JPH04157585A - Information management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve data security by disenabling an access to data stored in the data memory of an IC card with any equipment other than a legal host device (host computer). CONSTITUTION:A second electronic device (host computer) 2 performs data management by assigning identification information to each data. When the second electronic device 2 accesses the storage means of a second electronic device (IC card) 1, when prescribed key data are designated from among several key data Ka to Kc preliminarily stored in the first electronic device 1 by the second electronic device 2, the identification information assigned to each data is coded by using the key data. Each data is assigned with the coded identification information and the access to each data stored in the first electronic device 1 is executed based on the coded identification information. Thus, the security for the data stored in the first electronic device can be improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is directed to an IC (IC) that is transmitted from a host device such as a host computer, and has a non-volatile memory and a control element such as a CPU. An information management method (conventional technology) for managing data stored in a portable storage medium called an IC card that has a built-in chip (integrated circuit). Conventionally, data memories such as EEFROM and CPUs have been used as portable data storage media. An IC card incorporating an IC chip having a control element is being considered. This type of IC card accesses a data memory using a built-in control element, and selectively inputs and outputs necessary data in response to requests from an external device (host device). Data sent to this IC card from the host computer is sequentially stored in the data memory.

Here, as a method for easily accessing the data stored in the data memory, a method of providing unique identification information to each stored data has been considered.

The identification information is, for example, a numerical value representing the order in which data is stored in the data memory, and as shown in FIG. , "data of identification information 2" is B, and "data of identification information 4" is D. Now, when receiving a command to continuously output "data of identification information 2" from the host computer side, the control element in the IC card controls the data stored second from the top in the data memory 10 (the first data).
In the example shown in FIG. 0, B) is read and the contents of the data are sent to the host computer.

In such an information management system, a user inputs, for example, a password or the like through a host computer, and if the user is recognized as an authorized user, he or she can read and write data on the IC card.

However, as long as the pre-processing such as password verification is successfully completed, the data stored in the IC card can be easily accessed from any host computer, so the security of the data is reduced. It was insufficient.

・ ゛ (Problem to be solved by the invention) As mentioned above, in the conventional information management system using identification information, data stored in the data memory of an IC card can be easily accessed from any host device. Therefore, there was a problem that data security was insufficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information management system with sufficient data security, such that only a legitimate host computer (host computer) can access the data stored in the data memory of an IC card. shall be.

[Structure of the Invention] Means for Solving Problem 1) In order to achieve the above object, the information management method of the present invention is as follows:
A first electronic device comprising storage means for storing a plurality of data and a plurality of key data; and means for providing identification information to each of the data stored in the storage means of the first electronic device. a second electronic device comprising;
The second electronic device identifies the first electronic device based on the identification information.
accesses predetermined data stored in the storage means of the electronic device, and among the plurality of key data stored in the storage means provided in the first electronic device, the second means for encrypting the identification information using key data specified by the first electronic device, and access to predetermined data stored in the first electronic device is controlled by the encrypted It is characterized in that it is carried out based on the identification information obtained.

(Operation) The electronic device (host computer) of jiK2 manages data by attaching identification information to each data. This second
When accessing the storage means of the first electronic device (IC card) from the electronic device, the electronic device j12 first selects the key data from among the plurality of key data pre-stored in the electronic device Ill. Specify the given key data. Next, using this key data, the identification information given to each data is encrypted. Each piece of data is given this encrypted identification information, and each piece of data stored in the first electronic device is accessed based on the encrypted identification information.

(Example) .

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a system comprising an IC card and a host computer will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of a system consisting of an IC card 1 and a host computer 2. As shown in FIG.

This IC card 1 includes a control element 3 (for example, a CPU) as a control section. This control element 3 controls a data memory 4, a program memory 5, and a contact section 6. Of these, the data memory 4 is used to store various data, and is composed of, for example, an EEFROM. Further, the program memory 5 is, for example, a mask ROM.
It stores control programs for the control element 3 and the like. The contact portion 6 is for establishing electrical contact with a card reader/writer 8 of the host computer 2, which will be described later. Here, the portion within the broken line, the control element 15, the data memory 16, and the program memory 17, is composed of one IC chip and is embedded within the IC card body. Now, the host computer 2 side also has a control section 7 consisting of, for example, a CPU. The controller 8 controls the card reader/writer 8, keyboard 9, C
RT display 10 is controlled. Of these, the card reader/writer 8 writes and reads data to and from the IC card 1 described above. Further, the keyboard 9 is an input means for inputting instructions to the control unit 7 or inputting data to be written to the IC card 1, for example.

The CRT display 10 is a display means for displaying the contents of the data memory 4 of the IC card 1 read out through the card reader/writer 8, and for displaying an error message when any error occurs.

Here, in the program memory 5 of the IC card 1, "a code used for encrypting identification information" which will be described later is stored.
A plurality of pieces of "key data" are stored in advance. Each of these "key data" is assigned a unique "key data number", and the "key data" and the "key data number" are stored in association with each other. Furthermore, when writing data to the IC card 1, the control unit 7 of the host computer 2 assigns unique "identification information" to each data, and manages each data based on this "identification information." There is. Here, this "identification information" has a one-to-one correspondence with each piece of data.

Now, the operation when writing data from the host computer 2 to the IC card 1 will be explained using FIGS. 1 and 2. First, the operator inputs a password through the keyboard 6 provided on the host computer 2 (Step 1), and the Akiobu 1 determines whether this password is valid (Step 1).
2). When a valid password is entered, IC card 1
Access to is permitted (Step 3). If an invalid password is entered here, an error message to that effect will be displayed on the CRT display 10 (S
tep4) For example, prompt the user to enter the password again. Next, the control unit 7 controls the program memory 5 of the IC card 1.
Specify a predetermined key data number NKc from among the key data numbers of the key data stored in the key data number NKc (Step
5). Here, which key data number is designated is determined in advance by the control unit 7 of the host computer 2.

Subsequently, key data Kc corresponding to this key data number NKc is searched in the program memory 5 (St
ep6). If the specified key data number NKc does not exist, an error message to that effect is displayed on the CRT display 10, and the process (5tep7) is terminated.

When the above processing is completed normally, the host computer 2 transfers the identification information PII given to the data DATI to be written and the data DATL to be written to the IC card 1.
(Step 8). Next, in the IC card 1 which has received the identification information PII from the host computer 2, the control element 3 encrypts the identification information pH using the key data Kc previously specified by the host combinator 2. Processing to generate the conversion identification information Ell is performed (Step 9). Subsequently, the encrypted identification information Ell and the corresponding data DATI are recorded in the data memory 4 of the IC card 1 (Step 1O). At this time, in the data memory 4, as shown in FIG. 4, the data is stored consecutively with the encrypted identification information, such as "encrypted identification information, data, encrypted identification information, data, . . ." It is memorized with no gaps. Further, information (not shown) representing the data length of the data is added to the beginning of the data and stored.

Next, the process of reading the data written by the above-described operation will be explained using FIG.'1s5 and FIG.

Here, in the data read process, the operation from inputting the password to searching for specified key data (step 3 to step 7) is the same as the operation in the data write process described earlier, so the explanation will be omitted. .

Now, next, the operator reads data DATL.
The identification information pH is specified by inputting from the keyboard 9 or the like (Step 8). Subsequently, using the previously specified key data Kc, the control unit 7 on the host computer 2 side encrypts the identification information FIL and converts it into encrypted identification information EI.
I is generated (Step 9).

This encrypted identification information Ell is then transmitted to the IC card 1 (Step 1O).

On the other hand, on the IC card 1 side, the control element 3 controls the data memory 4
The encrypted identification information in the data memory 4 is searched one after another and it is determined whether the corresponding encrypted identification information exists in the data memory 4 (Step H). Here, if the corresponding encrypted identification information Ell exists in the data memory 4, the data DATI stored immediately after the encrypted identification information Ell in the data memory 4 is read out (Step
2) This data DATI is sent to the host computer 2 side (Step 3). In step 5, if the encrypted identification information EII sent from the host computer 2 does not exist in the data memory 4 of the IC card 1, , sends an error message to the host computer 2 to the effect that "corresponding data does not exist" (St.
epl4), the read process ends.

Next, a data read operation will be explained with reference to the inside of the data memory 4. Now, as shown in Fig. 7, five data DATI, DAT2, DAT3,
DAT4 and DAT5 are stored in the data memory 4, and these data have encrypted identification information Ell and E12.
, EI3, EI4, and EI5 are respectively given. Here, data DA of encrypted identification information EI3
The process of erasing T3 will be explained. The control element 3 searches the data memory 4 for encrypted identification information in order from the top. First, the control element 3 uses the encrypted identification information EII.
However, since it is not the encrypted identification information EII to be processed, the next encrypted identification information is searched. At this time, the next encrypted identification information is recognized by referring to the data length of the data DATI of the encrypted identification information Elf and jumping by the data length. In this way, the control element 3 searches the data memory 4 for encrypted identification information one after another. And the encrypted identification information E of the processing target data DAT3
When ll is recognized, data DAT8 stored consecutively thereto is erased. At this time, the control element 3 refers to the data length of the data DAT3 and erases the data DATa itself.
The encrypted identification information EIB assigned to ; is also deleted at the same time.

The area where the data DATI and the encrypted identification information EI3 were stored becomes an unused area. In this way, the state inside the data memory 4 after the data DAT3 has been erased can be seen.
It is shown in the 1m8 diagram.

Now, assume that the host computer 2 has transmitted identification information PIG and data DAT8 to the IC card 1. This identification information PIB becomes encrypted identification information EI6 through the above-described operation.

On the other hand, the control element 3 searches the data memory 4 from the beginning and stores the encrypted identification information ELS in the first unused area.
and data DAT6.

Here, the encrypted identification information E is placed in the first unused area.
If IB and data DAT8 cannot be stored, the control element 3 searches for the next available unused area, and divides and stores data DATB, as shown in FIG. 9, for example. At this time, continuity information 11 indicating where in the data memory 4 the data DAT6-2 that follows the divided data DATB-1 is stored is added to the end of the divided data DATB-1. This continuous information 11 is, for example, data DAT6-2.
The starting address of is recorded.

Also, a case will be described in which new data is additionally recorded at the end of a data group already stored in the data memory 4. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, five data DATI, DAT2, DATI, DA are stored in the data memory 4.
T4, DAT5 are stored, and the encrypted identification information of each data is Ell, EI2, Etech3, EI4,
Assume that EI is 5. Now, as new data, data D
Additional storage of AT6. The identification information PI6 of this data DAT6 is encrypted to become encrypted identification information ELB. Then, the control element 1 searches for an unused area in the data memory 4, and stores the encrypted identification information ELB in the searched unused area.
It also stores data DAT6. FIG. 10 shows the state inside the data memory 4 at this time. If there is no longer an unused area in the data memory 4 to store the data DAT6, a message to the effect that "memory is full" is sent to the host computer 2 and processing is stopped.

As detailed above, in this embodiment, data identification information is encrypted using key data specified by the host computer, and this encrypted identification information is used to
The data stored on the card is managed. Therefore, the host computer carabare cannot specify the key data correctly, and it is not possible to specify the correct identification information of the data stored in the IC card. That is, since only a legitimate host combination can access the data stored in the IC card, the security of the data is enhanced. Furthermore, since only the identification information is encrypted without encrypting the data itself, the control element (C
The burden on the PU can be reduced.

Furthermore, the encrypted identification information given to each piece of data stored in the IC card is an absolute value and each piece of data is independent. Therefore, once encrypted identification information is given, the correspondence between the encrypted identification information and data does not change.
Data management can be easily performed.

Note that in the embodiment described above, when writing data, the IC
When encrypting identification information on the card 1 side and processing data already stored in the data memory 4 of the IC card 1 (hereinafter referred to as data processing), the host computer 2 side , performs encryption of identification information. Here, when writing data, the identification information is encrypted on the host computer 2 side, and when processing the written data, the identification information is encrypted on the IC card 1 side. Good too. Furthermore, the identification information may be encrypted on the host computer 2 side both when writing data and when processing data. Furthermore, the identification information may be encrypted on the IC card 1 side both when writing data and when processing data.

Further, in this embodiment, the key data number and key data are stored in advance in the program memory 5 of the IC card, but the key data number and key data are stored in a certain area in the data memory 4. It may also be stored.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the information management method of the present invention, the first electronic device (IC The data stored on the first electronic device cannot be accessed, thereby increasing the security of the data stored on the first electronic device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 9 are for explaining this embodiment.
Figure 1 is a flowchart when performing data writing processing, Figure 2 is a diagram for explaining the exchange of data between the IC card and the host computer when performing data writing processing, and Figure 3 is the state of the data memory. Figure I@4 is a flow chart for data read processing, and Figure 5 is a diagram for explaining data exchange between an IC card and a host computer when data read processing is performed. , Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of stored data in the data memory, Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the state inside the data memory after erasing data DAT3, and Fig. 8 is a diagram showing new data in the unused area in the data memory. Figure 9 is a diagram showing the state inside the data memory when data is inserted, Figure 9 is a diagram showing the state inside the data memory when data is stored in pieces, and Figure 10 is a diagram showing the state inside the data memory when new data is additionally stored. A diagram showing the situation, FIG. 11, is a diagram for explaining a conventional example. 1... IC card 2... Host computer 3... Control element 4... Data memory 5... Program memory Agent Patent attorney Nori Chika Yudo Yudo Yamashita - Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 9 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] a first electronic device comprising a storage means for storing a plurality of data and a plurality of key data; and identifying information for each of the data stored in the storage means of the first electronic device. a second electronic device having means for providing the information, and the second electronic device accesses predetermined data stored in the storage means of the first electronic device based on the identification information. The identification information is encrypted using key data designated by the second electronic device among a plurality of key data stored in a storage means provided in the first electronic device. 1. An information management method, characterized in that access to predetermined data stored in the first electronic device is performed based on the encrypted identification information.