JPH01129378A - Card with expiration date - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the unauthorized use of a card passing validity by comparing the validity with an elapsing time in the card and stopping the function of the card by itself when the elapse of the validity is detected. CONSTITUTION:A validity measuring part 13 receives the data of a consuming time from a clock part 12 to compare with a previously designated expiration date. Consequently, when the consuming time is larger than a certain value (m), the decrease of the validity is informed to a user from a display part 14. In such a way, the validity is compared with the consuming time to consume the validity, and then, the validity measuring part 13 outputs an information erasing signal to erase the data in an information recording part 11. These processings are completely executed in the card. Thereby, even when any unauthorized work is applied externally of the card, the card passing the expiration data cannot be used nor illegally used with the information lost.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention provides an IC card, a memory card, a wireless card, etc.
The present invention relates to a card with a built-in functional element, and particularly relates to a card with a fixed expiration date.

(Prior Art) Personal identification processing plays an important role in banking services, information systems that manage access to personal information, or access to confidential storage locations.

Conventionally, a method has been adopted for this identification in which the employee is identified by a combination of a card on which personal information is registered and a password number. Further, in order to make the system more reliable, more advanced personal identification systems are being developed that use cards with built-in functional elements, such as IC cards, memory cards, wireless cards, and the like.

By the way, when converting a driver's license or passport into a card, for example, it is necessary to manage the expiration date.

In addition, when using speaker verification to identify individuals, it is necessary to have a voice dictionary in the card for verification, but since the characteristics of human voice usually change over time with age,
It is necessary to update the voice dictionary for verification every few years, and for this reason, the expiration date of the card is also required.

Therefore, conventionally, information regarding the expiry date of the card is stored inside the card, and the information regarding the expiry date is read out by a card reader and compared with the current time. If the expiration date has passed, the external device is prevented from accessing the card.

However, according to this method, data regarding the validity period stored inside the card is read out and the validity of the card is determined outside the card. By changing the circuit, it becomes possible to access the card, and the data inside the card that has passed its expiration date can be read out illegally, and by fraudulently modifying the electrodes of the card, a false expiration date can be created. There were security problems, such as the possibility of information being generated and the system being used illegally.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional card with a built-in functional element and an expiration date, information regarding the expiration date stored inside the card is read out and the validity or invalidity of the card is determined outside the card. As a result, there is a possibility that a card that has passed its expiration date may be used fraudulently, which poses a security problem.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to prevent cards that have passed their expiration date from being used illegally, and thereby provide a highly secure card with an expiration date. The purpose is to provide cards.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The card with an expiration date according to the present invention includes a pre-movement period storage means for storing the validity period of the card, and a period of time elapsed from the start of use of the card. a clock means for detecting the expiration of the period; a period expiration detection means for comparing the validity period and the elapsed time to detect that the elapsed time has exceeded the validity period; and function stopping means for bringing the functional elements into a non-functional state.

(Operation) According to the present invention, the validity period of the card stored inside the card is compared with the elapsed usage time generated inside the card, and if it is detected that the validity period has exceeded, the function of the functional element is automatically stopped. I'm trying to keep it that way. All of these processes are performed inside the card. Therefore, no matter what kind of illicit manipulation is performed on the outside of the card, a card that has passed its expiration date becomes unusable or loses its information, and cannot be used illicitly. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a card with an expiration date that has extremely high security even if the expiration date is exceeded.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a memory card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This memory card has an information recording section 1 in the card body 10.
1, a clock section 12, a valid period measuring section 13, a display section 14, and an I10 section 15.

The functional element storage unit 11 is a memory that stores information such as card user's personal data and keywords. The information recording section 11 also has a function of clearing the information stored therein upon input of an information erasing signal, which will be described later. The clock section 12 starts operating at the same time as the first writing of data from the outside, and counts predetermined clock pulses to measure the elapsed usage time of the card, which changes every moment, that is, I? ′
4. Sequentially output cost and time data. The validity period measurement unit 13 stores the validity period data written in advance through the 110 unit 15 in a non-rewritable state, and successively compares the stored validity period data with the consumption time data from the clock unit 12. When the consumption time data approaches the valid time or exceeds the valid time, the display unit 14 displays information to notify this.
In addition, when the consumed time exceeds the effective time, an information erasing signal is output to the information recording section. The display unit 14 receives a signal from the valid period measuring unit 13 and displays it when the consumed time approaches the valid period or exceeds the valid period.

As this display form, any form such as character display, blinking, color change, sound, etc. can be considered.

The 110 section 15 controls the transfer of data inside and outside the card, and transfers data via a data line between the information recording section 11 and an external device. Also, this 1
The 10 unit 15 has a function of providing expiration date data, which is the first data, to the expiration date measurement unit 13, outputting a data write signal W to the expiration date measurement unit 13, and providing a clock start signal to the clock unit 12. .

Next, the operation of the memory card configured in this way will be explained in a second manner.
This will be explained based on the flowchart shown in the figure.

First, in order to write data to a card on which nothing is written, a write signal R is manually applied to the card (Step 1
). This write signal is a clock start signal using the clock of the clock section 12 as a star, and when the data is written to the information recording section 11, the clock section 12 starts (step 22).

These processes allow the card to be used (step 23). The validity period measurement unit 13 receives data on the consumed time from the clock unit 12 and compares it with a prespecified expiration date. As a result, when the consumption time exceeds a certain value m, the display unit 14 notifies the user that the valid period has become shorter (step 26). For example, if the validity period is 3 years, m is set to about 2 years and 11 months. Therefore, when the expiration date is less than one month, the display unit 14 displays, for example, the number of days remaining to inform the user that the expiration date is short.

In this way, the valid period and the consumed time are compared, and when the valid period is used up, the valid period measuring section 13 outputs an information erasure signal to erase the data in the information recording section 11 (step 27). When the data is erased, the expiration date is displayed on the display section 14, and the card cannot be used.

According to the above embodiment, even if the card is no longer used after its validity period, the internal data will not be stolen even if no measures are taken such as using up the card. Additionally, unlike reading the expiration date with a card reader, data storage is controlled by hardware, making unauthorized use extremely difficult.

Furthermore, according to this embodiment, since the validity period data is stored as non-rewritable information, it is possible to prevent fraudulent acts such as rewriting the validity period.

Note that the expiration date may be set in advance using hardware, regardless of the external writing method.

Furthermore, according to the above embodiment, the display unit 14 also has a function to display this when the expiration date approaches or when the expiration date is exceeded, so that the user may inadvertently ignore the expiration date. This makes it possible to provide cards that are easier to use.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

For example, in the above embodiment, the information recording unit 1 is used as the function stopping means.
Although the method of erasing the information in No. 1 is used, a method of supplying an excess detection signal to the 110 section 15 and cutting off access to the outside may also be used. Furthermore, although the present invention was applied to a memory card in the above embodiment, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to an IC card equipped with an arithmetic processing function, a wireless card equipped with a transmitter inside, etc. do not have. When applied to a wireless card, a transmitting section may be provided in place of the section 110 in FIG. 1, and the function of this transmitting section may be stopped after the validity period has elapsed. In addition, various conventionally known methods can be used as appropriate for the clock, time measurement, data erasing, etc.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the validity period and the elapsed time are compared within the card, and when the validity period is detected to have passed, the card itself stops its function. This makes it possible to provide cards with expiration dates that are more secure than traditional methods.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a memory card according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the memory card. 11... Information recording section, 12... Clock section, 13...
Validity period measuring section, 14... Display section, 15... I10
Department. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 2

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) In a card with an expiration date that is configured with a built-in functional element in the card body and has a fixed expiration date, there is a validity period storage means that stores the validity period of the card, and the elapsed time from the start of use of the card is sequentially generated. a clock means for detecting the expiration of the period; a period expiration detection means for comparing the validity period and the elapsed time to detect that the elapsed time has exceeded the validity period; What is claimed is: 1. A card with an expiration date, characterized in that it is equipped with a function stopping means for bringing an element into a non-functioning state. (2) Claim 1, wherein the function stopping means is means for erasing information stored inside the functional element.
A card with an expiration date as stated in the section. (3) The card with an expiration date according to claim 1, wherein the function stopping means is a means for disabling access between the functional element and the outside. (4) The card with an expiration date according to claim 1, wherein the expiration date storage means irrevocably retains the expiration date once stored. (5) The period exceedance detection means indicates that the elapsed time has approached the valid period and/or that the elapsed time has exceeded the valid period. card with expiry date.