WO1987002806A1

WO1987002806A1 - Portable data storing element and data registering and reading device

Info

Publication number: WO1987002806A1
Application number: PCT/BR1986/000021
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dalson Artacho
Original assignee: Dalson Artacho
Priority date: 1985-11-04
Filing date: 1986-11-03
Publication date: 1987-05-07
Also published as: PT83681B; PT83681A; BR8505681A

Abstract

An element of credit and/or access constituted of a substratum having the shape of a card (10) in which is embedded an integrated circuit chip (11) interconnected by pairs of stripes of electrically conductive material (12) (12') to inductive coupling terminals (14) through which the transmission of data from the card to an electronic terminal equipment is effected by electromagnetic induction. The invention is also related to a data registering/reading device incorporating a number of electromagnetic inducing elements (27), equal to the number of inductive coupling terminals (14) of the card element in use, said inducing elements being arranged in such a configuration that when the card (10) is introduced in the referred electronic terminal (26) each inductive coupling terminal (14) is positioned in a corresponding air gap (25) of the inducing elements, permitting that the registering/reading device induces a current in the inductive coupling terminal, when transmission of data is to be made.

Description

PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT AND DATA REGISTERING AND READING DEVICE.

In principle this invention is related to an element for crediting and/or access to electronic terminal equipment which capacity for storing credit and/or access codes is not limited by its physical dimensions. More specifically this invention is related to an element for crediting and/or acess to electronic terminal equipment, said element constisting of a card type substratum having embeded in it and integrated circuit chip, the transferring of data between this card and the electronic terminal equipment being effected by electromagnetic induction. The invention covers also a data registering and reading device intended to transferr data between the above mentioned card and electronic terminal equipment said transferrence not needing physical contact or any displacement, being effected by electromagnetic induction.

It is common knowledge that the use of cards as element of credit and/or access is being continually extensed, these cards generally containing a fixed code to identify its owner and/or the authorized access and the elements of credit themselves subject to alteration by the machine effecting the reading and charging of the authorized credit, as it happens, for example, with cards to pay the fare for multiple trips in subways, which cards contain a code to identify the authorized type of service, in this case a multiple number of trips, and a plurallity of credits, which are cancelled every time the card is inserted in the imput terminal equipment.

Among the cards presently known, the magnetic card due its simplicity and easy of reading/registering, are the more widelly used, not excluding however,the use of other types, such as optical or holographic reading cards, or even a combination of these types.

The magnetic card, in spite of its easy of registering and reading, has as an inconveniente the fact that the imput equipment must be provided with means to displace said cards or the registering/reading head, to register/read data in the cards, as it happens with a magnetic sound recording tape, requiring the use of displacement mechanisms having mayable parts, usually subject to wear and malfunctioning and requiring frequent maintenance. Besides, such magnetic cards present also the additional inconvenience that the data recorded in them are highelly vulnerable to the action of magnetic fields emanating from permanent magnets, electric motors and transformers, etc. Another inconvenience presented by magnetic cards, when used as credit elements, is the fact that the credit processing substratum is not destroyed after accounting butoonly altered, so that the cards may be repeatedly recorded and evenlually reused dishonestly. In relation to optical reading cards, in which coding as well as crediting is registered by means of mechanical perforation, due to their simplicity, they may be easily altered, through obstruction of the existing perforations or else the opening of new ones, their use, as of consequence,not being dependable as element of credit, besides requiring, to register as well as to read, mechanical equipment of high complexity and poor reliability requiring expensive maintenance.

In the hollographic cards in comparison, coding and credit charging are registered as differential reliefs in a stripe, the reading being performad by the identification of the angular differences of a reflected laser beam aimed at the stripe, and the credit charging by erasure of the relief with heat or pressure. So that the laser beam may sweep the stripe lenght the beam or the card must be displaced, requiring a system of high complexity and expert maintenance.

The Brasilian Patent N9 7804885 teaches us how the inconveniences described above may be easily avoided through the use of a card containing a plurallity of electronic cells, each one corresponding to a unit of credit which reading and charging is effected by electromagnetic induction and, in accordance with the principles of the invention described in the patent, mentioned above, the credit cells are cancelled after being processed, thus avoiding their restoration, and also permitting the user to identify by visual inspection the number of credits will available.

Such cards, however, in spite of their advantages in comparison with the other types described, due to the size of each credit cell (about 4 sq. mm.), make their use impossible when a large number of codes or elements of credit is involved. Taking into consideration the evidences above outlined, the objective of this invention is to provide an element of credit and/or access which codes storing capacity is not limited by its physical dimensions. It is also the objective of the present invention to provide an element of credit and/or access permitting changes in the number of codes registered without changing the dimensions of the element.

Another objetive of this invention is to provide a registerring/reading devide able to transfer data between the card and the electronic terminal equipment without physical contact.

In accordance with the principles of the present,invention its proposed objectives are achieved through the provision of a card type substratum having embeded in it an integrated circuit chip, connected to a pluralIity of inductive coupling terminals interconnected, by means of stripes of electrically conductive material, said terminals having a shape essencially annular, each inductive coupling terminel being connected to a pair of conductive stripes and laid in the card surface, the transferring of data between the electronic terminal equipment and the mentioned card being made by electromagnetic induction throug the said annular shaped terminals .

As known the integrated circuits in general are. basically built up as chips of minute dimensions having an area not bigger than 4 sq. milimeters, incorporating a pluralIity of active ' and passive elements, such as transistors, resistors, diodes, etc. laid in an infinity of ways to form a large variety of circuit configurations ofter containing many thousands of elements. Among the types of integrated circuits presently known, those employed as data memories may contain thousands of memory bits and are particularly suitable to make use of the present invention.

In order that a given datum may be registered or read in a given location of an integrated electronic memory this location must be addressed to and a notice given to indicate if the datum is to be registered or read in the given location, being also necessary the provision of a terminal base for the insertion of data in the memory and another terminal base to extract data from said memory. To address memory locations an addressing means known as parallel technic may be employed, in which the code combinations constituting the address are transmitted throug a terminal base having as many conductors as are the number of bits forming the combinations, or else the addressing modality known as series technic may be employed, in which the combinations in the address are transmitted through a terminal base having only one conductor, each combination having its begin and end identified by an additional signal, the use of this technic being, in view of its reduced number of external accesses, very suitable to make use of the present invention.

Although the type of card included in this invention is not limited to a particular kind of integrated circuit chip, the integrated eletronic memories and the micro-processeres ' are particularly suitable to the majority of applications, the type of circuit to be chosen being dependent of the level of intelligence required by the application..

Based in the principles of this invention a registering and reading device is also proposed which permits to detect the presence of a card and to transmit data between said card and an electronic terminal equipment through the application of an induced signal in the inductive coupling terminals contained in the card, each inducting element being formed by two call wound core bars separated by an air gap and located in the electronic terminal equipment in which the card is introduced by the user, in such a position to permit that each inductive coupling terminal is subjected to the action of a correspondent inducting element without physical contact between them. Besides, due to this positioning, the registering/ reading device does not require additional movements for ' introduction or extraction of the card, since these movements are manually executed by the card user, the use of electric motors, movable parts or displacement devices being obviated. The present invention may be better understood from the detailed description which follows and reference to the Figures included in the text, and listed below:

Fig. 1 illustrates, through a perpective view, the card shaped, credit and/or access element in one of the modalities of making practical use of this invention, having one of the cover layers partially lifted to show the internal construction. Fig. 2 illustrates, trough a partially sectioned, perspective view, the credit and/or acces element when inserted in the electronic terminal equipment, showing the construction of the registering/reading device in accordance with one modality of making practical use of this invention, as well as the positioning of the inducting elements in relation to the inductive coupling terminals contained in the referred credit and/or acess element. Fig. 3 illustrates, through a partially fragmented perspective view, the transferring of a signal when a inductive coupling terminal is positioned confronting the inducting element, in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Fig. 4 illustrates, through a partially fragmented perspective view, the transferring of a signal when an inductive coupling terminal is positioned confronting the inducting element in another modality of making pratical use os this invention. Fig. 5 illustrates, through a partially fragmented perspective view, the transferring of a signal when an inductive coupling terminal is positioned confronting the inducing element, in another modality of making practical use of this invention. As it may be inferred from Fig. 1,the presently proposed, credit and/or access element is made up of a card shaped substratum (10) containing an integrated circuit chip (11),from now on abbreviated as IC, embeded in a opening (13) cut in the card bady, and a pluraty of inductive coupling terminals (14) each one having a shape essencially annular, which countour has an opened section to form a pair of extremities (15) (15') connected to a pair of corresponding terminals in the IC through a pair of electrically conductive stripes (12) (12'). This assembly is coated by two layers of adequate protective material (17) in both faces of the said credit and/or access element.

The card thus constructed, when introduced into an electronic terminal equipment having a registering/reading device, such as the one shawn in FIG. 2. will assure that each inductive coupling terminal (14) be positioned in the air gap (25) of the field core (24) (24') which constitutes its correspondent inducting element (14) acting as the secondary of a transformer which primary is the inductive element itself, thus possibilitating the reading as well as the registering of data in the IC, through the induction of a signal of intensity variable with time, usually modulated and applied in each inductive caupling terminal (14) by the inducing elements (27), said variable sign being later restored in the IC through rectification and/or demodulation, to transmit a datum from the electronic terminal equipment to the card element, the registering/reading process modulates a correspondent signal which, through the inducting elements, is induced to the card coupling terminal and subsequently demodulated and reconditioned. In transmitting data from the card to an electronic terminal a variable signal is sent from the terminal, through its ' registering/reading device, and received by the card IC ' termitting that said IC transmits data by varying the inpedance of the terminal being actuated in accordance with the data to be transmitted. This variation of impedance is reflected to the registering/readind device, where it will cause proportional variation in the current of the signal sent and assure the ' interpreting of the data supplied by the card element.

This transmission of data is better visualized in FIG. 3, which shows an inducting element (27) receiving the variable signal (V) fed to the coil (20) to cause a current flow (21) around the cores (24) (24'), giving origin to a magnetic flux (22) which, after crossing the inductive caupling terminal (14) located in the air gap (25), will induce a current (23) in it, said current being conducted by the pair of stripes (12) (12') to the IC (11) where it will be detected and reconditioned in accordance with the IC terminal in which it was applied.

In spite of the specific description here given to the invention, it must be understood that a number of variations and modifications are possible without extrapolating from its principles. As an exemple, with reference to the registering/ reading devices, several changes are possible among which is the elimination of the coil in one of the inducting element cores (27) keeping a coil around only one of them, as shown in FIG. 4, such modification not resulting in any effect ' different from what is described in the principles of the invention, this later configuration being particularly suitable to a card where the inductive coupling terminals are located in its central partion, impossibilitating the extension of the coil (20) to the other core of the referred element.

Another modality of construction is also possible using a "C" shaped core (31), as shown in FIG. 5, replacing the bar shaped core (24) (24') already described.

Concerning the card, it is important to emphasize that in spite of the IC chip having been described as embed d n said card, it may also be laid over the card surface, this ' construction not resulting in any effect different from what was previously described, since the function of registering/ readind date is kept. Concerning the inductive caupling ' terminals their essentially annular shape previouslt described, may be formed of coils with one or more turns with widely ' varying geometry, these variations not resulting in any effect different from what has been previously described, that is, to generate an induced current when crossed by lines of electromagnetic flux.

Claims

1. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT, characterized,by being constituted of a substratum in the form of a card,having embeded in it a least one integrated circuit chip (11) interconnected through pais of electrically conductive stripes (12) (12') to a plurallity of inductive coupling terminals (14), the transmission of electro-magnetic signals from/to the integrated circuit chip (11) being effected by electromagnetic induction generated in the inductive coupling terminals (14) to which the chip is connected.

2. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT, as claimed in 1, characterized by the chip of integrated circuit being an electronic memory.

3. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT, as claimed in 1, characterized by the chip of integrated circuit being a microprocessor with memories.

4. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT, as claimed in 1, characterized by the fact that each inductive coupling terminal

(14) is formed of a coil having at least one turn laving its ends (15) (15') connected to a pair of terminals in the integrated circuit chip by a pair of electrically conductive stripes (12)

(12').

5. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT, as claimed in 1, characterized by having an integrated circuit chip laid over one face of the card chaped element.

6. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT, as claimed in 1, characterized by the that the feed signal to the integrated circuit chip contained in the card element is provided by a carrier current induced in the correspondent inductive coupling terminal, said feed signal being later restored in the integrated circuit chip through retif ication and filtering.

7. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT, as claimed in 1, characterized by the transmission, of data from electronic terminal to the card element being effected by means of signals modulated in the said electronic terminal and transmitted to the card by a carrier current compatible to the response of the inductors involved in said transmission, said carrier being demodulated by adequate circuits contained in the integrated circuit chip to recover transmited data.

8. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT, as claimed in 1, characterized by the transmission of data from the card eleent to the electronic terminal equipment being effected by variation of the impedance in the output terminal of the integrated circuit chip contained in the card, when a carrier current is fed to it, said impedance variation being reflected in the referred electronic terminal equipment to cause variation in the original carrier current, this current variation being responsible for the identification of the data transmitted to the electronic terminal equipment.

9. PORTABLE DATA STORING ELEMENT as claimed in any of the above claims, characterized by the existence of inductive coupling terminals (14) as well by pairs of inductive material stripes (12) (12') laid in a plane parallel to the largest surface of the card in which they are laid.

10. DATA REGISTERING AND READING DEVICE, characterized to contain a number of inducting elements ( 27 ) equal to a corresrponding number of inductive coupling terminals contained in the card element being used, these elements being arranged in such a way that when a card is introduced (10) in the above mentioned device (26), each inductive coupling terminal (14) is positioned in the core air gap (25) of a correspondent inducting element.

11. DATA REGISTERING AND READING DEVICE, as claimed in 10, characterized by each inducting elements (27) having two bar shaped cores (24) (24'), aligned in relation to their longitudinal axis and apart from each other by a distance corresponding to the airgap (25) said bar cores wound by a coil (20) in such a way that a current (21) flows around both cores in one direction only.

12. DATA REGISTERING AND READING DEVICE as claimed in 10, characterized by the coil winding (20) to involve only one of the inducting element cores.

13. DATA REGISTERING AND READING DEVICE as claimed in 10, characterized by each inducting element having "C" shaped cores (31) wound by a coil (20), the opening in said cores acting as and gap serving also to position a card element.