JP2003331236A - Portable electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable electronic device capable of shortening a self- diagnosis processing time even when memory capacity is increased. <P>SOLUTION: When an IC card is driven, validity check is performed respectively only to a region for storing a selected application program in a program memory shown by regional information and a region in a working memory corresponding to the selected application program, based on the regional information stored in a data memory. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has, for example, a rewritable non-volatile memory for storing data, and data is read from and written to this memory to selectively store data with the outside. The present invention relates to a portable electronic device such as an IC card that performs input / output, and more particularly to a portable electronic device compatible with a plurality of applications.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a rewritable nonvolatile memory as a portable electronic device and a CP for controlling the rewritable nonvolatile memory
A so-called IC card having a built-in IC chip having a control element such as a U (central processing unit) is used in various industrial fields.

In general, this type of IC card has a program memory that stores a control program for a control element and a plurality of application programs, and a working memory that temporarily holds processing data when the control element performs processing. And using commands and responses,
Data is input / output to / from an external device (IC card reader / writer).

[0004]

Recently, IC cards are
Due to the improvement of the memory integration efficiency technology and the following reasons, the memory capacity is increasing. (1) Program memory In order to reduce the types of IC chips of the developed IC card, a large number of application programs are written in one IC card, and only the necessary application program is selected at the time of issuing the card. Therefore, a large program memory area is essential. -Complicated control is required even for one application program, increasing the program memory area. (2) Working memory-Complicated encryption and calculations are required, and it is essential to increase the working memory area.

As described above, the memory capacity of the IC card tends to increase. However, the IC card is usually adapted to perform a self-diagnosis on the entire memory area by checking the validity of the program memory contents and the operation check of the working memory before use. Therefore, if the memory area is large, the self-diagnosis processing time significantly increases, and the following problems occur. -The IC card user has a long waiting time due to self-diagnosis processing. -Initialization of IC cards and increased work time for issuance will increase man-hours in the manufacturing process. In particular, if the number of IC cards to be initialized or issued reaches 100,000, the effect will be extremely large. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable electronic device that can reduce the self-diagnosis processing time even if the memory capacity increases.

[0006]

The portable electronic device of the present invention is divided into a plurality of areas, and at least one area of the plurality of areas is selectively used.
Memory, at least a second memory storing area information indicating a selected area of each area of the first memory, and a selected area of the first memory are accessed. In a portable electronic device that selectively inputs / outputs data to / from the outside when the portable electronic device is activated.
The self-diagnosis means for checking the validity of only the selected area of the first memory indicated by the area information based on the area information in the memory.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of a terminal device that handles an IC card as a portable electronic device according to this embodiment. This terminal device
C through the IC card 1 via the IC card reader / writer 2.
In addition to enabling connection to the control unit 3 composed of PU,
The control unit 3 includes a keyboard 4, a CRT display unit 5, and a printer 6.
It is configured by connecting.

The IC card 1 is, for example, held by the user at the time of purchasing a product, for collating the user with a personal identification number, for calculating service points based on the amount of the product purchased, and for accumulating data, and is shown in FIG. Is configured. That is, a control element (control unit) 1 such as a CPU
1, a program memory 12 as a first memory, a second
Data memory 13 as a memory (storage means) of the second
Working memory 14 as a memory (storage means) of
And a contact portion 15 for obtaining electrical contact with the IC card reader / writer 2,
Of these, the control element 11, the data memory 12, the working memory 13, and the program memory 14 are composed of one IC chip (or a plurality of IC chips) and are embedded in the IC card main body.

The program memory 12 stores a control program for the control element 11, a plurality of application programs, and the like, and is, for example, a mask ROM.
It is composed of a non-rewritable non-volatile memory that cannot be rewritten once it is written at the time of manufacturing the IC chip.

The data memory 13 is used to store various kinds of data, for example, an EEPROM (electrical.
It is composed of a rewritable nonvolatile memory such as an erasable program ROM) or FeRAM (ferroelectric RAM). The working memory 14 is a memory for temporarily holding processing data and the like when the control element 11 performs processing, and is composed of, for example, a rewritable volatile memory such as SRAM (static RAM).

FIG. 3 schematically shows the structure of the program memory 12. An OS program area 121 for storing an OS (operating system) program and an I / F (interface) program for communicating with an external device are shown in FIG. An I / F program area 122 to be stored, a plurality of applications, for example, a first application program area 123, a second application program area 124, and a third application program program in which programs of the first, second, and third applications are stored. Of the application program area 125 and a free area 126.

In this way, the IC card 1 is
The programs are stored in the program memory 12 so that all of the second and third applications can be used. However, actually, for example, the second program is used.
There is a case of only application In such a case, the second application program area 124 in which the programs of the second application are stored, and the OS program areas 121 and I in which the OS programs necessary for the operation of all the applications are stored.
The validity check is performed only on the I / F program area 122 in which the / F program is stored, and the other areas (the first application program area 123,
If the validity check is not performed for the third application program area 125 and the empty area 126), the validity check processing time of the program memory 12 can be significantly shortened.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the structure of the working memory 14, and includes a plurality (for example, three) of the first, second, and third application programs stored in the program memory 12, respectively. Area 141,1
42, 143 and an unused area 144, and the area to be used differs depending on each application. In this example, for example, the first application program uses the area 141, the second application program uses the area 142, and the third application program uses the area 143. The region 142 is, for example, a region obtained by adding a predetermined region 142a to the region 141, and the region 143 is, for example, a predetermined region 143a in the region 142.
It is the area which added.

As in the case of the program memory 12, all of the first, second and third applications can be used. For example, when only the second application is used, the second application is used. By performing the operation check only on the area 142 used by the application program, the operation check processing time of the working memory 14 can be significantly shortened.

Next, the self-diagnosis processing in this embodiment will be described. First, a preparatory process at the time of card initialization or issuance for self-diagnosis of the program memory 12 will be described. At the time of initialization or issuance of the IC card 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, in the first byte of the data memory 13, the necessary program memory area quantity n matching the contents issued this time is set to the program area check quantity designation byte. Set it to 131. For example, when only the second application program is selected as the application program used when operating the IC card 1, the number n of areas is set to "2". In this case, the OS program area 121 and the I / F program area 122 are one area.

Next, when the quantity n set in the program area check quantity designation byte 131 is "2", 2
The start addresses (area information) 132 and 134 and the stop addresses (area information) 133 and 135 of each area to be checked are set. For example, program 1 start address 13 shown in FIG.
2. The program 1 stop address 133 has an OS program area 121 and an I / F program area 122.
, The start address and the final address are stored, and the program 2 start address 134 and the program 2 stop address 135 store the start address and the final address of the second application program area 124 according to the above example. To be done. Next, set all bytes in the program area specified as above to 1
The value obtained by ORing each byte (however, carry is ignored) is used as the program area validity check byte 136.
Set as.

Next, a preparatory process at the time of card initialization or issuance for self-diagnosis of the working memory 14 will be described. Program memory 1 described above
As in the case of 2, when the IC card 1 is initialized or issued, as shown in FIG. 5, the working area check quantity designation byte 137 is set to the quantity n of the working memory area required for the contents issued this time. Next, when the quantity n set in the working area check quantity designation byte 137 is “1}, the start address 138 and the stop address 139 of one area to be checked are set. For example, the working shown in FIG. According to the above example, the start address of the area 142 of the working memory 14 is stored in the memory 1 start address 138, and the working memory 1 stop address 139 is stored.
According to the above example, the area 14 of the working memory 14
The final address of 2 is stored.

Next, the self-diagnosis processing for realizing the time reduction will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
When the IC card 1 is inserted and set in the IC card reader / writer 2, the IC card reader / writer 2 supplies the control element 11 of the IC card 1 with power, a clock signal, a reset signal and the like. When the control element 11 of the IC card 1 detects the change point of the reset signal from ON to OFF (step S1), the IC card reader / writer 2 sends an initial response signal (Answer to Reset: ATR) corresponding to the reset signal. (Step S2). Next, when the control element 11 receives a command from the IC card reader / writer 2 (step S3), it analyzes and processes the content of the received command (step S4).

When the control element 11 of the IC card 1 detects the change point of the reset signal from ON to OFF (step S1), the power supply check in the IC card 1 and the program memory 12 are performed simultaneously with the process of step S2. The self-diagnosis processing such as the validity check of (1) and the validity check of the working memory 14 is performed (step S5). And
The self-diagnosis processing result is output to the IC card reader / writer 2 as a response together with the result of the first command processing (step S3) after the ATR output in step S2 (step S6). Note that the self-diagnosis process of step S5 is performed before step S2, and the self-diagnosis process result is displayed in step S2 together with the ATR in the IC card reader /
You may make it output to the writer 2.

Next, the details of the self-diagnosis processing in step S5 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the voltage level and current check related to the power supply necessary for the IC card 1 to operate normally are performed (step S11). Next, the program memory 12
In order to check only each area of the working memory 14 related to the application used when the IC card 1 is operated, the program memory 12 written in the data memory 13 when the IC card 1 is initialized or issued is checked. The area information 132 to 135, the program area validity check byte 136, and the area information 138 and 139 of the working memory 14 are acquired (step S12).

Next, based on the obtained area information, only for the area in the program memory 12 in which the application program required for the selected application is stored, and for the OS program area 121 and the I / F program area 122. The validity check is performed (step S13), and the operation check is performed only on the area used by the selected application in the working memory 14 (step S14).

The self-diagnosis of the program memory 12 in step S13, that is, the method of confirming the correctness is as follows.
Specifically, it is performed as follows. When the validity of the program memory 12 is checked, the program area check quantity designation byte 131 arranged at the head of the data memory 13 is acquired, and according to the quantity n, the start address 132 and the stop address are arranged subsequently. In the case of 133 and n = 2, each information of the second start address 134 and stop address 135 is acquired. Thereby, the area information of the program memory 12 to be checked this time can be obtained.

Next, based on the acquired area information, an area of the program memory 12 in which an application program required for the selected application is stored, which is the second application program area 124 in this example,
Further, the OS program area 121 and the I / F program area 122 are logically ORed byte by byte (ignoring carry) and compared with the value of the program area validity check byte 136 in the data memory 13. . As a result of this comparison, if both are the same, the program memory 1
2 is regarded as having no change from the time of initialization or issuance, and is judged to be valid.

The self-diagnosis of the working memory 14, that is, the operation check method in step S14 is specifically performed as follows. When the operation check of the working memory 14 is performed, the working area check quantity designation byte 137 arranged at the head of the data memory 13 is acquired and, according to the quantity n, the start address 138 and the stop address 139 are arranged subsequently. To get. As a result, the area information of the working memory 14 to be checked this time can be obtained.

Next, based on the acquired area information, for example, only the area 142 used in the selected application of the working memory 14, in this example, the area 142,
After writing / reading the data “00hex”,
By writing / reading the data “FFhex”, it is confirmed whether or not the memory operates normally.

Next, when the self-diagnosis in steps S13 and S14 is completed, the self-diagnosis is performed on other predetermined parts (for example, the arithmetic unit) (step S15). When the self-diagnosis in step S15 is completed, the result of the self-diagnosis performed up to then is applied to the control element 1
1 (step S16), and the self-diagnosis process ends.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, self-diagnosis is performed only on the program memory area and working memory area required for the application selected during actual card operation, and during actual card operation. Since the self-diagnosis is not performed on the unused memory area that is not used, the self-diagnosis processing time can be shortened even for an IC card having a large memory capacity in recent years.

Further, as the memory size increases, the yield in production generally deteriorates. However, as in the present embodiment, self-diagnosis is performed only on the memory area of the application required during actual card operation, so that even if a defect (defect) is found in the unused memory area, the operation is Since there is no problem in, the yield can be improved.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a portable electronic device capable of shortening the self-diagnosis processing time even if the memory capacity increases.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a terminal device that handles an IC card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an IC card.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a configuration of a program memory.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a configuration of a working memory.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a method of storing area information of a memory area to be checked in a data memory.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a self-diagnosis process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating details of self-diagnosis processing in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... IC card (portable electronic device), 2 ... IC card reader / writer, 3 ... control unit, 4 ... keyboard, 5 ... display device, 6 ... printer, 11 ... control element (control unit), 12 ... program memory (First memory), 13
... data memory (second memory, storage means), 14 ... working memory, 15 ... contact part, 121 ... OS program area, 122 ... I / F program area, 123
... first application program area, 124 ... second application program area, 125 ... third application program area, 126 ... free area,
141, 142, 143 ... Area, 144 ... Unused area.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first memory which is divided into a plurality of areas, and at least one area of the plurality of areas is selectively used, and at least one of the areas of the first memory is selected. A second memory that stores area information indicating a different area, and a controller for accessing the selected area of the first memory, and selectively communicates with the outside. In a portable electronic device that inputs and outputs data, when the portable electronic device is activated, a selection of the first memory indicated by the area information is made based on the area information in the second memory. A portable electronic device comprising a self-diagnosis means for checking the validity of only an area. 2. The first memory comprises at least one of a non-rewritable nonvolatile memory and a volatile memory, and the second memory comprises a rewritable nonvolatile memory. The portable electronic device according to claim 1. 3. A program memory in which at least a plurality of application programs are stored, and an area corresponding to each of the plurality of application programs stored in the program memory and corresponding to the execution time of the application program are selectively used. A working memory including a plurality of areas, an area in which an application program selected from the plurality of application programs stored in the program memory is stored, and an area of the working memory corresponding to the selected application program. And executing a selected application program from among a plurality of application programs stored in the program memory,
A portable electronic device that has a control unit that performs a predetermined process using an area of the working memory corresponding to the application program and selectively inputs / outputs data to / from the outside. When the device is activated, based on the area information in the storage means, an area in which the selected application program of the program memory indicated by the area information is stored, and the area corresponding to the selected application program A portable electronic device comprising self-diagnosis means for checking the validity of each area of a working memory.