1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card-type peripheral device such as a memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a related art, there is a card-type peripheral device called a PC card used in a state in which it is inserted in a card slot of a personal computer or the like. In recent years, a reduction in size and an increase in operating speed of personal computers have been achieved. In order to adapt to such an advance, ExpressCard (known as NEWCARD before) has been proposed as a card-type peripheral device that is smaller in outside dimensions than the PC card and that can transfer data at a high rate (see, for example, “New standard ‘NEWCARD’ allows a reduction in size and an increase in operating speed of PC cards, which will lead to a further advance in personal computers” (Nikkei Electronics, Jun. 9, 2003, pp. 67-76)).
The ExpressCard is intended to be used instead of PC cards (PCMCIA) that are currently in wide use. The ExpressCard uses a PCI Express interface that is an interface according to a new I/O bus standard intended to be an alternative to a PCI bus. Compared with other cards currently used, the interface for the ExpressCard can operate at a much higher speed. Thus, when a nonvolatile memory is installed in this card so that the card functions as a memory card, the resultant memory card can write/read data at a very high rate.
Because of its high performance and usability, ExpressCard is expected to be used in a wide variety of devices such as a digital camera, a portable telephone device, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) device, a music player, etc.