- Imagine single pendrive or memory card containing ALL your data.
- Imagine smartphone or tablet having installed ALL applications available in the app store.
- Imagine camera containing ALL your photos and videos.
- Imagine portable electronic devices having UNLIMITED memory size.
Impossible? Not anymore.
We named this solution NEM – Never Ending Memory. It is composed of very good known technologies. We just connected them a little differently.
The idea is very simple. We replaced Flash memory (of pendrive, memory card, smartphone etc.) with dual port Flash memory, where second port is connected to the storage cloud through LTE interface. Dual port Flash have a role of cache memory. It contains only small part of user’s data (few dozen gigabytes). NEM reports to connected system the size and structure of user’s account in the cloud storage. System can see virtual terabyte size Flash memory while physically it have size of gigabytes.
Image shows block structure of the example NEM device (pendrive)
Inside typical pendrive the USB interface is connected to Flash memory. In our case USB interface is connected to one port of dual port Flash. On the second port is connected NEM processor having access to his private LTE interface. Thanks of dual port memory NEM processor and USB interface are separated, isolated. As a result we have secure connection to the cloud. Nobody knows login and password used by NEM processor to access the cloud. Additional encryption of the communication with the cloud can be implemented to increase security level.
Image shows structure of the NEM system composed of cloud and three NEM devices (pendrive, smartphone and tablet)
Newest files are present in the cache and in the cloud. Older files are removed from the cache if there is not enough place for new file. When user select file which is not present in the cache, it is copied from the cloud. In team mode, when one user will copy new file to his NEM device then all other „cloned” NEMs devices will load that file from the cloud to have the same content.
NEM memory can be used to store firmware or operating system files as well. Device manufacturer can automatically upload updates, just by placing them in the proper part of cloud attached to the device. It should be attractive for unexperienced users. No user’s activity is required in such case.
It is possible to make user’s files and folders “invisible” to the moment when user will identify himself, e.g. by creating new file with name and content known for the cloud as a “key” to user’s data. After saving such file by user, NEM processor will send it to the cloud. Cloud’s processor will recognize it and send proper “visible” structure of folders to NEM device. There can be different keys for different users. Single NEM device can give access to different parts of cloud dependent of user identification.
Multiple NEM devices can be connected to the same account in the cloud giving simultaneous access to the same data. Teams can work securely on the data. When you will lose your NEM device, NEM operator can generate new one for you, with the same data based on serial number and user created key file. Nothing is lost.
User can select period of account activity and storage capacity from the operator’s offer. There can be also offered UNLIMITED capacity. Operator can offer free, temporary (e.g one week) capacity extension, allowing user to use more capacity for short time without additional payment.
LTE is an example, other interfaces can be used as well (e.g. WiMAX, WiFi etc.). USB is an example, other interfaces can be used (SATA, Ethernet). Memory stick is an example, the technology can be implemented in HDDs, SSDs, smart cards, smartphones, tablets, computers, Set Top Boxes, game consoles, TV Sets etc.
It is possible to build applications which will use set of NEMs for communication. Simple text communicator can be implemented using text files to send messages between NEMs. Audio / video communicator can be implemented using audio and video files to send sound and moving pictures between NEMs. Use NEM for communication requires dedicated application.