Read/write method by a non-contact system and between a storage substrate and read/write unit

A system for transferring data between a read/write unit (R/W) and a storage substrate, which comprises:

• an IC card composing said storage substrate formed of an insulating material and having four coils therein positioned to be coupled electromagnetically with coils in the R/W unit and electronic circuits embedded therein, said coils comprising a first coil, a second coil, a third coil and a fourth coil, and said electronic circuits comprising a rectifier circuit, a serial/parallel (S/P) convertor, a parallel/serial (P/S) convertor, and input/output (I/O) conversion circuit, a memory, a timing circuit, a mode switching circuit and a chopper circuit;
• said IC card first coil being arranged to couple with a first coil of the R/W unit to receive alternating current power from the R/W unit in order to drive the IC card electronic circuits except for the rectifier;
• said IC card second coil being arranged to couple with a second coil of the R/W unit to serially output data stored in the IC card memory to the R/W unit;
• said IC card third coil being arranged to couple with a third coil of the R/W unit to receive serial data from the R/W unit to be stored in the IC card memory;
• said IC card fourth coil being arranged to couple with a fourth coil of the R/W unit to receive mode commands from the R/W unit in order to sequentially switch operations of the I/C card;
• said rectifier circuit being connected to rectify power from the IC card first coil and to supply rectified power to the other electronic circuits of the IC card;
• serial data received at the IC card third coil from the R/W unit being converted to parallel form by the S/P convertor and written in the IC card memory, via the I/O conversion circuit;
• data written in the IC card memory being converted under control of the I/O conversion circuit and chopper circuit to serial data by the P/S convertor and output to the R/W second coil by the IC card second coil;
• said mode commands received at the IC card fourth coil being sent to the IC card memory by the mode switching circuit to set timings for write-in memory and read-out memory of the data;
• said timing circuit being connected to receive clock signals from the rectifier and convert them to shift clock signals which are supplied to the IC card S/P convertor, P/S convertor and mode switching circuit, and also supplied to select addresses in the IC card memory for the data to be written-in and read-out;
• the read/write unit (R/W) being connected to a computer and comprising a card holder for insertion of said IC card, and also comprising said R/W first coil, R/W second coil, R/W third coil and R/W fourth coil which are respectively positioned to be magnetically connected to said IC coils upon insertion of the IC card, and further comprising electronic circuits;
• said electronic circuits of the R/W unit comprising an oscillator, a coil driving circuit, a timing circuit, a memory, and input/output (I/O) conversion circuit, a parallel/serial (P/S) convertor, a serial/parallel (S/P) convertor, an interface and a mode switching circuit;
• said oscillator being caused to oscillate by application of DC power supplied from said computer outside the R/W unit, said oscillation being amplified by the coil driving circuit and coupled to the R/W first coil;
• said interface being connected to send data read-out signals to the R/W memory and to send mode commands to the mode switching circuits;
• said R/W memory upon read-out sending parallel data stored therein to the P/S convertor via the I/O convertor, serially converted data from the P/S convertor being applied to the R/W third coil;
• said serial data received by the R/W second coil from the I/C second coil being converted to parallel data by the R/W S/P convertor and written into the R/W memory via the I/O convertor;
• said R/W timing circuit receiving clock signals from the oscillator in the form of interruptions of the oscillator signal and converting them to shift clock signals, which are supplied to the P/S convertor, S/P convertor and mode switching circuit in the R/W unit;
• said R/W mode switching circuit, in response to the shift clock signals, converting mode commands and sending them to the R/W fourth coil;
• and
• said R/W timing circuit selecting addresses in the R/W memory for the data to be read out of and written into.