Insertble and removable digital memory apparatus

Abstract

Each device of a family of removable digital media devices (,and,) may be plugged into a host to permits the host to store data in it or to retrieve data from it. The form factors of the digital media devices in the family and the connector system used by the digital media devices are compact for minimizing the volume of space occupied in portable devices and for easy storage. Some embodiments (,and,) provide an elongated compact form factor that provides easy and firm grasping for insertion and removal. The digital media devices of the family have respective body portions (,and,) preferably of a rigid or semi-rigid material. Preferably, the digital media devices of the family use serial memory requiring few power and signal lines, so that few electrical contacts are required. In particular, a small number of durable contact pads form the contact arrays (,and,) on the digital media devices, which in conjunction with corresponding contact pads mounted into a suitable socket provide for easy and convenient insertion and removal and for robust and reliable electrical contact over a long insertion lifetime. Preferably, the digital media devices of the family incorporate flash memory, which permits low voltage operation, low power consumption, and high capacity non-volatile data storage. Preferably, the digital media devices of the family are fabricated using surface mount techniques (,and,) or particularly inexpensive “Chip on Board” techniques (,and,). The digital media devices interface to the host either directly or through adapters. Access is handled either by a dedicated controller or other logic residing in the adapter or on the host, or by software running on the host.