Removable Mother/Daughter Peripheral Card

Abstract

A peripheral card having a Personal Computer (“PC”) card form factor and removably coupled externally to a host system is further partitioned into a mother card portion and a daughter card portion. The daughter card is removably coupled to the mother card. In the preferred embodiment, a low cost flash “floppy” is accomplished with the daughter card containing only flash EEPROM chips and being controlled by a memory controller residing on the mother card. Other aspects of the invention includes a comprehensive controller on the mother card able to control a predefined set of peripherals on daughter cards connectable to the mother card; relocation of some host resident hardware to the mother card to allow for a minimal host system; a mother card that can accommodate multiple daughter cards; daughter cards that also operates directly with hosts having embedded controllers; daughter cards carrying encoded data and information for decoding it; and daughter cards with security features.

1 . A non-volatile memory device assembly, comprising:
 a memory card comprising:
 a first connector; 
 a flash array; 
 encoded user data stored in a first portion of the array; and 
 information useful to decode the encoded user data stored in a second portion of the array; and 
   a mother card comprising:
 a second connector, whereby the mother card is removably connectable to the memory card by connecting of the first and second connectors to one another; 
 a third connector whereby the mother card can be removably coupled to a host, wherein the third memory connector uses a different pin connector structure from the first connectors pin connector structure; and 
 a module having a controller function that decodes the encoded user data using said information when the mother card is removably coupled to the host and the memory card is removably connectable to the mother card, the user data being transferrable from the memory card to the host via the mother card, 
 wherein the information useful to decode the stored encoded user data includes a decoding algorithm used by the module to decode the encoded user data, 
 wherein the host and the memory card lack the memory controller function, and 
 wherein the memory card receives from the mother card through the second and first connectors program and erase voltages for respective use in storing data in, and erasing of data from, the array. 
   
   
   
       2 . The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the mother card further includes power conversion circuitry for generating the program and erase voltages. 
   
   
       3 . The assembly of  claim 1 , where the mother card further includes a flash system controller circuit. 
   
   
       4 . The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the memory card serves as the main memory for the host. 
   
   
       5 . The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the memory card includes a communication device. 
   
   
       6 . A method of storing user data on and retrieving user data from a non-volatile memory card, comprising:
 receiving the user data in encoded form at the memory card,   receiving information useful to decode the encoded user data at the memory card,   subsequently storing both the encoded user data and the information useful to decode the encoded user data in non-volatile memory on the memory card,   thereafter reading both the encoded user data and the decoding information from the non-volatile memory on the memory card, and   providing the read encoded user data and the read decoding information from the memory for use in decoding the read encoded user data by use of the decoding information from the memory card, thereby to obtain the user data,   wherein the decoding information includes a driver useful to decode the encoded user data.   
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the decoding information further includes a decoding algorithm useful to decode the encoded user data. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the non-volatile memory card includes a flash EEPROM array, and both the encoded user data and the decoding information are stored in the flash EEPROM array. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the storing includes programming both the encoded user data and decoding information into individual memory cells of the flash EEPROM array in more than two states, thereby to store more than one bit of said user data and decoding information per cell. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein encoding the user data and the storing occur when the memory card is electrically connected to a first host system, and wherein the reading and decoding occur when the memory card is electrically connected to a second host system. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein either the encoding is accomplished by the first host system or the decoding is accomplished by the second host system. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the encoding and decoding are accomplished in a memory controller function included in a mother electronic card that is removably connectable with at least one of the first and second host systems and into which the memory card is removably connectable. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the mother electronic card is removably connectable with at least one of the first and second host systems by plugging a connector of the mother card into a connector of the first or second host system and the memory card is removably connectable to the mother card by mating the memory card with a connector of the mother card. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the encoding and storing occur when the memory card is mated to the mother card, and a connector of the mother card is plugged into a connector of the first host system, and wherein the reading and decoding occur when the memory card is mated with a connector of the mother card and a connector of the mother card is plugged into a connector of the second host system. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said encoding and decoding are complementary. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein at least one of encoding the user data and the decoding are accomplished in a memory controller function included in a mother electronic card to which the memory card is removably connected.