JPH08315098A - Non-contact ic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To extend the life of a battery built in a non-contact card body as long as possible by setting up a transmitting means to a driven state at the time of receiving a prescribed signal generated when a solar battery mounted on the card body receives external light. CONSTITUTION: An oscillation circuit 4a, a CPU 4b, a transmitting circuit 5, and a receiving circuit 6 are driven by power supply from a battery 3 in addition to a solar battery 2. When the CPU 4b receives a signal from the battery 2, i.e., when an IC card body 1 is pulled out from a user's pocket or the like, the battery 2 is irradiated with light rays and a prescribed signal is inputted to the CPU 4b, respective circuit parts 4a, 4b, 5, 6 start to be driven. Consequently the life of the battery 3 built in the IC card body 1 can be extended as long as possible.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-contact type IC card used in, for example, a non-contact type automatic ticket gate, and more particularly to a non-contact type IC card for reducing power consumption and extending the life of the card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a contactless IC card is used as a commuter pass, the unit price of the card is higher than that of a magnetic card. Used across.

However, although the data can be updated many times, when the battery built in for driving the non-contact IC card body (hereinafter referred to as the IC card body) has run out, that is, the battery is When the voltage drops to such an extent that the card body cannot be driven, it cannot be used as a commuter pass.

As described above, the life of the non-contact IC card depends on the life of the built-in battery. Therefore, the carrier sampling method has been proposed to extend the life of the battery.

In this carrier sampling method, for example, two kinds of oscillators having a low frequency of 32 KHz and a high frequency of 4 MHz are provided in the card body, and normally, they are operated at a low frequency to reduce power consumption. At predetermined intervals,
For example, sampling of the presence / absence of a carrier is performed at intervals of 10 msec. Then, in the carrier sampling, when a carrier is detected, the frequency is changed to a high frequency to communicate with the main body of the automatic ticket gate.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional non-contact card, even if the carrier sampling method is adopted to extend the life of the battery, the cost and performance are not sufficient, and further improvement is required. Was wanted.

That is, when the above-mentioned carrier sampling method is adopted, two types of oscillators are required, resulting in high cost, and a low-frequency oscillator is composed of a crystal oscillator, so that there is a problem in mechanical strength. there were.

Further, even if the above-mentioned carrier sampling method is adopted, the low frequency oscillator is always in the operating state like the commuter pass even though the communication time in one day is extremely short. However, there is a drawback that it consumes unnecessary power.

Therefore, the present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and its purpose was to pay attention to the form of use of a non-contact card. It is to provide a contactless card that can have a long life as long as possible.

[0010]

A non-contact IC according to the present invention
In order to achieve the above object, the card is an IC card equipped with a transmitting unit that is driven by a power source of a battery provided in the IC card main body and transmits predetermined data stored in the memory. It is characterized by having a solar cell provided in the main body and setting means for setting the transmitting means to an operating state when a predetermined signal generated by the solar cell receiving light from the outside is input.

[0011]

In the above structure, the setting means sets the transmitting means to the operating state when a predetermined signal generated by the solar cell receiving light from the outside is input.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of the IC card body 1 when the IC card according to the embodiment is used as a commuter pass for a non-contact type automatic ticket gate.

On the front surface (front surface) of the IC card 1, predetermined contents such as a boarding section and an expiration date are printed similarly to a known commuter pass.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a well-known solar cell provided in the IC card main body 1, and when the surface of the IC card main body 1 receives a light beam from the sun or an electric light, a signal of a predetermined voltage. Is configured to output.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electrical structure incorporated in the IC card body 1, in which an oscillation circuit 4a, CP driven by the power source of the battery 3 in addition to the solar battery 2 is used.
A U4b, a transmission circuit 5 and a reception circuit 6 are provided.

The receiving circuit 6 receives a signal transmitted from an antenna A of a transmitter T provided in a non-contact type automatic ticket gate (not shown) with an antenna a, performs detection processing and demodulation processing, and outputs it to the CPU 4b. Is configured to.

The CPU 4b is configured to be able to store a signal (data) received from the receiving circuit 6 in a memory (not shown) and to control the IC card body 1 as a whole.

The CPU 4b divides the frequency generated by the oscillation circuit 4a, thereby sufficiently lowering the frequency (for example, 2.45 GHz) of the signal (main carrier wave) from the transmitter T side, for example, a signal of 500 KHz. (Subcarrier)
Is generated, and the card data of the boarding section and the like stored in the memory is modulated by the transmission circuit 5 to supply power to the antenna a. Therefore, when the antenna a is reflected by the main carrier wave that is transmitted from the antenna A of the transmitter T in a time-division manner and is transmitted, the phase is just modulated by the card data. Therefore, by receiving this reflected wave on the transmitter T side, the contactless automatic ticket gate can perform a predetermined arithmetic process for the ticket gate processing based on the card data.

The CPU 4b is constantly supplied with the power of the battery 3 and holds the stored contents of the memory provided in the CPU 4b. However, since the power consumption of holding the stored contents of this memory is extremely small, the influence on the life of the card can be ignored.

The oscillation circuit 4a, the CPU 4b, the transmission circuit 5 and the reception circuit 6 are arranged such that when the CPU 4b receives a signal from the solar cell 2, that is, the IC card body (commuter pass) 1 is taken out from the user's pocket or the like. Driving is started when the solar cell 2 is irradiated with light rays and a predetermined voltage signal is input.

The time chart of FIG. 3 is shown in FIG.
The waveform of each part of (c) is shown, and when the solar cell 2 receives a light beam, a signal of a predetermined voltage is input to the CPU 4b (see FIG. 3 (a)).

When the CPU 4b receives a signal from the solar cell 2, the CPU 4b itself is driven by being supplied with power from the battery 3, and the oscillation circuit 4a, the transmitting circuit 5, and the receiving circuit 6 are also supplied with power from the battery 3. It is driven by receiving (see FIG. 3B).

Therefore, when a predetermined signal is received from the transmitter T side at this time, as described above, the predetermined signal is supplied from the transmission circuit 5 to the antenna a (see FIG. 3).
(See (c)), data is exchanged between the transmitter T and the IC card body 1. Then, when the transfer of the predetermined data is completed, that is, the contactless automatic ticket gate is I
A series of arithmetic processing based on the card data received from the C card body 1 is completed, and the CPU of the IC card body 1
When the writing of the predetermined entry / exit data in the memory 4b is completed, the power supply from the battery 2 to the CPU 4b, the oscillation circuit 4a, the transmission circuit 5 and the reception circuit 6 is cut off.

As described above, the non-contact IC according to this embodiment
The card is supplied with power from the battery 2 when it is irradiated with light, and communication is possible. Therefore, when the light is not struck when the IC card body 1 is in a pocket, bag or the like, the power of the battery is supplied. Is not consumed, so the life of the card can be extended.

[0025]

The contactless IC card according to the present invention is an IC
The non-contact IC card includes a solar cell provided in the card body and a setting means for setting the transmitting means to an operating state when a predetermined signal generated by the solar cell receiving light from the outside is input. The electric power is consumed only when it is taken out from a pocket or the like to use the battery, and the power consumption of the battery can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a non-contact IC card according to an embodiment of the present invention when it is used as a commuter pass for a non-contact automatic ticket gate.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electrical configuration.

FIG. 3 is a time chart.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Non-contact IC card body (IC card body) 2 Solar battery 3 Battery 4a Oscillation circuit 4b CPU 5 Transmitter circuit 6 Receive circuit a, A Antenna T Transmitter

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A non-contact IC card including a transmission unit that is driven by a power source of a battery provided in the non-contact IC card main body and transmits predetermined data stored in a memory. A solar cell provided in the main body, and a setting means for setting the transmitting means to an operating state when a predetermined signal generated by the solar cell receiving light from the outside is input, Non-contact IC card.