GB2563173A - A near field communication equipped device - Google Patents

A near field communication equipped device Download PDF

Info

Publication number
GB2563173A
GB2563173A GB1814782.7A GB201814782A GB2563173A GB 2563173 A GB2563173 A GB 2563173A GB 201814782 A GB201814782 A GB 201814782A GB 2563173 A GB2563173 A GB 2563173A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
secure element
nfc
data
nfc controller
volatile
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
GB1814782.7A
Other versions
GB201814782D0 (en
GB2563173B (en
Inventor
Morris Paul
Strauss Hendrik
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Qualcomm Technologies International Ltd
Original Assignee
Qualcomm Technologies International Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Qualcomm Technologies International Ltd filed Critical Qualcomm Technologies International Ltd
Priority to GB1814782.7A priority Critical patent/GB2563173B/en
Priority claimed from GB1120719.8A external-priority patent/GB2498172B/en
Publication of GB201814782D0 publication Critical patent/GB201814782D0/en
Publication of GB2563173A publication Critical patent/GB2563173A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2563173B publication Critical patent/GB2563173B/en
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B5/00—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
    • H04B5/70—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems specially adapted for specific purposes
    • H04B5/77—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems specially adapted for specific purposes for interrogation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
    • G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
    • G06K19/067—Record carriers with conductive marks, printed circuits or semiconductor circuit elements, e.g. credit or identity cards also with resonating or responding marks without active components
    • G06K19/07—Record carriers with conductive marks, printed circuits or semiconductor circuit elements, e.g. credit or identity cards also with resonating or responding marks without active components with integrated circuit chips
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K7/00—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns
    • G06K7/10—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
    • G06K7/10009—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
    • G06K7/10237—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves the reader and the record carrier being capable of selectively switching between reader and record carrier appearance, e.g. in near field communication [NFC] devices where the NFC device may function as an RFID reader or as an RFID tag
    • G06K7/10247—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves the reader and the record carrier being capable of selectively switching between reader and record carrier appearance, e.g. in near field communication [NFC] devices where the NFC device may function as an RFID reader or as an RFID tag issues specific to the use of single wire protocol [SWP] in NFC like devices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
    • G06Q20/32—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices
    • G06Q20/322—Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
    • G06Q20/3227—Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices] using secure elements embedded in M-devices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
    • G06Q20/32—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices
    • G06Q20/327—Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
    • G06Q20/3278—RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B5/00—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
    • H04B5/70—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems specially adapted for specific purposes
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B5/00—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
    • H04B5/70—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems specially adapted for specific purposes
    • H04B5/72—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems specially adapted for specific purposes for local intradevice communication

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Strategic Management (AREA)
  • General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Toxicology (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Artificial Intelligence (AREA)
  • Computer Vision & Pattern Recognition (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Telephone Function (AREA)

Abstract

A near field communication (NFC) equipped device 40, such as a mobile telephone, includes an NFC controller 42 for controlling NFC operations of the device and a secure element 48 for NFC applications and sensitive data. The secure element includes non-volatile memory which is used to store data. The data may be transferred between the secure element 48 and the NFC controller 42 by means of a single wire protocol interface. The secure element is configured to defer booting up its main operating system for a time period sufficient to allow retrieval of non-volatile data from the secure element. The data can therefore be read even when the device 40 is powered off if the NFC controller and secure element are powered by an external reader. The secure element may be in a universal integrated circuit card such as a subscriber identity module, thus removing the need for non-volatile memory in the NFC controller.

Description

A NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION EQUIPPED DEVICE
Technical Field
The present application relates to a near field communication (NFC) device.
Background to the Invention
Near field communication (NFC) systems are becoming increasingly prevalent in communications devices such as mobile telephones. In one mode of operation, known as card emulation mode, the NFC system in a device such as a mobile telephone enables short range communication between the device and an external NFC reader to facilitate contactless data exchange between the device and the reader, in applications such as cashless payment, electronic ticketing and access for public transport and the like.
In order to support such NFC functionality a device must include an NFC system. An exemplary NFC equipped device is illustrated in schematic form in Figure 1. In this example the device is shown as a mobile telephone 10, and includes an NFC controller 12 which is operatively connected to an application processor 14 of the telephone 10). The application processor 14 is also connected to and communicates with a universal integrated circuit card(UICC) 16 (sometimes also referred to as a subscriber identity module or SIM), whilst the NFC controller 12 communicates with the UICC 16 using a single wire protocol (SWP) interface which implements a host controller interface (HCI) between the UICC 16 and the NFC controller 12.
The UICC 16 contains memory and data such as account information required for operation of the mobile telephone 10, and includes a secure element (SE) 18, which is a secure processor with an associated area of memory that is used for securely storing NFC applications and sensitive data, for example credit card details.
A typical NFC equipped mobile telephone such as the one shown in Figure 1 also includes non-volatile memory 20 for storing non-volatile operational data required by the NFC controller 12 in order to allow access to the UICC when no power is available from the mobile telephone platform (battery OFF mode). Such data may include HCI gate information for accessing the UICC.
The non-volatile memory 20 may be provided as part of the NFC controller 12, in which case the silicon area required for the NFC controller 12 is increased. Alternatively, the non-volatile memory 20 may be provided as dedicated off-chip memory, in which case an additional non-volatile memory component is required, which adds to the bill of materials (BoM) cost of the device 10.
Summary of Invention
The present application relates to a near field communication (NFC) equipped device such as a mobile telephone. The device includes an NFC controller for controlling NFC operations of the device and a secure element for NFC applications and sensitive data. The secure element includes non-volatile memory which is used by the device to store non-volatile NFC data. The non-volatile NFC data is transferred between the secure element and the NFC controller by means of a single wire protocol interface and dedicated proprietary gates of a host controller interface, which dedicated gates are used for transferring the non-volatile NFC data to the secure element memory and retrieving the non-volatile NFC data from the secure element memory. Using the secure element memory in this way obviates the need for non-volatile memory associated with the NFC controller, which reduces the silicon area of the NFC controller and the bill of materials cost of the device.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a secure element for use in an NFC equipped device, the secure element including non-volatile memory, wherein the secure element implements a dedicated gate for transferring non-volatile NFC data to and from the non-volatile memory of the secure element.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a secure element for use in an NFC equipped device, wherein the secure element is configured to defer booting up its main operating system for a period sufficient to permit retrieval of non-volatile data from the secure element within a predetermined time period.
The predetermined time period may be 5 milliseconds.
The secure element may be configured to defer booting up its main operating system until it receives a message indicating that the non-volatile data has been retrieved from the secure element.
The message may be a ANY_GET_PARAMETER message, for example.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, strictly by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which
Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a known NFC equipped device;
Figure 2 is a schematic representation of an NFC equipped device according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
Figure 3 is a sequence chart illustrating one way of saving non-volatile data to a secure element of a UICC in the device illustrated in Figure 2.
Description of the Embodiments
Referring first to Figure 2, an NFC equipped device is shown generally at 40. In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 2 the NFC equipped device 40 is a mobile telephone, and is generally similar to the device illustrated in Figure 1, in that it includes an NFC controller 42 which is operatively connected to an application processor 44. The application processor 44 is also connected to, and communicates with, a subscriber identity module (UICC) 46, whilst the NFC controller 42 communicates with the UICC 46 using a single wire protocol (SWP) interface which implements a host controller interface (HCI) between the UICC 46 and the NFC controller 42.
The UICC 46 contains memory and data such as account information required for operation of the mobile telephone 40, and includes a secure element (SE) 48, which is a secure area of memory that is used for securely storing NFC applications and sensitive data for use by the NFC controller 42 in NFC interactions, for example credit card details.
The device 40 illustrated in Figure 2 differs from the device 10 illustrated in Figure 1 in that there is no non-volatile memory associated with the NFC controller 42. Instead, the NFC controller 42 is configured to store non-volatile NFC data in memory of the secure element 48 by using the SWP interface between the NFC controller 42 and the UICC 46 to transfer the non-volatile NFC data to the memory of the secure element 48, and to retrieve non-volatile data stored in the memory of the secure element 48 using the SWP, as will be explained below with reference to the sequence chart of Figure 3. Up to 128 bytes of data may be stored and retrieved in this way.
In the example illustrated in Figure 2, the HCI on the side of the secure element 48 includes a dedicated proprietary gate known as NVMEM (for non-volatile memory) which in this example has a gate identifier value of FO. Similarly, the HCI on the side of the NFC controller 42 has a dedicated proprietary gate, also known as NVMEM.
During a first activation and initialisation of the secure element 48, for example when the NFC controller 42 is first initialised and wants to prepare to enter battery OFF mode, an SE Admin gate of the HCI on the NFC controller side attempts to create a pipe to the dedicated proprietary NVMEM gate of the secure element 48, by sending a command “ADM_CREATE_PIPE(NVMEM_GATE, HOST_CONTROLLER, NVMEM_GATE)” to an Admin gate on the secure element side.
If this pipe is successfully created (as indicated in Figure 3 by the return message “ANY_OK” from the Admin gate on the secure element side to the SE Admin gate on the NFC controller side), the SE Admin gate on the NFC controller side HCI opens the pipe by sending an “ANY_OPEN_PIPE” command to a dedicated NVMEM gate of the secure element side HCI. The NVMEM gate on the secure element side HCI responds with an “ANY_OK” message if the pipe is successfully opened.
Once the pipe has been opened, the NVMEM gate on the NFC controller side sends a command “EVT_NVMEM_DATA_WRITE(10h)” with the 128 non-volatile data bytes to be written to the memory of the secure element 48 attached, to initiate a write event to write the non-volatile data bytes to the memory of the secure element 48.
It will be appreciated that this method of writing non-volatile NFC data to the secure element 48 can only work when the secure element includes the proprietary dedicated NVMEM gate. If a secure element 48 that does not include this proprietary dedicated NVMEM gate is used, a fail message “ANY_E_NOK” will be returned by the secure element 48 and the data will not be transferred to the secure element 48.
When the device 40 participates in an NFC transaction in card emulation mode with no battery, for example a cashless purchase or to activate a barrier at a public transport station, the 128 bytes of non-volatile data stored in the memory of the secure element 48 must be retrieved. When power is available, the same information could be cached in the RAM of the NFC controller 42. A start up sequence or process to achieve this is described below.
In a first step of this process, the NFC controller 42 detects the presence of an NFC carrier, and powers up the secure element 48 and enables the single wire protocol interface to permit input and output of data to and from the secure element 48.
The secure element 48 sends an “ACT_SYNC_ID” frame to the NFC controller 42. This is part of the normal start-up process, and allows the NFC controller 42 to identify the secure element. The NFC controller 42 responds by sending a modified “ACT_POWER_MODE” message, in which the FR bit is set to 1, to inform the secure element that the NFC controller supports the non-volatile data storage mechanism described above.
The secure element 48 interprets the “ACT_POWER_MODE” message as a request to transmit the stored non-volatile data to the NFC controller 42, and so sends four data packets each containing 32 bytes to the NFC controller 42 via the single wire protocol interface. The four data packets are followed by an “ACT_READY” message, which indicates that the secure element is ready to receive further commands. The NFC controller 42 responds with a “RSET” command to reset the data link between the secure element 48 and the NFC controller 42, to which the secure element responds with a “ETA” unnumbered acknowledgement.
In the event that a secure element which does not support the non-volatile data storage mechanism described above is used with the NFC controller 42, the secure element does not interpret the “ACT_POWER_MODE” message sent by the NFC controller 42 as a request to transmit stored non-volatile data bytes, and responds by re-sending the “ACT_SYNC_ID” message to the NFC controller 42. The NFC controller 42 then recognises that the secure element is not compatible, and sends and “ACT_POWER_MODE” message with the FR bit set to 0, provided that the “ACT_SYNC_ID” message received from the secure element is acceptable. The secure element then sends an “ACT_READY” message, and the NFC controller 42 responds with a “RSET” command to reset the data link between the secure element 48 and the NFC controller 42, to which the secure element responds with a “UA” unnumbered acknowledgement.
Thus, in the event that an incompatible secure element is used, the NFC controller 42 recognises this and carries on with a standard start-up sequence.
In the exemplary embodiment discussed above with reference to Figures 2 and 3 the secure element 48 is provided as part of a UICC card 46. However, it is to be appreciated that the secure element 48 may be provided elsewhere. For example, the secure element may be provided as a separate component within the device 40, as part of the NFC controller 42, or on a memory card such as an SD card that can be removed from the device 40.
It will be appreciated that the use of the memory of the secure element 48 to store the non-volatile NFC data can help to reduce the silicon area required for the NFC controller 42, since no non-volatile memory is needed in the NFC controller 42. Additionally, as no non-volatile memory is needed outside of the NFC controller to store the non-volatile NFC data the BoM cost of the device 40 can be reduced.
The data and applications in the secure element 48 can be accessed by the NFC controller 42 in reader emulation mode even when the device 40 is powered off, since the NFC controller 42 and the secure element 48 are powered by energy harvested from the external NFC reader, thus ensuring that a user of the device 40 is not disadvantaged by a low or discharged battery.
Secure elements implement a variety of operating systems and some of these can take a significant time to boot. Therefore, in order to provide a response time of less than 5 milliseconds for retrieving the non-volatile data stored in the memory of the secure element 48 in order to meet the transaction time requirements for NFC, some changes to the boot sequence of the secure element 48 are envisaged.
For example, when starting in the battery OFF state and receiving power from the NFC controller 42 for the first time, the secure element 48 may defer booting up its main operating system for a period sufficient to permit retrieval of non-volatile data from the secure element 48 within a predetermined time period, which in this example is 5 milliseconds, but which may be a smaller time period, depending upon factors such as device requirements.
In one embodiment, the secure element 48 may wait to check for a ANY_GET_PARAMETER message before proceeding with the boot of its main operating system. This may require the secure element 48 to boot into a small operating system sufficient to respond to a ANY_GET_PARAMETER request or some other intermediate state. The key point is that the secure element 48 defers or avoids booting up its full operating system when it is most likely that the NFC controller 42 is initiating a transaction starting from the battery OFF state.

Claims (2)

1. A secure element for use in an NFC equipped device, wherein the secure element is configured to defer booting up its main operating system for a period sufficient to permit retrieval of non-volatile data from the secure element within a predetermined time period.
2. A secure element according to claim 1, wherein the request is issued by a NFC controller.
2. A secure element according to claim 1 wherein the predetermined time period is 5 milliseconds.
3. A secure element according to claim 1 wherein the secure element is configured to defer booting up its main operating system until it receives a message indicating that the non-volatile data has been retrieved from the secure element.
4. A secure element according to claim 3 wherein the message is a ANY_GET_PARAMETER message.
1. A secure element for use in an NFC equipped device, wherein the secure element is configured to defer booting up its main operating system until after servicing an external request for non-volatile data stored in the secure element by outputting from the secure element the non-volatile data requested by the external request.
GB1814782.7A 2011-12-01 2011-12-01 A near field communication equipped device Expired - Fee Related GB2563173B (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1814782.7A GB2563173B (en) 2011-12-01 2011-12-01 A near field communication equipped device

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1120719.8A GB2498172B (en) 2011-12-01 2011-12-01 A near field communication equipped device
GB1814782.7A GB2563173B (en) 2011-12-01 2011-12-01 A near field communication equipped device

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB201814782D0 GB201814782D0 (en) 2018-10-24
GB2563173A true GB2563173A (en) 2018-12-05
GB2563173B GB2563173B (en) 2019-02-20

Family

ID=63921168

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB1814782.7A Expired - Fee Related GB2563173B (en) 2011-12-01 2011-12-01 A near field communication equipped device

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2563173B (en)

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2009141764A2 (en) * 2008-05-19 2009-11-26 Nxp B.V. Nfc mobile communication device and nfc reader
US20100299745A1 (en) * 2009-05-22 2010-11-25 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab Locking and resetting lock key of communication device

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2009141764A2 (en) * 2008-05-19 2009-11-26 Nxp B.V. Nfc mobile communication device and nfc reader
US20100299745A1 (en) * 2009-05-22 2010-11-25 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab Locking and resetting lock key of communication device

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB201814782D0 (en) 2018-10-24
GB2563173B (en) 2019-02-20

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US20140302781A1 (en) Near field communication equipped device
EP2421216B1 (en) Enhanced near field communication terminal, smart card and communication method thereof
US8843065B2 (en) Method and device for managing information exchange between for example a NFC controller and a set of at least two secure elements
EP2590107B1 (en) Method of managing incoming commands related to contactless applications within a wireless apparatus such as a NFC enabled mobile phone
JP4640859B2 (en) How to start a proactive session from an applet in a smart card
EP2377291B1 (en) Portable mobile communication device and method of controlling near field communication
WO2010011670A2 (en) Mobile payment adoption by adding a dedicated payment button to mobile device form factors
WO2010131236A2 (en) A near field communication device
US8452330B2 (en) Mobile terminal and method for providing terminal related information in power-off state
US9214986B2 (en) Non-volatile memory for NFC router
KR20190106641A (en) Wearable device with near-field communication function and near-field communication control system
US8331988B2 (en) Information processing device, information processing method, and program
EP2119029B1 (en) Nfc communicator and method of data communication
WO2012037791A1 (en) Method, device and system for displaying radio frequency identification application information
JP2003030596A (en) Storage device provided with logic channel management function
US20110197203A1 (en) Communication device, communication method and program
CN101510187B (en) Method for implementing smart card control instruction communication on standard data interface
US20220398565A1 (en) Type 4 nfc tags as protocol interface
EP4149130B1 (en) Wireless terminal comprising system on chip (soc) with security subsystem
GB2563173A (en) A near field communication equipped device
CN101430671B (en) Mobile terminal peripherals coexisting apparatus
JP5754287B2 (en) IC chip, processing method in IC chip, UIM, portable terminal, and processing program for IC chip
GB2561499A (en) A near field communication equipped device
JP5799754B2 (en) IC chip, processing method in IC chip, IC chip processing program, IC card, and portable terminal
EP3876096B1 (en) Process implemented in an integrated circuit module, corresponding integrated circuit module, system including such a module and associated computer program

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee

Effective date: 20191201