JPH01118979A - Ic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make unnecessary the instruction of external equipment every time an arithmetic processing means execute a control program by storing information to instruct the control program sent from the external equipment and executed by the arithmetic processing means. CONSTITUTION:The information to instruct the control program sent from external equipment 600 and executed by an arithmetic processing means 300 is stored into a third storing means 400. Further, every time the writing instruction of the external equipment information is received by an IC card, an instructing means 500 instructs the control program executed to the arithmetic processing means 300 based on the instruction information stored in the third storing means 400. Thus, the external equipment 600 does not need to instruct the control program every time it is executed by the arithmetic processing means 300.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an IC card.

C. Prior Art] In general, card-shaped information storage devices called IC cards have been developed for use in cash cards and credit cards, for example. An IC card has a built-in nonvolatile memory and a central processing unit (CPU) that reads and writes information from and to this memory. I like this
C card is a terminal (hereinafter referred to as IC card terminal)
When connected to the IC card, information is exchanged between the host computer and the IC card, and information is stored in the memory or read from the memory under the control of the CPU.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in conventional IC cards of this type, once information has been written to the entire information storage area of the memory, subsequent writing of information is disabled in order to protect the stored information. There was a problem in that the IC card could not be used, and in order to solve this problem, the IC card had to be replaced with a new one.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to solve such problems,
An IC card that can update the information written in the storage area even if information is written to all of the information storage area of the IC card, and that can prohibit updating of the storage area if necessary. Our goal is to provide the following.

Means for Solving Problem E] In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a first storage means for storing information sent from an external device in response to a write command sent from the external device. and a 111J control program that writes information sent from an external device to an unused area of the first storage means where no information has been written yet;
a second control program that rewrites old information written in the used area of the first storage means with information sent from an external device; and a third control program that prohibits writing of information sent from the external device to the first storage means. a second storage means that stores a control program in advance; and a first storage means that stores a control program in advance; Second
and an arithmetic processing means for alternatively executing one of the third control programs, and storing instruction information sent from an external device that instructs the arithmetic processing means to alternatively execute one of the seven control programs. and a third storage means for storing information, and in response to an information write command sent from an external device, the instruction information stored in the third storage means instructs the arithmetic processing means to selectively instruct a control program. The invention is characterized by comprising an instruction means to do so.

[Function] According to the present invention, information sent from an external device and instructing a control program to be executed by the arithmetic processing means is stored in the third storage means, and an instruction to write the external device information is sent to the IC.
Each time the card receives information, the instruction means instructs the arithmetic processing means to execute the control program based on the instruction information stored in the third storage means, so that new information can be stored and information can be stored. If various control procedures such as control procedures for updating or writing information can be executed, and instruction information for execution IIJN procedures is sent from an external device to the IC card, the third storage means of the IC card can be executed. Since the instruction information is stored in the computer, there is no need for the external device to instruct the control program to be executed by the arithmetic processing means each time.

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

FIG. 1 shows an example of the basic configuration of this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 is a first storage means that stores information sent from the external device 600 in response to a write command sent from the external device 600. In FIG.

200 is a first control program that writes information sent from the external device 600 into an unused area in which no information has been written in the first storage means 100;
The old information written in the used area of the external device 600
a second control program that rewrites the information sent from the
First storage means 100 for information sent from external device 600
The second storage means stores in advance a third control program that prohibits writing to the third control program. 300 is the second storage means 20
The above first . It is an arithmetic processing means that alternatively executes either one of the second and third control programs. 400 is a third storage means for storing instruction information sent from the external device 600 that selectively instructs the control program to be executed by the arithmetic processing means 300. 5
00, in response to an information write command sent from the external device 600, the arithmetic processing means 300 executes a control program selectively instructed by the instruction information stored in the third storage means 400.
It is an instruction means for giving instructions to.

FIG. 2 shows a specific example of the configuration of this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes a host computer that exchanges information with the IC card 17 via the IC card terminal 12. Reference numeral 12 denotes an IC card terminal which is removably attached to an IC card 17 and functions as a terminal for the host computer 11.

The IC card terminal 12 has a keyboard for the IC card holder to input a personal identification number, and a display device for displaying information exchanged between the IC card 17 and the host computer 11.

Reference numeral 13 denotes an interface (I1) serving as an input means 100 for inputting information sent from the IC card terminal 12.
0 port). 14 is an arithmetic processing means 300. A central processing unit (CPU) as the instruction means 500,
Read-only memory (RO) as the second storage means 200
M) Executes the control procedure shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a non-volatile readable/writable memory called E'FROM, which stores information exchanged with the host computer l'l. Note that EFR is used instead of E'PROM.
It is possible to use non-volatile memory such as a memory called OM or random access memory (RAM) backed up by a battery.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the memory area of E"FROM1B shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, 16-1 is an information area that stores information exchanged with the host computer. 16-2 is a third storage information 400 flag area that stores mode information for writing information to the information area 16-1. In this embodiment, the mode information includes an information update mode, an information write prohibition mode, and a new write mode, and numbers 1 to 3 corresponding to each mode are stored in the flag area 16-2. Ru. In this embodiment, this flag 16 is used.
CPt11 according to the code information stored in -3.
4 selects the program to be executed.

16-3 is a sector pointer area that stores information indicating the address to be written into the information area 16-1. This instruction information may be the final address or the start address of the final sector where information is currently being written.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a control procedure for flag setting in this embodiment.

In FIG. 4C, flag area 16- of E"FROM1B
The mode number to be stored in 2 and its storage instruction are sent to the CPU.
When the host computer 11 inputs data to 14, C
Pt114 receives the storage command and writes the transmitted mode number in flag area 16-2 (steps SS1 to
552). In this example, the number "3" indicating the normal mode is used.
” shall be written in the flag area 16-2.

When the setting of the mode number is completed, the CPU 14 outputs a signal to the host computer 11 indicating that writing of the mode number has been completed, and this control procedure ends.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a control procedure for writing information in this embodiment.

In FIG. 5, from the host computer 11 to the CPU 1
When a write command is input to E2FROM1
The stored contents of the flag area 16-2 of B are read (steps 51 to S2).

Since the mode number stored in the flag area 16-2 is the normal mode, the CPt 114 determines that the writing process is new writing into the blank area of the information area 16-1 (
Step S3). Subsequently, the CPU 4 executes step Sll.
Select the control procedure for normal writing of -515'. First, the CPU 14 outputs a signal to the host computer 11 indicating that information can be written (step 511). Subsequently, the CPU 14 receives the information to be written from the host computer 11 and sends it to the E2P.
The received information is written into the information storage area 18-1 of the ROM 16. The storage address of this information is set by the CPU 14 based on the value (sector pointer value) stored in the sector pointer area 16-3 of the E2FROM 16.

When the writing of information is completed, the CPU 14 updates the sector pointer to the next write address to be updated (steps 512 to 514).

Here, when the sector pointer indicates the final address of the information area 16-1, it is determined that the data is full and the sector pointer is not updated. Next, a signal is output to the host computer 11 to the effect that information has been written to all of the memory area 16-1 (steps 513→517);
When the write area remains, that is, when the value of the sector pointer is smaller than the final address of the information area 16-1, the CPU 14 updates the sector pointer and outputs a signal indicating the end of information writing (step S13→ 5
16).

When the above-mentioned procedure is repeated and the information is written to all of the information storage area 16-1 of the E21'ROM 1B, a signal to that effect is output from the IC card 17 to the host computer 11, so the host computer 11 writes the information. Depending on the type of IC card 17, it is determined whether the IC card 17 is write-protected or whether updates are permitted, and the corresponding mode number is transmitted to the IC card 17. For example, write the write-protected mode number “2” to IC card 17 (:PI11).
4, the CPU 14 executes the control procedure shown in FIG. 4 and updates the mode number in the flag area 16-2 of E2PrlOM1B to "2".

Next, the information update process and write prohibition process on the IC card 17 side will be explained.

When writing of information is prohibited, the mode number "2" is written in the flag area 16-2, so even if a write command is manually issued to the CPU 14 from the host computer 11, the CPU 14 refers to this mode number. A reply indicating that writing is prohibited is sent to the host computer 11 (steps S1 → S2 → S3 → S4 → 521
).

When the information update mode number "1" is set in the flag area 16-2, the CPU 14 performs steps S31 to S.
35 is selected, information is written to the address indicated by the sector pointer in response to the write command, and the value of the sector pointer is updated to the next address.

Note that when the value of the sector pointer to be updated exceeds the final address, the value of the sector pointer is updated to the starting address of the information area 16-1. The control procedure in update mode is almost the same as the control procedure in normal mode, but
The difference is that when the sector pointer exceeds the final address, the sector pointer is updated, and a signal to that effect is not sent back to the host computer 11.

Therefore, when the update mode is set, even if the information storage area 16-1 is full, new information is written sequentially from the first address, erasing old information.
An infinite amount of information can be written to an IC card.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, information sent from an external device and instructing a control program to be executed by the arithmetic processing means is stored in the third storage means, Each time the IC card receives an instruction to write external device information, the instruction means instructs the arithmetic processing means to execute a control program based on the instruction information stored in the third storage means. Therefore, various control procedures such as control procedures for newly storing information, updating information, or writing information can be executed, and instruction information for execution control procedures can be sent from an external device to the IC card. For example, since the instruction information is stored in the third storage means of the IC card,
The advantage is that there is no need for the external device to instruct the control program to be executed by the arithmetic processing means each time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a specific configuration of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the E2FROM 16 shown in FIG. An explanatory diagram showing an example of a memory configuration, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing an example of an operation control procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention. 100... First storage means, 200... Second storage means, 300... Arithmetic processing means, 400... Third storage means, 500... Instruction means, 600... External device, 11 ...Host computer, 12.Axis IC card terminal, 13..I10 port (interface), 14..CPU. 15-ROM. 16...E2PROM. 17.-IC card. Main house Akiya y color I row 0 block 2nd diagram 100% folded I row/) Waxing diagram showing the structure of E2PROM16 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] First storage means for storing news sent from the external device in response to a write command sent from the external device; A first step for writing information sent from the external device into the usage area.
a control program; a second control program for rewriting old information written in a used area of the first storage means with information sent from the external device; and the first storage means for information sent from the external device. a second storage means that stores in advance a third control program that prohibits writing to the first, second and third control programs stored in the second storage means;
arithmetic processing means for alternatively executing any one of the control programs; and storing instruction information sent from the external device that instructs the arithmetic processing means to alternatively execute one of the control programs. a third storage means for storing information, and a control program selectively instructing the instruction information stored in the third storage means to the arithmetic processing means in response to an information write command sent from the external device. An IC card characterized by comprising an instruction means for giving an instruction.