JPS62282393A - Ic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the reading and writing of data at high speed and to reduce the number of terminals by controlling the reading and writing to the memory of the respective data by a control circuit based on the input of a control signal. CONSTITUTION:The control circuit 7 controls the memory 6 according to the command of an external device. When an IC card 1 is connected to the external device, a power is supplied by the terminal 2C, a reset signal for initializing the control circuit 7 is inputted to the RST terminal of a control terminal 2B, a signal for instructing to read the contents of the memory 6 is inputted to the RD terminal, a signal for instructing the writing of the data in the memory 6 is inputted to the WR terminal and a signal indicating the meaning of the data on a data line 3A is inputted to the A/M terminal. The read data, the written data through the data terminal 2A and the data for designating the position on the memory 6 thereof are inputted and outputted to the memory 6 through the data line 3A.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention 3. Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an IC card that is connected to an external device and can exchange data with each other.

[Conventional technology]

Figure 4 shows, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-6491 and
1 is a front view showing a conventional IC card disclosed in Publication No. 0-3082. In the figure, 1 is an IC card, and 2 is an external connection terminal for connecting this IC card 1 to an external device.・Furthermore, FIG. 5 shows a block connection diagram of the IC module built into the conventional IC card 1 disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-3082, and in the figure, 3 indicates the IC
module, 4 is a microcomputer, 6 is a memory,
2 is an external connection terminal, which is a signal terminal 2a for data input/output;
It consists of a clock terminal 2b, a reset terminal 2c, and power terminals 2d and 2e.

FIG. 6 shows a block connection diagram of a conventional IC card circuit disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 59-229687. In the figure, 1 is an IC card with a built-in IC, 2a is a signal terminal, and 2
Similarly, e is a common terminal.

Note that FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of diphase encoding of the data signal in FIG. 6. Further, FIG. 8 shows a block connection of a conventional memory cartridge. In the figure, I
A indicates a memory cartridge, 2 indicates an external connection terminal, and 6 indicates a memory.

Next, the operation will be explained. In FIG. 5, first, the microcomputer 4 receives an instruction from an external device through the signal terminal 2a of the external connection terminals 2. Thereby, the microcomputer 4 performs an operation according to the specified command, such as reading data from the memory, and transmits the result to an external device through the signal terminal 2a. In this case, commands and data are transmitted between the IC card 1 and the external device through one signal terminal 2a. Therefore, transmission of a large amount of data is performed by a chronologically serial data signal train.

In FIG. 6, data input/output is also performed through the signal terminal 2a, and in this case, the signal terminal 2a serves both as a power supply terminal and a signal transmission terminal, thereby reducing the number of external connection terminals. According to this, as shown in FIG. 7, a time-series serial data signal train is weighted to the power supply voltage.

On the other hand, in the circuit shown in FIG. 8, the external connection terminals 2 include a plurality of data signal terminals, a plurality of address signal terminals indicating the memory location where data is stored, and a signal terminal for controlling the state of read or write, etc. have. According to this, the plurality of data signals have a unit of, for example, 8 bits or 16 bits, and this unit data signal is treated as a parallel signal, and indicates a read or write position in the memory 6 by an address signal.

Next, a read or write designation and its timing are given by a control signal, and data in the memory 6 is read or data is written into the memory 6. By performing this operation for each data unit, data in the memory 6 can be read or data can be written to the memory 6 for continuous data groups.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Since the conventional IC card 1 is configured as described above, if the data bits are transmitted serially in time between the IC card 1 and the reading device, it takes time to read out the required data. Furthermore, devices that transmit data bits in parallel require a large number of connection terminals for data addressing, which not only makes the device larger and more expensive, but also reduces the reliability of the contact of the terminals used for connection with external devices. descend. Furthermore, since the number of connection terminals varies depending on the capacity of the internal memory, there is a problem that standardization is not possible.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to speed up data reading and writing, reduce the number of terminals, make it compact, highly reliable, and inexpensive, as well as improve memory performance. The purpose is to obtain an IC card that can standardize the number of external connection terminals regardless of capacity.

[Means for solving problems]

An IC card according to the present invention has a plurality of data terminals that are connected to an external device and input and output data and data for specifying a memory location where the data is read and written, and a plurality of data terminals that are connected to the external device. and a plurality of control terminals for inputting and outputting control signals for instructing operations related to reading and writing, and a control circuit controls reading and writing of each of the data to and from the memory based on input of the control signals. This is what I did.

[Effect]

The control circuit in this invention includes a reset signal necessary for reading and writing data from a plurality of control terminals,
Control signals such as read/write instruction signals are input,
Based on these control signals, it acts to control input/output of a plurality of data from a plurality of data terminals and data specifying a location on the memory where these data are read/written.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1st
In the figure, 1 is an IC card, and 2 people are this IC card 1.
3A is a data line inside the IC card 1; 2B is a data line provided in the IC card 1;
is a control terminal for inputting a signal to control the data on this data line 3A, 3B is a control line inside the IC card 1, 2C is a power supply terminal that supplies power to the IC card 1, and 6 is an internal terminal of the IC card 1. A memory 7, which is a data storage element provided in the IC card 1, is a control circuit 8 that controls the memory 6 between an external device and the memory 6 in the IC card 1 according to commands from the external device.
Reference numeral 9 indicates a backup amplifier power supply that protects the data in the memo IJ 6 of the IC card 1 when the external power supply is cut off, and 9 indicates a backup control circuit that controls separation between the backup power supply 8 and the external power supply.

Further, FIG. 2 is a block connection diagram showing one embodiment of the control circuit 7. As shown in FIG. In the figure, 10 is a presettable counter circuit, and 11 is a command control circuit that controls the counter circuit 10 or the memory 6 by a signal from a control terminal 2B indicating the state of data at a data terminal 2A.

Next, the operation will be explained. First, the IC card 1 is connected to an external device via the terminals 2A, 2B, and 2C. By supplying power to the IC card 1 through the terminal 2C, the IC card 1 becomes operational. Next, the IC card 1 is connected to the external device via the control terminal 2B.
The control signal is human-powered. That is, a reset signal for setting the control circuit 7 to the initial state is input to the R3T terminal of the control terminal 2B, and a signal instructing to read the contents of the memory 6 provided in the IC card 1 is input to the RD terminal. A signal instructing to write data to the memory 6 is input to the WR terminal.
A signal indicating the meaning of the data on the data line 3A is input to the A/M terminal.

Next, when the data terminal 2A is connected to an external device, the IC
Data read from the card 1 or data written to the IC card 1, data specifying the location of each of these data on the memory 6, etc. are transmitted as multiple parallel data of 4 bits, 8 bits, 16 bits, etc. to the data line 3A.
The signal is input to and output from the memory 6 through the memory 6. That is, the control circuit 7 is activated by the reset signal input to the R3T terminal.
After the initial settings are made, the RD terminal, WR terminal and A/M
Each operating state is designated by an input signal from the terminal.

For example, the read mode is specified by a manual input of a read signal to the RD terminal, and the address specification mode is specified by a signal input to the A/M terminal, and then data specifying the first address of the data to be read is sent to the data terminal 2A. After receiving this in the control circuit 7, the read address of the memory 6 is designated. By doing this, TC card 1
Predetermined data is read from the internal memory 6, the read data is transmitted to the data terminal 2A, and is read by an external device.

When reading data following the first address, after specifying the A/M terminal to the memory 6 side, the intermittence of the read command signal is counted up sequentially by the counter circuit 10 built in the control circuit 7. Contents can be read out sequentially. On the other hand, writing to the memory 6 is performed by inputting a write signal to the control terminal 2B and an address signal input to the A/M terminal. First, set the starting address of the memory address to be written to data terminal 2.
A, thereby initializing the counter circuit built in the control circuit 7. Next, after giving the data to be written to the data terminal 2A, the data can be written to a predetermined position in the memory 6 in the IC card 1 by giving a write command signal to the WR terminal. Further, when writing is to be continued, sequential writing can be performed by intermittent writing command signals applied to the WR terminal.

In the above embodiment, the control circuit 7 is provided with a presettable counter circuit 1o, but
As shown in FIG. 3, the control circuit 7 may be provided with a program memory consisting of a microprocessor 4A, a read-only memory 4B, and a random access memory 4c, and the same effects as in the above embodiment can be obtained.

It is also possible to connect a plurality of IC cards 1 in parallel and selectively access one or more of them, in which case a card select signal may be applied to the control terminal 2B.

Furthermore, although the above embodiment describes the IC card 1, a memory device having a portable structure such as a cassette or cartridge containing an integrated circuit and memory may also be used, and the same effects as in the above embodiment can be achieved. .

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of data terminals are connected to an external device and input/output data for specifying data and a location on the memory where the data is read/written, and and a control terminal that is connected to input and output a control signal for instructing the reading and writing operations, and the control circuit is configured to control reading and writing of each of the data to the memory based on the control signal. Therefore, the number of connection terminals with external devices can be reduced, thereby increasing the reliability of the terminal connection state, and realizing a terminal connection method that is not affected by the size of the memory capacity. Further, this has the effect of standardizing the number of connection terminals and making mass production possible. moreover,
Since there are multiple data terminals, data can be transferred to and from external devices at high speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block connection diagram showing an IC card according to an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2 is a block connection diagram showing an embodiment of a control circuit of the invention, and FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the invention. Figure 4 is a front view of a conventional IC card, and Figure 5 is a diagram of a conventional IC card.
6 is a block connection diagram showing the inside of the card; FIG. 6 is a circuit block connection diagram showing the inside of a conventional integrated circuit device; FIG. 7 is a time chart showing data transmission codes of a conventional IC card or integrated circuit device; FIG. 8 is a block connection diagram showing the inside of a conventional IC memory cartridge. 1 is an IC card, 2A is a data terminal, 2B is a control terminal, 2C is a power supply terminal, 4 is a microcomputer,
4A is a microprocessor, 4B. 4C is a program memory, 6 is a memory, 7 is a control circuit, 10 is a presettable counter circuit, 11
is the command control circuit. In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts. Fig. 3 4A: My Flora Rosera+T 48.4C, Nibroburum Memory J Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 7 Fig. 8

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) A plurality of data terminals connected to an external device and inputting and outputting data and data for specifying a memory location where the data is read and written; An IC card comprising: a control terminal for inputting/outputting control signals for instructing the read/write operations; and a control circuit for controlling read/write of the data from/to the memory based on these control signals. (2) Specifying the memory location to read and write data is as follows:
2. The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the IC card is operated by a presettable counter circuit. (3) The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit comprises a command control circuit that controls a counter and a memory that can be preset by a control signal. (4) The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit comprises a microprocessor that interprets the meaning of the data and a program memory. (5) The IC card according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 3, wherein the memory is a battery-backed random access memory. (6) Read-only memory (EPROM) where the memory can be written electrically and erased all at once by other means.
An IC card according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 3, characterized in that: (7) Any one of claims 1, 2, and 3, wherein the memory is an electrically writable and electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM). IC card listed.