JPH03102593A - Ic memory card system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve economical efficiency by dividing the memory area of an IC memory card into plural parts so that the memory capacity of each area becomes equal, and making it possible to designate a writable divided area. CONSTITUTION:The memory 110 of the IC memory card 100 is divided into the memory areas A 111, B 112, C 113, and D 114 whose capacities correspond to the write capacity of a reader writer 200, and the memory 100 is provided with a memory pointer 115 so that the writable memory area can be designated. Then, at the time of write-in, the writable area of the memory 100 can be acquired by referring to the pointer 115, and if a defective bit exists in this area, the contents of the pointer 115 is updated.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an IC memory card system, in particular, the memory area of an IC memory card is divided into a plurality of blocks of equal memory capacity, and each block is sequentially connected to a reader/writer. The present invention relates to an IC memory card system in which data can be written to.

BACKGROUND ART Generally, systems using magnetic cards, such as those used in telephone cards, are well known as a digital card system. However, the remaining power on this magnetic card could not be rewritten, making it disposable. Moreover, its recording capacity was small.

Therefore, a prepaid card system using an IC memory card having an electrically rewritable memory has been proposed.

This IC memory card does not have a built-in CPU, but the card's memory (RAM, EPROM)
etc.) is read/written into the iF by a reader/writer.

This dramatically increases recording capacity, and
Some allow cards to be used repeatedly.

<Problem to be Solved by the Invention> However, in such a conventional IC memory card system, as a memory used in an IC memory cart, for example, there is a table that is electrically written to a fixed location (atre) in the memory. When memory was used, the following problems occurred. In other words, in this table memory, writing is performed as a whole, and it is not possible to write to only a part of it. Therefore, if a part of it is damaged due to chip deterioration, etc. (if there is a defective bit), ) had a problem in that the entire memory had to be discarded and amortized. That is, due to the structure of memory devices, access errors often occur during writing, and when an error occurs during writing, the memory device is discarded as a defective product.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to access a memory having multiple memory areas for each memory area, so that even if a write error occurs in some areas, it is possible to write to the remaining areas, which is economical. Highly sensitive IC
Its purpose is to provide a memory cart and an IC memory card system using the same.

<Means for Solving the Problems> As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention provides an IC memory card 1 having an electrically writable memory 110.
00 and write data about this memory 110,
In an IC memory card system comprising a readable reader/writer 200, the IC memory card 1
00 memory 110 has respective divided areas 111 to
The IC memory card system divides the memory area into a plurality of areas so that the memory capacity of the IC memory card 114 is equal, and also includes a designating means 115 for designating a writable divided area.

<Operation> In the IC memory card system according to the present invention, the reader/writer 200 includes a writing means 210 and a reading means 220, and these means specify the memory 110 by specifying means (memory pointer). Data is written into one of the memory areas 111 to 114 designated by 115. Then, the write error checking means 2 checks whether the data has been correctly written to the area.
30, and if a write error occurs, it is assumed that a part of the memory area is damaged and data is written to another memory area. As a result, it is possible to prevent the entire IC memory card from becoming unusable due to a defect in a part of the memory area.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example of the memory card system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an IC memory card system according to the present invention.

As shown in this figure, the IC memory card 11 is, for example,
It has a memory 12 made of EFROM or the like.

On the other hand, the reader/writer 21 uses a microcomputer 22
and a connector section 23. The microcomputer 22 has a well-known configuration, and includes a CPU,
It has RAM and ROM. The connector section 23 is for exchanging data with the human output terminal of the IC memory card 11. This reader/writer 21 is
The memory 12 of the C memory card 11 can be electrically written/read, and as shown in FIG.
In addition to the writing means 210/reading means 220, there is also a writing error checking means 230 for checking writing errors.

On the other hand, the memory (EEFROM) of the rc memory card 11
12, if the write capacity of the reader/writer is IK bytes, the corresponding capacity: l(
IK byte) memory area A111, memory area B
112, memory area C113, memory area D114
It is divided into four parts. Furthermore, the memory 12 has a memory pointer 115. This memory pointer 1
15 is for specifying a writable memory area. For example, when a write error occurs, the contents of the memory pointer 115 are Area A, Area B, etc.
, Area C, and Area D are updated in this order.

Next, the procedure for writing data into the memory 12 by the reader/writer 21 will be explained with reference to a flowchart.

First, by referring to the memory pointer 115, the memory 12
(for example, Memo L/Area Al)
1 1) is obtained (step S301).

Then, the data is written into the designated memory area All of the EEPROM 12 (step S302).

Next, the reader/writer 2 reads the contents of the data thus written by specifying the address in the area A111 (step S303).

Furthermore, the read data is compared with the written data (step 5304), and if they match, it is not a writing error, so it is checked whether the writing has been completed (step S305). If not completed, data writing is repeated in steps S302 to S30.
4).

If the data contents do not match (step S30
4 (No), it is determined that a defective bit exists in the memory area A111, and the contents of the memory pointer 116 are updated. For example, if memory area A111 can be specified and written to, memory area B11
2 is specified and written (step S306).

Next, it is checked whether all of the four memory areas 111 to 114 in the memory 12 have been used (step S307). If it is not in use, data is written again (return to step S301).

If the previously divided memory areas 111 to 114 have been used, the memory card 11 cannot be used.

On the other hand, when reading data stored in the memory l2 of this IC memory card 11, the following procedure is performed.

That is, data is read from the designated memory areas 111 to 114 with reference to the memory pointer 115 (steps S401 and 402).

Next, a checksum is calculated for the data (step S403).

Then, it is checked whether or not the data reading has been completed (step S404). If it has not been completed, the data is read again (return to step S402).

When the reading is completed, it is checked whether a checksum error has occurred and whether there is any data (step S405). If a checksum error occurs, the memory 12 of the card 11 is reread.

<Effects> As explained above, according to the present invention, the memory in the IC memory card can be effectively used.
We were able to improve economic efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an IC memory card system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an IC memory card system according to an example of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure for writing data in the reader/writer in the IC memory card system according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure for reading data in the reader/writer in the IC memory card system according to the embodiment. be. 100・・・・・・・・・IC memory card, 110
◆・・・・・・・◆Memory, 9- -10- 111-114...Memory area, 115...
......Memory pointer (specifying means), 200...Reader/writer 210...
......Writing means, 220...
...Reading means, 230...Writing error checking means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An IC memory card system comprising an IC memory card having an electrically writable memory, and a reader/writer capable of writing and reading data on the memory, wherein the memory of the IC memory card is An IC memory card system, characterized in that the memory area is divided into a plurality of parts so that the memory capacity of each divided area is equal, and also has a designation means for designating a writable divided area.