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exfat

Microsoft and Funai sign patent deal

Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it has set up a new deal to swap patents with LCD TV maker Funai.

Funai, which makes TVs sold in the U.S. under the brands Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania, and Emerson, will gain access to Microsoft's exFAT file system, an enhanced version of the company's older FAT (file allocation table) used to store and organize data on a disk.

The exFAT (extended FAT) system supports much higher-capacity drives and devices than can FAT and will quickly save files onto SD cards, USB drives, and other portable gadgets. Microsoft sees it as the … Read more

Microsoft licenses another flash file format

Microsoft on Thursday said it has started licensing the technology behind another flash memory format.

The company announced a program to license out the Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) format, which is an updated version of the file allocation table format. Microsoft also licenses out that format, though its patents there have been the subject of contention, particularly since many distributions of Linux include the FAT formats.

The newer format, exFAT, can work on far larger-capacity devices than its predecessor--256 terabytes, as opposed to 32GB for FAT. It also allows for faster file saves on Secure Digital Extended Capacity cards … Read more