Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
  • G07F7/00—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus
  • G07F7/08—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means
  • G07F7/10—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means together with a coded signal, e.g. in the form of personal identification information, like personal identification number [PIN] or biometric data
  • G07F7/1008—Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F9/00—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units
  • G06F9/06—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units using stored programs, i.e. using an internal store of processing equipment to receive or retain programs
  • G06F9/44—Arrangements for executing specific programs
  • G06F9/445—Program loading or initiating
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
  • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
  • G06Q20/34—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards
  • G06Q20/341—Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
  • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
  • G06Q20/34—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards
  • G06Q20/355—Personalisation of cards for use
  • G06Q20/3552—Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
  • G07F7/00—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus
  • G07F7/08—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means
  • G07F7/0806—Details of the card
  • G07F7/0813—Specific details related to card security
  • G07F7/082—Features insuring the integrity of the data on or in the card

Definitions

• the invention relates to the loading of computer programs into a memory of a portable object and in particular into a memory of a smart card.
• Chip cards are portable or portable objects consisting, on the one hand, of a card body and, on the other hand, of a chip.
• the chip comprises an integrated circuit on the surface of a silicon substrate, said circuit defining in particular memory areas of the chip as well as a micro-controller part ensuring in particular the management of the data between the different memory areas.
• This chip transferred in an electronic module or not, is integrated into the card body and communicates with the outside world by means of electrical contacts or an antenna. According to its mode of communication, the card is said to have contacts or contactless, it being understood however that so-called combined cards are capable of communicating according to the two modes of communication with and without contact.
• smart cards are used in applications in which they identify their bearer and allow, for example, said bearer to obtain a right such as a right to access services or to carry out transactions.
• the loading time of an 8 kByte program in a contactless card from a sending device is of the order of one minute, which is far too long to allow the program to be loaded into the average time during which the card is in the useful electromagnetic field of said transmitting device, in particular if one takes into account the fact that this device must manage a plurality of cards as well as possible collisions between said cards.
• the loading is then interrupted and it is then necessary to wait until the time spent in the field of another transmitting device is long enough for the loading of the program to be carried out in its entirety successfully.
• a problem which the invention proposes to solve is to allow the loading of a program without the loading time constraints actually influencing the loading of said program successfully.
• the proposed solution of the invention relates to a method for loading computer programs into a memory of a portable object with memory having a contactless operating mode, in particular a smart card, from of one or more transmitting devices EM1, ..., EMj, ... EMp, p being an integer greater than or equal to 1, characterized in that it comprises the following steps according to which: - the computer program is divided in n BLKI blocks, ...,
• BLKi ..., BLKn, n being an integer greater than 1;
• the method of the invention applies to portable or portable memory objects and, preferably, to smart cards whose format and characteristics are defined in ISO standards 78-10 and 78-16 whose content is incorporated. in the present description by reference citation or applies, more preferably, to such cards having however a contactless operating mode possibly in addition to a conventional operating mode, with contacts said cards being characterized in particular in ISO 14443 standards.
• Contactless smart cards have an integrated circuit in a silicon substrate, the assembly, circuit and substrate, constituting the chip, said chip being either integrated in an electronic module itself integrated in a card body, or else integrated directly into said card body.
• the integrated circuit defines different memories of the chip and in particular at least one volatile memory RAM and at least one non-volatile memory ROM, this non-volatile memory or one of the non-volatile memories being, if necessary, an electrically programmable and erasable memory. EEPROM or a Flash PROM type memory.
• the integrated circuit defines a central unit CPU or microcontroller, said central unit performing in particular the management of data between the different memories, via an address bus and a data bus, said management being clocked according to clock cycles.
• the invention aims to load a PRG computer program in one of the card memories and in particular in a non-volatile memory of the EEPROM type of said card.
• Such a PRG program is a set of computer data defining for example a set of instructions executable by the card. This is the case for application programs written in high-level Java-type languages called applets. In one example, these are programs allowing access to services such as, in the case of a bank card, a program enabling the card to carry out electronic wallet applications.
• the size of PRG programs is more or less important. However, the invention shows a great interest in the case of large programs in particular of the order or greater than 2 kBytes, for example 8 kBytes, or even 64 kBytes whose total practical loading time is greater than 5 seconds.
• the PRG program is loaded into the EEPROM memory of the card, from one or more transmitter readers EM1, ..., EMj, ... EMp, p being a natural whole number greater than or equal to 1, each emitting device EMj having a copy of the program or being capable of obtaining such a copy from an associated server, under the control of an operator.
• the PRG program is divided, according to the invention, into n BLKI blocks, ..., BLKi, ..., BLKn, n being a natural integer strictly greater than 1, the set of BLKi blocks having advantageously a neighboring size, preferably of the order of the RAM memory space reserved for the write buffer effect and called the buffer memory.
• a 2 kBytes computer program can be divided into eight BLKI, ..., BLK8 blocks of approximately 256 Bytes each.
• the card can be in a loading state, that is to say in a state such that it waits for the PRG program to be loaded or not.
• This indication I (n) is received by the card, in particular with the BLKI block, the set I (n) and BLKI being first of all recorded in the buffer memory of the card then taken care of by the central unit which records the indication I (n), or an indication I '( n) derived from this indication I (n), in a memory area COUNT serving as a counter.
• the BLKI block is recorded in the non-volatile memory EEPROM, at a determined address, for example ADD1.
• the loading then resumes, with this new transmitter EMj, at block BLKi and continues to block BLKn, unless a new interruption makes it necessary to pass the card through the field of a new transmitter EMj.
• the loading in BLKi blocks coupled with a counting of the loaded blocks allows, in particular in the case of contactless cards, to perform a loading of the entire program without that the interrupts of dialogue between the card and the transmitting devices require a new loading of the program from the beginning.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Software Systems (AREA)
• Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
• General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Strategic Management (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Stored Programmes (AREA)
• Credit Cards Or The Like (AREA)
• Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=9523248

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (4)

Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 1998
  • 1998-02-23 FR FR9802147A patent/FR2775375A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
• 1999
  • 1999-02-18 DE DE69900501T patent/DE69900501T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-02-18 EP EP99904909A patent/EP1058917B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-02-18 US US09/622,657 patent/US7017824B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-02-18 CN CNB998032468A patent/CN1145115C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-02-18 WO PCT/FR1999/000370 patent/WO1999042960A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 1999-02-18 JP JP2000532819A patent/JP2002504730A/ja active Pending

Patent Citations (6)

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