JPS6168681A - Portable medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To re-use memory which is full of data by recording new data in a recording area filled with the oldest data when the recording capacity of data memory is fully occupied. CONSTITUTION:When transaction data is inputted through a key-board 12, a CPU11 outputs transaction data and date data to CPU3, and checks whether or not a data memory 4 has an idle area. When the data memory 4 is full according to the checked result, the CPU3 reads out the date data at every datum in the data memory 4 from a date data recording area 4b, judges (retrieves) the oldest data and records the current transaction data and date data in a transaction data recording area 4a and date data recording area 4b where the oldest data is stored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a portable medium such as an IC card comprising, for example, a CPU1 data memory.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] Recently, IC cards have been developed as memory cards for recording data and are beginning to be put into practical use. This IC card has a built-in microcomputer (CPtJ), data memory constituted by ROM or PROM, and the like. However, since the above-mentioned cards employ ROM or PROM as the memory element, they have the disadvantage that data once written cannot be rewritten, and once the data memory is full, the card becomes disposable. This problem can be solved by employing an electrically transformable EEFROM as a memory element. However, in IC cards that use EEPROM,
When the data memory becomes full, the problem arises as to how to process the recorded data. That is, it is necessary to review the data in the data memory and determine whether it is necessary or not before updating the data, which is very complicated.

[Object of the Invention] This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to constantly store new data in the data memory without any special operations, and to prevent the data memory from becoming full. The aim is also to provide reusable and portable media.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adds data indicating the recording order when recording data to a data memory, and when the recording capacity of the data memory is full, new data is recorded. In this case, the oldest data is determined from the data indicating the recording order of each data, and the new data is recorded in the recording area of the oldest data.

[Embodiment of the Invention] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, 1 is an IC card as a portable medium. This IC card 1 has a connection section 2 on its surface.
are provided, for example, a plurality of terminals 2a,...2
It is composed of h. Terminal 2a is for operating power supply voltage (+5V), terminal 2b is for grounding, terminal 2C is for clock signal, terminal 2d is for reset signal, terminal 2e~
2Q is for data input/output, and terminal 2h is for power supply voltage (+21V) for data writing.

Also, inside the IC card 1, as shown in FIG.
unit) 3, control program, password (e.g. 4
It is composed of a data memory 4 composed of an EEPROM, an interface circuit 5, a RAM 6 for data processing, and a password verification unit 7, in which data and the like (digits) and data are recorded.

In the data memory 4, as shown in FIG. 3, transaction data and transaction date and time data (data indicating the recording order) for each transaction are recorded in a transaction data recording area 4a and a date and time data recording area 4b, respectively. It has become so.

When the data memory 4 is full when recording data to the data memory 4, the CPU 3 determines the oldest data based on the date and time data for each data in the data memory 4, and writes new data into the data area along with the date and time data. ,
It is designed to be recorded. Each of the above parts is composed of an IC chip and is provided on one substrate. Further, the interface circuit 5 and the connection section 2 are wired. The password verification section 7 verifies whether the password supplied from the outside and the password in the data memory 4 match.

As shown in FIG. 4, the PIN input section 41 includes a numeric keypad 42 for inputting a PIN, a correction key 43 that is inserted when making a correction during the password input, and digits (of the PIN) input using the numeric keypad 41. It is composed of an input digit number display section 45 that displays the number, a password input display 46 that indicates when the password is input, and a password error display 47 that reports an error in the password.
It is designed to be connected by. The input digit number display section 45 is composed of, for example, four LEDs, and the LED lights up according to the input digit number.

5 and 6 show the configuration of an IC card handling machine 10 as a terminal according to the present invention. This IC card handling 1!110 is installed in a general store. In other words, 11 is the CPU that controls the whole
(central processing unit), 12 is a keyboard for inputting data, 13 is a CRT display device, and 14 is a ROM (ROM) in which a control program is stored.
15 is a RAM (random access memory) in which data is stored, 16 is a dot printer to which various print data are output, and 17 is a floppy disk 19 inserted from the floppy disk insertion 018. a floppy disk device 20 for storing and reproducing data;
Alternatively, numeral 41 is an IC card reading/writing section for writing data into the memory, and a password input section for the customer to input a password. The IC card reading/writing section 20 and the password input section 41 are for operation by the customer.

The IC card reading/writing section 20 is connected to the IC card handling section 1.
0 main body through a cable 22. That is, as shown in FIG.
A transport path 31 that transports the IC card 1 inserted from 1
is provided.

On this transport bus 31, rotatable transport rollers 3 are positioned so as to sandwich the IC card 1 from above and below when transporting it.
2 are provided in pairs. The pair of transport rollers 32 are provided along the transport bus 31 at equal intervals. Each of these conveyance rollers 3
The distance from the center of the card 2 to the center of the adjacent transport roller 32 has the width dimension in the card transport direction. Therefore, the transport path 31 of the IC card 1 is
stipulated by.

Further, the CP in the IC card 1 is placed on the transport guide 33.
A reader/writer 34 is arranged to exchange data with U3. This reading/writing device 34 is electrically connected to the connecting section 2.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. For example, now customers can use IC cards! The transaction IC card 1 is inserted into the card insertion slot 21 of 110 (STI). Then, the IC
The card 1 is electrically connected to the reading/writing device 34 through the connecting section 2 .

Next, the CPU 11 uses the CRT display device 13 to display [
Please enter your PIN number.'' At the same time, the PIN input display 46 is turned on (Sr2>. In response to this guidance, the customer enters his PIN number using the numeric keypad 42 (Sr3).

In response to this input, the CPU II lights up the LED of the input digit number display section 42 corresponding to the input digit number.

Thereby, the customer confirms the number of digits of the password being inputted on the input digit number display section 42. When the input of the customer's PIN number is completed, a signal corresponding to the input PIN number and a signal indicating the handling machine are sent from the CPU 11 to the C
Supplied to PLI3. Thereby, the CPU 3 stores the supplied customer's password in the RAM 5. Then,
The CPU 3 causes the password checking section 7 to verify the entered password in the RAM 5 and the password stored in the data memory 4 (Sr4). Thereby, the password verification section 7 outputs a match signal to the CPU 3 when the verification result is a match, and outputs a mismatch signal to the CPU 3 when the verification result does not match.

Next, if the verification result from the password verification unit 7 is a match, the CPU 3 outputs a match signal to the CPU 11, and if it is a non-match signal, it counts up a discrepancy counter (not shown) provided in the data memory 4, and stores this count value. is a predetermined number (
3 times), a mismatch signal indicating re-insertion is possible is output to the CPU 11, and when the count value reaches a predetermined value, the IC card 1 outputs a mismatch signal indicating invalidity to the CPU 11. As a result, when a discrepancy signal is supplied, the CPU 11 determines that re-input of the PIN number or transaction using the IC card handler Fj310 is not possible, and notifies the customer to that effect (Sr.
5).

Further, when a matching signal is supplied, the CPU 11 issues a message "Please input transaction data" on the CRT display device 13 (Sr6).

In response to this guidance, the store employee inputs transaction data using the keyboard 12 (Sr1). This allows the CPU
11 outputs transaction data and date and time data to the CPU 3 (Sr1). Next, the CPU 3 checks whether there is a free area in the data memory 4 (Sr9). As a result of this check, if the data memory 4 is full, the CPU
3 reads the date and time data for each data in the data memory 4 from the date and time data recording area 4b, and searches for the oldest data in a judgmental manner), and stores the oldest data in the transaction data recording area 4a and the date and time data recording area 4b. record the current transaction data and date and time data (ST10).

Further, as a result of the check in step 9 above, if the data memory 4 is not full, the CPU 3 records the current transaction data and date and time data in an empty area in the data memory 4, that is, the transaction data recording area 4a and the date and time data recording area 4b. Seduce (ST11).

As mentioned above, new data always remains in the data memory, and old data is sequentially rewritten with new data, within the storage capacity of the data memory.
It can be reused repeatedly.

In the above embodiment, date and time data is used as the data indicating the recording order, but the date and time data is not limited to this, and a number or code indicating the recording order may be used. Further, although the oldest data is searched by the CPU in the IC card, the search is not limited to this, and may be carried out by the CPtJ in the customer. Furthermore, although an IC card was used, a magnetic recording card,
Alternatively, a laser card or the like may be used.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, there is provided a portable medium that can always hold new data in its data memory without any special operations and can be reused even when the data memory is full. can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings are for explaining one embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of the tC card, Fig. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the electric circuit of the IC card, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of data memory recording, and Fig. 4 is the PIN number. A plan view showing the configuration of the input section, FIG. 5 is an external perspective view of the card handling machine, and FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of the card handling machine.
FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the structure of the IC card reading/writing section, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation. 1... IC card (portable medium), 2... Connect section, 3... CPU, 4... Data memory, 7...
・Password verification unit, 1o...r, C card handling machine, 11・
...CPJJ. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12...Keyboard, 13...CRT display device, 16...Printer, 1...FROM disk device, 19...Floppy disk, 2o...
IC card reading/writing unit, 34...reading/writing device, 41.
...Password input section, 42...Numeric keypad. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 6 Figure 7 L ■------■ Figure 8

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a portable medium having a CPU and a data memory, when data is recorded in the data memory, data indicating the recording order is added and recorded, and when the data memory is full, new data is recorded. If this is done, the portable medium is provided with means for determining the oldest data from data indicating the recording order of each data and for recording the new data in the recording area of the oldest data. (2) The portable medium according to claim 1, wherein the data indicating the recording order is a recording date and time.