Patent Application
20090063755
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a non-volatile storage device, and particularly relates to a non-volatile storage device having a non-volatile memory packaged by paper layers.
2. Description of Prior Art
A non-volatile memory (NVM) features data retention under power off, differently from a volatile memory losing data retention under power off. Besides, the non-volatile memory also features smaller volume, low power consumption and high capacity storage and is therefore widely used for various types of electrical systems, such as personal computers, cellular phones, digital cameras, MP3 audio players, and so on. Examples of non-volatile memory include magnetic media for tremendous data storage such as hard disks and magnetic tapes, optical media for data exchange such as compact discs (CDs) and digital video discs (DVDs), and popular flash memory for consumer electronics such as flash memory cards and USB flash drives. Most of these storage devices have very small volumes and are capable of efficiently storing a large amount of digital data thereon.
Nowadays, a flash memory is one of the most popular non-volatile storage devices due to the great benefit in proportioning a usable storage capacity to a spent cost. For example, a well-known Secure Digital (SD) card employs the flash memory as its storage media so as to a high capacity storage and space saving. As illustrated at
On the other hand, each traditional A4-sized paper sheet merely provides a limited writable capacity of only about 1200 words and a redundant word-searching operation. Although bring a convenience on forthrightly handwriting, binding and a manual folder collation, the traditional paper sheet causes data storage and search inefficient, inconvenient and redundant. For example, a 2 GB SD card can store as much information as 80,000 sheets of A4-sized papers do so as to save great spaces as occupied by those paper sheets, and provides a multi-rewritable and searchable capability.
Therefore, it is essential to create an innovative storage device for simultaneously satisfying requirements of multi-rewritable memory capacity, rapidly searchable capability, forthrightly handwriting, binding, and manual folder collation.
To eliminate the forgoing drawbacks, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a paper-shaped non-volatile storage device, which features consisting of multi-rewritable memory storage, rapidly searchable capability, forthrightly handwriting, binding, and manual folder collation, as provide by both the traditional paper sheets and the traditional non-volatile memory devices.
A paper-shaped non-volatile storage device in accordance with the present invention comprises: a top paper layer, a bottom paper layer and a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) packaged between the top paper layer and the bottom paper layer. The flexible PCB comprises a data-transmitting interface, a non-volatile memory controller and at least one non-volatile memory disposed thereon.
Differently from the traditional paper sheets, the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device is reusable to store digital information and the digital information is retrievable even if the paper package of the device is damaged. Because of convenience on instantly writing and manually binding, outwardly visible content and a low manufacturing cost, the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device is much more user-friendly than the traditional non-volatile storage devices and can be used as consumable items.
Therefore, the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device features as both of traditional paper sheets and traditional non-volatile storage devices, including but not limited to instantly writing, manually binding, and outwardly visible content as provided by the traditional paper sheets; digital information storage, repeatable editing and rapid search capability as provided by the traditional non-volatile storage devices.
The present invention may best be understood through the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Firstly referring to
The flexible PCB 120 as a thin film having a predetermined thickness comprises a data-transmitting interface 121, a non-volatile memory controller 122 and at least one non-volatile memory 123 disposed thereon. The data-transmitting interface 121 functions as a serial port disposed with a plurality of conductive terminals on the flexible PCB 120, but can alternatively be one of a number of well known communication standards and protocols, e.g., a FireWire (IEEE 1394) interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), an infrared (IR) communication port, a Bluetooth wireless communication adapter, an Internet feed, and the like. The data-transmitting interface 121 is used to electrically connect with an external device (like a personal computer or a mobile phone) via an additional connector or cable, and thereby performing data transfer or reading/writing data from/to the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device 10. In this embedment, the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device 10 can be powered by the outside (e.g., the external device) via the data-transmitting interface 121. Both the non-volatile memory controller 122 and the non-volatile memory 123 are unpackaged in form of a bare die secured/adhered directly to the flexible PCB 120, without any outer hard case packaging and case molding process as formerly employed by traditional non-volatile memory devices. As the result, the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device 10 retains a flexibility or elasticity as the traditional paper sheets featuring. The non-volatile memory controller 122 complies with external instructions from the external device via the data-transmitting interface 121 to control the non-volatile memory 123 for performing data transmissions between the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device 10 and the external device. In practice, the non-volatile memory 123 may have a higher or lower memory capacity. In the embodiment, the non-volatile memory 123 contains a lower memory capacity so as to meet low expense and physical folder-collating requirements. Since the electrical connection of circuit layouts among the non-volatile memory controller 122, the data-transmitting interface 121 and the non-volatile memory 123 can be conventional, a detailed description thereof is omitted herein.
Referring to
In a second embodiment of the present invention, paper pulp materials (not shown) can be used to directly wrap around the flexible PCB 120 to integrally form the top paper layer 110 and the bottom paper layer 130. For example, the flexible PCB 120 is treated with a waterproof process and then is immersed in paper pulp materials. As the result, the paper pulp materials integrally form the top and bottom paper layer 110, 120 covering on opposite surfaces of the flexible PCB 120, thereby omitting a bonding step of the top paper layer 110 and the bottom paper layer 130. That is, the flexible PCB 120 is embedded in the integral formed top and bottom paper layers.
In a third embodiment of the present invention, the flexible PCB 120 is disposed with a paper layer on one of opposite surfaces of the board 120, and a coating layer is coated on the other surface to secure the flexible PCB 120 on the paper layer. The flexible PCB 120 is consequently packaged between the paper layer and the coating layer. The coating layer may be any chemical materials, which may provide a flexibility or elasticity as the traditional paper sheets have and can bond with the paper layer to the flexible PCB 120, including but not limited to adhesive layer, or chemical coating layer.
Comparing to the traditional paper sheets, the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device 10 is reusable to store digital information and the digital information is retrievable even if the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device 10 is damaged. Furthermore, because of convenience on instantly writing and manually binding, visible content and a low manufacturing cost, the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device 10 is much more user-friendly than the traditional non-volatile storage devices (i.e., memory cards) and can be treated as consumable items. Therefore, the paper-shaped non-volatile storage device 10 features as both traditional paper sheets and traditional non-volatile storage devices, including but not limited to instantly writing, manually binding and outwardly visible content as provided by the traditional paper sheets; digital information storage, repeatable editing and rapid search capability as provided by the traditional non-volatile storage devices. The present invention is particularly suited for great paper documents each of which needs to handwrite but carries lower memory capacity, for example, histories management in hospitals or students' performance in schools.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 096214818 | Sep 2007 | TW | national |
