JP2001319213A - Medium and system for personal authentication - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a personal authentication medium, which is automatically turned into an unusable state. SOLUTION: When ordinarily using a card 2, the card is taken out of a dedicated case, used within a short time and immediately returned into the dedicated case. In this case, since a driving voltage is supplied from a charging/ discharging circuit 8 to a liquid crystal display part 4, a non-transparent state is maintained. When the card 2 is away from the dedicated case for a long time because of a loss or robbery, no driving current is supplied from the charging/discharging circuit 8 to the liquid crystal display part 4 and the display part becomes transparent. As a result, a character or pattern printed on a card base material for showing that the card 2 is unusable is made visible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a personal authentication medium such as a credit card, a commuter pass, an identification card, and a personal organizer, and more particularly to a personal authentication medium having a function for preventing unauthorized use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, as a means for preventing unauthorized use of a credit card, for example, there has been one described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-79565. This is a credit card
C, a solar cell, and a liquid crystal display unit. When a predetermined password is input, the password is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit. When a numerical value other than the predetermined password is input, what is displayed on the display unit is displayed. When a numerical value other than the predetermined password is continuously input several times, the display unit is locked and the credit card cannot be used.

[0003]

The above-mentioned means for preventing unauthorized use of a conventional credit card requires input of an incorrect numerical value in order to make it unusable, and does not automatically make it unusable. Did not.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a personal authentication medium that automatically becomes unusable.

[0005]

A personal authentication medium according to the present invention comprises a password storage circuit, an unauthorized use pattern formed on a base material, and a display section arranged on the pattern, and is separated from a special case. After a certain period of time,
The display unit is transparent, and the pattern is displayed. With this configuration, if the state away from the special case continues for a certain period of time, the unauthorized use pattern is automatically displayed, and the state becomes unusable.

Also, a password storage circuit, a logic circuit for reading a password from the password storage circuit and transmitting the password to an external device, and a charge / discharge which is charged by the special case and which can supply a voltage to the logic circuit for a certain period of time. And a circuit. With this configuration, when the state away from the special case continues for a certain period of time, the logic circuit does not operate, and the password is not transmitted to the external device.

[0007] Further, a charge / discharge circuit charged by a special case and capable of supplying a voltage for a certain period of time, a reader password memory circuit for reading by an external device,
A memory for storing a password for charging for authentication at the time of charging by the special case, wherein the password for the reader is rewritten when the output voltage of the charge / discharge circuit falls below a certain value. With this configuration, if the state away from the special case continues for a certain period of time, the output voltage of the charge / discharge circuit drops below a certain value, and the password for the reader is rewritten.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a personal authentication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the card 2 in FIG. The card 2 is a card designed to be used by a person, that is, a person at the time of authentication.

As shown in FIG. 1, the personal authentication system comprises a special case 1 and a card 2. The special case 1 includes an input unit 3, a password storage circuit 5,
A logic circuit 7, a battery 9, a power supply terminal T1, a signal terminal T3, and a ground (hereinafter, GND) terminal T5 are provided. The card 2 has a liquid crystal display 4, a power terminal T2, a signal terminal T4, and a GND terminal T6.

The input unit 3 of the special case 1 includes various keys, switches, and a liquid crystal display element used when the user operates the special case 1. The password storage circuit 5 is a circuit for storing a password input from the input unit 3. The logic circuit 7 is a circuit for performing various operations and transmitting and receiving signals to and from the card 2. The battery 9 includes the circuits of the special case 1 and the power supply terminal T1.
Is a power supply that supplies power to the

As shown in FIG. 2, a circuit section 6 is provided inside the card 2. The circuit unit 6 includes a charge / discharge circuit 8
, A power switch 10, a logic circuit 12, and a password storage circuit 14 composed of a nonvolatile memory. The power terminal T2 and the circuit section 6 are connected by a power line, the signal terminal T4 and the logic circuit 12 are connected by a signal line, and the GND terminal T6 and the circuit section 6 are connected by a GND line. It is connected.

The logic circuit 12 performs various operations and a special case 1
This is a circuit for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the. The power switch 10 supplies the power supplied from the battery 9 of the special case 1 to the power line via the power terminals T1 and T2 to the logic circuit 12 and the password storage circuit 14. Also, the logic circuit
Under the control of 12, the power supply to the charge / discharge circuit 8 is turned on / off. The password storage circuit 14 is a circuit for storing a password unique to the card 2. This password is read from the password storage circuit 5 of the special case 1, and is input via the logic circuit 7, the signal terminal T3, the signal terminal T4, the signal line, and the logic circuit 12. The charge / discharge circuit 8 includes a capacitor, and is charged by the voltage supplied to the power supply line when the power supply switch 10 is turned on. After the charging is completed, the liquid crystal display unit 4 is kept in a fixed time (a time during which the electric charge is held in the capacitor: for example, 30).
Minute), a driving voltage can be supplied.

As shown in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal display section 4 has a printing surface laminated on a card base material, and further has an LCD thereon.
Are laminated. And on the printing side,
A character or pattern indicating that the card 2 cannot be used,
For example, "This card cannot be used"
A pattern such as "x" is printed. And LC
D is opaque while the driving voltage is being supplied, so that characters and patterns on the printing surface cannot be seen. However, when the driving voltage is not supplied, D becomes transparent and becomes visible.

Next, regarding the operation of the personal authentication system configured as described above, [1] Initial setting of a special case,
[2] Initial setting of card, [3] When using card, [4]
The description will be made in the order of when the card is returned.

[1] Initial Setting of Special Case FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the initial setting operation of the special case 1. The initial setting operation of the special case 1 is an operation for registering the card 2 that can be used in combination with the special case 1. Then, the user sets the special case 1 to the case initial setting mode using the input unit 1 of the special case 1, and the processing in FIG. 4 is started.

When the special case 1 enters the initial setting mode,
The logic circuit 7 sets the card number to # 1, and the card number # 1 is displayed on the liquid crystal screen of the input unit 3 (step A1). When the user inputs a password (step A2), the input password is associated with the card number and stored in the password storage circuit 5 (step A3). If there is only one card to be registered, the user instructs the end from the input unit 1 (YE in step A4).
S) End the process. When registering the second card continuously (NO in step A4), the card number is incremented by "1" to # 2 (step A5), and the process returns to step A2. Thereafter, by performing the same processing, a plurality of cards can be continuously registered.

In the above description, the card number is automatically initialized to # 1, and is incremented by "1". However, the card number may be input by the user. Although the special case 1 is capable of registering a plurality of card numbers and a plurality of passwords corresponding to the card numbers, it may be configured such that only one password can be registered without providing a card number.

[2] Initial Setting of Card FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the initial setting operation of the card 2. The initial setting operation of the card 2 is an operation for writing a unique password to the card 2.
Then, the user uses the input unit 1 of the special case 1 to
When the special case 1 is set to the card initial setting mode, the processing in FIG. 5 is started.

When the special case 1 enters the initial setting mode,
The logic circuit 7 displays a message prompting the user to mount the card on the liquid crystal screen of the input unit 3, and the user mounts the card (step B1). When the card is inserted, the correspondence list between the card numbers (# 1 to #n) registered in the password storage circuit 5 and the password is displayed by the logic circuit 7 (step B2). Is selected and input (step B3). The logic circuit 7
The selected card number is transmitted from the signal terminal T3 together with the corresponding password. The card number and the password are stored in the password storage circuit 14 via the signal terminal T4 of the card 2 and the logic circuit 12 (step B4). If there is only one card in which the password is to be written, the user instructs the end from the input unit 1 (YES in step B5) to end the process. If the password is to be written after the second card (NO in step B5), a message prompting the user to install the next card is displayed. Insert the second card (step B1), and enter the card number. The card number of the second card is selected by looking at the correspondence list between the password and the password (steps B2 and B3). Hereafter, by performing the same processing,
A password can be continuously written to a plurality of cards.

In the above description, different passwords are written on a plurality of cards. However, the same password may be written on a plurality of cards. When the special case 1 is configured so that only one card can be registered, the process is automatically executed simply by inserting the card.

[3] Operation During Use Normally, the card 2 and the special case 1 are mounted, and the special case 1 is fixed to clothes. Therefore, the possibility that the card 2 is lost together with the special case 1 is low. When the card 2 is normally used, the card 2 is taken out of the special case 1 and used within a short period of time in which the above-mentioned fixed time does not elapse, and is immediately returned to the special case 1. In this case, the driving voltage is supplied from the charge / discharge circuit 8 to the liquid crystal display unit 4, so that the opaque state is maintained. Therefore, characters or patterns indicating that the card 2 cannot be used cannot be seen.

On the other hand, when the card 2 is lost or stolen away from the special case 1 for a long time (exceeding the above-mentioned fixed time), the drive voltage is not supplied to the liquid crystal display unit 4 from the charge / discharge circuit 8, It is transparent. Therefore,
Characters and patterns indicating that the card 2 cannot be used are visible. If the card is used improperly in this state, the other party will know that the card is improperly used, so that the card cannot be used illegally.

[4] At Card Recovery FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation at card recovery. Returning the card means returning the used card to the special case. And this operation is to put the card 2 in the special case 1
It is started by attaching to.

When the card 2 is mounted on the special case 1, the card number is first read from the password storage circuit 14 and transmitted to the special case 1 (step C1). When receiving the card number, the special case 1 reads out the password corresponding to the card number from the password storage circuit 5 and transmits the password to the card 2. The card 2 receives the password (step C2), and determines whether or not the password matches the password stored in the password storage circuit 14 (step C3). If they match, the power switch 10 is turned on. As a result, a charging current flows from the battery of the special case 1 to the charging / discharging circuit 8 through the power terminal T1, the power terminal T2 of the card 2, the power line, and the power switch 10, and the capacitor is charged (step C4). If the passwords do not match, the process ends without charging.

When the card number is not stored in the password storage circuit 14 of the card 2 (the exclusive cases 1 and 1).
(When only two cards 2 are set, or when the same password is set for multiple cards)
Has no step C1.

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, when the card 2 has been away from the special case 1 for a long time due to loss or theft, the liquid crystal display unit 4 becomes transparent. Since characters and patterns indicating that the card 2 cannot be used are visible, the card 2 cannot be used illegally.

(Second Embodiment) A personal authentication system according to a second embodiment of the present invention is applied to a card to be read by a machine, and when a state away from a special case continues for a certain period of time. It is configured to be unreadable. Note that the fixed time does not need to be the same as the fixed time in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an internal block diagram of a card according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, components corresponding to those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those used in FIG.

The card 2 in the present embodiment is configured so that the charge / discharge circuit 8 of the circuit section 6 supplies a voltage to the logic circuit 12. Further, the liquid crystal display section is not provided. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. The configuration of the special case is the same as that of FIG.

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the card reader according to the present embodiment. Card reader 21
Are input unit 23, password storage circuit 25, and logic circuit 27
, Power supply 29, power supply terminal T7, signal terminal T9, GND
And a terminal T11. Each component of the card reader 21 has the same configuration as the component of the same name in the special case 1. The power supply 29 has a function of rectifying an AC power supply.

Next, the operation of the personal authentication system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. Here, the initial setting of the special case 1, the initial setting of the card 2, and the operation at the time of returning the card are the same as those of the first embodiment, and thus the operation at the time of using the card will be described.

At the time of normal use of the card 2, the card 2 is taken out of the special case 1 and read by the card reader 21 within a short period of time during which the above-mentioned predetermined time does not elapse. Card 2
Transmits the password stored in the password storage circuit 14 to the card reader 21 via the logic circuit 12, the signal line, and the signal terminal T4. The card reader 21 authenticates the card 2 by determining whether or not a password that matches the received password is present in the password storage circuit 25. At this time, since the power supply voltage is supplied to the logic circuit 12 from the charge / discharge circuit 8, the logic circuit 12 can perform the above operation.

On the other hand, if the card 2 is left for a long time from the special case 1 due to loss or theft, the power supply voltage is not supplied to the logic circuit 12 from the charge / discharge circuit 8. 12 becomes inoperable. Therefore, even if the card 2 is read by the reader 21, the password cannot be read, indicating that the card 2 has been illegally used.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, when the card 2 has been away from the special case 1 for a long time due to loss or theft, the password in the card 2 is read out. Therefore, the card 2 cannot be used illegally.

(Third Embodiment) A personal authentication system according to a third embodiment of the present invention is applied to a card to be read by a machine. In this case, the password is rewritten.

FIG. 9 is an internal block diagram of a card according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, components corresponding to those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those used in FIG.

In the card 2 according to the present embodiment, the circuit section 6 detects the voltage of the charge / discharge circuit 8 and notifies the logic circuit 12 that the voltage has dropped below a certain value.
And a password storage circuit for charging 18 composed of a nonvolatile memory and a password storage circuit 20 for a reader composed of a nonvolatile memory. Further, the liquid crystal display section is not provided. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. The configuration of the special case is the same as that of FIG.

When the logic circuit 12 is notified by the voltage detection circuit 16 that the voltage of the charge / discharge circuit 8 has fallen below a certain value, that is, that the state away from the special case has continued for a certain period of time, the logic circuit 12 The password stored in the password storage circuit 20 is rewritten with another password. Note that the fixed time does not need to be the same as the fixed time in the first embodiment or the second embodiment.

Next, regarding the operation of the personal authentication system configured as described above, [1] Initial setting of a special case,
[2] Initial setting of card, [3] When using card, [4]
The description will be made in the order of when the card is returned.

[1] Initial Setting of the Special Case The initial setting operation of the special case 1 is basically the same as that of the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. 4, and therefore, differences will be described. In the present embodiment, since the card 2 has two types of passwords, that is, a charging password and a reader password, two types of passwords are set in the password storage circuit 5 of the special case 1 at the time of initial setting. At this time, the charging password and the reader password may have the same content or different content. Processing is easier if the contents are the same.

[2] Initial Setting of Card The initial setting operation of the card 2 is basically the same as that of the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5, and therefore, differences will be described. In the present embodiment, the charging password is written in the charging password storage circuit 18 of the card 2, and the reader password is written in the reader password storage circuit 20. At this time, the charging password and the reader password may have the same content or different content. Processing is easier if the contents are the same.

[3] At the time of using the card When the card 2 is normally used, the card 2 is taken out of the special case 1 and read by the card reader 21 within a short period of time during which the above-mentioned fixed time does not elapse. The card reader 21
The password stored in the reader password storage circuit 20 in the card 2 is read via the logic circuit 12, the signal line, and the signal terminals T4 and T9, and whether or not there is a matching password in the password storage circuit 25 is determined. By making the determination, the card 2 is authenticated. In this case, since the password stored in the reader password storage circuit 20 was written at the time of initial setting, the card reader 21 can confirm that the card reader 21 is not illegally used.

On the other hand, when the card 2 has been away from the special case 1 for a long time due to loss or theft, the password stored in the reader password storage circuit 20 has been rewritten. Therefore, the reader 21 can determine that the card 2 has been rewritten by reading the password, and can determine that the card 2 has been illegally used.

[4] At the time of returning the card The operation at the time of returning the card 2 is basically the same as that of the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the charge / discharge circuit 8 in the card 2
Then, the password stored in the reader password storage circuit 20 is read, and if the password has been rewritten, the original password before rewriting is written again. The original password may be overwritten without reading the reader password, that is, regardless of whether or not the password is rewritten.

As described above, according to the third embodiment of the present invention, when the card 2 has been away from the special case 1 for a long time due to loss or theft, the password in the card 2 is rewritten. Therefore, the card 2 cannot be used illegally.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a card. However, the present invention is not limited to a card, and can be applied to a notebook, for example.
Further, in the above description, the initial setting of the card is performed using the special case, but a dedicated device for initial setting may be used.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention, a personal authentication medium having an excellent effect that an unauthorized use pattern is automatically displayed and disabled when a state away from a special case continues for a certain period of time. To provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a personal authentication medium which has an excellent effect that the password is not transmitted to an external device when the state away from the special case continues for a certain period of time.

Further, the present invention provides a personal authentication medium having an excellent effect that the password for the reader is rewritten when the state away from the special case continues for a certain period of time, thereby making the reader unusable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a personal authentication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the card in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a liquid crystal display unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an initial setting operation of a special case in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining an initial setting operation of the card in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an operation at the time of card return in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an internal block diagram of a card according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an internal block diagram of a reader according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an internal block diagram of a card according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Special case 2 Card 4 Liquid crystal display part 5, 14, 25 Password storage circuit 7, 12, 27 Logic circuit 8 Charge / discharge circuit 9 Battery 10 Power switch 16 Voltage detection circuit 18 Charging password storage circuit 20 Reader password storage circuit 21 Card reader

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A password storage circuit, an unauthorized use pattern formed on a base material, and a display unit disposed on the pattern, wherein when a state away from the exclusive case continues for a certain period of time, the display unit A personal authentication medium, which is transparent and displays the unauthorized use pattern. 2. The personal authentication medium according to claim 1, further comprising a charge / discharge circuit charged by a special case and capable of supplying a voltage to the display unit for a certain period of time. 3. The personal authentication medium according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is formed of a liquid crystal. 4. A password storage circuit, a logic circuit for reading a password from the password storage circuit and transmitting the password to a reader, and charging / discharging which is charged by the special case and can supply a voltage to the logic circuit for a certain time. A personal authentication medium characterized by comprising a circuit. 5. The charging / discharging circuit according to claim 1, wherein the charging of the charging / discharging circuit is performed when the password received from the special case and the password stored in the password storage circuit match when mounted in the special case. Claim 3
Or the personal authentication medium described in 4. 6. A storage device for a password for a reader for reading by a reader, and a storage circuit for a password for charging for authentication at the time of charging by a special case, wherein an output voltage of the charging / discharging circuit is equal to or lower than a predetermined value. 6. The personal authentication medium according to claim 5, wherein the password for the reader is rewritten when the password is lowered. 7. The charging of the charging / discharging circuit when the charging password received from the special case matches the charging password stored in the password storage circuit when the battery is mounted in the special case. 7. The personal authentication medium according to claim 6, wherein the password for the reader is returned to a password before rewriting. 8. A personal authentication system having a personal authentication medium and a special case of the personal authentication medium, wherein the personal authentication medium is charged by a password storage circuit and the special case, and a voltage can be supplied for a certain period of time. A charging / discharging circuit, and charging the charging / discharging circuit when the password received from the dedicated case matches the password stored in the password storage circuit when the device is mounted in the dedicated case. The personal case is characterized in that, when the personal authentication medium is mounted, the personal case transmits a password to the personal authentication medium and supplies a voltage. system. 9. The personal authentication medium includes a reader password storage circuit for reading by the reader, and a charging password storage circuit for authenticating at the time of charging by the special case. When the voltage drops below a certain value, the password for the reader is rewritten, and when attached to the special case, the charging password received from the special case matches the charging password stored in the storage circuit. 9. The personal authentication system according to claim 8, wherein when the charging is performed, the charging / discharging circuit is charged, and the password for the reader is returned to the password before rewriting.