JPH0693255B2 - Memory area definition method for portable electronic devices - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to, for example, a nonvolatile data memory and a CPU.
In a portable electronic device called an IC card, which has an IC (integrated circuit) chip having a control element such as, a memory area definition method of the portable electronic device for dividing and defining the data memory into a plurality of areas .

(Prior Art) Recently, as a new portable data storage medium, an IC having a nonvolatile data memory and a control element such as a CPU
IC cards with built-in chips have been developed. Of this kind
The IC card accesses the built-in data memory by a built-in control element and inputs / outputs necessary data in response to a request from an external device.

By the way, in such an IC card, the data memory is divided and defined into a plurality of areas, and this area is used as an access unit.

As described above, the data memory is divided into a plurality of areas, and the definition of the memory area is usually made by the card issuer at the time of issuing the IC card, and has conventionally been done by the following method. That is, by inputting the start address (start position information) and area size of each area as area definition information and storing the area definition information in a specific area of the data memory in a table format, the start address and area of each area are stored. Areas are defined and managed according to size.

However, in the conventional memory area definition method, the input area definition information is sequentially stored in a specific area of the data memory, and the area definition is completed when all area definition information is stored. Since there is no such thing, there is a risk that multiple areas will be defined redundantly.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention has been made to solve the problem that a plurality of areas may be redundantly defined as described above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a memory area definition method for a portable electronic device, which can prevent the above definition.

[Configuration of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) The present invention has a data memory unit and a control unit for reading and writing data from and to the data memory unit, and selectively externally In the portable electronic device for inputting / outputting data from / to, the data memory unit is divided into a plurality of areas according to the head position information of each area and the area size. The validity of each area is confirmed by the head position information and the area size, and the head position information and the area size of each area are defined and stored as each area definition information only when the area is valid.

(Operation) By confirming the legitimacy of each area based on the head position information and the area size of each area, and only when legitimate, the head position information and the area size of each area are defined and stored as the area definition information. It is possible to prevent overlapping definition of areas.

(Example) Hereinafter, one example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of an IC card as a portable electronic device according to the present invention, which has a control element (for example, CPU) 1 as a control unit and a non-volatile nonvolatile memory capable of erasing stored contents as a data memory unit. A data memory 2, a program memory 3 as a program memory unit, and a card reader
The IC card is composed of a contact part 4 for making electrical contact with the writer. Of these, the part within the broken line (control element 1, data memory 2, program memory 3) is composed of one IC chip. It is embedded in the body. The program memory 3 is composed of, for example, a mask ROM, and stores a control program of the control element 1 having a subroutine for realizing each basic function.
The data memory 2 is used for storing various data and is composed of, for example, an EEPROM.

The data memory 2 is composed of an issue flag area 21, a directory area 22, and a data area (user area) 23, as shown in FIG. The issue flag area 21 is used as an issue flag for determining whether or not the writing in the directory area 22 is completed. The directory area 22 is an area that defines and manages the data area 23 by dividing it into a plurality of areas, and stores area definition information as described later. The data area 23 stores various data, and is defined by being divided into a plurality of areas as described later.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the IC card issuing device according to the present invention, which accepts the IC card 11 configured as described above,
A card reader / writer 12 for reading and writing data to the IC card 11, a keyboard 13 for inputting area definition information, a CRT display device 14 for displaying input information, temporary storage of input area definition information A floppy disk device 15 used for the above, a printer 16, and a control unit 17 including a CPU that controls these devices.

Next, the memory area defining method of the present invention having such a configuration will be described in detail. First, the IC card 11 for defining the area is set in the card reader / writer 12. Next, the area definition information, that is, the area number, the area start address, and the area size are sequentially input from the keyboard 13, and temporarily stored in the floppy disk device 15 under the control of the control unit 17. When all area definition information has been input in this way, the controller 17 inputs an area definition start command from the keyboard 13
Area definition information input command data is sent to 11, and then area definition information in the floppy disk device 15 is sequentially sent to the IC card 11 for each area.

The IC card 11 operates according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, when the control element 1 receives the area definition information input command data, the area definition information sent subsequently thereto, that is, the area number, the area start address and the area size are sequentially received, and the built-in RAM
Temporarily store in. Then, when all the area definition information is received, the control element 1 enters a waiting state for issue command data. When the issuing command data is input from the card reader / writer 12 in this state, the control element 1 confirms the legitimacy of each area by the area definition information in the RAM. That is, the control unit
When the transfer of all the area definition information in the floppy disk device 15 to the IC card 11 is completed, 17 sends issue command data to the IC card 11. Upon receiving the issue command data, the control element 1 uses the area definition information in the RAM to start the address (A +) of the area defined next to the target area.
The start address (A) of the target area is subtracted from 1) to calculate the size of the target area. And
Compare the calculated area size with the size of the target area in RAM and see if both area sizes match.
Alternatively, if the calculated area size is larger, it is determined to be valid, and if the calculated area size is smaller, it is determined to be invalid (duplication definition of area). If the control element 1 determines that it is not valid, it sends response data indicating an area definition error to the control unit 17 via the card reader / writer 12 and ends the area definition operation. When the control unit 17 receives the response data indicating the area definition error, the control unit 17 displays the fact on the CRT display device 14 to notify the operator.

If it is determined to be valid, the control element 15 checks the next area in the same manner as above. In this way, the area definition information is sequentially checked for each area, and when it is determined that all areas are valid, the control element 1 transfers the area definition information in the RAM to the directory area 22 of the data memory 2.
Write in sequence. When all area definition information is written, the control element 1 sets the issue flag (data memory 2
The directory area written data is stored in the issuance flag area 21), the response data indicating the end of area definition is sent to the control unit 17 via the card reader / writer 12, and the area definition operation is completed. This completes the area definition,
As a result, the directory area 22 of the data memory 2 becomes
For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, the area definition information is stored, and the data area 23 is divided and defined by the area definition information.

In this way, before storing the definition in the directory area,
The validity of each area is confirmed by the start address and area size of each area, and only when it is valid, the start address and area size of each area are defined and stored as the area definition information in the directory area, and multiple areas can be stored. It is possible to prevent duplicate definitions.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a memory area definition method for a portable electronic device that can prevent a plurality of areas from being redundantly defined.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is for explaining one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining an area defining operation of an IC card, FIG. 2 (a) is a configuration diagram of a data memory, and FIG. 2 (b). Is a diagram showing the state of the data memory after the area definition is completed, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the IC card issuing device, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the IC card. 1 ... Control element (control section), 2 ... Data memory (data memory section), 3 ... Program memory (program memory section), 21 ... Issuing flag area, 22 ... Directory area, 23 ... Data area , 11 …… IC card (portable electronic device), 12 …… Card reader / writer, 13 ……
Keyboard, 17 ... control unit.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A portable electronic device having a data memory section and a control section for reading and writing data from and to the data memory section, and selectively carrying out external input / output. A memory area defining method for a portable electronic device, wherein a memory unit is divided into a plurality of areas and defined according to head position information and area size of each area; and legitimacy of each area based on the head position information and area size of each area. Is confirmed and the head position information and area size of each area are defined and stored as each area definition information only when it is valid. 2. The method for defining a memory area of a portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the confirmation of validity is confirmation as to whether or not the areas overlap. 3. The correctness is confirmed by calculating the size of the target area from the start position information of the target area and the start position information of the next succeeding area, and inputting the target area size. The method for defining a memory area of a portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed by comparing 4. The memory area defining method for a portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the head position information of the area is a head address of the area. 5. The method for defining a memory area of a portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the data memory unit is a non-volatile memory. 6. The method for defining a memory area of a portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is an IC card.