Dual-mode data carrier and circuit for such a data carrier with improved mode change-over
AssigneeU.S. Philips Corporation
InventorsPeter Thüringer, Wolfgang Eber, Dominik J. Berger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A data carrier (1) which can be operated in a contact-bound mode and in a contactless mode and a circuit (1A) for such a data carrier (1) has a.c. detection means (69) for detecting the presence of a useful HF signal (HF) received via a transmission coil (31) and clock signal detection means (73) for detecting a clock signal (CLK1) received via a transmission contact (16), and has logic means (82) which cooperate with the a.c. detection means (69) and the clock signal detection means (73) and which enable the activation of the contact-bound mode (CONTACT) and the activation of the contactless mode (CONTACTLESS) to be initiated.
Claims13
A data carrier operable in a contact-bound mode and in a contactless mode and which includes the means specified hereinafter, namely
- transmission contacts which are mechanically accessible from outside the data carrier and of which a first a transmission contact serves to receive a clock signal in the contact-bound mode of the data carrier, and at least one transmission coil which is inductively accessible from outside the data carrier and which serves to receive a useful HF signal in the contactless mode of the data carrier, and
- a circuit which includes an a.c. detector connected to detect the presence of a received useful HF signal, by which the a.c. detector enables the supply of contactless activation information upon the detection of the presence of such a useful HF signal in a detection process, which activation information enables the contactless mode to be activated,
- the circuit including clock signal detector connected to a first contact terminal of the circuit, which contact terminal is connected to the first transmission contact, which clock signal detector is connected to detect the presence of a received clock signal and, upon the detection of the presence of such a clock signal in a detection process, enables the supply of contact-bound activation information to indicate activation of the contact-bound,
- and the circuit including logic means arranged to receive the contactless activation information and the contact-bound activation information and constructed so as to supply contactless mode-setting information associated with said contactless activation information when solely the contactless activation information occurs and to supply contact-bound mode-setting information associated with said contact-bound activation information when solely the contact bound activation information occurs and to give one of the two types of activation information priority over the other one of these two types of activation information when these two types of activation information occur simultaneously and accordingly, to supply the mode-setting information associated with the activation information having priority, the contact-bound mode-setting information enabling the contact-bound mode and the contactless mode-setting information enabling the contactless mode of the data carrier to be set.
A circuit for a data carrier operable in a contact-bound mode and in a contactless mode comprising, contact terminals connected to transmission contacts which are mechanically accessible from outside a data carrier and of which a first contact terminal serves to receive a clock signal in the contact-bound mode of the circuit, and two coil terminals connected to a transmission coil which is inductively accessible from outside a data carrier and for receiving a useful HF signal in the contactless mode of the circuit, and a.c. detection means constructed to detect the presence of a received useful HF signal, by which a.c. detection means initiates the supply of contactless activation information upon the detection of the presence of such a useful HF signal in a detection process, which information enables the contactless mode to be activated, the circuit in addition including clock signal detection means connected to a first contact terminal of the circuit, which contact terminal is connected to a first transmission contact of a data carrier, which clock signal detection means are constructed to detect the presence of a received clock signal and upon the detection of the presence of such a clock signal in a detection process enable the supply of contact-bound activation information to be initiated to indicate activation of the contact-bound mode, and the circuit includes logic means arranged to receive the contactless activation information and the contact-bound activation information and constructed so as to supply contactless mode-setting information associated with said contactless activation information when solely the contactless activation information occurs and to supply contact-bound mode-setting information associated with said contact-bound activation information when solely the contact-bound activation information occurs and to give one of the two types of activation information priority over the other one of these two types of activation information when these two types of activation information occur simultaneously and, accordingly, to supply the mode-setting information associated with the activation information having priority, the contact-bound mode-setting information enabling the contact-bound mode and the contactless mode-setting information enabling the contactless mode of the circuit to be set.
A method of operation of a data carrier which can be operated in a contact-bound mode and in a contactless mode, comprising the steps of:
- detecting if the presence of an HF signal providing a useful communications channel is present using an AC signal detector and generating contactless activation information if such HF signal is present;
- detecting if the presence of a useful signal is present at least one contact of the data carrier by detecting the presence of a clock signal on the at least one contact and generating contact-bound activation information if such HF signal is present;
- and
- enabling contactless communication when solely the contactless activation information is present, enabling contact-bound communication when solely contact-bound information is present and enabling either contactless communication or contact-bound communication depending on a priority setting when both contactless activation information and contact-bound information are present.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.