronic device 100 is physically connected to the host 106, the steps S204 and S206 of FIG. 2 have been executed, so that the non-determination can be determined accordingly. The volatile memory 108 is provided with the above-described link information read from the device body 102. It should be noted that if the external electronic device 100 is an add-on-card electronic device, the host 106 will cut off the power supply of the external electronic device 100 when the host device is sleeping, and the host 106 sleeps and wakes up again. When the external electronic device 100 is an on-board-card electronic device, the external electronic device 100 is continuously powered when the host 106 is dormant, but the host 106 sleeps and wakes up. It will still trigger the connection with the host 106. The present invention is applied to the external electronic device 100 that is powered off when the host 106 is in a sleep state, and the effect is particularly remarkable, because after the power is turned on, it takes a long time for the device main body 102 to be operated from startup to stable operation.

As for the situation in which the device body 102 is replaced, one embodiment is to design whether a "new device tag" tag device body 102 is swapped to see if the content of the non-volatile memory 108 is renewable. The control unit 110 can recognize the new device identification when a trigger occurs between the interface controller 104 and the host 106 (eg, a change in voltage occurs on the D+ and D-contacts of the USB). If the new device indicates that the display device main body 102 has been replaced (ie, the content of the non-volatile memory 102 is not renewable), the control unit 110 determines that the non-volatile memory 108 does not have the read from the device body 102. The connection information is executed, and the connection information of the newly installed device main body 102 is updated to the non-volatile memory 108 by performing steps S204 and S206 in FIG. 2, and then steps S208 and S210 are performed to establish a connection between the host 106 and the newly installed device main body 102. .

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an external electronic device control method 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention, which will be described below with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the interface controller 104 is first provided to couple the device body 102 to the host 106. It should be noted that FIG. 3 shows the case where the external electronic device is physically connected to the host 106 for the first time. There is no data in the non-volatile memory 108. Therefore, step S302 is directly executed, and the device body is directly awaited. After the stable operation of 102, the connection information is read from the device main body 102 and the connection information is filled in to the non-volatile memory 108. Then, step S304 is executed to send a termination on signal to the host 106. In step S306, the connection information stored by the non-volatile memory 108 and taken from the device body 102 is used to respond to at least one link information request issued by the host 106 according to the termination on signal.

In one embodiment, the device body 102 is a hard disc. Hard disk drives require a stable motor to supply data. Hard drives, especially large-capacity hard drives (>2TB), can take several seconds from start-up to stability. However, with the techniques of the present invention, the time-consuming settling time of the hard disk does not affect its connection to the host 106.

In one embodiment, the device body 102 communicates with the interface controller 104 via a Serial TECH interface, and the interface controller 104 communicates with the host 106 via a USB interface. For example, the device body 102 can be a SATA hard disk, and is connected to the host 106 via the interface controller 104 via a USB interface. In an embodiment, the interface controller 104 is a bridge device that implements a conversion between a USB communication protocol and a SATA communication protocol. In an embodiment The interface controller 104 can be packaged with the device body 102 in the form of a USB interface external electronic device 100.

In addition, the present disclosure further discloses that the external electronic device control method is not limited to the configuration of the first embodiment. Any technique applied to the concept of controlling an external electronic device disclosed in the present invention relates to the scope of the present invention.

While the present invention has been described in its preferred embodiments, the present invention is not intended to limit the invention, and the present invention may be modified and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of protection is subject to the definition of the scope of the patent application.

100‧‧‧External electronic devices

102‧‧‧Device body

104‧‧‧Interface controller

106‧‧‧Host

108‧‧‧ Non-volatile memory

110‧‧‧Control unit

114‧‧‧ activities, reading the link information from the device body 102, by the interface controller

104 stored in non-volatile memory 108

116‧‧‧ activities, interface controller 104 sends a terminal access signal to host 106

118‧‧‧ activities, the host 106 sends a link information request according to the terminal access signal, and the interface controller 104 uses the connection information stored by the non-volatile memory 108 to respond to the link information request issued by the host 106

Claims (16)

An interface controller for coupling a device body of an external electronic device to a host, comprising: a non-volatile memory; and a control unit for filling in the link information read from the main body of the device into the non-volatile memory The volatile memory is followed by a terminal access signal to the host. When the host sends at least one link information request according to the terminal access signal, the control unit can respond to the link information by using the link information of the non-volatile memory. Claim. The interface controller of claim 1, wherein the connection information read by the control unit from the main body of the device and filled in the non-volatile memory includes a manufacturer identifier of the device body, a product identification code, The device serial number and the product description string are at least one of them. The interface controller of claim 1, wherein: the control unit determines whether the non-volatile memory is read from the connection when the connection between the interface controller and the host is triggered. The connection information of the device body; and the control unit determines that the non-volatile memory has not been provided with the link information read from the device body, and reads the link information from the device body after the device body is stable. Filling in the above link information to the non-volatile memory, and then issuing the terminal access signal to the host. The interface controller of claim 1, wherein the control unit determines whether the non-volatile memory has the link information read from the main body of the device, and does not limit whether the device body is stably operated. Transmitting the terminal access signal to the host to trigger a trigger of a connection between the interface controller and the host, and the control unit further reads the connection information provided by the non-volatile memory. Back should link the information request. The interface controller of claim 4, wherein: the control unit further uses a sleep indicator to indicate whether the host is dormant wake-up; the control unit is connected to the interface between the interface controller and the host The sleep indicator is identified when the trigger occurs; and the control unit determines that the non-volatile memory is provided with the link information read from the device body when the host wakes up for sleep. The interface controller of claim 4, wherein: the control unit further marks whether the device body is replaced with a new device; the control unit is between the interface controller and the host The new device identifier is recognized when the link is triggered; and the control unit determines that the non-volatile memory does not have the link information read from the device body when the device flag is replaced. The interface controller of claim 1, wherein: the interface controller communicates with the device body through a serial advanced technology accessory interface; and the interface controller communicates with the host by using a universal serial bus interface interface . An external electronic device includes: a device body; and an interface controller for coupling the device body to a host, the interface controller comprising a control unit and a non-volatile memory, wherein the control unit is to be read from the device body After the link information is filled in the non-volatile memory, a terminal access signal is sent to the host, and when the host sends at least one link information request according to the terminal access signal, the control unit can use the non-volatile memory. Link information responds to the above link information request. The external electronic device of claim 8, wherein the device body is a hard disk. The external electronic device of claim 8, wherein the interface controller communicates with the main body of the device by a serial advanced technology accessory interface; and the external electronic device uses the interface controller to provide a universal The serial bus interface communicates with the host. An external electronic device control method includes: providing an interface controller to enable a device body of an external electronic device to be coupled to a host; and filling in connection information read from the device body into the interface controller a non-volatile memory; after the connection information read from the main body of the device is filled into the non-volatile memory, a terminal access signal is sent to the host; and the connection information stored in the non-volatile memory is returned The host should be based on at least one link information request issued by the terminal access signal. The method of controlling an external electronic device according to claim 11, wherein the link information read from the main body of the device and filled in the non-volatile memory includes a manufacturer identifier of the device body, a product identification code, The device serial number and the product description string are at least one of them. The method for controlling an external electronic device according to claim 11, further comprising: determining whether the non-volatile memory is ready to be read when a connection between the interface controller and the host is triggered. The connection information of the main body of the device; and when it is determined that the non-volatile memory has not been provided with the connection information read from the main body of the device, waiting for the main body of the device to operate stably, reading the connection information from the main body of the device, and filling in the above information Linking information to the non-volatile memory, and then issuing the terminal access signal to the host. The method for controlling an external electronic device according to claim 11, further comprising: determining whether the non-volatile memory has the link information read from the main body of the device, and does not limit whether the device body is stably operated. That is, the terminal access signal is sent to the host to respond to a trigger generated by a connection between the interface controller and the host, and the connection information required by the non-volatile memory is read back to link the information request. . The method for controlling an external electronic device according to claim 14, further comprising: determining whether the host is dormant by a sleep indicator; and identifying the connection when the connection between the interface controller and the host occurs Hugh Sleeping flag; and determining that the non-volatile memory has been prepared with the link information read from the device body when the host wakes up for sleep. The method for controlling an external electronic device according to claim 14, further comprising: indicating whether the device body is replaced by a new device; and triggering the connection between the interface controller and the host And identifying the new device identifier; and determining that the non-volatile memory does not have the link information read from the device body when the device flag is replaced by the new device flag.