(19) & (11) EP 2 051 155 A1 (12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION (43) Date of publication: (51) Int Cl.: 22.04.2009 Bulletin 2009/17 G06F 1/26 (2006.01) (21) Application number: 07020569.5 (22) Date of filing: 20.10.2007 (84) Designated Contracting States: (72) Inventors: AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR • Schatzmayr, Rainer HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MT NL PL PT RO SE 53229 Bonn (DE) SI SK TR • Neumann, Peter Designated Extension States: 81739 München (DE) AL BA HR MK RS (74) Representative: Riebling, Peter (71) Applicant: T-Mobile International AG Patentanwalt, 53227 Bonn (DE) Rennerle 10 88131 Lindau (DE) (54) Self powered data card (57) The invention relates to a data card comprising interface for receiving and/or transmitting data to and a data processing device, a connecting interface for ex- from an external device, an external system or the envi- changing data with a hosting device and an input/output ronment. The data card is characterized in that it is a self powered data card. EP 2 051 155 A1 Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR) 1 EP 2 051 155 A1 2 Description hosting laptop computer by using a data cable or a Blue- tooth connection to the hosting device. However, a data Field of the Invention exchange with the data card is only possible as long as the hosting device is under operation. [0001] The invention generally relates to a data card. 5 [0005] At present, the disadvantage of data cards is A data card is any removable computer component, ap- that they can only transmit and receive data to and from proximately the size of a credit card, that contains data, external devices and systems while the hosting device or that contains non-volatile memory to which data can is switched on and in operation. In other words, while the be written and from which data can be recovered. Such hosting device is in standby mode or switched off the a data card may comprise a data processing device, a 10 data cards miss the ability to exchange data by lacking connecting interface for exchanging data with a hosting any power supply. device and an input/output interface for receiving and/or transmitting data to and from an external device, an ex- Summary of the Invention ternal system or the environment. 15 [0006] It is the object of the present invention to over- Discussion of the State of the Art come the above drawbacks by providing a data card which is able to transmit and receive data to and from [0002] Examples for today used data cards are PCM- external devices and systems independently from the op- CIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International As- erating state of a hosting device. sociation) or PC cards like WLAN or Web’n Walk cards. 20 [0007] This object is achieved by providing a data card Such kind of cards use an identical 68 pin dual row con- as characterized in the independent claim. necting interface to a hosting device, i.e. a laptop com- [0008] Preferred embodiments and advantageous puter, and are powered by the hosting device with a 3.3 features of the invention are disclosed in the dependent or 5 Volts supply voltage. claims. [0003] PC Card (originally PCMCIA) is the form factor 25 [0009] The data card according to the invention is char- of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. acterized in that it is a self powered data card. It was originally for memory expansion, but the existence [0010] The self powered data card comprises an inter- of a usable general standard for notebook peripherals nal power supply which is adapted to supply the data led to many kinds of devices being made available in this card with electric energy for at least a predetermined pe- form. Extended data cards allow the addition of compo- 30 riod of time. The power supply comprises for example a nents that must remain outside the system for proper rechargeable or non-rechargeable battery, or a capacitor operation, such as antennas for wireless applications. with high energy density, preferably a socalled superca- Typical devices include network cards, modems, hard pacitor or golden capacitor. disks, and other functionality like 10/100 Mbps Ethernet [0011] The self powered data card according to the Adapters, A/D Converters and other Data Acquisition De- 35 invention may operate independently from a hosting de- vices, AM/FM Radio Tuner, Biometrics cards (Fingerprint vice. This has the advantage that it can exchange data reader), Bluetooth cards, CD-ROM Interface, Cellular with external devices or systems or can receive environ- Phone Interface (WAN), Digital Camera, Docking Station mental data via its input/output interface independently Interface, Ethernet LAN Adapters, GPS (Global Position- of the operating state of the hosting device. The data to ing System)Cards, Hard Drives (Rotating), Infrared Wire- 40 be received or transmitted via the input/output interface less LAN Adapters, ISDN Cards, Joystick Interface can be temporarily stored in the data card and made Cards, Modem/Ethernet Combination Cards, Modem available for later access by the hosting device. The data Cards, Parallel Port Interface, PDA PC Card, Radio LAN card is operable even if the hosting device is switched Adapters, Security Tokens, Serial Port Interface, Smart- off or in a standby mode. Card Readers, Sound Cards, Input and Output, Token 45 [0012] In a preferred embodiment of the present inven- Ring LAN Adapter Cards, TV Tuner, VGA, Video Cap- tion the self powered data card has the ability to internally ture/Frame Grabber Cards, Video Teleconferencing store a large amount of incoming or outgoing data before Cards, are also on the market. it is to be transferred to the hosting device or sent via an [0004] Most data cards are very similar to mobile de- input/output interface to an external device or system. vices. They have an antenna and a SIM card reader but 50 The internal memory is preferably a non-volatile (flash are missing man-to-machine input and output devices, memory) or volatile memory (RAM) for storing a prede- e.g. a display, a keypad, or the like. Data cards are also termined amount of data to be received or transmitted missing any kind of internal power supply and large ca- via the input/output interface. In another preferred em- pacity data storage facilities. Data cards therefore cannot bodiment the data card comprises an interface for con- operate independently of a hosting device because they 55 necting an external attached non- volatile or volatile mem- require an external power supply in order to exchange ory such as flash based memory cards (SD, MMC, Mem- data with a hosting device and other devices. Currently ory Stick, Transflash, etc....). available mobile phones may work as a modem for a [0013] The data card and method of operation of the 2 3 EP 2 051 155 A1 4 invention, together with additional objects and advantag- received via the interface 12 to and from the hosting de- es thereof, will be best understood from the following vice 26. During the online mode of operation the data description of a specific embodiment when read in con- card 10 works as a standard data card, where the re- nection with the accompanying drawings. chargeable device of the power supply is charged using 5 the supply voltage provided by hosting device 26 on the Brief Description of the Drawings cardbus interface 12. [0020] When the hosting device 26 is switched in a [0014] standby mode or is even switched off, this is detected by the data card 10 for example due to the missing power Figure 1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodi- 10 supply voltage provided on the cardbus interface 12. In ment of a data card according to the invention. this case the data card 10 switches in an "offline" mode of operation. The offline mode is maintained as long as Figure 2 is a block diagram of an example of use of the hosting data device 26 is in standby mode or switched the data card. off. During this offline mode the data card 10 is powered 15 from the internal power supply 18. During the offline Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment of the mode, the data card 10 is still capable to receive incoming Invention or send outgoing data via the wireless interface 14. The received data are buffered in the internal memory 20 or [0015] Figure 1 illustrates a data card 10 which is for the external attached memory 24, consequently. As an example a wireless network interface card comprising a 20 option, outgoing data, cached in the internal memory 22 bidirectional wireless interface 14 for connecting to a or the external attached memory 24 may be transmitted wireless mobile telephone network, for example a GSM via the wireless interface 14, dependent on the power telephone network, or a wireless computer network level of the internal power supply 18. (WLAN). The data card 10 comprises an interface 12, for [0021] In the offline mode the data card 10 is working example a bidirectional cardbus interface for making a 25 like a standalone device irrespective of the connection data connection to a hosting device, for example a laptop to the hosting device 26. The advantage is that for ex- computer. The data card 10 further comprising a central ample internet on-line sessions, like chat, are not inter- processing unit for 16 processing the data to be sent or rupted, not closed or effected in any way.