JPH03187794A - Ic memory card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To preserve a game content and to restart a game by reading preserved data by incorporating a mask ROM and an EEPROM as an IC memory, and providing a controller for preventing concurrent operation of the ROM and the EEPROM. CONSTITUTION:An IC memory card 1 places a mask ROM 2 and an EEPROM 3 on a plastic board made of ABS resin, etc. Many external terminals 4 are connected to the connector of a pate body. The ROM 2 and the EEPROM 3 are connected to the terminals 4 through printed wirings, and prevented from being concurrently operated by a controller 5. Since the controller 5 is provided, even if a game is interrupted on the way, the content of a game at that time point is preserved in the EEPROM 3. If the game is desired to be restarted, the game can be continued by reading data. Further, since a cell is not required, there is no fear of erasing the data due to consumption of the cell.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an IC memory card with a built-in IC (integrated circuit) memory, and in particular to a mask ROM (read-only memory) that stores fixed data of a game program. BEPROM (Electrically Erasable Memory) is used to save the game contents during the game.
and programmable read-only memory)
Regarding an IC memory card with a built-in.

(Prior art and its section wi) In recent years, IC memory cards with built-in IC memory have been used for games, but the content of game software has become more complex, and it takes from one week to one month to finish one game. There are things that require In this case, the contents of the game up to that point are temporarily saved during the game, and when the game is started again, the saved data is read out and the game is restarted. For this reason, it is conventionally known to use a memory such as SRAM (static random access memory) that can be written to and read at any time, but in this case, a battery is installed inside the card to retain the stored data. This required a built-in card, which not only made the structure of the card complicated and expensive, but also caused problems with data storage reliability, such as data loss due to battery consumption or poor contact.

(Means for Solving the Problem) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional points, and includes:
An IC memory card that has an IC memory and an external terminal connected to the IC memory, and has a mask R as the IC memory.
In addition to incorporating OM and EBPROM, the mask RO
By providing a control circuit that prevents M and EEPROM from operating at the same time, it is possible to save the game contents up to that point during the game and restart the game by reading the saved data. It is something.

(Example) The present invention will be described below based on the example shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the IC memory card of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the operation of the IC memory card of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the operation of the IC memory card of FIG. 3.

As shown in a plan view in FIG. 1, the IC memory card 1 of the present invention has a mask ROM 2 and an EBPROM 3 mounted on a plastic substrate such as ABS resin. Reference numeral 4 denotes a large number of external terminals, which are connected to connectors on the main body of the game machine.

Mask ROM2 and EBPROM3 are printed wiring (
It is connected to the external terminal 4 via the illustrated path), and
The control circuit 5 prevents the mask ROM 2 and EBPROM 3 from operating at the same time.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the operation of the IC memory card 1 shown in FIG. 1, and the operation will be explained in detail based on FIG.

When the IC memory card 1 is connected to the game machine main body via the external terminal 4, data is normally read out by specifying an address with the mask ROM 2.
The game is displayed on the display device and the game progresses, but
When the game is interrupted in the middle and the game content at the time of interruption is desired to be saved, a signal for data saving is output from the game machine main body to A19 and CB. A19 and C
E is connected to the control circuit 5, and the mask R is connected to A.
NAN so that “L” is input to 19 and “L” is input to CE.
A control circuit 5 composed of two D gates is provided.

When it is desired to save data in this way, it is possible to switch between the mask ROM 2 and the EBPROM 3 from the game machine main body, and the data is input to the F and EPROM 3 and the desired data is saved. Furthermore, if it is desired to restart the game, a signal for reading data may be input to the control circuit 5 in the same manner as described above, and the stored data may be read from the data circuit of the EBPROM 3. In this way, the mask RO
M2 and EBPROM3 do not operate simultaneously by the control circuit 5, and store the contents of the game at the time of interruption into EBPR.
Can be saved to or read from OM3.

In the above case, the time from when the game machine main unit outputs a signal requesting data until the game machine main body reads the data is tl, the access time of the control circuit 5 is t2, and the access time of the EBPROM 3 is t3. Then,
In order to satisfy t1≧t2+t3, it is necessary to use EBPROM3 having a high-speed access time.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an IC memory card 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which two mask ROMs 2 and one E
A BPROM 3 is mounted, and an EBPROM 3 having a slow access time, unlike those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, is used.

The access time of the EBPROM 3 is slow compared to that of the game machine itself, so the data that should be output from the EBPROM 3 is slow after the game machine outputs a signal requesting data and before the data is read. is not determined, and the data cannot be read correctly.

Therefore, a latch (flip-flop) circuit is used as the control circuit 5, and input/output to and from the EBPROM 3 is performed through this circuit. A latch (flip-flop) circuit maintains the state of the input signal and continues outputting it under certain conditions.
Even if the access time of the BPROM 3 is slower than the access time of the game machine itself, signals can be input and output in accordance with the access time of the EBPROM 3.

To read data from the EBPROM 3, for example, signals input to address signals A5 to AIO are set to an accumulator, and data is written to address C00OIH by an STA command. Data is latched in the flip-flop circuit by a signal output from the decoder IC, and data, that is, address signals A5 to AIO, to the EBPROM 3 is input. Similarly, for the signals AO to A4, CE, OB, and WE, by issuing a write command to number C00OOH, EB
Input to PROM3.

When a read command is issued to the address of the EBPROM 3, data is output from the EBPROM 3, and the data latched in the flip-flop circuit can be read.

Writing to the EBPROM 3 may be performed in the same manner as described above.

In this way, even in the block circuit diagram of Fig. 4,
Similar to the one in FIG. 2, the control circuit 5 controls the mask ROM2.
The contents of the game at the time of interruption can be saved in or read from the EBPROM 3 without the EBPROM 3 and the EBPROM 3 operating at the same time.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the mask ROM and the EEPR
A control circuit is provided to prevent the OM and OM from operating at the same time, so even if the game is interrupted, the game contents at that point will be saved in the EBPROM, and when you want to resume the game, the contents of the game will be saved from the EEPROM at the point of interruption. By loading the data, you can continue playing the game from where you left off. Moreover, since the data is stored in the EEPROM and no batteries are required, the structure is simple and there is no risk of data loss due to battery consumption or poor contact.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the IC memory card of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the operation of the IC memory card of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the operation of the IC memory card of FIG. 3. In FIG. 1, 1 is an IC memory card, 2 is a mask ROM, 3 is an EEPROM, 4 is an external terminal, and 5 is a control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An IC memory card having an IC memory and an external terminal connected to the IC memory, which includes a built-in mask ROM and an EEPROM as the IC memory, and the mask R.
An IC memory card characterized by being provided with a control circuit that prevents an OM and an EEPROM from operating at the same time.