Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Patent
1994-06-21
1995-12-05
Nelms, David C.
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
235492, 235380, 2353825, G06K 500, G06K 1907
Patent
active
054731453
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
1. Background of the Invention
The invention relates to a data carrier for use in entry, identification and/or contol systems, comprising a data sending-receiving unit communicating with at least one coding and/or reading station, a non-volatile, electrically erasable and programmable memory, a sending-receiving logic writing the data into the memory and reading the same from the memory, a liquid crystal display, means for making visible on the liquid crystal display the data contained in the memory, and power supply means having a power source arranged in the data carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
A data carrier of the afore-mentioned kind operated by an incorporated power source is known from EP-A 327 541. Sending data, when communicating with the coding and/or reading station, as well as switching the liquid crystal display consumes a relatively high amount of energy. Energy supply by means of a non-chargeable, exchangeable battery involves known problems in respect of the disposal of used batteries, possible leakage of the housing to be closed, etc. If a chargeable battery or a solar cell is used, problems in respect of dimensioning etc. result. The use of solar cells further creates the problem that the data carrier may not be usable at dawn or at night. A number of possibilities for non-contact transmission of the required energy from the control or reading device are also known, for example by inductive transmission according to EP-A 400 764 or 198 642, by light irradiating a photocell according to EP-A 168 836, etc. In these embodiments, sufficient amounts of energy are available, but they involve the problem that the indication of the memory content requires the presence of the control or reading device. Information regarding the stored data is therefore not available at any time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is now the object of the invention to provide a data carrier of the type mentioned in the introduction to this specification in which the mentioned problems are eliminated or at least reduced. The data carrier shall have available in each case the required amount of energy for the occasional data transmission as well as for any independent indication of data.
According to the invention, this is achieved in that the power supply means comprise two parts electrically independent from each other, the first part being the power source arranged in the data carrier, that the liquid crystal display and the means for making visible the memory content are connected with the first part of the power supply means, and that the second part of the power supply means is formed by a non-contact transmission element, associated with the sending-receiving logic and the memory, of a second power source provided in the coding and/or reading station. The separation of the power supply into two power sources which are independent from each other makes it possible to adapt the power supply of the individual component parts far better to the requirements. The energy required for data transmission can thus be transmitted from the coding and/or reading station in contact-free manner, while the power source provided in the data carrier has to supply at any time only the relatively low amount of energy needed for the liquid crystal display and can hence be smaller dimensioned. This facilitates essentially the constructional design of the data carrier, a failure in the power source contained in the data carrier being of no importance for the control function. The transmission of the operating current for the memory and the sending-receiving logic is preferably inductive by means of a coil, and the power source contained in the data carrier is provided preferably in the form of a solar cell. The data stored in the data carrier are hence displayable at any time. To make operating buttons unnecessary, the liquid crystal display may, however, also be provided with automatic change-over means so that different data can be read in repeated sequence, for example the value of the data carrier,
REFERENCES:
patent: 4650981 (1987-03-01), Foletta
patent: 4701601 (1987-10-01), Francini et al.
patent: 4769765 (1988-09-01), Green
patent: 4800255 (1989-01-01), Imran
patent: 4812634 (1989-03-01), Ohta et al.
patent: 4829166 (1989-05-01), Froelich
patent: 4864115 (1989-09-01), Imran et al.
patent: 5138142 (1992-08-01), Sanemitsu
Kocznar Wolfram
Wallerstorfer Kurt
Windhager Christian
Nelms David C.
Nguyen Tan
Skidata Computer Gesellschaft m.b.H.
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