US 8,806,073 B2Granted

Content-aware digital media storage device and methods of using the same

AssigneeEye-Fi, Inc.

InventorsEugene Feinberg, Yuval Koren, Berend Ozceri

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Abstract

A content-aware digital media storage device includes a host device interface for exchanging digital information with a host device, a memory array for storing digital information received from the host device via the host interface, a peripheral module configured to communicate the digital information stored in the memory array to a receiver located remote from the digital media storage device, and a controller communicatively coupled to the host device interface, the memory array and the peripheral module configured to interpret directory information associated with the digital information stored in the memory array so as to selectively access said digital information and communicate such accessed digital information to the peripheral module for transmission to the remote receiver. Digital images stored in the memory array may be transmitted to a remote host via a wireless network access point with which the peripheral module of the storage device is associated.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A digital media storage device comprising:

a host device interface adapted for exchanging digital information with a host;
a memory, at least a first portion of which for storing the digital information received from the host via the host device interface;
a wireless communications interface;
and
a controller communicatively coupled to the host device interface, the memory and the wireless communications interface and configured to interpret directory information associated with the digital information stored in the memory so as to selectively access said digital information,
wherein said memory stores, in a second portion of the memory not used for storing the digital information and not accessible to the host, (i) a wireless network configuration utility for the wireless communication interface, said configuration utility including controller-executable instructions for causing said controller to store configuration information for the wireless communication interface to associate with a wireless network, and (ii) controller-executable instructions to cause the controller to proxy all accesses from the host device interface to storage locations of the memory at which the digital information is to be stored before resolving said accesses to said storage locations of the memory.

3 more elements

A digital media storage device comprising a controller, a memory array coupled to the controller, a host interface coupled to the controller and a wireless communication module coupled to the controller, wherein the controller is configured to interpret and process digital content stored in the memory array under the control of controller-executable instructions stored in the digital media storage device, which controller-executable instructions when executed by the controller cause the controller to (i) proxy accesses to the memory array by a host device before resolving said accesses to specific blocks of data in the memory array according to a mapping of logical block addresses presented at the host interface to physical addresses within the digital media storage device, and (ii) maintain persistent databases of free physical blocks within the memory array and logical-to-physical mappings for allocated blocks within the memory array, and (iii) intercept block accesses via the host interface and,

(a) if a block read is requested and there exists a logical-to-physical mapping for that block address, to read a corresponding block of data from the memory array and return the corresponding block of data to the host interface, or
(b) if a block read is requested but there exists no logical-to-physical mapping for that block address, to fabricate a block data read response without accessing the memory array, or
(c) if a block write is requested and there exists a logical-to-physical mapping for that block address, to write data presented at the host interface into the memory array at a corresponding physical address, or
(d) if a block write is requested but no existing logical-to-physical mapping for that block address is present, to take a currently unmapped physical block from a database of free physical blocks, create a new mapping from the block address provided at the host interface to a physical address of the currently unmapped physical block, and write the data provided by at the host interface to the memory array at that physical address.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/682,613Filed 20 Nov 2012 · continuation
Priority: 15 Sep 2005
Published: US 2013/0080692 A128 Mar 2013
Granted: 12 Aug 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification22 codes

G06F 12/02
Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures: addressing or allocation; Relocation
G06F 9/445
Arrangements for executing specific programs: program loading or initiating
G06F 12/00
Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures
G06F 16/58
Of still image data: retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Family

Application60/718,155Us provisional application · filed 15 Sep 2005
Application11/468,251Parent of this division · filed 29 Aug 2006
Application12/749,485Parent of this continuation · filed 29 Mar 2010
Application12/866,793Parent of this continuation · filed 9 Aug 2010
US 2013/0080692 A1Pre-grant publication · published 28 Mar 2013
US 8,298,778 B2Parent of this continuation
US 8,046,504 B2Parent of this continuation
US 7,702,821 B2Parent of this division
Application12/749,485Parent of this division
US 2007/0073937 A1Published application
US 2010/0201845 A1Published application
US 2011/0201034 A1Published application
US 8,806,073 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.