JPS63223994A - Portable electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To report the state of a data area by judging the state of the area where data is written according to an external state information instruction and outputting specific information which indicates the judgement result to the outside when the data is written in the data memory. CONSTITUTION:When instruction data are inputted from a card reader writer R/W, a control element 15 checks whether or not a function code included in the instruction data is a write function code. When so, the element 15 searches the data area 00 of a data memory 16 for an area number added to the instruction data. When it is hot found, the element 15 outputs answer data indicating that the area is not confirmed and becomes ready to wait for instruction data. When the area number is found, the element 15 holds it in a RAM stored with area control information and the number of bytes constituting discrimination information for the corresponding area, i.e. head address data and recognizes the position of the object area.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is applicable to, for example, non-volatile data memory and C
The present invention relates to a portable electronic device called an IC card, which has a built-in IC chip having a control element such as a PU.

(Prior Art) Recently, as a new portable data storage medium, an IC card containing a built-in IC chip having a nonvolatile data memory and a control element such as a CPU has been developed. This type of IC card manages data in the built-in data memory using an internal controller or an external device.

By the way, in conventional IC cards, the data memory is divided into a plurality of areas, and when writing a data string to those areas, the data is written in a single direction from a certain point (for example, a reference address) and sequentially for each area. Sometimes. In this case, if an unwritten area no longer exists, it is necessary to secure a new area by erasing an area in which data has already been written using an external device.

Recently, as a countermeasure to this problem, a method has been considered that automatically overwrites the oldest data area when there is no longer an unwritten area.

However, this method has the disadvantage that data is written without knowing that there is no more unwritten area in the data area, that is, data is written without knowing the state of the data area. Ta.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, this invention eliminates the disadvantage of writing data without knowing the state of the data area, and is portable and capable of informing the state of the data area. The purpose is to provide electronic devices.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) A portable electronic device of the present invention includes a data memory consisting of a plurality of areas, and a control element for reading and writing data to the data memory. and selectively performs input/output from the outside, a determining means for determining the state of the area in which data is to be written in accordance with a state information command from the outside when writing data to the data memory; It is comprised of an output means for outputting specific information indicating the judgment result of the judgment means to the outside.

(Operation) When writing data to a data memory, the present invention determines the state of the area in which the data is to be written in accordance with a state information command from the outside, and outputs specific information indicating the result of this judgment to the outside. This is what I did.

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

FIG. 3 shows an IC as a portable electronic device according to the present invention.
This figure shows an example of the configuration of a card handling device used as a terminal device in a home banking system, shopping system, etc., to which a card is applied.

That is, this device connects the IC card 1 to a card reader.
It is possible to connect to the control section 3 consisting of a CPU etc. via the writer 2, and the keyboard 4 and C
It is configured by connecting an RT display device 5, a printer 6, and a floppy disk device 7.

The IC card 1 is held by the user and is used to refer to a personal identification number known only to the user when making a purchase, for example, and to store necessary data. Its functional blocks are shown in Figure 4. , a read/write section 11, a password setting/password verification section 12, and an encryption/? ! It consists of a part that executes basic functions such as an encoding unit 13, and a supervisor 14 that manages these basic functions. Lead
The write section 11 has a function of reading, writing, or erasing data from/to the card reader/writer 2. The password setting/password verification unit 12 has a function of storing the password set by the user and prohibiting reading of the password, as well as verifying the password after setting the password and granting permission for subsequent processing. The encryption/decryption unit 13 performs encryption and encryption of encrypted data to prevent leakage and forgery of communication data when transmitting data from the control unit 3 to another terminal device via a communication line, for example. For example, DES (Oata Enc
This function performs data processing according to an encryption algorithm with sufficient cryptographic strength, such as crypt+on 5 standard).

The supervisor 14 has the function of decoding the function code input from the card reader/writer 2 or the function code to which data is added, and selecting and executing a necessary function among the basic functions.

In order to perform these functions, the IC card 1 has a control element (for example, CPLI) 15 as a control section, and non-volatile data whose storage contents can be erased as a data memory section, as shown in FIG. It is composed of a memory 16, a program memory 17 as a program memory section, and a contact section 18 for obtaining electrical contact with the card reader/writer 2. 16, program memory 17) is composed of one IC chip.

The program memory 17 is composed of, for example, a mask ROM, and stores a control program (processing program) for the control element 15, which includes subroutines for realizing each of the basic functions. The data memory 16 is used to store various data and is composed of, for example, an EEPROM.

The data memory 16 is divided into multiple areas,
It consists of an identification information area that identifies the registration status of the data area as shown in Figure 7, and multiple data areas as shown in Figure 8, and each area has an area number [00 to FF]. is given.

Furthermore, each data area has a write pointer Pa and a written pointer Pb, as shown in FIG.

It consists of a plurality of records and a length 1 indicating the length of each record.

In the identification information area for identifying the registration status of the data area shown in FIG. 7, the start address of all data areas and the size of the data area are stored in correspondence with the area number. area control information is stored. The area control information indicates whether additional writing is possible depending on whether the area is full or not, and whether or not the target area is normal.

For example, if it has an 8-bit configuration and the first bit is "O", it indicates that overwriting (rewriting the oldest record) is possible for the corresponding data area, and the first bit is "1".
, it indicates that overwriting is not possible for the corresponding data area, and when the second bit is “0”, it indicates that the corresponding data area can operate normally, and the first bit is “0”.
1” indicates that the corresponding data area cannot operate normally.The data area is managed by an identification information area that identifies the registration status of the data area, and after writing to each record area of the data area. Whether this is the case is indicated by the written pointer pb.Writing to the record area is performed sequentially under the control of the write pointer pa.

The card reader/writer 2 is used to exchange function codes and data between the IC card 1 and the control section 3.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, there is a transport mechanism 21 that transports the IC card 1 inserted into a card insertion slot (not shown) to a predetermined position, and a contact portion of the IC card 1 set in the predetermined position. 18, a control circuit 23 consisting of a CPU that controls the entire system, and an input/output interface for exchanging command data and response data between the control circuit 23 and the control unit 3. It is composed of a circuit 24, a data memory 25 for storing data, and the like.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be explained.

First, in a steady state, when command data is input from the card reader/writer 2, the IC card 1 executes basic functions according to the command data, outputs response data to the card reader/writer 2, The state returns to the instruction data waiting state.

The command data output from the card reader/writer 2 to the IC card 1 has a format as shown in FIG. 9, for example, and may be in the form of only a function code as shown in FIG. As shown in b), data is added to the function code.

For example, in the case of an area status request, the command consists of an area status request and an area number, and the response consists of an area status request and response data, as shown in FIG. 10(a). The response data includes the above area control information, as shown in FIG.
It consists of the capacity of the data area (the number of bytes that can actually store data), the number of recorded records in the data area (the total number of records existing in the data area), and the number of additionally recordable bytes (specific information).

Next, a data write operation for writing data into the data memory 16 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in the steady state, it is in a state of waiting for command data from the card reader/writer 2, and when command data is input from the card reader/writer 2 at this time,
The control element 15 first checks whether the function code included in the command data is a write function code. If it is a write function code, the IIIIII element 15 searches the data area "00" of the data memory 16 for the area number added to the command data. If it is not found, the control element 15 outputs response data indicating that the area has not been confirmed, and returns to the command data waiting state.

If found, the control element 15 generates an R containing the identification information of the corresponding data area, that is, the start address, the number of bytes constituting the data area, and area control information.
AM and recognize the position of the target area.

Next, the control element 15 adds the write point Pa of the data area and the input data string added to the command data, and sets the sum to a current pointer (not shown). Next, the control element 15 determines whether the data area is full, that is, whether there is no unwritten area, based on whether the written pointer Pb is the maximum value "0". This increases the written pointer pb to a maximum of 111 r
If it is determined that there is an unwritten area instead of OJ, the current pointer and written pointer Pb are compared. As a result of this comparison, when the value of the current pointer has not reached the maximum value, that is, when the input data string is smaller than the unwritten area, the address indicated by the current pointer is From there, length 11 indicating the length of the input data string and record Ll as the input data string are written.

After writing the instruction data from the current pointer, the IIII element 15 sets the current pointer to the write pointer pa and updates it, and sets the write pointer Pa to the written pointer Pb and updates it. Also, 1u
The ll element 15 outputs response data indicating the completion of normal writing, and returns to the command data holding state.

The above operation is repeated until there are no unwritten areas left.

Also, when the written pointer Pb is rOJ and it is determined that there is no unwritten area, or when the value of the current pointer has reached the maximum value (see Fig. 11),
In a state like b), that is, when the input data string is larger than the unwritten area, the control element 15 determines whether overwriting is possible or not based on the area III WJ information in the identification information area. And if overwriting is possible,
ill m, element 15 sets the current pointer to the pointer of the oldest data string (11, Ll) in the corresponding area, and starts input data string from the address indicated by the current pointer, as shown in FIG. 11(C). Write length 1b indicating the length of , and record lb as the input data string.

After writing the input data from the current pointer, the IIJIIl element 15 updates the current pointer by setting it to the write pointer Pa, and updates the written pointer pb.
If indicates the maximum value, the value of the written pointer pb is left as is, and after the overwriting is executed, the written pointer Pb is set to the maximum value rOJ and updated. Further, the control element 15 outputs response data indicating the completion of normal writing, and returns to the command data holding state.

Furthermore, if overlapping 6-write is not possible, response data indicating that there is no unwritten area is output.

Next, the operation when an area status request (status information command) is output from the card reader/writer 2 to the IC card 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This area status request is made before writing to a predetermined data area. That is, a command indicating an area status request and its area is input to the IC card 1 as command data from the card reader/writer 2. Then, the control element 15 first checks whether the function code included in the command data is an area status request.

If it is an area status request, the control element 15 searches the data area "oO" of the data memory 16 for the area number added to the command data.

If it is not found, the control element 15 outputs response data indicating that the area has not been confirmed, and returns to the command data holding state.

If found, the control element 15 reads out the size of the corresponding data area and area control information from the identification information area. Also,
The control element 15 determines whether the written pointer Pb in the applicable data area is the maximum value "0", and if an unwritten area exists, the write pointer is changed from the maximum value of the applicable data area. Calculate the actual remaining amount by subtracting Pa, and combine this actual remaining amount with the size and area control information,
It outputs the response data to the card reader/writer 2 and returns to the command data waiting state.

In addition, when there is no unwritten area and overwriting is performed, the control element 15 sets the number of bytes (specific information) that can be additionally written as the remaining amount of the unwritten area together with the size and area size 1m information. It outputs the response data to the card reader/writer 2 and returns to the command data waiting state.

As a result, the card reader/writer 2 reads the IC card 1.
The CRT display device 5 displays the response data from , that is, the number of bytes that can be additionally written as the actual remaining amount of the unwritten area, area control information, area capacity, and number of recorded records in the area. This display allows the user to input the write command if the input data string is smaller than the unrecorded area, and input the write command if the input data string is larger than the unrecorded area and the data area can be overwritten. However, if the input data string is larger than the unrecorded area and the data area cannot be overwritten, a status request for another area is output.

Also, the number of bytes that can be added (remaining unwritten area) is "
0], the user can determine that the area is being overwritten.

As described above, the status of the corresponding area can be responded to the area status request.

As a result, when the area becomes full due to additional writing of data or repeated updating, for example, and there is no unwritten area left, it is possible to inform the user whether to overwrite the oldest data.

Furthermore, it is possible to send write data after recognizing the state of the area, and it is also possible to notify the user that overwriting has been executed.

In the above embodiments, a case has been described in which data is stored in a data memory built into an IC card, but the present invention is not limited to this, and data may be stored in other storage media. The same applies to cases where

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a portable electronic device that can notify the state of a data area.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings are for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining processing for area status, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining data writing processing, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining processing for writing data. Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the card handling device, Figure 4 is a diagram showing the functional blocks of the IC card, Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the IC chip built into the IC card, Figure 6 is the block diagram of the card reader/writer. 7 and 8 are block diagrams showing the configuration of the data memory, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the format of command data output from the cartridge reader/writer, and FIG. 10 is the area status FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example of command data and response data for a request, and FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example of the data in the data memory. 1...IC card (portable electronic device), 2.
... Card reader/writer, 15 ... Control element, 16 ... Data memory (storage medium),
17...Program memory. Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 (a) (b) Figure 10

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) In a portable electronic device that has a data memory consisting of a plurality of areas and a control element for reading and writing data to the data memory, and selectively performs input/output from the outside, When writing data to the data memory, a determining means determines the state of the area in which data is to be written in response to a status information command from the outside; and an output means outputs specific information indicating the determination result of the determining means to the outside. A portable electronic device characterized by comprising the following. (2) The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the state of the area in which data is written is whether or not overwriting is being performed. (3) The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the state of the area in which data is written is the size of the area and the remaining amount of the area. (4) The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the data memory is a rewritable nonvolatile memory. (5) The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the specific information is information indicating remaining capacity of an area corresponding to information indicating overwriting. (6) The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control element is a CPU.