JPH02128294A - Ic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a high security function by converting a character string indicated in file identification corresponding information into file identification information designated by the file identification corresponding information when the character string is inputted after the file identification corresponding information is received. CONSTITUTION:When an external processor 2 accesses the file of an IC card 1, the processor 2 sets an arbitrary character string composed of one character or more corresponding to the file name of the file to be accessed to a storing and converting part 10 as file name corresponding information before the processor 2 accesses the file. When the storing and converting part 10 receives the file name information to indicate the correspondence relation of the file name from the external processor 2, and the character string is sent from the processor 2 to the part 10 afterward, the storing and converting part 10 converts the character string into the designated file name. Since the file designation between the IC card 1 and its external part is executed using the set character string, the use of the actual file identification information stored in the IC card 1 is suppressed to the minimum necessity. Thus, the safety of the IC card 1 can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an IC card, and particularly to an IC card suitable for search processing of files stored in a memory.

As is well known, cards with information such as PIN numbers stored on them are currently in circulation for various purposes such as cash cards, I/JIT cards, various membership cards, and hospital consultation tickets. It is becoming an essential part of daily life. As such cards, IC cards are being researched and developed as next-generation multifunctional cards that have a large storage capacity and advanced security functions.

An IC card is a card that has a microprocessor, IC memory, etc. built into a base that has almost the same shape as a magnetic card, and the memory storage capacity is much larger than that of a magnetic card. Similar to a normal information processing device, information is stored in a memory in units of files, and access processing such as reading or writing within a file is performed by specifying the required file using an external processing device or the like.

In other words, file access on an IC card is performed using a limited number of alphanumeric characters, such as basic file access, or file names, such as CP/H, which is known as an operating system for 8-bit personal computers. You can specify it directly, or use a file disk libter associated with an operating system, such as MS-DOS, the standard disk operating system for 16-bit computers, or υNIX, which was developed as a common O5 for minicomputers and workstations. This is done by using

As a prior art that describes such a file access method for an IC card, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 82-1
There are those described in No. 0238E1 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-9587. Similar to the aforementioned operating systems, these systems have a directory in which file names and their starting addresses are stored in a memory containing files, and a desired file is accessed by searching the directory.

However, in such conventional IC cards, when accessing data, either the file name of the file to be accessed is directly specified or an identifier uniquely associated within the card is used. Therefore, access processing becomes complicated depending on the file name or identifier. Additionally, as file name or identifier information is often sent from the external processing device to the IC card in connection with data access, there is a possibility that these forces may be deciphered by monitoring communication between the external processing device and the IC card. There were also safety issues.

Purpose It is an object of the present invention to provide an IC card that eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art, has excellent operability, and has advanced security functions.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, an IC card has a storage means for storing information as a file and is capable of data accessing files stored in the storage means for each file identification information using a logical address method. The conversion means converts the character string into file identification information when receiving file identification correspondence information indicating that the file identification information corresponds to an arbitrary character string, and the conversion means converts the character string into file identification information after receiving the file identification correspondence information. When a character string indicated in the identification correspondence information is input, the character string is converted into file identification information specified by the file identification correspondence information.

Note that in this specification, the term "character string" is not limited to only characters, but also includes numbers, symbols, and the like.

Next, embodiments of the IC card according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a functional block diagram of an embodiment of an IC card according to the present invention. The IC card 1 is a card whose file structure is, for example, a logical file structure so that it can be applied to various purposes.
The IC card l is a flat card with the shape of a business card, for example, and has a storage/conversion section 10. Control unit 12, storage interface circuit 1
An integrated circuit including 4, a storage section 16, and the like is provided. Note that, in the figure, constituent elements that are not directly related to this embodiment are omitted.

The IC card 1 can be detachably attached to a predetermined league writer (not shown), and is connected to an external processing device 2 such as a host computer via the league writer as shown in the figure. .

The external processing device 2 is an information processing device that can control communication with, for example, a plurality of IC cards 1 via a league writer. That is, the processing device 2 stores the storage unit 16 of the IC card l.
This is an IIC card access device that reads files stored in the storage unit 16 and performs predetermined processing, and writes data to files stored in the storage unit 16 as necessary.

The storage/conversion unit 10 of the IC card 1 is the most important component of this embodiment, and stores a pre-specified character string sent from the external processing device 2 via input +00 in the storage unit 18. It has a function to convert this character string into file identification information such as a file name. That is, in this embodiment, the external processing device 2 does not directly input a file name designation to the card 1"1 when accessing a file such as reading or writing a file on the IC card 1. When accessing a file, an arbitrary character string of one or more characters corresponding to the file name to be accessed is set in the storage/conversion unit 10 as file name correspondence information prior to access.

Upon receiving file name information indicating the correspondence between file names from the external processing device 2, the in-storage conversion unit 10 converts the character string into a specified file name if the character string is subsequently sent from the processing device 2. Specifically, the processing device 2 sends file name correspondence information such as "arbitrary character string"=puff file name "'" to the storage/conversion unit 10. Memory/conversion section 10
After receiving this, if this ``arbitrary character string'' is sent from the processing device 2, the character string is converted into a specified file name and the information is sent to the control unit 12 via the output 102. Output to.

The control unit 12 reads the information of the file specified by the file name sent from the storage/conversion unit 10 from the storage unit 16 according to instructions from the external processing device 2, and also controls addition, modification, and deletion.

The control unit 12 also controls the file management table 1 of the storage unit 16 in which file names and their starting addresses are registered.
8, file management information is input via input 110. The control unit 12 converts the file name information input from the storage/conversion unit 10 into a physical address of the file 20 using this management information, and outputs this physical address information to the storage unit interface circuit 14 via the output 104.

The storage interface circuit 14 is an interface circuit that controls input/output of the file section 20.

That is, the interface circuit 14 accesses the file 20 in the storage section 16 according to the physical address information sent from the control section 12. The storage unit 16 is a storage unit that includes a file 20 that can store a plurality of files, and a file management table 18 that stores management information of the files stored therein.

FIG. 2 shows an operation explanatory diagram showing the operation concept of the IC card 1 in this embodiment. Using the same figure and FIG. 1, file name A stored in IC card 1.
An example of the operation when the character string rKYODo J is set is explained below.

The IC card 1 is connected to an external processing device 2 via a league writer, and the storage section 1 of the IC card 1 is transferred from the processing device 2 to the external processing device 2.
When accessing file A stored in 6, for example, if you use the character string rKYODOJ,
Prior to file access, processing device 2 uses KYODO
” = “File name A” file name correspondence information I
Send to C card 1. By receiving this correspondence information, the storage/conversion unit 10 of the IC card 1 converts this into “file name A” and sends it to the control unit 12 when the character string rKYODo J is received in file access from now on.
send to

When the controller u4 unit 12 receives the information with the file name A, it identifies the physical address where the file with the file name A is stored based on the management information from the file management table 18, and sends this address information to the storage interface circuit 14. send. The storage interface circuit 14 makes the address where the file with file name A is stored accessible from the sent physical address. By sending the file designation information rKYODOJ to the IC card 1 in this manner, file A can be accessed.

In this operation example, multiple character strings are specified as file specifications, but numbers or symbols may also be included in the file name correspondence information.Also, when the external processing device 2 wants to open multiple files, , it is possible to associate multiple file names with arbitrary character strings in advance.Furthermore, if you want to change the character string that defines the file name midway through, for example, you can change it after sending a predetermined control command. It is also possible. Also, the communication between the external processing device 2 and the IC card l is temporarily terminated,
When the card l is removed from the reader/writer, the conversion information sent to the storage conversion unit 10 is normally cleared. However, if it is better not to clear this conversion information depending on the purpose of the card l, it is of course possible to back up the storage φ conversion unit lO to prevent the conversion information from being erased. Further, conversion information can also be stored in the storage unit 16.

Further, in this embodiment, an example has been described in which the application is applied to the IC card 1 that accesses files by file name, but instead of the file name, file access is performed by file identification information such as an identifier uniquely associated with the file. Of course, it is also applicable to IC cards.

Effects As described above, according to the present invention, file identification information to be accessed can be defined as any desired character string. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the specification of file identification information in file access. Furthermore, since the file specification with the outside is performed using a set character string, the use of actual file identification information stored in the IC card can be kept to the necessary minimum. Therefore, the leakage of the file name can be effectively prevented, and the security of the IC card can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the IC card according to the present invention, and FIG. ff52 is an operation explanatory diagram showing an example of the operational concept of the IC guard shown in FIG. Explanation of symbols of main parts 1, , , IC card 210. External processing device 10, . . . Storage φ conversion section 12, . . . Control section +4. ,,storage unit interface circuit 18, ,,storage unit

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An IC card having a storage means for storing information as a file and capable of data accessing the files stored in the storage means for each file identification information,
The IC card has a conversion means that converts the character string into the file identification information when receiving file identification correspondence information indicating that the file identification information corresponds to an arbitrary character string, and the conversion means converts the character string into the file identification information. After receiving the file identification correspondence information, when the character string indicated in the file identification correspondence information is input, the character string is converted into the file identification information specified by the file identification correspondence information. IC card.