JP5038114B2 - IC card and IC card system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To input and output data to an IC card without using an identifying device for a non-contact IC card. <P>SOLUTION: An IC card includes an antenna 6 for radio communication and a radio communication circuit 5 for carrying out radio data communication with a radio base station 30 by a radio wave 30S, a secondary battery 4 and a power circuit 3 for charging the secondary battery 4 with a supply power. The IC card is operated by the charging power 4P of the secondary battery 4 through the radio communication circuit 5 to input and output the data to a non-contact communication circuit 1 and transmit and receive the data to and from the radio base station 30 through the radio data communication. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an IC card technology, and more particularly to an IC card technology for inputting / outputting data without contact.

With the widespread use of IC cards that can securely manage various types of information, the introduction of IC cards is progressing in various management systems.
For example, IC cards that perform data communication via non-contact communication means such as electromagnetic induction and electrostatic coupling are used for gate access management of traffic systems, and have rapidly spread and expanded in recent years due to their convenience. Is progressing. In addition, IC cards equipped with electronic money functions as well as traffic systems have been put into practical use, and various types of IC cards are issued and used.

A conventional IC card system is composed of an IC card incorporating a non-contact communication antenna and a non-contact communication IC chip and a dedicated non-contact IC card identification device. This IC card is used for a non-contact IC card. By holding it over the identification device, data such as billing information built in the IC chip for non-contact communication can be input / output.
The IC card and the non-contact IC card identification device transmit and receive data by electromagnetic induction, do not have a power source such as a battery, and operate with an electromotive force induced by the electromagnetic induction from the non-contact IC card identification device. Therefore, the communication distance between the IC card and the contactless IC card identification device is several cm or less.

  For example, in the case of the above-described traffic system, a user who uses a service using such an IC card goes to a specific place where the non-contact IC card identification device performs a deposit process, and then the traffic system. Used for system gate access and electronic money. Therefore, if the deposit process is neglected, the service cannot be used. In order to prevent this, a non-contact IC card that combines the functions of a credit card has also appeared, and a service that automatically performs a deposit process via non-contact data communication using this credit function is also realized.

"All about wireless IC tags (RFID tags)", RFID Technology Editorial Department, Nikkei Business Publications, pp.18-24, March 2004, ISBN: 4822221148 "Monthly barcode", Nihon Kogyo Shuppan, 2002.5 May, pp.51-54

  However, in such a conventional technique, a dedicated non-contact IC card identification device is required to perform data input / output processing with respect to the IC card, and thus there is a problem in that a user-friendly service cannot be provided to the user. there were.

For example, in a conventional traffic system, a credit function is used to automate the deposit process to an IC card. However, among users who use IC cards, there are users who cannot use the credit function and users who do not want to use the credit function. Therefore, such a user needs to go to a specific place where the non-contact IC card identification device is installed when performing the deposit process, which is inconvenient.
In addition, even a user who does not resist using the credit function may want to check the balance of the IC card. For such a balance inquiry, a specific example in which a non-contact IC card identification device is installed is also used. You will have to go to the place, which will be inconvenient.

  The present invention is to solve such problems, and to provide an IC card and an IC card system capable of performing data input / output processing on an IC card without using a non-contact IC card identification device. It is aimed.

  In order to achieve such an object, an IC card according to the present invention includes a non-contact communication antenna and a non-contact communication circuit, and the non-contact communication circuit is non-contacted from the non-contact IC card identification device by electromagnetic induction. The non-contact data communication is performed by the non-contact data communication via the non-contact communication antenna with the non-contact IC card identification device which operates with the supply power supplied non-contact via the contact communication antenna. An IC card for transmitting and receiving arbitrary data stored in a communication circuit, a wireless communication antenna and a wireless communication circuit for performing wireless data communication with a wireless base station by wireless radio waves, a secondary battery, A power supply circuit that charges the secondary battery with the supplied power, the wireless communication circuit operates with the secondary battery charging power supply, inputs and outputs data to and from the non-contact communication circuit, It transmits and receives data by wireless communication between the line base station.

  At this time, the wireless communication circuit may be provided with a time measuring circuit and a wireless communication control circuit for performing wireless data communication with the wireless base station intermittently at a predetermined interval timed by the time measuring circuit.

  Further, the wireless communication circuit is provided with a wireless interface circuit that transmits and receives wireless radio waves to and from the wireless base station, and a switch circuit that controls power supply to the wireless interface circuit. The switch circuit may be controlled only during the communication period to supply power to the wireless interface circuit.

  In addition, the power circuit includes a tuning circuit connected to the non-contact communication antenna, a rectifying circuit that rectifies and outputs the power obtained from the tuning circuit during electromagnetic induction, and stabilizes the rectified power source to recharge the secondary battery. The regulator circuit for charging the battery, the voltage comparison circuit for comparing the operating power supply voltage of the non-contact communication circuit and a predetermined reference voltage, and the connection between the non-contact communication antenna and the tuning circuit based on the comparison result of the voltage comparison circuit. When the operating power supply voltage is equal to or higher than the reference voltage in the voltage comparison circuit, the switch circuit is controlled to connect the non-contact communication antenna and the tuning circuit to perform charging. When the voltage is lower than the reference voltage, charging may be stopped by controlling the switch circuit to disconnect the tuning circuit from the non-contact communication antenna.

  The voltage comparison circuit compares the operating power supply voltage with the charging voltage of the secondary battery, and controls the switch circuit only when the operating power supply voltage is higher than the reference voltage and the operating power supply voltage is higher than the charging voltage. Then, charging may be performed by connecting a non-contact communication antenna and a tuning circuit.

  Further, the power supply circuit may be provided with a voltage amplifier that amplifies the charge voltage and inputs it to the voltage comparison circuit.

  Further, a power generation circuit for generating electric power may be further provided, and the secondary battery may be charged by the power generated from the power generation circuit by the power supply circuit.

  In addition, a sensor for detecting the state of the IC card may be further provided, and the wireless communication circuit may transmit the sensor output from the sensor to the wireless base station during wireless data communication.

  Further, a contact communication electrode for electrically connecting to the contact IC card identification device is further provided, and contact data communication is performed with the contact IC card identification device via the contact communication electrode in a non-contact communication circuit. And data transmission / reception may be performed by the contact data communication.

  Further, an IC card system according to the present invention includes the above IC card, a plurality of radio base stations that perform radio data communication with the IC card, and a server device that performs data communication with these radio base stations via a communication network. And the server device performs data communication with the IC card via any one of the wireless base stations, thereby having a data processing unit that transmits and receives data stored in the IC card.

  In addition, another IC card system according to the present invention performs data communication with the above-described IC card and a plurality of wireless base stations that perform wireless data communication with the IC card via a communication network. A server unit, and the server unit stores a set of base station identification information unique to each radio base station and position information regarding the installation position of the radio base station, and either via the radio base station By performing data communication with the IC card, a location registration unit that registers a set of card identification information unique to the IC card and base station identification information of the wireless base station in the storage unit, and received via the communication network In response to a location confirmation request from a communication terminal, the information retrieval unit retrieves location information corresponding to the specified card identification information from the storage unit and provides the information to the communication terminal.

  Another IC card system according to the present invention includes the above IC card having a sensor, a plurality of wireless base stations that perform wireless data communication with the IC card, and these wireless base stations and data via a communication network. A server device that performs communication, and the server device stores a set of base station identification information unique to each radio base station and position information regarding the installation position of the radio base station, and any of the radio base stations By performing data communication with the IC card via the card, a location registration unit that registers a set of card identification information unique to the IC card and base station identification information of the radio base station in the storage unit, and a radio base station By performing data communication with the IC card via any one of the above, a set for registering a set of the card identification information unique to the IC card and the sensor output transmitted from the card in the storage unit. In response to a position confirmation request from the communication processing unit and the communication terminal received via the communication network, the storage unit retrieves the position information and sensor output corresponding to the specified card identification information from the storage unit, and provides them to the communication terminal And an information providing unit.

  According to the present invention, data input / output processing for an IC card can be performed without requiring an IC card identification device. In particular, a wireless communication circuit that can be mounted on an IC card can provide a communication distance of about several kilometers, so that the communication range of an IC card is extremely wide compared to contactless data communication that has only a communication range of about several centimeters. Range can be realized. Therefore, the user can update or check the data stored in the IC card without going to the place where the non-contact IC card identification device is installed. Therefore, it is possible to greatly reduce the burden on the user and provide an IC card and an IC card system that are extremely easy to use.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
First, an IC card system and an IC card according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an IC card system and an IC card according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[IC card system]
This IC card system has, as main devices, an IC card 10, a contactless IC card identification device 20, a radio base station 30, and an IC card management server 40. The IC card management server 40 provides a radio base station 30. In this system, data stored in the IC card 10 is transmitted / received by performing data communication with the IC card 10 via the network.

  As a specific example of the IC card system, when applied to a traffic gate / access management system, the IC card 10 corresponds to an IC card boarding ticket, and the non-contact IC card identification device 20 corresponds to a ticket gate device. Further, the IC card management server 40 corresponds to an electronic money management server, and the IC card management server 40 is accessed from a communication terminal 60 such as a PC or a mobile phone via a communication network 50 such as the Internet. By performing data communication with the card management server 40, payment to the IC card 1 and balance inquiry can be performed.

[IC card]
Next, the configuration of the IC card according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
The IC card 10 is a card on which an IC chip is mounted. The IC card 10 performs non-contact data communication with the non-contact IC card identification device 20 by electromagnetic induction 20S and wireless data with a radio base station by radio waves. It has a function to perform communication.
The IC card 10 has a non-contact communication circuit 1, a non-contact communication antenna 2, a power supply circuit 3, a secondary battery 4, a radio communication circuit 5, and a radio communication antenna 6 as main circuit units, such as plastic. It is mounted in the card body.

The non-contact communication antenna 2 includes a loop coil wired in the IC card 10 and has a function of outputting an AC change of the electromagnetic induction 20S as a non-contact signal 2S.
The non-contact communication circuit 1 is composed of a dedicated circuit unit including an IC chip, operates with the supplied power supplied by the non-contact signal 2S output from the non-contact communication antenna 2, and the non-contact IC card identification device. And non-contact data communication via a non-contact communication antenna.

The secondary battery 4 is a thin secondary battery such as a paper lithium battery.
The power supply circuit 3 is composed of a dedicated circuit unit, and has a function of charging the secondary battery 4 with the supplied power supplied by the non-contact signal 2S output from the non-contact communication antenna 2, and a charging power source for the secondary battery 4. The function of supplying the operating power source 5P to the wireless communication circuit 5 based on 4P and the operating power source 1P to the non-contact communication circuit 1 based on the charging power source 4P of the secondary battery 4 according to the power supply control signal 3S from the wireless communication circuit 5 Supply function.

The wireless communication antenna 6 is a wireless antenna wired in the IC card 10 and is an antenna that transmits and receives the wireless radio wave 30S.
The wireless communication circuit 5 includes a dedicated circuit unit including an IC chip, operates with an operation power supply 5P supplied from the power supply circuit 3, inputs / outputs data to / from the non-contact communication circuit 1, and performs wireless communication. It has a function of transmitting and receiving data through wireless data communication with the wireless base station 30 through the antenna 6 for use.

[Non-contact communication circuit]
Next, the configuration of the non-contact communication circuit 1 of the IC card 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the non-contact communication circuit of FIG.
The non-contact communication circuit 1 includes, as main circuit units, a tuning circuit 11, a rectifier circuit 12, a non-contact communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a non-contact communication I / F unit) 13, a non-contact communication control circuit 14, and A memory circuit 15 is provided, and these circuit units are configured by a one-chip IC.

The tuning circuit 11 is a circuit element such as a capacitive element that is connected to the non-contact communication antenna 2 and synchronizes with the carrier frequency of the non-contact signal 2S.
The rectifying circuit 12 has a function of rectifying a signal from the tuning circuit 11 and supplying the rectified circuit 11 to each part in the non-contact communication circuit 1 as an operation power source 1P.
The non-contact communication I / F unit 13 modulates the transmission / reception data 1A output from the non-contact communication control circuit 14 into a data communication signal and outputs the data communication signal to the non-contact communication antenna 2, and the non-contact communication antenna 2 The obtained data communication signal is demodulated into transmission / reception data 1A and output to the non-contact communication control circuit 14.

The non-contact communication control circuit 14 has an MPU and its peripheral circuits, and executes a program read from the memory circuit 15 to perform various communication control processes by cooperating the hardware and the program, It has a function to control various input / output data 1D with the wireless communication circuit 5 by controlling the input / output port 14A which is one of the peripheral circuits.
The memory circuit 15 includes a memory such as a RAM, a ROM, and an E2PROM, and has a function of storing processing information and programs used in the non-contact communication control circuit 14. In particular, data used in the IC card system and card identification information unique to the IC card are stored in E2PROM.

[Power supply circuit]
Next, the configuration of the power supply circuit 3 of the IC card 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the power supply circuit of FIG.
The power supply circuit 3 includes a tuning circuit 31, a rectifier circuit 32, a regulator circuit 33, a reference voltage generation circuit 34, a voltage comparison circuit 35, a switch circuit 36, and a power supply control circuit 37 as main circuit portions. .

The tuning circuit 31 is a circuit element such as a capacitive element that is connected to the non-contact communication antenna 2 and tunes to the carrier frequency of the non-contact signal 2S.
The rectifier circuit 32 has a function of rectifying and outputting a signal from the tuning circuit 31.
The regulator circuit 33 includes a dedicated circuit unit, stabilizes the power output from the rectifier circuit 32 and charges the secondary battery 4, and stabilizes the charging power supply 4 </ b> P from the secondary battery 4 to provide a wireless communication circuit. 5 and a function of stabilizing the charging power source 4P from the secondary battery 4 and outputting it as the operating power source 1P of the non-contact communication circuit 1.

The reference voltage generation circuit 34 includes a dedicated circuit unit and has a function of outputting a reference voltage Vref corresponding to a stable operation voltage of the operation power supply 1P in which the non-contact communication circuit 1 operates stably.
The voltage comparison circuit 35 includes a circuit unit such as a voltage comparator, and compares the reference voltage Vref from the reference voltage generation circuit 34 with the power supply voltage Va of the operating power supply 1P and the charge voltage Vb of the charging power supply 4P. It has a function of outputting a control signal indicating the charging timing for the secondary battery 4.

The switch circuit 36 includes a circuit unit such as an analog switch, and is connected to the tuning circuit 31 and has a function of switching the active state of the tuning circuit 31 based on a control signal from the voltage comparison circuit 35.
The power supply control circuit 37 has a function of performing supply control of the operating power supply 1P from the regulator circuit 33 to the non-contact communication circuit 1, that is, on / off control of the power supply, based on the power supply control signal 3S from the wireless communication circuit 5. ing.

[Wireless communication circuit]
Next, the configuration of the wireless communication circuit 5 of the IC card 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the wireless communication circuit of FIG.
The wireless communication circuit 5 is provided with a wireless communication control circuit 51, a wireless interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a wireless I / F unit) 52, a clock circuit 53, a memory circuit 54, and a switch circuit 55 as main circuit units. These circuit units are constituted by one-chip ICs.

The wireless I / F circuit 52 modulates the transmission / reception data 5A output from the wireless communication control circuit 51 into a wireless signal 6S and outputs it to the wireless communication antenna 6, and the wireless signal 6S from the wireless communication antenna 6 It has a function of demodulating the transmission / reception data 5A and outputting it to the wireless communication control circuit 51.
The wireless communication control circuit 51 includes an MPU and its peripheral circuits, and by executing a program read from the memory circuit 54, the hardware and the program cooperate to perform various communication control processes, It has a function of controlling various input / output data 1D with the non-contact communication circuit 1 by controlling the input / output port 51A which is one of the circuits.

The clock circuit 53 is composed of a clock IC such as an RTC (Real-Time-Clock) chip. The clock circuit 53 counts the time and outputs the clock to the radio communication control circuit 51 and a time setting instruction from the radio communication control circuit 51. And a function for changing the setting of the internal time.
The memory circuit 54 includes a memory such as a RAM, a ROM, and an E2PROM, and has a function of storing processing information and a program used in the wireless communication control circuit 51. In particular, card identification information unique to the IC card is read in advance from the non-contact communication circuit 1 and stored in E2PROM.

  The switch circuit 55 is composed of a general switch element, and in response to an instruction from the wireless communication control circuit 51, supply control of the operating power supply 5P from the power supply circuit 3 to the wireless I / F circuit 52, that is, power on / off It has a function to perform control.

[IC card management server]
Next, the IC card management server 40 of the IC card system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the IC card management server of the IC card system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a configuration example showing base station management information. FIG. 7 is a configuration example showing card management information.

The IC card management server 40 is composed of a general server device as a whole, and includes a communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a communication I / F unit) 41, a storage unit 42, and an arithmetic processing unit 43 as main functional units. ing.
The communication I / F unit 41 is composed of a dedicated communication circuit, and has a function of performing data communication with the radio base station 30 via a communication line, and a communication terminal 60 and data via a communication network 50 such as the Internet or a mobile communication network. And a function of performing communication.

  The storage unit 42 includes a storage device such as a hard disk or a memory, and has a function of storing various processing information and programs used in the arithmetic processing unit 43. Main processing information includes base station management information 42A and card management information 42B.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the base station management information 42A includes attribute information regarding each radio base station 30, and includes base station identification information unique to the radio base station, address information used for data communication with the radio base station, A set of information such as position information related to the installation position of the radio base station is registered for each radio base station 30.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the card management information 42B includes attribute information related to each IC card 10, card identification information unique to the IC card, transmission data to be transmitted to the IC card, and reception received from the IC card. A set including information such as data, date and time information for data communication with the IC card, and base station identification information indicating a radio base station used for data communication with the IC card is registered for each IC card 10.

The arithmetic processing unit 43 has an MPU and its peripheral circuits, and executes a program read from the storage unit 42, thereby realizing a functional unit that performs various IC card management processes by cooperating the hardware and the program. To do. The main functional units include a location registration unit 43A, a time synchronization unit 43B, and a data processing unit 43C.
The location registration unit 43A has a function of registering the correspondence relationship with the radio base station 30 to which the IC card 10 is wirelessly connected in the card management information 42B in response to a location registration request from the IC card 10. .

The time synchronizer 43B transmits time information generated based on a time measurement result in a time measurement circuit such as an RTC chip of a peripheral circuit to the IC card 10 and performs time synchronization between the IC card management server 40 and the IC card 10. have.
The data processing unit 43C has a function of transmitting / receiving data stored in a designated IC card in response to a request from the communication terminal 60 or a host device (not shown).

[Operation of First Embodiment]
Next, operations of the IC card and the IC card system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing a non-contact data communication operation of the IC card according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing wireless data communication operations of the IC card and the IC card system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a charging operation of the secondary battery. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another charging operation of the secondary battery. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing another configuration of the power supply circuit of FIG. 1, and the same reference numerals are given to the same or equivalent parts as in FIG.

[Non-contact data communication operation]
First, the non-contact data communication operation of the IC card 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
When the IC card 10 is held over the non-contact IC card identification device 20 and the distance between them is reduced to about several centimeters, electromagnetic induction 20S is generated between them (step 100).
In response to the generation of the electromagnetic induction 20S, in the IC card 10, the power supply circuit 3 starts charging the secondary battery 4 based on the non-contact signal 2S generated by the non-contact communication antenna 2 (step 101).
The non-contact communication circuit 1 is activated by generating an operation power source 1P based on the non-contact signal 2S generated by the non-contact communication antenna 2 by the electromagnetic induction 20S, and is connected to the non-contact IC card identification device 20. Then, non-contact data communication is started (step 102).

In this non-contact data communication, for example, when a data read request for requesting data required for processing is transmitted from the non-contact IC card identification device 20 (step 103), the non-contact communication control circuit 14 The data read request is received by the transmission / reception data 1A via the / F unit 13. Subsequently, the designated data is read from the memory circuit 15 (step 104), and transmitted to the non-contact IC card identification device 20 via the non-contact communication I / F unit 13 by the transmission / reception data 1A (step 105).
As a result, the non-contact IC card identification device 20 performs processing based on the data (step 106), and the non-contact data communication between the non-contact IC card identification device 20 and the IC card 10 ends ( Step 107).

Thereafter, when the holding of the IC card 10 with respect to the non-contact IC card identification device 20 is finished, the distance between the two becomes longer and the electromagnetic induction 20S stops (step 108).
In response to this, power is not supplied to the IC card 10, charging in the power supply circuit 3 is terminated, the operation of the non-contact communication control circuit 14 is stopped, and a series of non-contact data communication operations are completed.

  In FIG. 8, the case where data in the IC card 10 is read from the non-contact IC card identification device 20 is described as an example, but the non-contact data communication operation is not limited to data reading. For example, in response to a data write request from the contactless IC card identification device 20, an operation of writing data received from the contactless IC card identification device 20 to the memory circuit 15 by the contactless communication circuit 1 of the IC card 10. May be performed. Further, both the read operation and the write operation may be performed. In the non-contact data communication operation, data is read in response to a request from the non-contact communication circuit 1 of the IC card 10 to the non-contact IC card identification device 20 instead of a request from the non-contact IC card identification device 20. An operation or a write operation may be performed.

[Wireless data communication operation]
Next, wireless data communication operation of the IC card and the IC card system will be described with reference to FIG.
The IC card 10 starts data communication with the IC card management server 40 via the radio base station 30 at a predetermined interval set in advance. Here, a case where a position registration process, a time synchronization process, and a data writing process are performed between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40 will be described as an example, but the order of these processes may be arbitrarily determined. That's fine. Further, it is not necessary to execute all these processes at once, and the processes may be executed separately for a plurality of data communications having different timings.

  Main specifications for determining the communication interval and communication period in the intermittent operation of wireless data communication include the charging capacity of the secondary battery, the power consumption by wireless data communication, and the non-chargeable usable period required for the IC card 10 Can be considered. As a specific example of the communication interval and the communication period, for example, by setting the communication period to 0.1 second with respect to the communication interval of a 10-second cycle or a 100-second cycle, the secondary battery 4 can be reduced to 1/100 or 1/1000.

  In the IC card 10, the wireless communication control circuit 51 of the wireless communication circuit 5 monitors the communication timing with the IC card management server 40 based on the time information generated from the time measurement result in the time measurement circuit 53. The wireless communication control circuit 51 controls the switch circuit 55 to turn on in response to the arrival of timing (step 110), and starts supplying the operating power 5P to the wireless I / F circuit 52 (step 111). Wireless data communication is started with the station 30 via the wireless I / F circuit 52 and the wireless communication antenna 6 (step 112).

On the other hand, the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40 is always in a state of waiting for data communication with the wireless base station 30, and from the wireless base station 30 in response to the start of wireless data communication with the IC card 10. In response to the data communication start request, data communication is started with the wireless base station 30 via the communication I / F unit 41 (step 113).
Thereby, data communication is started between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40 via the radio base station 30.

  In this data communication, when performing the location registration process between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40, first, in the IC card 10, the wireless communication control circuit 51 of the wireless communication circuit 5 receives the card identification information from the memory circuit 54. Is read (step 120), and a location registration request including the card identification information is transmitted to the IC card management server 40 via the radio base station 30 (step 121). At this time, the wireless communication control circuit 51 may read the card identification information and transmit it to the IC card management server 40 in response to a location registration request from the IC card management server 40.

  When the location registration request from the IC card 10 is received via the radio base station 30, the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40 uses the location registration unit 43A to establish a radio base station wirelessly connected to the IC card 10. Based on the header information of the packet received from the station 30, the base station identification information of the radio base station 30 is acquired (step 122), and associated with the card identification information notified in the location registration request, The date and time information indicating the date and time is registered in the card management information 42B of the storage unit 42 (step 123), and a location registration response is transmitted from the radio base station 30 to the IC card 10 (step 124). Thereby, a series of position registration processing is completed.

  In this data communication, when the time synchronization processing is performed between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40, first, in the IC card management server 40, the arithmetic processing unit 43 is connected to the peripheral circuit by the time synchronization unit 43B. Time information is generated based on a time measurement result in a time measuring circuit such as an RTC chip (step 130), and a time synchronization request including the time information is transmitted from the radio base station 30 to the IC card 10 (step 131).

  When the time synchronization request from the IC card management server 40 is received via the wireless base station 30, the wireless communication control circuit 51 of the IC card 10 sends the time information included in the time synchronization request to the clock circuit 53. The time is set, the internal time of the clock circuit 53 is changed (step 132), and a time synchronization response is transmitted from the radio base station 30 to the IC card management server 40 (step 133). As a result, a series of time synchronization processing ends.

  In this data communication, when data writing processing is performed between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40, first, in the IC card management server 40, the arithmetic processing unit 43 is connected to the storage unit by the data processing unit 43C. The transmission data corresponding to the card identification information of the IC card 10 is acquired from the card management information 42B of 42 (step 140), and the data write request including the transmission data is transmitted from the radio base station 30 to the IC card 10. (Step 141).

  When a data write request from the IC card management server 40 is received via the wireless base station 30, the wireless communication control circuit 51 of the IC card 10 outputs a power supply control signal 3S to the power supply circuit 3 to start power supply. Instruct (step 142). Thereby, the power supply control circuit 37 of the power supply circuit 3 is controlled to be turned on, and the supply of the operation power supply 1P to the non-contact communication circuit 1 is started (step 143).

  Subsequently, the wireless communication control circuit 51 outputs a write instruction including the transmission data included in the data write request from the input / output port 51A to the non-contact communication circuit 1 (step 144). Thereby, the non-contact communication control circuit 14 receives the write instruction at the input / output port 14A, and stores the transmission data included in this write instruction in the corresponding storage location in the memory circuit 15 (step 145). ).

  Thereafter, the wireless communication control circuit 51 stops outputting the power supply control signal 3S (step 146), stops the supply of the operating power source 1P to the non-contact communication circuit 1 (step 147), and sends the data write response to the wireless base station. The data is transmitted from the station 30 to the IC card management server 40 (step 133). Thereby, a series of data write processing is completed.

  In steps 140 to 148 in FIG. 9, the case where data is written from the IC card management server 40 to the IC card 10 has been described as an example, but the wireless data communication operation is not limited to data writing. For example, in response to a data read request from the IC card management server 40, the wireless communication circuit 5 of the IC card 10 may perform an operation of transmitting data read from the memory circuit 15 to the IC card management server 40. . Further, both the writing operation and the reading operation may be performed. The wireless data communication operation may be performed by performing a data write operation or a read operation in response to a request from the wireless communication circuit 5 of the IC card 10 to the IC card management server 40 instead of a request from the IC card management server 40. Good.

  In response to the end of various processes between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40, the wireless communication control circuit 51 ends wireless data communication with the wireless base station 30 (step 150), and the switch circuit 55 is powered on. The control is turned off (step 151), and the supply of the operating power 5P to the wireless I / F circuit 52 is stopped. Thereby, the data communication between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40 ends, and the wireless communication control circuit 51 waits until the next communication timing comes.

[Charging operation]
Next, the charging operation of the secondary battery 4 in the IC card 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Charging of the secondary battery 4 is performed during non-contact data communication between the IC card 10 and the non-contact IC card identification device 20.

  The IC card 10 is held over the contactless IC card identification device 20 and the distance between the two is reduced, and electromagnetic induction 20S is started between the IC card 10 and the contactless IC card identification device 20 at time T0. In this case, in the IC card 10, the power supply voltage Va of the operation power supply 1P output from the rectifier circuit 12 of the non-contact communication circuit 1 gradually increases, and at time T1, the power supply voltage Va reaches the reference voltage Vref that is a stable operation voltage. At that time, the non-contact communication circuit 1 starts a stable operation.

On the other hand, in the power supply circuit 3 of the IC card 10, the power supply voltage Va and the reference voltage Vref are compared by the voltage comparison circuit 35. Since the power supply voltage Va is lower than the reference voltage Vref before time T1, the voltage comparison circuit 35 No control signal is output to the switch circuit 36.
Thereafter, after time T1, the power supply voltage Va becomes equal to or higher than the reference voltage Vref, so that a control signal is output from the voltage comparison circuit 35 to the switch circuit 36.

As a result, the switch circuit 36 operates to connect the tuning circuit 31 to the non-contact communication antenna 2 and change from the inactive state to the active state.
Therefore, after time T1, the non-contact signal 2S from the non-contact communication antenna 2 is output to the rectifier circuit 32, which is stabilized by the regulator circuit 33, and charging of the secondary battery 4 is started. The charging voltage Vb increases.

Further, when the IC card 10 is held over the non-contact IC card identification device 20 and the distance between the two is increased, the IC card 10 uses the operation power supply 1P output from the rectifier circuit 12 of the non-contact communication circuit 1. The power supply voltage Va gradually decreases.
Thereafter, when the power supply voltage Va falls below the reference voltage Vref, which is a stable operation voltage, at time T2, the operation of the non-contact communication circuit 1 ends.

On the other hand, in the power supply circuit 3 of the IC card 10, since the power supply voltage Va becomes lower than the reference voltage Vref after time T2, the output of the control signal from the voltage comparison circuit 35 to the switch circuit 36 is stopped. As a result, the switch circuit 36 operates, the tuning circuit 31 is released from the non-contact communication antenna 2 and returns to the inactive state, and the non-contact signal 2S is totally reflected from the tuning circuit 31 to the non-contact communication circuit 1 side without loss. Is done.
Therefore, after time T2, the non-contact signal 2S from the non-contact communication antenna 2 is not output to the rectifier circuit 32, and charging of the secondary battery 4 by the regulator circuit 33 is completed.

  The non-contact data communication between the IC card 10 and the non-contact IC card identification device 20 needs to be normally performed in a short period of time when the IC card 10 is held over the non-contact IC card identification device 20. . For this reason, at the start of the electromagnetic induction 20S, it is necessary to increase the power supply voltage Va of the operation power supply 1P used in the non-contact communication circuit 1 of the IC card 10 to a stable operation voltage of the non-contact communication circuit 1 in a short period. After the operation of the contact communication circuit 1 is started, it is necessary to maintain the power supply voltage Va at a stable operating voltage or higher for as long as possible.

  According to the charging operation of FIG. 10, charging of the secondary battery 4 can be stopped during the rising period of the power supply voltage Va from time T0 to time T1. For this reason, it is possible to suppress the consumption of the feeding power due to the charging of the secondary battery, and to avoid the rise delay of the power supply voltage Va due to this charging, that is, the start-up requirement required from the start of electromagnetic induction to the start of non-contact data communication You can save time. In particular, when the charging voltage Vb of the secondary battery 4 is close to zero, a relatively large charging power supply 4P is consumed, so that the startup required time is likely to increase significantly. However, with such charging control, the secondary battery 4 Even when the charging voltage Vb is close to zero, it is possible to avoid an increase in the required startup time.

  In addition, since the secondary battery is charged only during the period when the power supply voltage Va is higher than the reference voltage Vref which is a stable operation voltage, the power supply voltage Va falls below the reference voltage Vref and the contactless communication circuit 1 When the stable operation is no longer guaranteed, the charging operation is immediately stopped, so that the portion of the charging power source can be supplied to the operating power source 1P of the non-contact communication circuit 1. As a result, the power supply voltage Va is recovered, and the stable operation of the non-contact communication circuit 1 can be continued.

Next, another charging operation of the secondary battery 4 in the IC card 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 10, the case where the secondary battery is charged only during the period when the power supply voltage Va is equal to or higher than the reference voltage Vref has been described as an example, but here, in addition to this condition, only when the power supply voltage Va is equal to or higher than the charging voltage Vb. A case where the secondary battery is charged will be described.

In FIG. 11, at time T1 when the power supply voltage Va becomes equal to or higher than the reference voltage Vref, the control signal is not output from the voltage comparison circuit 35 to the switch circuit 36 because the power supply voltage Va is lower than the charging voltage Vb.
Thereafter, after time T4, since the power supply voltage Va becomes equal to or higher than the charging voltage Vb, a control signal is output from the voltage comparison circuit 35 to the switch circuit 36, and the tuning circuit 31 is connected to the non-contact communication antenna 2. Thus, the inactive state is changed to the active state, and the non-contact signal 2S is output to the rectifier circuit 32, which is stabilized by the regulator circuit 33 and charging of the secondary battery 4 is started.

  At time T5, since the power supply voltage Va becomes lower than the charging voltage Vb, the output of the control signal from the voltage comparison circuit 35 to the switch circuit 36 is stopped. As a result, the switch circuit 36 operates, the tuning circuit 31 is released from the non-contact communication antenna 2 and returns to the inactive state, and the non-contact signal 2S is totally reflected from the tuning circuit 31 to the non-contact communication circuit 1 side without loss. Is done.

  Therefore, according to the charging operation of FIG. 11, during the operation period of the non-contact communication circuit 1 from the time T1 to the time T2, the secondary voltage is secondary only during the period from the time T4 to the time T5 when the power supply voltage Va becomes the charging voltage Vb or higher. Battery 4 is charged. As a result, the tuning circuit 31 can be opened from the non-contact communication antenna 2 during a period in which the power supply voltage Va is substantially lower than the charging voltage Vb. Unnecessary power consumption can be avoided. For this reason, the power supplied from the non-contact IC card identification device 20 can be efficiently supplied to the non-contact communication circuit 1, and the stable operation period of the non-contact communication circuit 1 can be extended.

Next, another charging operation of the secondary battery 4 in the IC card 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 11, the case where the charging voltage Vb is directly compared with the power supply voltage Va by the voltage comparison circuit 35 on the assumption of the power supply circuit 3 of FIG. 3 described above is described as an example. Here, as shown in FIG. 12, a case where the charging voltage Vb is amplified by the voltage amplification circuit 38 and then compared with the power supply voltage Va will be described.

  In order to maintain the charging power source 4P of the secondary battery 4 for a long period of time, it is desirable to suppress power consumption in the wireless communication circuit 5 as much as possible, and an IC chip that operates with a relatively low power supply voltage is selected as the wireless communication circuit 5 The structure which performs is considered. Therefore, in such a configuration, a secondary battery 4 having a low charging voltage is used.

  As described above, when the wireless communication circuit 5 operates at a power supply voltage lower than the power supply voltage Va of the non-contact communication circuit 1, when the charge voltage Vb is directly compared with the power supply voltage Va, before the power supply voltage Va reaches the reference voltage Vref. The power supply voltage Va exceeds the charging voltage Vb, and as a result, charging is performed during the same period as the operation period of the non-contact communication circuit 1 as in FIG.

In the charging operation of FIG. 12, in order to avoid such a state, a voltage amplification circuit 38 is provided in the power supply circuit 3, the charge voltage Vb is amplified to the charge voltage Vbup, and the charge voltage Vbup and the power supply voltage Va are The comparison circuit 35 performs comparison.
As a result, the same charging operation as in FIG. 11 can be realized, and even when a secondary battery 4 having a low charging voltage is used, the same effect as in FIG. 11 can be obtained.

[Effect of the first embodiment]
As described above, in this embodiment, the IC card has a wireless communication antenna and a wireless communication circuit for performing wireless data communication with a wireless base station using wireless radio waves, a secondary battery, and a second battery. A power supply circuit for charging the secondary battery is provided, and the wireless communication circuit is operated by the secondary battery charging power supply to input / output data to / from the non-contact communication circuit and to perform wireless data communication with the wireless base station. Therefore, data input / output processing with respect to the IC card can be performed without the need for an IC card identification device.

  In particular, a wireless communication circuit that can be mounted on an IC card can provide a communication distance of about several kilometers, so that the communication range of an IC card is extremely wide compared to contactless data communication that has only a communication range of about several centimeters. Range can be realized. Therefore, the user can update or check the data stored in the IC card without going to the place where the non-contact IC card identification device is installed. Therefore, it is possible to greatly reduce the burden on the user and provide an IC card and an IC card system that are extremely easy to use.

Further, in this embodiment, a clock circuit is provided in the radio communication circuit of the IC card, and radio data is transmitted to and from the radio base station by the radio communication control circuit intermittently at predetermined intervals timed by the clock circuit. Communication may be performed.
Thereby, consumption of the charge power supply of a secondary battery can be suppressed, and the period until charge by the non-contact IC card identification device 20 can be extended.

At this time, the wireless communication circuit of the IC card is provided with a switch circuit that controls power supply to the wireless interface circuit that transmits and receives wireless radio waves to and from the wireless base station, and wireless data communication is performed by the wireless communication control circuit. The switch circuit may be controlled only during the period to supply power to the wireless interface circuit.
Thus, only the operation of the wireless interface circuit with high power consumption needs to be stopped during the wireless data communication stop period. For this reason, the radio communication control circuit and the clock circuit for monitoring arrival of the start timing of radio data communication can always be operated, and the configuration and processing of the radio communication circuit can be simplified.

In this embodiment, when the operating power supply voltage is higher than the reference voltage by the voltage comparison circuit of the power supply circuit, the switch circuit is controlled to connect the non-contact communication antenna and the tuning circuit to perform charging. When the operating power supply voltage is lower than the reference voltage, charging may be stopped by controlling the switch circuit to disconnect the tuning circuit from the non-contact communication antenna.
As a result, the charging of the secondary battery at the start of electromagnetic induction can be stopped, and the startup time required from the start of electromagnetic induction to the start of non-contact data communication can be shortened.

At this time, in the voltage comparison circuit, the operation power supply voltage is compared with the charging voltage of the secondary battery, and only when the operation power supply voltage is higher than the reference voltage and the operation power supply voltage is higher than the charge voltage, the switch circuit is The charging may be performed by connecting the non-contact communication antenna and the tuning circuit.
Thus, unnecessary power consumption in the tuning circuit of the power supply circuit can be avoided during a period in which charging is not substantially performed. For this reason, the power supplied from the non-contact IC card identification device can be efficiently supplied to the non-contact communication circuit, and the stable operation period of the non-contact communication circuit can be extended.

Further, a voltage amplifier may be provided in the power supply circuit, and the charge voltage may be amplified and input to the voltage comparison circuit.
Thus, even when a secondary battery having a low charging voltage is used, unnecessary power consumption in the tuning circuit of the power supply circuit can be avoided during a period in which charging is not substantially performed. For this reason, the power supplied from the non-contact IC card identification device can be efficiently supplied to the non-contact communication circuit, and the stable operation period of the non-contact communication circuit can be extended.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, an IC card according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing another configuration of the power supply circuit mounted on the IC card according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The same or equivalent parts as those in FIG. It is.

  In 1st Embodiment, the case where the secondary battery 4 was charged with the electric power supplied from the identification device 20 for non-contact IC cards at the time of non-contact data communication was demonstrated. In the present embodiment, a case where the power generation circuit 7 is mounted on the IC card 10 and the secondary battery 4 is charged with the generated power from the power generation circuit 7 will be described. The configuration according to the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the power generation circuit 7 is added to the IC card 10, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The power generation circuit 7 is connected to the power supply circuit 3, and the generated power from the power generation circuit 7 is input to the organizing circuit 32 of the power supply circuit 3. Here, the generated power is rectified and stabilized by the regulator circuit 33 and then charged to the secondary battery 4.

As a specific example of the power generation circuit 7 mounted on the IC card 10, there is a vibration element that converts vibration energy applied to the IC card 10 into electric energy. This vibration element can be realized with a size that can be sufficiently mounted even on a thin IC card by using a three-dimensional fine processing technique called MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems).
Other specific examples of the power generation circuit 7 include a thermoelectric element that converts a temperature difference into electric energy, and a photoelectric conversion element such as a solar cell that converts light into electric energy.

[Effect of the second embodiment]
Thus, in this embodiment, since the power generation circuit is provided in the IC card and the secondary battery is charged with the generated power, the consumption of the secondary battery can be reduced. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the delay in access to the IC card by shortening the cycle of wireless data communication. Alternatively, the charging interval of the IC card can be extended.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, an IC card system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 14 and FIG. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the IC card management server of the IC card system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals are given to the same or equivalent parts as in FIG. . FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram showing an information providing operation of the IC card system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  In the first embodiment, a case has been described in which the IC card management server 40 transmits and receives data stored in a designated IC card in response to a request from the communication terminal 60 or a higher-level device. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which location information of a specified IC card is provided in response to a request from the communication terminal 60 or a host device.

  Compared with the IC card management server 40 according to the first embodiment, in this embodiment, an information providing unit 43D is added to the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40. The information providing unit 43D has a function of acquiring and providing the corresponding IC card position information from the storage unit 42 in response to a request from the communication terminal 60 or the host device. The configuration according to the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the information providing unit 43D is added to the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40, and the detailed description here is as follows. Omitted.

  When the communication I / F unit 41 receives the location confirmation request transmitted from the communication terminal 60 via the communication network 50 (step 200), the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40 uses the information providing unit 43D to The card management information 42B in the storage unit 42 is confirmed, and base station identification information corresponding to the card identification information of the designated IC card is acquired.

  Next, the information providing unit 43D confirms the base station management information 42A in the storage unit 42, obtains position information corresponding to the base station identification information (step 201), and confirms the position including the obtained position information. A response is transmitted from the communication I / F unit 41 to the communication terminal 60 via the communication network 50 (step 202). The communication terminal 60 displays the position information included in the received position confirmation response on the screen as the IC card position information (step 203).

[Effect of the third embodiment]
As described above, in the present embodiment, in the IC card management server device, by performing data communication with the IC card via any one of the radio base stations, the card identification information unique to the IC card and the radio base station Registering a set with the base station identification information in the storage unit, in response to a position confirmation request from the communication terminal received via the communication network, search the storage unit for position information corresponding to the specified card identification information, Since the information is provided to the communication terminal, the user can easily confirm the position of the IC card.

  Therefore, by applying the IC card according to the present embodiment as a card carried by a child or an elderly person, the position can be easily confirmed as necessary, and an inexpensive and simple town security service can be realized. It becomes possible to provide high value-added services to users.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the latest location information of the IC card is provided from the IC card management server has been described as an example. However, the card management information 42B of the IC card management server is obtained by data communication with the IC card. The position of the IC card may be registered in time series together with the date / time information. As a result, it is possible to provide information related to the change in position of the IC card, that is, the movement of the IC card.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the position information related to the installation position of the wireless base station is provided as the position information of the IC card has been described as an example, but the function of detecting the strength and angle direction of the radio wave from the IC card is described. The wireless base station may be provided with position information obtained from the distance from the wireless base station to the IC card and the angle direction based on the strength and the angle direction, and the angle direction as the position information of the IC card. At this time, the wireless base station may be provided with a position estimation function for estimating the position information of the IC card from the strength of the radio wave, and also from the angle direction, and the estimated position information may be notified to the IC card management server. An estimation function may be provided in the IC card management server device, and the position information of the IC card may be estimated based on the strength of the radio wave notified from the radio base station and the angle direction.

[Fourth Embodiment]
Next, with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17, an IC card and an IC card system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless communication circuit mounted on an IC card according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The same or equivalent parts as those in FIG. is there. FIG. 17 shows another configuration example of the card management information.

  In the third embodiment, the case where the position information of the IC card 10 is provided in the IC card system has been described. In the present embodiment, a case where IC card status information is provided in addition to position information of the IC card 10 will be described.

Compared to the IC card 10 according to the first embodiment, a card state sensor 56 is added to the wireless communication circuit 5 of the IC card 10 according to the present embodiment. The card state sensor 56 is composed of a sensor that operates with the operating power supply 5P from the power supply circuit 3 in the same manner as the wireless communication control circuit 51, and has a function of outputting the detected IC card state to the wireless communication control circuit 51 as a sensor output. Have.
The wireless communication control circuit 51 has a function of transmitting the sensor output from the card state sensor 56 to the IC card management server 40 to the wireless base station during wireless data communication such as when a location registration request is made.

  As the card state sensor 56, a sensor that detects a shaking motion of the IC card 10, such as a vibration sensor or an acceleration sensor, can be considered. In this case, if the vibration element is formed by using, for example, a three-dimensional microfabrication technique called MEMS, the swing motion of the IC card 10 can be detected from the vibration element that vibrates according to the swing motion of the IC card 10. Note that the card state sensor 56 is not limited to a sensor that detects the shaking motion of the IC card 10, and other sensors that detect a state related to the IC card 10 may be used. For example, the ambient temperature of the IC card 10 may be detected using a temperature sensor such as a thermoelectric element, and the brightness around the IC card 10 may be detected using an optical sensor such as a photodetector.

On the other hand, the position registration unit 43A of the IC card management server 40 associates the sensor output transmitted from the IC card 10 with the card identification information of the IC card 10 during wireless data communication such as a position registration request from the IC card 10. And has a function of registering in the card management information 42B of the storage unit 42.
Further, the information providing unit 43D of the IC card management server 40 acquires the position information and sensor output of the corresponding IC card 10 from the card management information 42B of the storage unit 42 in response to a request from the communication terminal 60 or the host device. It has a function to provide.
As shown in FIG. 17, the sensor output notified from the IC card 10 is added to the card management information 42 </ b> B as attribute information related to each IC card 10.

[Operation of Fourth Embodiment]
Next, operations of the IC card and the IC card system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram showing the wireless data communication operation of the IC card and IC card system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, and the same or equivalent parts as in FIG. 9 are given the same reference numerals. FIG. 19 is a sequence diagram showing an information providing operation of the IC card system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Wireless data communication operation]
Next, the wireless data communication operation of the IC card and IC card system will be described with reference to FIG. Here, a case where only the position registration process and the sensor output acquisition process are performed between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40 will be described as an example. However, as shown in FIG. Other processing such as processing may be performed in a lump.

  In the IC card 10, the wireless communication control circuit 51 of the wireless communication circuit 5 monitors the communication timing with the IC card management server 40 based on the time information from the timer circuit 53. The wireless communication control circuit 51 controls the switch circuit 55 to turn on in response to the arrival of timing (step 110), and starts supplying the operating power 5P to the wireless I / F circuit 52 (step 111). Wireless data communication is started with the station 30 via the wireless I / F circuit 52 and the wireless communication antenna 6 (step 112).

On the other hand, the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40 is always in a state of waiting for data communication with the wireless base station 30, and from the wireless base station 30 in response to the start of wireless data communication with the IC card 10. In response to the data communication start request, data communication is started with the wireless base station 30 via the communication I / F unit 41 (step 113).
Thereby, data communication is started between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40 via the radio base station 30.

  In this data communication, when performing the location registration process between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40, first, in the IC card 10, the wireless communication control circuit 51 of the wireless communication circuit 5 receives the card identification information from the memory circuit 54. Is read (step 120), and a location registration request including the card identification information is transmitted to the IC card management server 40 via the radio base station 30 (step 121). At this time, the wireless communication control circuit 51 may read the card identification information and transmit it to the IC card management server 40 in response to a location registration request from the IC card management server 40.

  When the location registration request from the IC card 10 is received via the radio base station 30, the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40 uses the location registration unit 43A to establish a radio base station wirelessly connected to the IC card 10. Based on the header information of the packet received from the station 30, the base station identification information of the radio base station 30 is acquired (step 122), and associated with the card identification information notified in the location registration request, The date and time information indicating the date and time is registered in the card management information 42B of the storage unit 42 (step 123), and a location registration response is transmitted from the radio base station 30 to the IC card 10 (step 124). Thereby, a series of position registration processing is completed.

Further, in this data communication, when performing sensor output acquisition processing between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40, the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40 first issues a sensor output request from the data processing unit 43C. Then, the data is transmitted to the IC card 10 via the radio base station 30 (step 300).
When the sensor output request from the IC card management server 40 is received via the wireless base station 30, the wireless communication control circuit 51 of the IC card 10 acquires the sensor output from the card state sensor 56 (Step 301). A sensor output response including the sensor output is transmitted to the IC card management server 40 via the wireless base station 30 (step 302).

When the sensor output response from the IC card 10 is received via the radio base station 30, the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40 is associated with the card identification information of the IC card 10 by the data processing unit 43C. The sensor output included in the sensor output response is registered in the card management information 42B of the storage unit 42 (step 303). Thereby, a series of sensor output acquisition processing ends.
The sensor output may be notified from the IC card 10 to the IC card management server 40 in accordance with the timing of the location registration process, for example, instead of a request from the IC card management server 40. At this time, when the card identification information is notified in the position registration process, the sensor output may be notified to the IC card management server 40 together.

  In response to the end of various processes between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40, the wireless communication control circuit 51 ends wireless data communication with the wireless base station 30 (step 150), and the switch circuit 55 is powered on. The control is turned off (step 151), and the supply of the operating power 5P to the wireless I / F circuit 52 is stopped. Thereby, the data communication between the IC card 10 and the IC card management server 40 ends, and the wireless communication control circuit 51 waits until the next communication timing comes.

[Information provision operation]
Next, an information providing operation of the IC card system will be described with reference to FIG.
When the communication I / F unit 2 receives the position confirmation request transmitted from the communication terminal 60 via the communication network 50 (step 200), the arithmetic processing unit 43 of the IC card management server 40 uses the information providing unit 43D to The card management information 42B in the storage unit 42 is confirmed, the base station identification information corresponding to the card identification information of the designated IC card is obtained, the base station management information 42A in the storage unit 42 is confirmed, and the base station identification The position information corresponding to the information is acquired (step 201).

  Subsequently, the information providing unit 43D confirms the card management information 42B in the storage unit 42, acquires the sensor output corresponding to the card identification information (step 310), and obtains the position information and the sensor output (status information). The location confirmation response including the request is transmitted from the communication I / F unit 41 to the communication terminal 60 via the communication network 50 (step 202). The communication terminal 60 displays the position information and sensor output included in the received position confirmation response on the screen as the position information of the IC card (step 203).

[Effect of the fourth embodiment]
As described above, in this embodiment, a card state sensor is provided in the IC card, and the IC card management server device performs data communication with the IC card via any one of the wireless base stations. A pair of the card identification information, the base station identification information of the wireless base station, and the sensor output transmitted from the IC card is registered in the storage unit, and the position confirmation request received from the communication terminal is received via the communication network. Accordingly, since the position information corresponding to the specified card identification information is retrieved from the storage unit and provided to the communication terminal, the user can easily confirm the position of the IC card and the state of the IC card. it can.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the latest location information of the IC card is provided from the IC card management server has been described as an example. However, the card management information 42B of the IC card management server is obtained by data communication with the IC card. The position of the IC card may be registered in time series together with the date / time information. As a result, it is possible to provide information related to the change in position of the IC card, that is, the movement of the IC card.

Thereby, the state regarding the user carrying the IC card can be estimated in more detail from the position and state of the IC card.
For example, when an IC card shaking sensor is used as the state sensor, the position of the IC card carried by the child is moving toward the home on the school road, and the IC card detects vibration during walking. If so, it can be estimated that the child is on the way home on foot. Further, when the IC card is moving at a high speed while the IC card is moving at a high speed, it can be estimated that the IC card is moving by a train or the like.

Furthermore, when a swinging motion of the IC card is detected in a nearby park without moving, it can be estimated that the child is playing in the park. If there is no shaking of the IC card in an unfamiliar place, the incidentality can be suspected.
Thus, by providing the status information together with the position information of the IC card, the position and status of the child and the elderly can be estimated in more detail. Therefore, if the IC card of the present invention is carried by a child or an elderly person, an inexpensive and advanced town security service can be realized.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as an example, the position information and sensor output of the IC card are acquired at a timing at which data communication is intermittently performed between the IC card and the IC card management server at preset intervals. Although described, the acquisition timing of these pieces of information is not limited to this.

For example, in the wireless communication control circuit 51 of the IC card 10, the value itself of the sensor output from the state sensor 56 or a change in the value exceeds a predetermined threshold value, and the IC card management server 40 Data communication may be started, and the position registration unit 43A of the IC card management server 40 may register the position information and sensor output of the IC card 10 in the card management information 42B of the storage unit 42 in time series. Thereby, it is possible to acquire the position information and status information of the IC card at a timing different from the normal data communication cycle.
Therefore, for example, when the IC card is lost, it is possible to easily check the position and the date and time when the state of the IC card changes significantly.

  In addition, in the information providing unit 43D of the IC card management server 40, the position information and state information of the IC card are registered in advance according to changes in new position information and state information about the IC card. You may make it notify to 60 using Web service or an e-mail service. This makes it possible to provide the user with location information and status information related to the IC card in real time.

[Fifth Embodiment]
Next, an IC card system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an IC card system according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals are given to the same or equivalent parts as those in FIG. FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a non-contact communication circuit mounted on an IC card according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention, and the same reference numerals are given to the same or similar parts as FIG. .

  In the first embodiment, the case where the IC card 10 performs non-contact data communication with the non-contact IC card identification device 20 has been described as an example. In the present embodiment, a case where the IC card 10 performs contact data communication with the contact IC card identification device 70 will be described.

In the IC card system according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 20, the IC card 10 is provided with a contact communication electrode 8 as compared with the IC card 10 according to the first embodiment. The contact communication electrode 8 is a contact terminal formed exposed on the card surface and has a function of exchanging an electric signal 70S with the contact IC card identification device 70.
The non-contact communication circuit 1 has a function of performing contact data communication with the contact IC card identification device 70 via the contact communication electrode 8 and transmitting and receiving data by the contact data communication. Yes.

As shown in FIG. 21, the non-contact communication circuit 1 of the IC card according to the present embodiment has a contact communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a contact communication I / F unit) as compared with the first embodiment. 16 has been added. The contact communication I / F circuit 16 modulates the transmission / reception data 1B output from the non-contact communication control circuit 14 into a data communication signal 8S and outputs the data communication signal 8S to the contact communication electrode 8, and is input from the contact communication electrode 8. The data communication signal 8S is demodulated into transmission / reception data 1B and output to the non-contact communication control circuit 14. Further, the supplied power 8P supplied from the contact IC card identification device 70 via the contact communication electrode 8 is supplied as the operation power 1P of the non-contact communication circuit 1.
Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

[Operation of Fifth Embodiment]
Next, the operation of the IC card according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 22 is a sequence diagram showing the contact data communication operation of the IC card according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

When the IC card 10 is electrically connected to the contact IC card identification device 70 via the contact communication electrode 8, first, the supply power 8P is supplied from the contact IC card identification device 70 to the IC card 10. Is started (step 400).
In the IC card 10, a part of the supplied power 8P is supplied to the regulator circuit 33 of the power supply circuit 3, and charging of the secondary battery 4 is started (step 401). Further, a part of the feeding power 8P is supplied as the operation power source 1P of the non-contact communication circuit 1, thereby starting the non-contact communication circuit 1 and starting contact data communication with the contact IC card identification device 70. (Step 402).

In this contact data communication, for example, when a data read request for requesting data necessary for processing is transmitted from the contact IC card identification device 70 (step 403), the non-contact communication control circuit 14 starts from the contact communication electrode 8. The data read request is received by the transmission / reception data 1B via the contact communication I / F circuit 16. Subsequently, the designated data is read from the memory circuit 15 (step 404), and is transmitted from the contact communication I / F circuit 16 to the contact IC card identification device 70 via the contact communication electrode 8 by the transmission / reception data 1B (step 404). 405).
As a result, the contact IC card identification device 70 performs processing based on the data (step 406), and the contact data communication between the contact IC card identification device 70 and the IC card 10 ends (step 407). .

  Thereafter, when the electrical contact between the contact IC card identification device 70 and the IC card 10 is completed, power is not supplied from the contact IC card identification device 70 to the IC card 10 (step 408). As charging ends, the operation of the non-contact communication control circuit 14 stops.

  In FIG. 22, the case where data in the IC card 10 is read from the contact IC card identification device 70 is described as an example, but the contact data communication operation is not limited to data reading. For example, in response to a data write request from the contact IC card identification device 70, the non-contact communication circuit 1 of the IC card 10 performs an operation of writing the data received from the contact IC card identification device 70 into the memory circuit 15. You may do it. Further, both the read operation and the write operation may be performed. Further, the non-contact data communication operation is not a request from the contact IC card identification device 70 but a data read operation or the like in response to a request from the non-contact communication circuit 1 of the IC card 10 to the contact IC card identification device 70. A write operation may be performed.

[Effect of Fifth Embodiment]
As described above, this embodiment is provided with a contact communication electrode for electrical connection with the contact IC card identification device, and is used for contact communication with the contact IC card identification device by a non-contact communication circuit. Since contact data communication is performed via electrodes and data transmission / reception is performed by the contact data communication, contact data communication can be performed with one IC card in addition to non-contact data communication and wireless communication. In addition, the versatility of the IC card and the convenience of the user can be greatly expanded.

  In addition, contact data communication has a large communication band compared to non-contact data communication and wireless communication, so that a large amount of data can be transmitted and received securely and stably, for example, processing at the time of issuing an IC card is efficient. Can perform well.

[Extended embodiment]
Each of the above embodiments has been described with respect to the case where the IC card 10 is time-synchronized based on the time information from the IC card management server 40 during wireless data communication, but using non-contact data communication or contact data communication, The time synchronization of the IC card 10 may be performed.

  For example, in the case of non-contact data communication, the time synchronization request transmitted from the contactless IC card identification device 20 is received by the non-contact communication control circuit 14, and the time synchronization request is received from the input / output port 14A to the wireless communication control circuit 51. Output to. The wireless communication control circuit 51 may receive the time synchronization request through the input / output port 51A, set the time information included in the time synchronization request in the clock circuit 53, and change the internal time of the clock circuit 53. In the case of contact data communication, the time synchronization request transmitted from the contact IC card identification device 70 is received by the non-contact communication control circuit 14, and the wireless communication control circuit 51 performs the same as described above. The internal time may be changed.

  In each embodiment, the case where the data used in the IC card system and the card identification information unique to the IC card are stored in the memory circuit 15 of the non-contact communication circuit 1 has been described as an example. The memory circuit 54 may store the data. According to this configuration, a configuration for supplying power to the non-contact communication circuit 1 and starting it at the time of wireless data communication becomes unnecessary, and the configuration of the power supply circuit 3 can be simplified. In addition, a memory circuit separate from the non-contact communication circuit 1 and the wireless communication circuit 5 may be provided to store data used in the IC card system and card identification information unique to the IC card.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the IC card system and IC card concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the non-contact communication circuit of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the power supply circuit of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the radio | wireless communication circuit of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the IC card management server of the IC card system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a structural example which shows base station management information. It is a structural example which shows card | curd management information. It is a sequence diagram which shows the non-contact data communication operation | movement of the IC card concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the radio | wireless data communication operation | movement of the IC card and IC card system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the charging operation of a secondary battery. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other charge operation of a secondary battery. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration of the power supply circuit of FIG. 1. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the power supply circuit mounted in the IC card concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the IC card management server of the IC card system concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the information provision operation | movement of the IC card system concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the radio | wireless communication circuit mounted in the IC card concerning the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is another example of composition of card management information. It is a sequence diagram which shows the radio | wireless data communication operation | movement of the IC card and IC card system concerning the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the information provision operation | movement of the IC card system concerning the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the IC card system concerning the 5th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the non-contact communication circuit mounted in the IC card concerning the 5th Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the contact data communication operation | movement of the IC card concerning the 5th Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... IC card, 1 ... Non-contact communication circuit, 11 ... Tuning circuit, 12 ... Rectification circuit, 13 ... Non-contact communication I / F part, 14 ... Non-contact communication control circuit, 14A ... Input / output port, 15 ... Memory circuit 16 ... contact communication I / F circuit, 1P ... operating power supply, 1A, 1B ... transmission / reception data, 1D ... input / output data, 2 ... non-contact communication antenna, 2S ... non-contact signal, 3 ... power supply circuit, 31 ... tuning Circuit 32 rectifier circuit 33 regulator 34 reference voltage generation circuit 35 voltage comparison circuit 36 switch circuit 37 power supply control circuit 38 voltage amplifier circuit 3S power supply control signal 4 second Secondary battery, 4P ... charging power supply, 5 ... wireless communication circuit, 51 ... wireless communication control circuit, 52 ... wireless I / F circuit, 53 ... timer circuit, 54 ... memory circuit, 55 ... switch circuit, 56 ... card status sensor, 5P ... operation Source: 5A: Transmission / reception data, 6: Radio communication antenna, 6S: Radio signal, 7 ... Power generation circuit, 8 ... Contact communication electrode, 8S ... Data communication signal, 8P ... Supply power, 20 ... Identification for non-contact IC card Device, 20S ... Electromagnetic induction, 30 ... Radio base station, 30S ... Radio wave, 40 ... IC card management server, 41 ... Communication I / F unit, 42 ... Storage unit, 42A ... Base station management information, 42B ... Card management information 43 ... arithmetic processing unit, 43A ... location registration unit, 43B ... time synchronization unit, 43C ... data processing unit, 43D ... information providing unit, 50 ... communication network, 60 ... communication terminal, 70 ... identification device for contact IC card, 70S ... electric signal, Va ... power supply voltage, Vb, Vbup ... charge voltage, Vref ... reference voltage.

Claims (12)

Provided with a non-contact communication antenna and a non-contact communication circuit, the non-contact communication circuit operates with the supplied power supplied from the non-contact IC card identification device through the non-contact communication antenna by electromagnetic induction. An IC card that transmits and receives arbitrary data stored in the non-contact communication circuit by performing non-contact data communication with the non-contact IC card identification device via the non-contact communication antenna. And
A wireless communication antenna and a wireless communication circuit for performing wireless data communication with a wireless base station by wireless radio waves, a secondary battery, and a power supply circuit that charges the secondary battery with the supplied power,
The wireless communication circuit operates with a charging power source of the secondary battery, inputs and outputs the data with the contactless communication circuit, and transmits and receives the data by wireless data communication with the wireless base station. An IC card characterized in that it is performed. In the IC card according to claim 1,
The wireless communication circuit includes: a clock circuit; and a radio communication control circuit that performs radio data communication with the radio base station intermittently at predetermined intervals measured by the clock circuit. card. In the IC card according to claim 2,
The wireless communication circuit further includes a wireless interface circuit that transmits and receives wireless radio waves to and from the wireless base station, and a switch circuit that controls power supply to the wireless interface circuit,
The IC card, wherein the wireless communication control circuit controls the switch circuit only during a period of performing the wireless data communication and supplies power to the wireless interface circuit. In the IC card according to claim 1,
The power supply circuit includes a tuning circuit connected to the contactless communication antenna, a rectifying circuit that rectifies and outputs a power source obtained from the tuning circuit during electromagnetic induction, and stabilizes the rectified power source to the secondary circuit. A regulator circuit for charging a battery; a voltage comparison circuit for comparing an operating power supply voltage of the non-contact communication circuit with a predetermined reference voltage; and the non-contact communication antenna and the tuning circuit based on a comparison result of the voltage comparison circuit And a switch circuit for controlling connection with
When the operating power supply voltage is equal to or higher than the reference voltage, the voltage comparison circuit controls the switch circuit to connect the non-contact communication antenna and the tuning circuit to perform the charging, and the operating power supply When the voltage falls below the reference voltage, the charging is stopped by controlling the switch circuit to disconnect the tuning circuit from the non-contact communication antenna. In the IC card according to claim 4,
The voltage comparison circuit compares the operating power supply voltage and the charging voltage of the secondary battery, and only when the operating power supply voltage is equal to or higher than the reference voltage and the operating power supply voltage is higher than the charging voltage. An IC card for controlling the switch circuit to connect the non-contact communication antenna and the tuning circuit to perform the charging. The IC card according to claim 5,
The IC card, wherein the power supply circuit further includes a voltage amplifier that amplifies the charge voltage and inputs the voltage to the voltage comparison circuit. In the IC card according to claim 1,
A power generation circuit for generating electric power;
The IC card, wherein the power supply circuit charges the secondary battery with the generated power from the power generation circuit. In the IC card according to claim 1,
A sensor for detecting the state of the IC card;
The IC card, wherein the wireless communication circuit transmits a sensor output from the sensor to the wireless base station during the wireless data communication. In the IC card according to claim 1,
A contact communication electrode for electrically connecting to the contact IC card identification device;
The non-contact communication circuit performs contact data communication with the contact IC card identification device via the contact communication electrode, and transmits and receives the data by the contact data communication. card. The IC card according to any one of claims 1 to 9, a plurality of radio base stations that perform radio data communication with the IC card, and data communication with these radio base stations via a communication network And a server device for performing
The server device includes a data processing unit that transmits and receives data stored in the IC card by performing data communication with the IC card via any of the wireless base stations. The IC card according to any one of claims 1 to 9, a plurality of radio base stations that perform radio data communication with the IC card, and data communication with these radio base stations via a communication network And a server device for performing
The server device
A storage unit that stores a set of base station identification information unique to each radio base station and position information related to the installation position of the radio base station;
By performing data communication with the IC card via any of the wireless base stations, a set of card identification information unique to the IC card and base station identification information of the wireless base station is registered in the storage unit A location registration unit;
In response to a location confirmation request received from the communication terminal received via the communication network, the storage unit retrieves location information corresponding to the specified card identification information and provides the information to the communication terminal. An IC card system characterized by that. The IC card according to any one of claims 1 to 9, a plurality of radio base stations that perform radio data communication with the IC card, and data communication with these radio base stations via a communication network And a server device for performing
The server device
A storage unit that stores a set of base station identification information unique to each radio base station and position information related to the installation position of the radio base station;
By performing data communication with the IC card via any of the wireless base stations, a set of card identification information unique to the IC card and base station identification information of the wireless base station is registered in the storage unit A location registration unit;
Data for registering in the storage unit a set of card identification information unique to the IC card and sensor output transmitted from the card by performing data communication with the IC card via any of the wireless base stations A processing unit;
In response to a location confirmation request from a communication terminal received via the communication network, an information providing unit that retrieves location information and sensor output corresponding to specified card identification information from the storage unit and provides the information to the communication terminal An IC card system comprising:

Images