Another Invention

ok, i come up with inventions all the time, most of which are good. but being me dont have any means to make money from them, so i just share some of them on AO, but only when they are IT related.

so.

Everyone knows or even has a hot swappable USB Key, or a flash hdd (mass storage device), which ever you prefer.
now a usb key uses one usb port, which could be used for another device, ie, scanner. so what if you could make it that the usb key had two usb interfaces, one for input and the other for output. that way, you can use your usb key and that other device at the same time. that way you could use more devices.

now, im pretty sure that one usb port can only be used for one device. so perhaps that part needs to be developed first...which im sure will happen, but then once that part arrises, i suppose you will be getting usb double addapters perhaps??

anyways, like i say, its just an idea. it can be worked on and its there for everyone to comment on and steal if you really want to....cause like i say, it takes money to make money and its just something i dont have a lot of ;)

-Cheers

It's an interesting concept, however unless you are taking the keychain and leaving it in, while connecting the other devices it may not be too practical. The bandwidth capacity of USB transfers is rather limited, so if for example you decided to use a usb scanner and save on the usb drive at the same time, it would be extremely slow. So, you will have to make sure it is implemented for USB 2 because the first generation is just too slow. Or why not try to make one with a firewire interface to tap into that market, maybe make it interface with DV cameras or something ;)

You can buy USB hubs/data switches that plug into one USB or IDE etc. port and allow you to add additional USB devices. . .I see what your saying though. I have a USB (128M) keyring storage device, heh heh, I likes it a lot, a whole lot, but it would be kewl if it was passive so I could hook another device up through it, even though it would get to be a pain disconnecting two devices every time I'd want to remove the keyring.

yea, what bludgeon is talking about is what i am talking about. naturally im sure it would be implemented by usb2 as the "original" is being phased out....very quickly. anyways, thanks for the extra ideas guys.

USB devices where allways ment to run in a chain...but because manufaturers are drawing way too muc power from USB they won't put the USB out port on there device (and on some devices like a mouse it would be in the way). So your idea may be interesting but redundent, and would run into the same problem as any USB chain, not enough power for more then one device.

that depends. because some small devices, like mouses, do get the power from the usb port. but the devices that i would probably concentrate on, would be those like modems, scanners and such, which have their own power supply, and only have small currents along the usb cable for data.

but its all a working process

trust_not you are teh suk.