Storage device and electronic device

Abstract

The utility model discloses a storage device and an electronic device.The storage device at least comprises a storage chip of a first protocol type and a protocol conversion chip, and the protocol conversion chip is coupled to the storage chip. The protocol conversion chip can convert an interface for communication between the storage device and the external device from a first protocol type of the storage chip to a second protocol type. By means of the mode, protocol conversion can be rapidly achieved, so that the storage chip in the storage device is compatible with the external device of another protocol type, communication between the storage chip and the external device is guaranteed, and flexibility is high.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of electronic devices, in particular to storage devices and electronic devices. Background Art

[0002] Memory is an internal or external device used to store instructions for execution, raw data for calculation or processing, intermediate results, and final answers.

[0003] There are different types of memory currently circulating in the market, suitable for different types of electronic products. For example, UFS (Universal Flash Storage) memory is suitable for smartphones, smart cars, etc.; another example is PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, a high-speed serial communication interconnection standard) memory is suitable for laptops, desktops, etc.

[0004] Due to the limitations of the built-in protocol, existing memories can only be used for specific purposes. That is, the built-in protocol of the device / device that communicates with the memory needs to correspond to the protocol of the memory. If the two protocols are inconsistent, they cannot be adapted, and communication cannot be carried out, and the compatibility is poor. Utility Model Content

[0005] The present application discloses a storage device and an electronic device, which can quickly implement protocol conversion according to needs, so that the storage chip in the storage device is compatible with an external device of another protocol, ensuring data interaction between the two, with high flexibility.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a storage device on the one hand, which includes at least a storage chip of a first protocol type and a protocol conversion chip, wherein the protocol conversion chip is coupled to the storage chip, and the protocol conversion chip can be used to convert the interface for communication between the storage device and an external device from the first protocol type of the storage chip to a second protocol type.

[0007] In some embodiments, the storage chip at least includes a main control unit and a storage unit, and the main control unit of the storage chip is coupled to the protocol conversion chip.

[0008] In some embodiments, the storage cells are composed of flash memory particles.

[0009] In some embodiments, the protocol conversion chip includes a first interface and a second interface, the first interface is coupled to the external device as an interface for the storage device to communicate with the external device, and the second interface is used to couple to the storage chip.

[0010] In some embodiments, the first interface and the second interface are any two of a SATA interface, a PCIe interface, a UFS interface, and an eMMC interface.

[0011] In some embodiments, the first interface is a PCIe interface and the second interface is a UFS interface.

[0012] In some embodiments, the protocol conversion chip and the memory chip are stacked.

[0013] In some embodiments, the storage device further includes a circuit board; the protocol conversion chip and the storage chip are stacked on the circuit board, or the protocol conversion chip and the storage chip are separately disposed on the circuit board and coupled via wiring on the circuit board.

[0014] In some embodiments, the storage chip and the protocol conversion chip are packaged together.

[0015] In order to solve the above technical problem, the present application provides an electronic device on the other hand, which includes the storage device mentioned above.

[0016] The storage device provided in some embodiments of the present application includes a storage chip of a first protocol type and a protocol conversion chip. The storage chip is coupled via the protocol conversion chip, and the protocol conversion chip is coupled between the storage chip and an external device to perform protocol conversion. The interface for communication between the storage device and the external device is converted from the first protocol type of the storage chip to the second protocol type, so that the storage chip in the storage device is compatible with an external device of another protocol, thereby ensuring data interaction between the two and increasing the use scenarios of the storage chip of the first protocol type. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work. Among them:

[0018] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a storage device in some embodiments of the present application;

[0019] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a memory chip in some embodiments of the present application;

[0020] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a storage device in some embodiments of the present application;

[0021] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a storage device in some embodiments of the present application;

[0022] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a storage device in some embodiments of the present application;

[0023] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device in some embodiments of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. It will be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present application, rather than to limit the present application. It should also be noted that, for ease of description, only some but not all structures related to the present application are shown in the drawings. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0025] It can be understood that a memory is an internal or external device used to store instructions for execution, raw data for calculation or processing, intermediate results, and final answers.

[0026] There are different types of memory currently circulating in the market, suitable for different types of electronic products. For example, UFS (Universal Flash Storage) memory is suitable for smartphones, smart cars, etc.; another example is PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, a high-speed serial communication interconnection standard) memory is suitable for laptops, desktops, etc.

[0027] Due to the limitations of the built-in protocol, the existing memory can only be used for a specific purpose. When the device / component does not match the memory, it cannot be used and has poor compatibility.

[0028] In order to solve any of the above technical problems, the present application provides a storage device that can convert the interface protocol between the storage device and an external device according to needs, so that the storage device can adapt to more external devices with other protocols.

[0029] For details, please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a storage device in some embodiments of the present application. The storage device 10 includes a storage chip 101 of a first protocol type and a protocol conversion chip 102. The protocol conversion chip 102 is coupled to the storage chip 101, and the protocol conversion chip 102 can be used to convert the interface of the storage device 10 to communicate with an external device from the first protocol type of the storage chip 101 to the second protocol type.

[0030] In some embodiments, the external device may be a central processing unit (CPU), a server or others, which is determined according to actual conditions and is not limited here.

[0031] In some embodiments, the storage chip 101 can be a storage chip of the SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) protocol, a storage chip of the PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) protocol, a storage chip of the UFS (Universal Flash Storage) protocol, a storage chip of the eMMC (Embedded Multi Media Card) protocol, a storage chip of the NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory express) protocol, or a storage chip of other protocols, without limitation here.

[0032] In some embodiments, the protocol conversion chip 102 has a built-in second protocol type. Based on this, the data input and output by the storage chip 101 can be converted into a protocol based on the built-in second protocol type of the protocol conversion chip 102, and data can be exchanged with an external device of the second protocol type.

[0033] When the external device needs to obtain data from the storage chip 101, it sends a data read instruction to the protocol conversion chip 102 according to the second protocol type. The protocol conversion chip 102 converts the data read instruction of the second protocol type into a data read instruction of the first protocol type and sends it to the storage chip 101. The storage chip 101 outputs the read data in the first protocol type to the protocol conversion chip 102 according to the data read instruction. The protocol conversion chip 102 converts the read data of the first protocol type into the read data of the second protocol type and sends it to the external device.

[0034] In some embodiments, each protocol conversion chip 102 has a protocol type built in. At this time, when the memory chip 101 is coupled to the protocol conversion chip 102, the protocol conversion chip 102 can serve as a transfer station to convert the data of the first protocol type output by the memory chip 101 into the data of the second protocol type built in the protocol conversion chip 102 and output it to an external device. The protocol conversion chip 102 can also convert the data of the second protocol type input by the external device into the data of the first protocol type and input it to the memory chip 101. For example, the protocol type of the memory chip 101 is the UFS protocol, and the protocol type built in the protocol conversion chip 102 is the PCIe protocol. At this time, the data of the UFS protocol output by the memory chip 101 is converted into the data of the PCIe protocol and output it to an external device. The protocol conversion chip 102 can also convert the data of the PCIe protocol input by the external device into the data of the UFS protocol and input it to the memory chip 101.

[0035] In other embodiments, each protocol conversion chip 102 integrates multiple protocol types and can be adapted according to the external device connected to the storage device. For example, the protocol type of the storage chip 101 is the UFS protocol, and the protocol type of the protocol conversion chip 102 includes the PCIe protocol, the UFS protocol, the eMMC protocol, and the NVMe protocol. When the protocol type of the external device is NVMe, the protocol conversion chip 102 can convert the UFS protocol data output by the storage chip 101 into NVMe protocol data and output it to the external device. The protocol conversion chip 102 can also convert the NVMe protocol data input by the external device into UFS protocol data and input it into the storage chip 101.

[0036] In one application scenario, the memories in the related art have different structures and are affected by common market fluctuations. The same capacity of memory has different protocol specifications, performance, prices, and profit margins. Memory manufacturers usually stock separately when preparing goods. When the market and customer demand fluctuate drastically, product A may have poor sales and price cuts, while product B may have excessive sales and price increases. If the supply of raw materials cannot keep up, or the production cycle is long, this situation will continue for a long time. Based on this, some embodiments of the present application provide a storage device 10, which can convert storage chips 101 of different protocols with external devices using a protocol conversion chip 102 to achieve data interaction according to demand.

[0037] The storage device 10 provided in some embodiments of the present application includes a storage chip 101 of a first protocol type and a protocol conversion chip 102. The storage chip 101 is coupled via the protocol conversion chip 102, and the protocol conversion chip 102 is coupled between the storage chip 101 and an external device to perform protocol conversion. The interface for communication between the storage device 10 and the external device is converted from the first protocol type to the second protocol type, so that the storage chip 101 in the storage device 10 is compatible with an external device of another protocol, ensuring data interaction between the two, increasing the use scenarios of the storage chip 101 of the first protocol type, and having higher flexibility.

[0038] In some embodiments, see Figure 2 The storage chip 101 at least includes a main control unit 201 and a storage unit 202. The main control unit 201 of the storage chip 101 is coupled to the protocol conversion chip 102.

[0039] In one application scenario, the main control unit 201 includes a main control chip, and the storage unit 202 is composed of flash memory particles.

[0040] In other embodiments, the memory chip 101 may further include a power supply unit, a logic processing unit, etc., which are not limited here.

[0041] It can be understood that the memory chip 101 is coupled to the protocol conversion chip 102 , that is, the main control unit 201 of the memory chip 101 is coupled to the protocol conversion chip 102 . At this time, the interface of the memory chip 101 is coupled to the interface of the protocol conversion chip 102 .

[0042] In some embodiments, see Figure 3 The protocol conversion chip 102 includes a first interface 301 and a second interface 302. The first interface 301 is coupled to an external device as an interface for the storage device 10 to communicate with the external device, and the second interface 302 is used to couple to the main control unit 201 of the storage chip 101. The external device is a device that the storage device 10 needs to connect to, such as a processor, a controller, or a power module, etc., which can be selected according to actual conditions and is not limited here.

[0043] In some embodiments, the first interface 301 and the second interface 302 are any two of the SATA interface, PCIe interface, UFS interface, and eMMC interface. It can be understood that since the second interface 302 is coupled to the storage chip 101, the second interface 302 needs to correspond to the interface of the storage chip 101, and the first interface 301 needs to be coupled to an external device, so the first interface 301 needs to correspond to the interface of the external device. In addition, since protocol conversion is involved, it is necessary to meet the requirements that the first interface 301 adopts the protocol corresponding to the external device, and the second interface 302 adopts the protocol corresponding to the storage chip 101.

[0044] At this time, the interface protocol corresponding to the second interface 302 is the first protocol type, and the interface protocol corresponding to the first interface 301 is the second protocol type. The protocol conversion chip 102 is coupled to the storage chip 101, and the protocol conversion chip 102 is used to convert the first protocol type data output by the interface of the storage chip 101 into the second protocol type data and output it to an external device, or the protocol conversion chip 102 converts the second protocol type data input by the external device into the first protocol type data and inputs it into the storage chip 101.

[0045] For example, the interface of the storage chip 101 is a SATA interface, the first interface 301 of the protocol conversion chip 102 is a UFS interface, the second interface 302 of the protocol conversion chip 102 is a SATA interface, and the first interface 301 of the protocol conversion chip 102 is coupled to the external device as an interface for the storage device 10 to communicate with the external device. At this time, the protocol conversion chip 102 can convert the SATA protocol data output by the interface of the storage chip 101 into the UFS protocol data and output it to the external device, or the protocol conversion chip 102 converts the UFS protocol data input by the external device into the SATA protocol data and inputs it to the storage chip 101.

[0046] For another example, the interface of the storage chip 101 is a PCIe interface, the first interface 301 of the protocol conversion chip 102 is a UFS interface, and the second interface 302 of the protocol conversion chip 102 is a PCIe interface. At this time, the PCIe protocol data output by the interface of the storage chip 101 is converted into UFS protocol data and output to an external device, or the protocol conversion chip 102 converts the UFS protocol data input by an external device into PCIe protocol data and inputs it into the storage chip 101.

[0047] In other embodiments, the protocol conversion chip 102 includes several interfaces, which are used to couple the external device and the main control unit 201 of the storage chip 101. For example, the interface of the protocol conversion chip 102 includes a SATA interface, a PCIe interface, a UFS interface, an eMMC interface, and an NVMe interface. In this case, the external device and the main control unit 201 are respectively coupled to any two interfaces of the SATA interface, the PCIe interface, the UFS interface, the eMMC interface, and the NVMe interface.

[0048] In some embodiments of the present application, since the interface protocol of the memory chip 101 is fixed, the protocol conversion chip 102 can be used to couple the interface of the first protocol type of the memory chip 101, so that the data output by the memory chip 101 passes through the interface of the second protocol type of the protocol conversion chip 102, and the output data is also transmitted according to the second protocol type, that is, the data output by the memory chip 101 is transmitted according to the transmission rate, transmission delay, etc. specified by the second protocol type. Alternatively, the data input to the protocol conversion chip 102 by the external device is transmitted according to the second protocol type, and the protocol conversion chip 102 converts the data of the second protocol type into data of the first protocol type, and inputs it to the memory chip 101 according to the transmission rate, transmission delay, etc. specified by the first protocol type.

[0049] In some embodiments, see Figure 4 , the storage chip 101 and the protocol conversion chip 102 are stacked, and at this time, it can be Figure 4 As shown in ①, the protocol conversion chip 102 is arranged above the storage chip 101, or Figure 4 As shown in ②, the protocol conversion chip 102 is arranged below the storage chip 101, so as to reduce the volume of the storage device 10 as a whole.

[0050] In some embodiments, see Figure 5 In addition to the storage chip 101 of the first protocol type and the protocol conversion chip 102 , the storage device 10 also includes a circuit board 103 .

[0051] In some embodiments, the protocol conversion chip 102 and the storage chip 101 are stacked on the circuit board 103. Figure 5 As shown in ①, the protocol conversion chip 102 is arranged above the storage chip 101, or Figure 5 As shown in ②, the protocol conversion chip 102 is arranged below the storage chip 101, so as to reduce the volume of the storage device 10 as a whole.

[0052] In other embodiments, the protocol conversion chip 102 and the storage chip 101 are respectively disposed on the circuit board 103 and coupled via wiring on the circuit board 103 .

[0053] In some embodiments, the storage chip 101 and the protocol conversion chip 102 are packaged in one piece. That is, when the storage chip 101 and the protocol conversion chip 102 are manufactured, they are packaged into a new chip using an integrated packaging technology, and the interface in the protocol conversion chip 102 that communicates with the external device is used as the communication interface of the new chip to communicate with the external device. The new chip uses the communication interface to implement protocol conversion between the storage chip 101 and the external device, and completes data read and write operations. Among them, the new chip can be the storage device 10 described in this application.

[0054] In the embodiment of the present application, the storage chip 101 and the protocol conversion chip 102 start protocol conversion when they are powered on. In addition, the protocol conversion chip 102 of the present application is only responsible for protocol conversion, and does not need to perform data processing and mapping, and does not need to run firmware programs like the main control chip in the conventional memory.

[0055] See also Figure 6 , Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device in some embodiments of the present application. The electronic device 60 includes the storage device 10 described in any of the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0056] In other embodiments, the electronic device 60 may also include a display processor or others, which is not limited here.

[0057] The processor involved in this application may be called a CPU (Central Processing Unit), which may be an integrated circuit chip, or a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, and discrete hardware components.

[0058] In summary, the present application can convert the data transmitted by the interface from one protocol to another protocol, thereby making the storage device 10 compatible with an external device of another protocol and ensuring communication between the two with high flexibility.

[0059] Moreover, in the actual production process, it can also help memory manufacturers to achieve the convenience of stocking up, and can play a role in adjusting the supply type to a certain extent. When there is a large price difference in the market, it can also help to increase profits.

[0060] The above description is only an implementation method of the present application, and does not limit the patent scope of the present application. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made using the contents of the present application specification and drawings, or directly or indirectly used in other related technical fields, are also included in the patent protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A storage device, characterized in that: The storage device at least comprises: A memory chip of a first protocol type; A protocol conversion chip is coupled to the storage chip and is used to convert the interface for communication between the storage device and an external device from the first protocol type of the storage chip to a second protocol type.

2. The storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that The storage chip at least includes a main control unit and a storage unit; The main control unit of the storage chip is coupled to the protocol conversion chip.

3. The storage device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The storage unit is composed of flash memory particles.

4. The storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The protocol conversion chip includes a first interface and a second interface. The first interface is coupled to the external device as an interface for the storage device to communicate with the external device, and the second interface is used to couple to the storage chip.

5. The storage device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The first interface and the second interface are any two of a SATA interface, a PCIe interface, a UFS interface, and an eMMC interface.

6. The storage device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The first interface is the PCIe interface, and the second interface is the UFS interface.

7. The storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The protocol conversion chip and the storage chip are stacked.

8. The storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The storage device also includes a circuit board; The protocol conversion chip and the storage chip are stacked and arranged on the circuit board, or the protocol conversion chip and the storage chip are respectively arranged on the circuit board and coupled through wiring on the circuit board.

9. The storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The storage chip and the protocol conversion chip are packaged integrally.

10. An electronic device, characterized in that: The electronic device at least comprises: The storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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