SECURE MULTIMEDIA CARD AND MEMORY CARD SYSTEM

Abstract

Provided are a secure multimedia card (secure MMC) and a memory card system having the same. The memory card system may include a host, and a secure MMC having a user data area accessed by a normal command and a restricted area accessed by a secure command, wherein the user data area in communication with the host stores user data and the restricted area stores access restriction data. The restricted area may be accessed in the secure MMC even though the interface unit in the host does not support commands requesting the access to the restricted area in the secure MMC.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying figures are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain principles of the present invention. In the figures:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a secure multimedia card (MMC) according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a conceptual view of an interface between a host and a secure MMC in a memory card system having a secure MMC according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a memory card system having a secure MMC according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating how the memory card system of FIG. 3 may operate;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating a format of a secure command generated at a controller in the host according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating one example embodiment in which a secure command is converted into a normal command by a secure command processor;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating another example embodiment in which a secure command is converted into a normal command by a secure command processor;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating an example of signals exchanged between a host and a secure MMC when a secure read command is generated at a controller in a host; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating an example of signals exchanged between a host and a secure MMC when a secure write command is generated at a controller in a host.

Claims

1. A secure multimedia card (MMC) comprising: a memory including a first area to be accessed by a first type of command, and a second area to be accessed by a second type of command; anda controller to access the memory in response to a command and an argument input to the MMC;wherein the controller converts the input command to the second type of command when the input command is the first type of command for accessing the first area and the argument has a predetermined value.

2. The secure MMC of claim 1, wherein the predetermined value comprises an address designating a range out of the first area.

3. The secure MMC of claim 2, wherein the argument comprises a secure command parameter.

4. The secure MMC of claim 3, wherein the controller regards data input to the MMC as a secure command parameter after converting the input command to the second type of command.

5. The secure MMC of claim 1, wherein the first area is a user data area for storing user data, and the second area is a restricted area for storing access restriction data.

6. A secure MMC comprising: a memory including a user data area to be accessed by a normal command, and a restricted area to be accessed by a secure command; anda controller to access the memory in response to a command and an argument input to the MMC;wherein the controller converts the input command to the secure command when the input command is a normal command code, the argument has a predetermined value, and data input to the MMC has a predetermined pattern.

7. The secure MMC of claim 6, wherein: the predetermined value of the argument comprises an address designating a zeroth sector in the user data area; anda master boot record (MBR) mark contained in the data is different from a defined pattern.

8. The secure MMC of claim 7, wherein the controller regards data input to the MMC as a secure command parameter after converting the input command to the secure command.

9. The secure MMC of claim 6, wherein the second area stores data for a DRM function.

10. A memory card system comprising: a host; anda secure MMC including a first area to be accessed by a first type of command, and a second area to be accessed by a second type of command;wherein the host outputs the first type of command and an argument with a predetermined value to access the second area of the secure MMC, and the secure MMC recognizes the first type of command as the second type of command when the argument input with the first command has the predetermined value.

11. The memory card system of claim 10, wherein the secure MMC comprises: a memory including the first and second areas; anda controller to access the memory in response to commands from the host.

12. The memory card system of claim 11, wherein the controller converts the first type of command to the second type of command when the argument input with the first type of command comprises an address designating a range out of the first area.

13. The memory card system of claim 12, wherein the controller converts data input from the host to a secure command parameter after converting the first type of command into the second type of command.

14. The memory card system of claim 10, wherein the first area comprises a user data area, and the second area comprises a restricted area.

15. The memory card system of claim 14, wherein: the first type of command comprises a normal command;the second type of command comprises a secure command;the host outputs the normal command, the argument with a predetermined value, and data with a predetermined value to access the restricted area of the secure MMC; andthe secure MMC recognizes the normal command as the secure command to access the restricted area when the argument and the data input with the normal command have the predetermined values, respectively.

16. The memory card system of claim 15, wherein the controller converts the normal command to the secure command when the argument input with the normal command is an address designating a predetermined area in the user data area, and the data has a predetermined pattern.

17. The memory card system of claim 15, wherein the controller converts the normal command to the secure command when the argument input with the normal command designates a zeroth sector in the user data area, and an MBR mark contained in a data signal is different from a defined pattern.

18. A method of operating a memory card system including a secure MMC having a user data area and a restricted data area, the method comprising: generating a first command for accessing the user data area when access to the restricted data area is requested, wherein the first command includes access information of the restricted data area;determining whether the first command includes the access information of the restricted data area;converting the first command to a second command for accessing the restricted data area when the first command includes the access information of the restricted data area; andaccessing the restricted data area in response to the converted second command.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: generating the first command when access to the user data area is requested; andaccessing the user data area in response to the first command when the first command does not include the access information of the restricted data area.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the access information of the restricted data area comprises an address designating a range out of the user data area.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the access information of the restricted data area comprises an address designating an MBR in the user data area, and data transmitted with the first command has a different value than an MBR mark.

22. A host comprising: a controller to execute an application program; andan interface unit coupled to the controller to interface the host system to a secure MMC that operates in response to normal commands and secure commands;wherein the host system includes logic to convert a secure command to a normal command.

23. The host of claim 22 wherein the logic may convert a secure command to a normal command by sending a nonstandard argument with a normal command code.

24. The host of claim 23 wherein the nonstandard argument comprises an address designating a range out of a user data area in the secure MMC.

25. The host of claim 23 wherein the nonstandard argument comprises: an address designating a sector having a master boot recorder (MBR) in a memory in the secure MMC; anddata having a value different from a defined pattern for the MBR.

26. The host of claim 23 wherein the nonstandard argument comprises a secure command parameter.

27. The host of claim 22 wherein the logic comprises a secure command processor coupled between the controller and the interface unit.

28. A secure MMC comprising: a memory including a user data area to be accessed by normal commands, and a restricted area to be accessed by secure commands; anda controller to interpret a normal command as a secure command when the normal command is accompanied by an argument having a secure command parameter.

29. The secure MMC of claim 28, wherein controller may determine that the argument has a secure command parameter when the argument includes an address designating a range out of the user data area.

30. The secure MMC of claim 28, wherein controller may determine that the argument has a secure command parameter when the argument includes an address designating a sector having an MBR in a memory in the secure MMC, and data having a value different from a defined pattern for the MBR.