JPH01231451A - Communication control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the security of an encipherment key, a file and prepaid information by incorporating an IC card and an NCU/MODEM equipment so as to build up the system. CONSTITUTION:An IC card for each user capable of being read/written storing cryptographic information different from each user, a signal conversion means 200 converting a data requiring encipherment among data into an encipherment signal specific to each user based on encipherment key information and an IC card write means 206 sending a signal between the IC card 104 and the signal conversion means 200 are provided on the system. Then an information center 106 and a terminal equipment 101 receive a data requiring encipherment from the output of the signal conversion means 200. Thus, the system offering sure, simple and inexpensive means for electronic charging and preventing information interception is built up readily and safely without complicated means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Technical field to which the invention pertains The present invention relates to a communication control system that performs data communication between a terminal and an information center.

(2) Prior art and its problems Prepaid electronic payment methods have been implemented using telephone cards, credit cards issued by credit card companies, etc., but in practice there is no way to prevent misuse if the user loses the card. It was impossible.

In addition, in the magnetic card system used in the bank's online system, the PIN number is used to prevent misuse, but since the PIN number is sent over the line, it is possible to monitor the line and monitor the PIN number. Met. or,
The disadvantage is that magnetic card leagues allow easy reading of personal identification numbers.

Furthermore, encrypted data communication has the disadvantage that anyone can decrypt the encrypted information if the disk device that decrypts the encrypted key information is copied. In order to prevent this, if the encryption key is sent during data communication without leaving the encryption key on the disk, the encryption key can be monitored anywhere on the line, which poses a security problem. .

Furthermore, the current situation is that there is no communication control system that can safely, reliably, and easily realize communications and electronic payments that maintain information security, which is a major problem in system construction.

When using center information over a general telephone line and a simple terminal (for example, a personal computer), there has been no way to safely, reliably, and easily implement electronic payment and prevent information theft.

(3) Purpose of the invention The present invention safely and reliably prevents electronic payment and information theft.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a communication control system that can be constructed easily, easily, and at low cost.8 (4) Structure of the Invention In order to achieve this object, the communication control system of the present invention comprises a terminal having a data processing function and a terminal having a data processing function. A read/write device that stores encryption key information for encrypting the data using a different encryption key for each user in order to control data transmission between the terminal and an information center connected via a line. an IC card for each possible user; a signal conversion means for converting data that needs to be encrypted out of the data into an encryption signal unique to each user using the encryption key information; and the IC card. IC card writing means for mutually transmitting signals with the signal converting means, the information center and the terminal receiving the data that needs to be encrypted from the output of the signal converting means. ,
The information center is configured to improve the security of information stored in the information center.

The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system configuration for implementing the present invention.
is a terminal, such as a personal computer, through which users receive information services. In the terminal 101, 101a is a control unit with a data processing function, 101b is a display unit (CRT), 1
01c is a printer for making a hard copy of the content displayed on the CRT, and 101d is a disk device for storing information.

Reference numeral 102 denotes a communication control device W (hereinafter abbreviated as communication control device) with an IC card reader/writer that enables read/write operations for an NCU modem device 204 and an IC card 104 (described later), and has a built-in reader/writer and communication protocol. ). In this communication control device 102, 102a is I
The opening for inserting and removing the C card, 102b, is R3-2.
It is a 32C connector. 108 is a telephone line. 10
5 is a telephone network, and 106 is an information center used by users. 104 is a read/write IC card that stores an encryption key for decoding and demodulating encrypted information and prepaid information for electronic payment. It is light-enabled and its shape is made according to ISO standards.

Figure 2 shows the communication control device 1 with IC card reader/writer in Figure 1.
02 is an internal configuration block diagram. As is clear from FIG. 2, the control unit 20 includes a computer (CPU) 201, a read-only memory (ROM) 202, and a random access memory (RAM) 203.
0, and a built-in NCU/modem 204 for enabling communication with the information center 106 via the telephone line 108.
A data communication means is provided between the IC card 104 and the information center 106 and between the terminal 101 and the information center 106 via the transformer 205. It also includes means for transmitting and receiving information between the IC card 104 and the terminal 101 via the R3-232C interface 207 and the connector 102b. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, commands/responses for controlling the IC card 104 are format-converted by the control unit 200 and then sent to and received from the terminal 101.

Figure 3(a) is a sequence example showing the operation of this system.
Examples of normal operation for acquiring information from the information center 106 using the I and C cards 104, and (b) and (C) show examples of error operations.

FIG. 3(d) shows how the above-described encrypted information stored in the disk device 101d is transferred offline to the IC card 104.
This is an example sequence showing the operation of decoding and demodulating using the encryption key information read from the cipher key information.

4(a), 4(c) are examples of flowcharts of the terminal 101 for realizing the sequences of FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b).

FIGS. 5(a), 5(c) are examples of flowcharts of the communication device 102 for realizing the sequence of FIG. 3.

Next, the operation of this system will be explained.

First, the operation for obtaining information from the information center 106 using the IC card 104 is shown in FIGS. 3(a) and 4(a).
, (b) and FIGS. 5(a) and (c).

A user who wants to obtain some center information from the information center 106 first presses the start key on the terminal 101 to start the communication control device 102, and then inserts the IC card 104 into the opening 102a. When the terminal 101 receives the start response 43 from the IC card 104, a message prompting the user to input the password is displayed on the display section toib. The user enters the password here. This password is converted into a password command 490 and sent to the communication control device 102.

This password command 49c is converted by the control unit 200 and the password command 54 is stored in the IC card 104.
is input.

The IC card 104 compares the password registered in advance with the input password command 54, and if they match, outputs a password OK response 55. This password OK response 55 is converted by the control unit 200 and output as a password OK response 45 to the terminal 101.

If they do not match, a password NG response is output as shown in FIG. 3(b) and FIG. 4(a). When the terminal 101 receives the NG response, it displays an error message on the display unit 101b and waits for the password to be re-entered.

If the passwords do not match three times in a row, an IC card lottery command 49a is sent to the communication control device 102, and an abnormal end message 49b is displayed on the display section 101b to notify the user.

The communication control device 102 converts the IC card lock command 49a in the control unit 200 and sends it to the IC card 104 as an IC card lock command 59b, thereby making the IC card 104 unusable. On the other hand, FIG. 3(b).

As shown in FIG. 5(a), the communication control device 102 allows the password to be re-entered up to 10 times, so the number of times the password can be re-entered on the terminal lot side can be changed to a maximum of 10 times. . Furthermore, even if the user intentionally tries to know the password or directly accesses the communication control device 102,
If the passwords entered 0 times do not match, the communication control device 102 sends the lock command 57 to the IC card 10.
4, the IC card 104 becomes unusable and the password cannot be known. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to directly access the communication control device 102 by generating random data using a personal computer or the like and learn the password.

Also, since all command/response formats sent via the R3-232C connector 102b are converted by the control unit 200 of the communication control device 101, the IC card 1
04 is not externally transmitted, the user cannot know the signal that accesses the IC card 104.

For example, even if a third party picks up the IC card 104, he or she cannot use it unless he or she knows the password. In addition, since the format cannot be converted normally unless this is used, it cannot be operated simply by using a normal personal computer or the like, and abuse by a third party can be prevented.

If the passwords match, the IC card 104 outputs a repassword match response 55, which is format-converted into a password OK response 45 via the control unit 200 in FIG. 2, and then sent to the terminal 101.

In addition, the IC card 10 is configured so that the next encryption key cannot be read unless the password matches within a predetermined number of times.
4 has been made.

Next, when the call key 46 is pressed, the terminal 101 outputs the pre-registered telephone number of the information center 106 to the communication control device 102 as an auto-dial command h41. The communication control device 102 converts the signal into a dial signal using the NCU modem 204 and sends it to the telephone mtos.

When the information center 106 responds b51 to the call, the communication control device 102 outputs control completion b42 to the terminal 101. When the information center 106 is in communication (busy) and cannot respond to the call from the communication control device 102, or when the information center 106 is busy, FIG. 3(C) and FIG. 4(b).

As shown in FIG. 5(b), the communication control device 102 is connected to the telephone network 1.
05's busy etc. is detected and connection failure response b
49b is output to the terminal 101, and the operation ends.

In this case, the terminal 101 outputs and displays an abnormal message indicating that the information center 106 is busy, and notifies the user.

After the connection is completed, as shown in FIGS. 3(a), 4(a), and 5(b), the communication control device 102 reads the user ID from the IC card 104 (b53) L, user ID b5
4 to the information center 106. The information center 106 uses the received user ID b54 to search the user table of its own disk device for the encryption key of the user. As shown in FIG. 6, different encryption keys are prepared for each user. This will later serve as an encryption key when the user encrypts and receives desired information from the information center 106. Therefore, even if the user obtains information by operating the terminal 101 and monitoring the telephone 1105, the encryption key is only temporarily stored in the internal memory of the terminal 101 and is not displayed on the display unit 101b.
There is no way for the user to know the encryption key.

Next, the communication control device 102 reads prepaid information b55 from the IC card 104 and transmits the prepaid information b56 to the information center 106. Next, the communication control device 102 clears the prepaid information in the IC card 104 and clears the remaining prepaid card count (b57).

This is done to prevent the user from intentionally rejecting the IC card 104 manually before updating the prepaid information after using multiple center information, making it impossible to update the information. This is the end of this embodiment. Since the prepaid information is updated by pressing key B48,
Even if the IC card 104 is removed midway and an attempt is made to intentionally prevent the update of the prepaid information, in this embodiment, the remaining number of prepaid information is reduced to zero before the information is received, and subsequent use of the center information is rejected. be able to.

In addition to this implementation, there is also a method of updating prepaid information every fixed amount of information, but in this case, the operation becomes complicated and the information transmission efficiency deteriorates.

As shown in FIGS. 3(a), 4(b), and 5(b),
After clearing the remaining number of prepaid information, the communication control device 102 reads the encryption key from the IC card 104 (
b58) L sends the encryption key to terminal 101 (b43)
L, temporarily stores the encryption key in internal memory and displays a message indicating center access ready;
Notify users. Next, a general conversational communication b44 is performed between the user and the information center 106 to search for necessary information. After the conversational communication, the information center 106 encrypts the data desired by the user using an encryption key retrieved based on the user ID b54 received from the communication control device 102 in advance, and sends the encrypted data to the terminal 101.

The terminal 101 transfers the encrypted information b45 to the disk device 1.
File and store in 01d. At this time, normal file management is performed, files are created while directories are created, and encrypted information b45 once stored in the internal memory is decoded.

It is demodulated and a part or all of it is displayed on a display unit (CRT) 101b.

If there is information the user needs, conversation communication is performed again and the information is received. When the user has received all the necessary information, he presses the end key b48. The terminal 101 sends a termination command b49a to the communication control device 102, and
At the same time as erasing the information of the encryption key b43 received from the C card 104 from the memory in the terminal 101, the communication control device 102 changes the end command b59a to the end command b.
59c and sends it to the information center 106. When the information center 106 receives the end command b59c, it sends prepaid information frequency update data b59d to the communication control device 102 in order to update the prepaid information. The communication control device 102 writes the remaining prepaid card number to the IC card 104 and updates it (b59c) L. Sends a reject command to the IC card reader/writer 206 b59c
Send. The IC reader/writer 206 is the IC card 10
4 is rejected. Next, the communication control device 102 sends a disconnection command b59f to the information center 106. The information center 106 closes the series of processing by the disconnection command b59f.

Next, the communication control device 102 disconnects the telephone M4105 (b5
9g) and close the series of processing. The user pulls out the rejected IC card 104 and the series of operations ends.

Next, Figure 3 shows the basic operation when the user wants to know offline the information obtained by the operation shown in Figure 3(a) above.
(d), Figures 4(a), (C) and Figures 5(a), (C)
Explain using.

Start key 41. The series of password input operations is the same as described above. Next, when the user presses the file playback key 47, the file playback command c40 is sent to the IC card 104.
read the encryption key of the IC card 104 (c5
6) Send the encryption key c41 to the terminal 101. The terminal 101 reads the directory from the disk device IQ1d (c56), decrypts and decodes the directory using the encryption key (c43). Continue with directory display key c44. By pressing the information display key c45 and inputting the file name (c46), the directory is searched for the file (c47), the information stored encrypted in the disk device 101d is searched (c47), and the encryption key is searched (c47). The information can be decoded and demodulated (c49) by hard copying on the display unit (CRT) 101b or in the printer 101c.

If you want to know the file name, press the file playback key,
By pressing the directory display key c44, the name of the encrypted file stored in the disk device lo1'd can be known. Regarding this point, Figure 4 (
c) and FIG. 5(c).

Here, the user has an IC card 104 and also has an IC card 104.
Unless the password for accessing the C card 104 is known, the information stored in the disk device 101d cannot be accessed, so confidentiality is maintained.

(5) As described in detail, according to the present invention, an IC card and an NC
By integrating the U/modem device and constructing a system, theft of encryption keys is prevented.

It becomes possible to realize the security of files stored in a disk device and the security of prepaid information on an IC card when making electronic payments.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a system configuration using an NCU/modem device with a tC card reader/writer, and Figure 2 is an IC
Internal block diagram of NCU/modem device with card reader/writer, Figure 3 (a) (b) (c) (d) is an example of the basic operation sequence of the system in Figure 1, Figure 4 (a) (b) (C
) is a flowchart of the terminal for operating the system in Figure 1, Figure 5 (a) (b) (C) is a flowchart of the NCU/modem device with IC card reader/writer for operating the system in Figure 1, Figure 6 is the encryption key table of the information center, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the command/response format conversion of the terminal/IC card interface of the NCU/modem device equipped with an IC card. 101...Terminal, 102...Communication control device with IC card reader-like, 104...IC card, 1
05...Telephone network, 106...Information center, 108
···telephone line. Patent applicant: Iwasaki Tsushinki Co., Ltd. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] In order to control the transmission of data between a terminal having a data processing function and an information center connected to the terminal via a line, the data is encrypted using a different encryption key for each user. A read/write capable IC card for each user that stores encryption key information for encryption, and an encryption signal conversion unique to each user using the encryption key information to convert data that needs to be encrypted among the data. and IC card writing means for mutually transmitting signals between the IC card and the signal conversion means, the information center and the terminal are equipped with signal conversion means for performing the above-mentioned encryption. receiving data from the output of the signal converting means;
A communication control system configured to improve the security of information stored in the information center.