Registers – Records – Conductive
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-30
2004-07-27
Paik, Steven S. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Records
Conductive
C235S487000, C235S451000, C235S375000, C235S379000, C235S380000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06766961
ABSTRACT:
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-application type IC card having a plurality of functions including credit card and electronic money functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
An IC card is a plastic card in which an LSI chip with a built-in CPU and memory (such as ROM or RAM) is embedded. Because an IC card can ensure higher security and store a greater volume of data than a conventional magnetic card, a single card can be used to implement a plurality of functions including credit card and electronic money functions. An IC card communicates with an IC card terminal (hereafter, referred to as an external terminal). Based on commands from an external terminal, the CPU within the LSI chip executes application programs (including the operating system) that are stored in memory to read and write data files that are stored in memory.
FIGS.
8
(
a
) and
8
(
b
) show a diagram explaining an IC card terminal (external terminal). FIG.
8
(
a
) is an external view of the external terminal, and FIG.
8
(
b
) is a block diagram. Multi-application type IC card
1
contains built-in LSI chip
2
, which supports a plurality of functions including credit card and electronic money functions. LSI chip
2
stores application programs corresponding to each of the functions. External terminal
10
, which is a handy-type terminal as shown in FIG.
8
(
a
), for example, comprises an input unit
14
for entering information such as an amount of money or password, a display unit
15
using an LCD or other type of display, and an IC card insertion slot, which is not illustrated. In addition, external terminal
10
has a built-in reader/writer
11
for reading data from and writing data to IC card
1
, an IFD (interface device)
12
for controlling communications with IC card
1
, and a microcomputer
13
, as shown in FIG.
8
(
b
). Microcomputer
13
comprises memory for storing processing programs corresponding to the programs that are stored in the IC card, and a processor part (CPU) for executing these processing programs to communicate with the IC card.
FIG. 9
is a diagram showing an example of a file structure that is stored on an IC card. The file structure in
FIG. 9
is called a file system type file structure. In
FIG. 9
, files are arranged in a hierarchical structure comprising an MF (master file) at the highest level with subordinate DFs (dedicated files) and/or EFs (elementary files) below it. At least one EF must be subordinate to a DF, and other separate DFs may also be subordinate. An EF is a lowest-level file in which data having a binary structure or record structure is stored.
FIG. 10
is a diagram showing a configuration example for program communications between a file system type IC card and an external terminal. IC card
1
contains files shown in FIG.
9
and an IC card OS (operating system). Processing program R
1
of external terminal
10
communicates with the IC card OS via an IFD (interface device) driver for controlling communications with the IC card. The IC card OS processes commands from processing program R
1
, accesses files that are selected according to those commands, and responds to the external terminal.
For example, to read file EF
1
-
1
-
1
in
FIG. 9
, processing program R
1
of the external terminal sequentially sends the commands shown below to the IC card OS (operating system).
(1) DF
1
selection command
(2) DF
1
-
1
selection command
(3) EF
1
-
1
-
1
selection command
(4) File read command
The IC card OS selects file EF
1
-
1
-
1
according to the commands in (1), (2), and (3) above, reads the data in selected file EF
1
-
1
-
1
according to the command in (4) above, and sends that data to the external terminal.
FIG. 11
is a diagram showing another example of a file structure that is stored on an IC card. The file structure in
FIG. 11
is called a multi-application type file structure. In
FIG. 11
, a plurality of DFs are subordinate to an MF, and each DF contains an application program that corresponds to one of a plurality of functions of the IC card and data that corresponds to that application program. In recent years, there has been a steady migration for IC cards to this multi-application type file structure in place of the abovementioned file system type file structure.
For example, in
FIG. 11
, DF
1
contains application program APL
1
(code and data) corresponding to function A, DF
2
contains application program APL
2
(code and data) corresponding to function B, and DF
3
contains application program APL
3
(code and data) corresponding to function C.
FIG. 12
is a diagram showing a configuration example for program communications between a multi-application type IC card and an external terminal. IC card contains card-side application programs (including data) APL
1
, APL
2
, and APL
3
corresponding to a plurality of functions A, B, and C, respectively, and an IC card OS (operating system). Processing program R
2
of external terminal
20
communicates with each application program via an IFD (interface device) driver for controlling communications with the IC card and also via the IC card OS. Each command from processing program R
2
is directed to the corresponding application program by the IC card OS and processed by that application program.
For example, processing program R
2
of the external terminal first sends a command for selecting a DF, like the command in (1) above, to the IC card OS (operating system). After the IC card OS selects DF
1
, processing program R
2
of the external terminal communicates with the application program of the selected DF
1
, not with the IC card OS, by using commands specific to that program. Therefore, a multi-application type IC card does not support the commands in (2) and (3) above for selecting a lower level file and the command in (4) above for reading a file, which are sent to the OS of a file system type IC card.
When a plurality of different IC card file structures like the ones described above coexist, the following problem will occur. As the use of multi-application type IC cards expands in the future, external terminals for relatively old file system type IC cards will not be able to access relatively new multi-application type IC cards. (External terminals for multi-application type IC cards certainly cannot access file system type IC cards.)
For resolving this problem, revising the processing programs of external terminals for file system type IC cards has been considered so as to be compatible with the multi-application type IC cards, however, this approach is expected to be extremely labor intensive and costly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to enable access to an IC card having a prescribed file structure from an external terminal for an IC card having a different file structure.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a kind of multi-application type IC card that can be accessed by an external terminal of a file system type IC card.
To accomplish the abovementioned objects, there are installed, on a multi-application type IC card, emulator programs that can process commands from an external terminal for a file system type IC card. This will enable an external terminal for a file system type IC card to access a multi-application type IC card.
To accomplish the abovementioned objects, an IC card which comprises memory for storing programs corresponding to a first file structure, and a CPU for executing programs stored in the IC card memory, and communicates with a first external terminal that sends commands corresponding to the programs, the IC card being characterized in that: the programs include an emulator program for processing commands from a second external terminal that corresponds to an IC card containing files corresponding to a second file structure; and the CPU executes the emulator program so that the IC card communicates with the second external terminal.
For example, the first file structure is a structure having files that contain application programs subordinate to a master file,
Hosogoe Takashi
Hyodo Yoshii
Yamate Yasumasa
Armstrong Kratz Quintos Hanson & Brooks, LLP
Fujitsu Limited
Paik Steven S.
LandOfFree
IC card does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with IC card, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and IC card will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3196130