Method and device for managing information exchange between a main element, for example a nfc controller, and a set of at least two auxiliary elements
AssigneesSTMicroelectronics (Rousset) SAS, STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsThierry Meziache, Pierre Rizzo, Alexandre Charles, Juergen Boehler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device, including a main element and a set of at least two auxiliary elements, said main element including a master SWP interface, each auxiliary element including a slave SWP interface connected to said master SWP interface of said NFC element through a controllably switchable SWP link and management means configured to control said SWP link switching for selectively activating at once only one slave SWP interface on said SWP link.
Claims20
A method for operating a near field communication (NFC) controller in a circuit, the method comprising:
- receiving, by the NFC controller, a low-power mode indicator from a main processor, the low-power mode indicator designating an operation of the circuit in a low-power operating mode;
- transmitting, by the NFC controller, the low-power mode indicator to a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) of the circuit, wherein transmitting the low-power mode indicator causes an auxiliary processor of the UICC to retrieve a configuration indicator from an auxiliary memory of the UICC;
- and
- communicating, by the NFC controller, in the low-power operating mode with the UICC, wherein the UICC is powered by the NFC controller in the low-power operating mode.
A method for operating a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) in a device, the method comprising:
- receiving, by the UICC, a low-power mode indicator from a near field communication (NFC) controller of the device, the low-power mode indicator designating an operation of the device in a low-power operating mode;
- retrieving a configuration indicator from an auxiliary memory of the UICC in response to receiving the low-power mode indicator, the configuration indicator corresponding to a low-power operating mode of the device;
- and
- communicating, by the UICC, in the low-power operating mode with the NFC controller, wherein the UICC is powered by the NFC controller in the low-power operating mode.
A method for operating a near field communication (NFC) controller, the method comprising:
- exchanging, using a single wire protocol (SWP) port, information with a first secure element or a second secure element external to the NFC controller via an SWP communications link;
- modulating, by a control circuit of the NFC controller, communication of the NFC controller with one of the first secure element or the second secure element via the SWP communications link;
- providing, by a control port coupled to the control circuit, a control signal indicative of whether the NFC controller is to communicate with the first secure element or the second secure element via the SWP communications link;
- electrically coupling, using a switch arranged along an electrical path between the SWP port and each of the first secure element and the second secure element, the SWP port to one of the first secure element or the second secure element based on the control signal;
- and
- concurrently electrically decoupling, using the switch, the SWP port from the other of the first secure element or the second secure element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.