Registers – Records – Conductive
Patent
1998-04-30
1999-10-12
Le, Thien
Registers
Records
Conductive
235441, G06N 1906
Patent
active
059658673
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a data carrier having at least two integrated circuits disposed one on the other in a partial area of the data carrier, at least one of the circuits being able to communicate with external devices via coupling elements.
Data carriers having built-in integrated circuits have been known for some time and are used for example in the form of chip cards e.g. as access entitlement for in-house access control systems or as means of payment in public telephone booths. Usually such a chip card consists of a card body and an electronic module including coupling elements and an integrated circuit connected electrically with the coupling elements and able to communicate with external devices via the coupling elements. The coupling elements are usually designed as contact surfaces for galvanically contacting communication or as a coil for noncontacting communication.
Due to increasingly complex chip card applications the integrated circuits are also becoming larger, which increases the risk of breakage for the integrated circuits in the data carrier.
There have thus been various proposals for instance to distribute the functions of a large integrated circuit over a plurality of small integrated circuits. The integrated circuits are usually disposed on the electronic module either side by side or one on the other.
DE-OS 29 42 397 shows for example such an electronic module which can be disposed in the gap of a data carrier. The module has a supporting substrate with two integrated circuits disposed on one side thereof and a third integrated circuit disposed on the other side thereof. On the side of the third integrated circuit the substrate has contact surfaces with conductive paths connected thereto whose ends are connected electrically with the terminals of the integrated circuits. To permit the integrated circuits to be connected starting at the contact surfaces via the conductive path, the substrate is plated-through in several places.
In the electronic module known from DE-OS 29 42 397 the risk of breakage of the individual integrated circuits is reduced, but a supporting substrate with a relatively large surface must be used since two integrated circuits are disposed side by side. Moreover, each integrated circuit must be connected with the ends of said conductive paths during production of the electronic module, which requires high production effort. The production of the stated throughplating also requires high production effort. In addition, the incorporation of the module in the data carrier is impeded since integrated circuits are disposed on both aides of the supporting substrate.
The invention is therefore based on the problem of providing a data carrier which is easy and thus cost-effective to produce.
This problem is solved according to the characterizing part of claim 1.
The basic idea of the invention is that the two integrated circuits communicate with each other via a nongalvanic, contactless coupling.
This results in several advantages. One of the two integrated circuits need no longer be connected electrically with the conductive paths on the supporting substrate, which leads to a reduction of production effort. Further, the integrated circuits can be disposed one on the other spatially separated without any plated-through holes having to be provided for electric connections for communication between the two integrated circuits. Further, it is much more difficult to monitor communication between the integrated circuits since the integrated circuits communicate with each other contactlessly.
According to a first embodiment of an inventive data carrier, the two integrated circuits are disposed one on the other directly adjacent each other. The two integrated circuits can preferably be interconnected via an adhesive layer. The means for communication between the integrated circuits are preferably disposed an opposing surfaces of the integrated circuits. Such means can be for example coils, capacitive elements or optocouplers. The means can either be located outside the integra
REFERENCES:
patent: 4683372 (1987-07-01), Matsumoto
patent: 4736094 (1988-04-01), Yoshida
patent: 4764666 (1988-08-01), Bergeron
patent: 4797542 (1989-01-01), Hara
Gieseke & Devrient GmbH
Le Thien
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