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PC Cards

Provide expandability to notebook/laptop computers

Credit card-size expansion boards that fits into a small slot on notebook/laptop computers

Developed by the PCMCIA consortium of >300 manufacturers (IBM, Toshiba, Apple…)

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PC Cards

Originally designed only for memory cards Available PC Cards today:

Memory expansion cards Tiny hard disk drives Network interface adapters Wireless modems Sound cards MPEG decoders CD-ROM controllers GPS systems etc. etc. etc.

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PC Cards

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Constraints on PC Cards:

Robustness Low Power operation Power Dissipation Multiple Mating Cycles (10000) Add-in functions rather than Add-

On functions! Means PC Cards may be needed for

basic computer operation

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Card Types

Small form factor: 85.6mm x 54.0mm 68-pin connector Three card thicknesses supported

Roughly correspond to different PC Card Specifications and Card functionality

Cards only differ in terms of thickness Thinner cards can be used in a thicker slot Thicker card cannot be used in a thinner

slot

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Card Types

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PC Cards: Card Types

Type I: up to 3.3mm thick - Memory Cards SRAM, Flash, OTP but NOT DRAM

Type II: up 5mm thick - I/O devices Data/fax modems, LAN adapters, mass storage most of the available cards today are 5mm cards

Type III: up 10.5mm thick Hard disks (latest hard disks are type II)

Extended cards also available Antennas for wireless applications

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PC Card Architecture

PC Card Standard also defines a software architecture

Provides Plug and Play capability Software consists of Socket

Services and Card Services Card and Socket Services allow

interoperability of PC Cards

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PC Card Evolution

PC Card Release 1.0Memory only

PC Card Release 2.XMemory and I/O

CardBus32-bit high bandwidth interface (133MB/s)

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PC Card Standard Release 1.0

Interface for Memory Cards only Defines Metaformat or Card

Information Structure (CIS)

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PC Card Release 2.0/2.01/2.1

I/O interface Dual Voltage (3.3V & 5V) Socket Services Specification eXecute In Place (XIP) PC Card ATA Card Services Specification (2.01)

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PC Card CardBus Standard (1)

CardBus adds PCI-like performance 32-bit bus BusMastering interface Low Voltage (3.3V) Power Management (APM) Support for DMA if required Multi-function cards

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PC Card CardBus Standard (2)

Custom Interfaces Zoomed Video (ZV) Extensions for ISDN, Security and

Instrumentation Cards

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PC Card Properties

Card Information Structure (CIS) - describes the characteristics of the card so the host can configure it

DMA can be supported if the host allows it eXecute In Place - allows OS and Application

software to run directly from the card LV Operation - physical keying prevents 3.3V

cards from being damaged in 5V slot

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PC Card Properties (2)

Plug and Play: PC Cards can be removed or inserted while power is on Power and GND contacts pins are the

longest Make contact before signals

Power Management - interface to APM through Card Services

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PC Card Properties (3)

Zoomed Video (ZV) - connection between PC Card and host system that allows card to write data directly to VGA Controller

Data can be transferred over the ZV bus, not the host bus

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PC Card Software Layers

Two software layers that provide the interface between the PC Card adapter and the applications Socket Services

Socket Services layer isolates the proprietary aspects of the adapter from the software operating above it

Card ServicesCommunicates with Socket Services and is responsible for assigning hardware resources to PC Cards

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PC Card LayersApplication

Operating System

Device Drivers

Card Services

MemoryTechnology

Layer

Socket Services

Adapter

PCCard

PCCard

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CardBus Performance

PC Card-16: 8-/16-bit interface at ISA bus speeds (8MHz) using ISA-like protocol

CardBus - 32-bit multiplexed address/data Operates at PCI local-bus speeds Up to 33 MHz Peak bandwidth of 132MB/sec CardBus uses the synchronous burst-transfer

methods of PCI, and a very similar bus protocol to PCI

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CardBus Enhancements

Performance Configuration Approach Hot-plug capability Low-power operation Mechanical form-factor

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CardBus Bus Mastering

PC Card-16 cards can only work as Slaves to System resident masters

CardBus devices can act as system-bus masters

They can take control of the system bus (or buses) to carry out data transfers

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PC Card Configuration In the CardBus standard dynamic

system reconfiguration is a primary functional requirement

Hardware like modem cards can be shared by simply porting them from one system to another

Supports configuration at boot time and/or dynamically during run-time Plug and Play support using CIS

(Re)Allocation of system resources when cards are added or removed

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CardBus Power Reduction

Operation at low voltage Software control of the clock From a CardBus adapter to an attached

CardBus card Provides PCI-like power-management

Simplifies operation in PCI environment CardBus allows for two lower voltage

operating modes for the future

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CardBus Clock Management

CardBus includes a "CCLKRUN#" signal It has an associated protocol for controlling

clocking to a card Allows a PCI-to-CardBus bridge to gate the

clock, which the bridge supplies to the PC Card

Allows the card to indicate when it is prepared for clocking to stop

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CardBus Mechanical Enhancements

CardBus cards share PC Card-16's small, thin mechanical card design, as well as a similar 68-pin connector

CardBus connector design encloses the standard 68-pin PC Card connector in a ground shield

If used with controlled edge-rate buffers, the shield ensures that ground-bounce does not corrupt signals, even at 33 MHz

PCI – CardBus Connectivity

Processor

DRAMMain Memory

Host BUS (ie CPU's own Bus)

Host/PCIBridge

PCI Local Bus

PCI Bridge toother interfacesUSB, IEEE1394

etc

VideoMemory

PCI toCardBus

Bridge

PC CardPC Card-16CardBusZV

Zoomed VideoSideBand

VideoController

Zoomed Videothrough controller

OR

Ext

ern

al

pe

riph

era

ls

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Zoomed Video Connects a video-data stream from a PC Card source

directly to a host computer's video adapter Dedicated data path from a system's PC Card socket to

the video adapter Side-band path bypasses the CardBus bridge in going

from the card socket to the video controller Through-the-controller path - card video data goes

through the CardBus bridge on its way to the video controller

In systems that implement ZV, CardBus provides a high-speed general-purpose interface, while ZV serves as a low-cost video input path

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PCI-CardBus Bridge (1)

PCI-to-CardBus "bridge" IC - point of attachment of the PC Card to the system's PCI bus

Provides a way of managing the attachment and detachment of Cards (i.e., bus-isolation buffers and card/socket "status-

change" notification circuitry) Maps several address windows from the card into

the host system's memory and/or I/O spaces Allows the host system to access configuration

registers on the card

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PCI-CardBus Bridge (2) CardBus Bridge is a PCI bus agent – so it

can become Bus Master This allows CardBus Bridge to transfer data

to system memory without CPU intervention CardBus supports PCI's PnP auto-

configuration. Interrupt levels and DMA channels can be

controlled on a system-wide basis

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PC Cards in a PC

For the PC, the PC Card just looks like extra memory or I/O

PC Card Specification allows PC Cards to have 64Mbyte of Common Memory and 64Mbyte of Attribute memory – 128Mbyte altogether

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Using PC Cards in a PC

Define an address area in the memory or I/O address space of the host system – usually called a window

Map a memory or I/O segment of the PC Card into the window you have defined

Access to memory or I/O addresses in the window of the host’s address space is redirected to the PC Card rather than the host’s own memory or I/O