JPH06162288A - Optical ic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively record information to an optical recording part. CONSTITUTION:An optical IC card 10 is provided with the optical recording part 11 and an IC recording part 12. Individual information is recorded in the optical recording part 11 and file management information including the file names and the storage positions of the information recorded in the optical recording part 11 is recorded in the IC recording part 12. Also, the IC recording part 12 is provided with a buffer area and tentatively stores the information in the buffer area until an information amount for filling up a sector which is the minimum unit of the read/write of the information of the optical recording part 11 is obtained. When the information stored in the buffer area reaches the information amount for filling up the sector, the information is recorded in the optical recording part 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical / IC card having an optical recording section and an IC recording section on a card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical card has an optical recording unit on which information can be optically written or read. This optical card has advantages such as being capable of recording a large amount of information as compared with a magnetic card provided with a magnetic recording unit capable of magnetically writing or reading information.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of an example of an optical card having a conventional optical recording section. As shown in FIG. 3, the optical card 1
It has an optical recording section 3 mounted on a card base material 2.
Since the optical recording unit 3 can record a large number and a plurality of types of information, when recording a plurality of types of information in the optical recording unit 3, by recording the information for managing these types of information together, The target information can be read quickly when reading the information. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the optical recording unit 3 includes a data area 4 which is an area for recording information,
Information for managing the information recorded in the data area 4 (hereinafter,
This is referred to as "file management information". ) Is recorded in the file management area 5.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a detailed structure of the optical recording section 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the optical recording section 3 is composed of sectors 3a, 3b, ... Which are the minimum units for writing or reading information and are arranged in series. When information is recorded in the optical recording unit 3, information is sequentially recorded in the sectors 3a, 3b, ... By laser light emitted from a writing / reading device (hereinafter referred to as a "reader / writer").

In the sectors 3a, 3b, ...
When the type of information is recorded, even if the amount of information is such that one information does not fill the sector, this information is recorded in the sector 3a.
And the other information is recorded in the sector 3b.
That is, even if one of the information is recorded in the sector 3a and the unrecorded area still exists in the sector 3a,
The other information is recorded in sector 3b.

A file name is given to the information recorded in the sectors 3a, 3b, ... Of the data area 4. File management information such as the file name and the location where the file is stored (hereinafter referred to as “storage location”) is recorded in the file management area 5.

When reading information from the optical recording unit 3 recorded as described above, the reader / writer first irradiates the file management area 5 with laser light, and the reflected light causes the target file name and this file to be read. Read the storage position of. When this reading is completed, the reader / writer irradiates the storage position of the target file in the data area 4 with a laser beam and reads the information by this reflected light.

[0008]

However, the above-mentioned conventional optical card 1 has the following problems. Even in the case of recording a large number of small amounts of information that do not fill the sectors in the optical recording section 3 (for example, in the case of recording information every day), one information is recorded using one sector. For example, even if one sector is 64 bytes and the information to be recorded is 1 byte, 1 byte of information is recorded by using this sector of 64 bytes, and 63 bytes of unrecorded area is generated. To do. Therefore, there is a problem that the data area 4 and the file management area 5 of the optical recording unit 3 are wastefully used.

Further, when the file is updated or the size of the file is changed by the update, the file management information is updated each time. However, the optical recording unit 3 is generally a write-once type in which information once recorded cannot be erased. Therefore, new file management information is added to the file management area 5 without erasing the unnecessary file management information. Therefore, because the file management information is updated many times,
Since unnecessary information increases and the recordable area (unrecorded area) becomes small, there is a problem that the original advantage of the large capacity of the optical recording unit 3 is lost.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and effectively records information in the optical recording section in order to take advantage of the large capacity of the optical recording section. The purpose is to provide a card that can

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the first solution of the optical / IC card according to the present invention is as follows.
An optical / IC card having an optical recording unit and an IC recording unit, wherein the optical recording unit includes a data area for recording information for each file, and the IC recording unit is recorded in the optical recording unit. It is characterized by having a file management area for recording file management information including a file name and storage location of information.

According to a second solution of the optical / IC card, the file management information of the first solution includes position information of a recordable area of a data area of the optical recording section and a recording prohibited area. Is characterized by.

A third solution of the optical / IC card is an optical / IC card having an optical recording section and an IC recording section,
The optical recording unit has a data area for recording information for each sector, and the IC recording unit has a buffer area for temporarily storing information until the amount of information filling the sectors of the optical recording unit is reached. Characterize.

[0014]

In the first solution of the optical / IC card described above, information is recorded for each file in the optical recording section, and file management information of the information recorded in the optical recording section is recorded in the IC recording section. It Therefore, the file management information, which needs to be rewritten many times, is recorded in the IC recording section in which the information can be rewritten, so that the recording area of the optical recording section can be effectively used.

In the second solution of the optical / IC card, the IC recording section records the position information of the recordable area of the data area and the recording prohibited area of the optical recording section. Therefore, the position information of the recordable area and the record-prohibited area, which is rewritten each time the file is updated, is not recorded in the optical recording section, so that the recording area of the optical recording section can be effectively used.

In the third solution of the optical / IC card, the IC recording unit temporarily stores the information recorded in the optical recording unit in the buffer area, and this information fills the sectors of the optical recording unit. When the amount is reached, it is recorded in the optical recording section. Therefore, it is possible to record information by using the sectors of the optical recording unit without waste.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, etc., the light according to the present invention will be described below.
An example of an IC card will be described. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the configuration of an embodiment of an optical / IC card according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the optical / IC card 10 includes an optical recording unit 11 and an IC recording unit 12 on a plastic card substrate 2. The optical recording unit 11 is provided on the lower side of the card substrate 2 in the figure, is a write-once type in which information is recorded only once by irradiation of laser light, and is recorded by reflected light of weak laser light. This is a large-capacity information recording unit from which the stored information can be read. In addition, the IC recording unit 12
Is an information recording unit which is provided on the upper left side of the card base material 2 in the figure, and which is mounted by embedding an IC chip having a CPU, a memory, etc. configured by semiconductor integrated circuit technology in the card base material 2. is there.

First, the first embodiment will be described.
In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the optical recording section 11 is composed of only a data area 11a for recording information excluding file management information (hereinafter referred to as "individual information"). . Further, the IC recording unit 12 is composed of only a file management area 12a for recording file management information for managing the information recorded in the data area 11a. The file management information includes information such as file names of a plurality of pieces of information recorded in the data area 11a and their storage positions, a recordable area (unrecorded area) of the data area 11a,
And position information of a recording prohibited area (an already recorded area in which information has already been written, an unrecordable area due to scratches, etc.).

In the first embodiment, individual information is recorded in the data area 11a and file management information is recorded in the file management area 12a. When reading information from the optical / IC card 10 recorded in this way, a reader / writer (not shown) first reads the file name of the target information and its storage position from the file management area 12a. When this reading is completed, the reader / writer then moves the reading head to the storage position in the data area 11a and irradiates the laser beam to read the information.

Further, even when recording information in the data area 11a, the reader / writer reads the recordable area of information from the file management area 12a, and based on this information, the write head to the recordable area of the data area 11a. Is moved and a laser beam is irradiated to record information for each file. Further, the reader / writer stores the file management information such as the file name and storage location of this recorded information in
It is recorded in the file management area 12a.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how information is exchanged between the IC recording unit 12 and the optical recording unit 11 of the second embodiment of the optical / IC card 10 according to the present invention. In the second embodiment, the optical recording unit 11
As in the conventional example, the sector 20 has an area for recording individual information and an area for recording file management information, and the sector 20 is the minimum unit for writing or reading information.
(20a, 20b, ...) Are arranged in series.
Further, the IC recording unit 12 includes a buffer area 21 for temporarily storing information.

In the second embodiment, when information is recorded on the optical / IC card 10, the information is first stored in the buffer area 21 of the IC recording section 12. As shown in FIG. 2, when the amount of information stored in the buffer area 21 reaches the amount of information that fills the sector 20 of the optical recording section 11, the reader / writer writes the information stored in the buffer area 21 to the optical recording section 11. Is recorded in the sector (20a in the figure).
Information in the buffer area 21 is stored in the sector (20
When recorded in a), the buffer area 2 of the IC recording unit 12 is recorded.
The information stored in 1 is erased, and new information is stored again in the buffer area. This information is used again in the optical recording unit 1.
When the amount of information that fills the sector 20 of 1 is reached, the optical recording unit 1
It is recorded in the sector next to 1 (11b in the figure).

In this manner, the amount of information that fills the sector 20 is sequentially recorded from the buffer area 21 of the IC recording unit 12 to the sectors 20a, 20b, ... Of the optical recording unit 11.
Therefore, unlike the conventional example, information is recorded so that all the sectors 20 are filled with information without wasting the sectors 20.

Further, in the second embodiment, the file management information is recorded in the optical recording section 11 as in the conventional example. Therefore, reading information from the optical recording unit 11 is the same as in the conventional example, and therefore the description thereof is omitted in the embodiment according to the present invention. The optical / IC card 10 that records the file management information in the optical recording unit 11 as in the second embodiment is suitable for use when, for example, there is almost no need to update the file management information.

Although one embodiment of the optical / IC card 10 according to the present invention has been described above, the optical / IC card 10 according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and does not depart from the gist of the present invention. Various modifications are possible within the range. For example, the optical / IC card 10 includes an optical recording unit 11 on one surface and an I / O card on the other surface according to a method of transmitting and receiving information.
The C recording unit 12 may be provided.

The IC recording section 12 has a file management area 12a for recording file management information, and
A buffer area 21 may be provided to store information until the amount of information fills the sector of the optical recording unit 11.

[0027]

As described above, according to the optical / IC card of the first aspect, the information is recorded for each file in the optical recording section, and the information is recorded in the optical recording section in the IC recording section. Information file management information is recorded. Therefore, the file management information, which needs to be rewritten many times, is recorded in the IC recording section so that the information can be rewritten, so that the recording area of the optical recording section can be effectively used.

According to the optical / IC card of the second aspect, the position information of the recordable area of the data area and the recording prohibited area of the optical recording section is recorded in the IC recording section. Therefore, the position information of the recordable area and the record-prohibited area, which is rewritten each time the file is updated, is not recorded in the optical recording section, so that the recording area of the optical recording section can be effectively used.

According to the optical / IC card of the third aspect, the IC recording unit temporarily stores the information recorded in the optical recording unit in the buffer area, and this information fills the sectors of the optical recording unit. When the information amount is reached, it is recorded in the optical recording section. Therefore, it is possible to record information by using the sectors of the optical recording unit without waste.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the configuration of an embodiment of an optical / IC card according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how information is exchanged between an IC recording unit 12 and an optical recording unit 11 of a second embodiment of an optical / IC card 10.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the configuration of an example of a conventional optical card.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of an optical recording unit 3 of the optical card 1 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 card base material 10 optical / IC card 11 optical recording section 11a data area 12 IC recording section 12a file management area 20a, 20b, ... sector 21 buffer area

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An optical I having an optical recording section and an IC recording section.
A C card, wherein the optical recording unit includes a data area for recording information for each file, and the IC recording unit includes file management information including a file name and a storage position of the information recorded in the optical recording unit. An optical / IC card characterized by having a file management area for recording. 2. The optical / I according to claim 1, wherein the file management information includes position information of a recordable area of a data area of the optical recording section and a recording prohibited area.
C card. 3. An optical / I having an optical recording section and an IC recording section.
In the C card, the optical recording unit includes a data area for recording information for each sector, and the IC recording unit temporarily stores information until the amount of information filling the sectors of the optical recording unit is reached. An optical / IC card having a buffer area.