Patents Portfolio
U.S. Patent: 9,116,723
Patent Title
Communication device or media device for providing phone calling service, internet access service, or digital content service
Meta Information
Issued Date: August 25, 2015
Inventor: William Ho Chang et al
External Links: UPSTO, Google Patents
Technical Fields
Abstract
A portable device for phone calling, Internet access, or for playing media is herein disclosed and enabled. The portable device may support autorun. The portable device is connectable to a computing device over a wired interface for running, at the computing device, at least part of the software stored in the portable device. The wired interface includes, for example, a USB, a SD card, or an Ethernet among others. A wireless interface, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.RTM., may additionally be included. Exemplary services that may be deployed with the portable device include a phone calling service. Other exemplary services may include adding a wireless interface to a computing device, or providing a wireless Internet access service. Additional exemplary services may include outputting or playing of digital content from a smart phone to an output device, such as a printer, projector or television.
Sample Claim
1. An integrated circuit memory device connectable to a host computing device by a user for running computer software on the host computing device, the integrated circuit memory device comprising:
a controller for controlling interaction between the integrated circuit memory device and the host computing device;
a memory component storing a software component or data operable on the host computing device, the memory component including a protected or private memory component storing at least part of the software component or data, the at least part of the software component or data being associated with the computer software for running on the host computing device, the protected or private memory component not implemented to be a public memory area for storing data that are accessible or viewable by the user of the integrated circuit memory device upon connection and activation of the integrated circuit memory device on the host computing device, and the at least part of the software component or data stored in the protected memory component being permitted to be executed by the host computing device upon connection and activation of the integrated circuit memory device on the host computing device;
firmware embedded at least partly in the integrated circuit memory device having:
means to facilitate interaction between the integrated circuit memory device and the host computing device,
means to facilitate access of the protected memory or private component of the integrated circuit memory device,
means to facilitate the integrated circuit memory device identifying itself with the host computing device in accordance with a device interface description, the device interface description identifying the integrated circuit memory device in a manner analogous to that of a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory) drive or a mass storage class device, individually or in any combination; and
autorun software stored on the integrated circuit memory device for running automatically on the host computing device upon connection of the integrated circuit memory device to the host computing device, the autorun software, when executed, providing:
means to load, from the protected or private memory component, at least part of the software component or data associated with the computer software by interacting with the autorun firmware embedded in the integrated circuit memory device, and
means to facilitate running of the computer software on the host computing device that includes at least part of the software component or data accessed from the protected or private memory component subsequent to connection and activation of the integrated circuit memory device to the host computing device; and
wherein, the integrated circuit memory device is associated with providing a phone calling service, an Internet access service, or a digital content output service, individually or in any combination.