Communications: electrical – Selective – Interrogation response
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-15
2003-05-06
Crosland, Donnie L. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Selective
Interrogation response
C340S010510, C340S870030, C340S870030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06559755
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage devices and methods, information processing apparatuses and methods, and provision media therefor, and in particular, to a storage device and method for providing a memory card capable of reading and writing data in which changes in a tuning frequency are suppressed, an information processing apparatus and method using the storage device and method, and a provision medium therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, memory cards, in which the storage capacity is greatly increased by providing semiconductor chips such as integrated chips for storing and processing information (data), have been widely used as data cards.
Also non-contact memory cards have recently been developed in which a built-in data-transmitting-receiving antenna circuit (coil) for transmitting or receiving an input or output radio signal is used to perform non-contact data reading and writing with an external processing apparatus by a radio system.
FIG. 14
shows the structure of a non-contact memory card
91
. An antenna
101
included in the memory card
91
receives radio waves from a non-contact memory-card reader-writer
92
(described below), and supplies a signal corresponding to the received radio waves to a tuning circuit
102
and a power-supply circuit
111
. The tuning circuit
102
extracts, from the signal supplied from the antenna
101
, a carrier frequency used for communication between the memory card
91
and the reader-writer
92
.
An amplifying circuit
103
amplifies an input signal to a predetermined level, and outputs the amplified signal. A demodulating circuit
104
demodulates the modulated signal having the carrier frequency into predetermined data. A communication control circuit
105
performs switching between data transmission and reception. A microcomputer
106
controls other blocks of the memory card
91
in accordance with a control program stored in a read only memory (ROM)
107
. Among data supplied via the communication control circuit
105
, data to be stored are supplied as required from the microcomputer
106
to an electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM)
108
.
The EEPROM
108
stores the data supplied from the microcomputer
106
. A modulating circuit
109
modulates the data supplied from the communication control circuit
105
into a signal having the carrier frequency, and outputs it. An amplifying circuit
110
amplifies the modulated signal having the carrier frequency, supplied from the modulating circuit
109
, to a level necessary for communication. The antenna
101
uses radio waves to transmit the carrier frequency signal amplified by the amplifying circuit
110
.
FIG. 15
shows the structure of a non-contact memory-card reader-writer
92
. An antenna
121
transmits a predetermined signal to the memory card
91
and performs transmission and reception of predetermined carrier waves in order to communicate with the memory card
91
. The antenna
121
also generates an electromagnetic field for supplying power to the memory card
91
.
A tuning circuit
122
extracts, from a signal supplied from the antenna
121
, the carrier frequency used for communication between the memory card
91
and the reader-writer
92
. An amplifying circuit
123
amplifies the input signal to a predetermined level, and outputs it. A demodulating circuit
124
demodulates the modulated signal having the carrier frequency into predetermined data. A communication control circuit
125
performs switching between data transmission and reception, and communication control. A microcomputer
126
controls other blocks of the reader-writer
92
in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM
128
. Among the data supplied via the communication control circuit
125
, data to be stored are supplied as required from the microcomputer
126
to a random access memory (RAM)
129
.
The RAM
129
stores the data supplied from the microcomputer
126
. A modulating circuit
130
modulates data supplied from the communication control circuit
125
into a signal having a carrier frequency, and outputs it. An amplifying circuit
131
amplifies the modulated signal having the carrier frequency, supplied from the modulating circuit
130
, to a level necessary for communication. The antenna
121
uses radio waves to transmit the amplified signal having the carrier frequency.
The above-described conventional memory cards have a problem in that performance deteriorates since a tuning frequency varies due to variations in the quality of components.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a storage device and method in which the tuning frequency of a memory card is adjusted to prevent performance from deteriorating, an information processing apparatus and method using the storage device and method, and a provision medium therefor.
To this end, according to an aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is achieved through provision of a storage device for storing and processing information and for performing information transmission and reception with an external unit. The storage device includes a storage unit for storing tuning-frequency data, an extracting unit for extracting a tuning frequency from a received signal, and an adjusting unit for adjusting, based on the tuning-frequency data stored in the storage unit, the tuning frequency extracted by the extracting unit.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is achieved through provision of a storage method for storing and processing information and for performing information transmission and reception with an external unit. The storage method includes the steps of storing tuning-frequency data, extracting a tuning frequency from a received signal, and adjusting, based on the tuning-frequency data stored in the storing step, the tuning frequency extracted in the extracting step.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is achieved through provision of a provision medium for providing a program to a storage device for storing and processing information and for performing information transmission and reception with an external unit. The program causes the storage device to execute a process including the steps of storing tuning-frequency data, extracting a tuning frequency from the received signal, and adjusting, based on the tuning-frequency data stored in the storing step, the tuning frequency extracted in the extracting step.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is achieved through provision of an information processing apparatus for accessing a non-contact storage method. The information processing method includes the steps of extracting a tuning frequency from a received signal, adjusting the tuning frequency extracted in the extracting step, and storing data read from the non-contact storage device.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is achieved through provision of a provision medium for providing a program to an information processing apparatus for accessing a non-contact storage device. The program causes the information processing apparatus to execute a process including the steps of extracting a tuning frequency from a received signal, adjusting the tuning frequency extracted in the extracting step, and storing data read from the non-contact storage device.
According to the present invention, a tuning frequency is adjusted based on a stored tuning frequency, whereby performance can be prevented from deteriorating.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5113184 (1992-05-01), Katayama
patent: 5374930 (1994-12-01), Schuermann
patent: 5446447 (1995-08-01), Carney et al.
patent: 5640164 (1997-06-01), Gunnarsson
patent: 6417978 (2002-07-01), Enomoto
Hamamoto Kenji
Nakajima Yasuhisa
Crosland Donnie L.
Frommer William S.
Frommer & Lawrence & Haug LLP
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