GB2353874A

GB2353874A - Pocketsize carrier for information storage and information exchange

Info

Publication number: GB2353874A
Application number: GB9913618A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Wolfgang Halpern
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-04-01
Filing date: 1999-06-14
Publication date: 2001-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2019-06-14
Also published as: GB2348521A; GB9907594D0; GB2353874B; GB9913618D0

Abstract

A portable information base consists of two parts, a card 1 and a lid 2 hinged to each other, by a link ( 1A, Figure 1) with the hinge disposed parallel to the lines of readout from the display area 9, which may extend over the whole lid area. The data entry keys are not evenly distributed over the device surface but are arranged so that a substantial part of the front face of the card remains unencumbered by them so that it is possible for the user to have a firm grip without risking involuntary actuation of a key. The lid part swings down under its own weight to provide a view of the display, and access to the keys. A method for producing the device in large quantities at a lower cost, is discussed.

Description

1 2353874 Pocketsize Carrier for Information Storage and Information

Exchange

There have existed for some time carriers for information data storage and exchange which are small enough to fit into a person's pocket so that they might be used as an identification device, or as a means for access to premises, travel entitlements, money, or to prove membership in a club, etc. In its simplest form, such carriers are called cards of which, for example, the credit card is one of them. As long as the magnetic stripe was the only inexpensive means for data retention, it has not be possible to check a person's identity without providing at the checking point a robust numerical keyboard as well. With the introduction of smart cards it became possible to carry outdata comparison within the card-based computer chip. By arranging the manual data entry keyboard on the card itself, one achieves two important objectives, firstly, the privacy of PIN entry is vastly improved because this can be done away from the actual transaction terminal. Secondly, the cost of installing and maintaining publicly accessable keyboards can be avoided. What is more, a card with a keyboard permits the user to call up for display or for transaction purposes manifold data and use them instantly to this end. The author of this paper has already published proposals which in principle provided this service. However, these and other similar designs were still dominated by the pattern provided by the pocket calculator. This pattern has several drawbacks, especially in si-situations when the device must remain hand-held. In such cases it was difficult to avoid that this or that data entry button would be accidentally actuated, thereby producing wrong entries. Another major draw-back is the small information capacity of the display window.

This invention specifies a pocketsize card device which removes these obstacles to successful useage through two helpful modifications.

Firstly, display window is placed into the inside of a lid which normally covers the front face with its data entry buttons, in such a manner that when the user sees the inscriptions on the data entry areas in an upright form, the lid with its text display window will be suspended freely by its own weight. And the second modification is the provision of ample holding space for the left or right hand respectively (according to the choice of the intended owner) by removing all data entry means from that said holding space.

As the enclosed illustration shows, the user has ample gripping space for holding the card 1 firmly. This will aid the selection of data to be entered with the other hand. The Lid 2 is hinged by a link 1 A and is thus fee by gravity to be in the position shown. The display area 9 is five to six times larger than that normally available on an electronic pocket calculator.

There are both numerical and functional entry button on the main part 1. Apart from the number buttons 1-0, there are several (in this case three) specially shaped buttons each calling up information residing in one of the user's accounts. A combination of buttons I and I I may, for example, call up the amount residual in another store from which cash payments can be made. Another combination, say 1 and I 11, would return any residual cash in the cash sore to the account store from which the cash store had been augmented. In communications between this data carrier and a bank or bank's computer, it is possible to use a button 5 to switch to a certain case level reserved for 2_ sending a pass word. This will ensure that only the authorized person can update the pass. For increasing the range of addresses available for various data, the single button 11 might be used thereby shifting all numbered addressesfrom the alpha to beta to gama levels. dot 15 indicates at all times which level the unit is on at any given moment. - When the owner wishes to recall the displays of past expenditures, helshe would use a button 6. When pressing it the first time, the amount of the last expenditure is called up, together with other details. When depressing it a second time, the one but last will become visible; and so on until the thirtieth back in time. c is a general reset button, but 4 deletes only the last figure.

The communication antenna would be built into the lid 2. The electrical connection between the memory device and the display will be in the form of very thin wires embedded in a flexible plastic stripe at the back of parts 1 and 2. - The photoelectric area 14 serves to recharge the battery needed for display functions away from a terminal. Area 14 may be provided on the back of part 1, thereby permitting the display window to be extended over the whole lid area.

Many a detail aspect such as the role of the embedded antenna, the overall performance and data processing capability, as well as the means for achieving it, are described in the PCT publication W093102430, herewith incorporated by reference.

As to the detail execution of the electrical connections between the device memory and the display, this will depend to a large extend on the display technology selected, and wether the display is intended for alphanumeric readout, or has to include graphic material as well such as protions of road maps, the geography of a building, etc. Further more, it will depend on the precise nature of the contactless interface with a card reader.

In order to get an idea of these dependencies, the outline of a specific example are illustrated in Figures 2,3 and 4. The said flexible connection strip extends over the full vertical dimension of parts 1 and 2, and also serves as the means of holding these two parts together, either as the sole means or in combination with a conventional hinge as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2 represents the front and side views of the folded "travel pass", the side view of Fig. 2a as seen from A-A. From the side view it is clear that the flexible cover 18 extends over the full width of part 1 as well as part 2. The two parts are latched in the closed position by means of spring-loaded steel balls, but any other latching method would be acceptable. A shown, the metal balls 20 and 21 are at the end of hardened and springy wire portions 20a and 21 a respively. These are laid into recesses of the composite plates and 1 and 2 respectively allowing them sufficient play so that the metal balls can be elastically displaced during the latching process.

The lines 1 a and 2a respectively (interrupted lines) indicate an alternative form so that the metal balls 20 and 21 are supported, preventing slippage.

Figures 3 and 3a here viewed from B-B show the the parts 1 and 2 when part 1 is handheld as shown in Figure 1, with part 2 freely suspended via the flexible cover 18. The data entry means are similar to that in Figure 1. On the far upper left, two buttons are added named pr and bu. These permit a quick characterisation of a purchase as being either private or business related. One of the display programs permits the display of all the business expenses, and/or all the private expenses of the day. Another program provides the global figures for all private or all business expenses. Button "d' means 'cancelled, for example when a letter or numeral has to be substituted because it had been entered in error. Button a, P,, produce totals of discounts saved with three stores alpha, beta or gamma. (loyalty rewards). (see also the PCT192 publication W093/02430).

A thin cardlike electric battery 17 can be of the replaceable type or the rechargeable type/. Details of the electrical conductors can be seen in Figure 4. 22 is a twinloop antenna which when working in the proximity energy transfer mode would be somewhere in the VHF frequency region.

The microcomputer chip 23 is assumed to have also the circuitry for converting VHF energies into d.c. current levels. Separate chips may be needed especially for generating the a.c. voltages for the liquid crystal display function.

Various schemes for producing the conditions for operating display areas structured in terms of dot matrix patterns have already been realized. The computer chip can be programmed to program the voltage curves to be applied to rows and columns often in combination with time multiplexing the signals needed for different parts of the display area 9.

In this patent application, attention should be drawn to the possibility of mounting most if not all the display electronics on the flexible carrier sheet 18. This would be facilitated if this sheet consists of several distinct layers. The experience gained in flow solder jointing of pads on different surfaces could be utilized for joining the connector pads on different surfaces could be utilized for joining the connector pads on different surfaces. Very accurate alignment would have to be assured, to begin with. The already presoldered pads may be joined electrically by a process of electro-inductive heating. The prize for developing such a technique will be reduced production cost and ultimately greater reliability.

Claims

A pocketsize carrierfor information storage and selective information exchanges and communication with an external processing device, consisting of two connected parts, a first one being a broadly platelike container for integrated micro-electronic circuits and on the surface of which are arranged data entry facilities, and a second part having the same size as the first one serving as a hinged cover for the former and which also carries a display device.

and wherein the geometry of the group of data entry means is such that a substantial part of the front face of part 1 remains unencumbered by them so that it becomes possible for a user to have a firm grip without risking involuntary actuation of said data entry facility.
2. A pocketsize carrierfor information storage and selective information exchanges and communication with an external processing device, wherein the said two parts are electrically connected by means of bundles of fine wires embedded in flexible insulating material bonded or otherwise attached to the said two parts (1 and 2) so as to supply the requisite display window (9) with the power supply and the signals required for humanly legible data display.
3. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchanges as in Claim 1 wherein the hinge (1A) is parallel with the line of entry buttons and respectively with the lines on which the information display appears, with the result that the lid part (2) can freely follow by gravity into its proper readout position when the upper plate (1) is handheld.
4. A pocketsize carrier for information storage/and data exchange, as in Claims 1 to 3, wherein there is a functional button (5) permitting a pass word or pass number to be sent out for recognition by a receiving computer.
5. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchange, as in Claims I to 3 wherein several buttons fo special shape are provided to select the data held by a specific account of its owner (1, 11, 111).
6. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchange, as in Claims 1 to 3 wherein a single button (11) is provided which shifts the case level from the normal alpha level to a beta level, and from there to a gamma level, and wherein these levels are visibly recognizable by being written on the frame of the display window and by dot displayed by the display window (dot 15).
7. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchange, as in claims 1 to 3, wherein there are provided on the lid or on the main part (1) photoelectric cells to re-charge a small battery accommodated in the carrier frame (part 1).
8. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchange as in claims 1 to 3, wherein disturbances in the electromagnetic field around the said devices are received, or sent out, and interpreted as data, for storage or/and for display.
9. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchange as in claims 1-8, in accordance with means described in PCT publication W093/02430, (published under the title "ELECTRONIC TRAVEL PASS").
10. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchanges as in Claim 2, wherein at least one layer of the said 'flexible insulating material' also carries a twin-loop antenna (22, Fig.4) on which a computer chip 23 is bonded.
11. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchanges as in Claim 10 where is provided a second layer of flexible insulating material placed on top of the first layer and containing distributing conductor lines in order to link output padson the computer chip with subsidiery drive chips, multiplexer chips, row and column drive chips, and the likeprocessors as required for a specific display technology.
12. A pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchanges as in claims 10 and 11, wherein there is provided a third layer of flexible insulating material and wherein the printed conductors terminate in small pads which are pre-soldered, and which pads when placed against similar pads provided on the pushbutton assembly, part 1, will produce a perfect match when aligned with the iad of location pins, thereby providing a connection between the data entry means on part 1 and the input pads of the computer chip 23 (not shown).
13. A method of electrical assembly of a pocketsize carrier for information storage and data exchanges, whereby the precisely aligned connector pads of adjacent layers of the flexible insulating material, or between them and corresponding solder pads on the rigid plates (1, or 2) of the pocket-size carrier, are soldered together bythe use of inductively induced heat or infrared radiation forwhich the flexible material is permeable (i.e. will not heat up noticeably upon passage of said radiation).