Recording medium control method, data management apparatus, and recording medium

• US 20020139860A1
• Filed: 05/24/2002
• Published: 10/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Ono, Akiko, Nishimura, Hisayuki
• Granted Patent: US 6,722,572 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/487
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/10 at least one kind of marking being used for authentication, e.g. of credit or identity cards verification of coded identity or credit cards in mechanisms actuated by them G07F7/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0034 the connector being capable of simultaneously receiving a plurality of cards in the same insertion slot
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/229 Hierarchy of users of accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4097 using mutual authentication between devices and transaction partners
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system

Abstract

The present invention has an object of providing a recording medium control method, a data management apparatus, and a recording medium for managing data by duplicating the data in each of a plurality of recording media. Two IC cards are loaded into a data management apparatus. In duplicating data in the two loaded IC cards, the two IC cards store their card characteristic numbers for self-identification and the card characteristic number of each other'"'"'s pair IC card. If the card characteristic number of the pair IC card stored in one IC card matches the card characteristic number of the other IC card, the two IC cards are controllable.

Claims

1. A recording medium control method for controlling access to a plurality of recording media each storing duplicated data, wherein:

each of the recording media stores identification information for identifying which of the recording media stores the duplicated data;

it is determined whether the data of the recording media are consistent with each other based on the identification information;

the access to the recording media is enabled if it is determined that the data of the recording media are consistent with each other; and

the access to the recording media is inhibited if it is determined that the data of the recording media are inconsistent with each other.

2. The recording medium control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the recording media stores, as the identification information, first identification information for self-identification and second identification information for identifying another of the recording media;

and

it is determined that there is data consistency between one of the recording media and the rest of the recording media if the first identification information of the one of the recording media exists as the second identification information in the rest of the recording media.

3. The recording medium control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the recording media stores third identification information for identifying an apparatus in which the recording media are loaded;

and

the apparatus is enabled to control the recording media when the third identification information matches identification information of the apparatus.

4. A data management apparatus loaded with a plurality of recording media each storing duplicated data and controlling access to the loaded recording media, the data management apparatus comprising:

an access control part determining whether the duplicated data of the recording media are consistent with each other and controlling the access to the recording media based on a result of the determination,

wherein;

each of the recording media stores identification information for identifying which of the recording media stores the duplicated data;

said access control part makes the determination based on the identification information; and

said access control part enables the access to the recording media if said access control part determines that the data of the recording media are consistent with each other and inhibits the access to the recording media if said access control part determines that the data of the recording media are inconsistent with each other.

5. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the recording media stores, as the identification information, first identification information for self-identification and second identification information for identifying another of the recording media;

and

said access control part determines that there is data consistency between one of the recording media and the rest of the recording media if the first identification information of the one of the recording media exists as the second identification information in the rest of the recording media.

6. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of the recording media stores third identification information for identifying the data management apparatus in which the recording media are loaded;

and

said access control part enables the data management apparatus to control the recording media when the third identification information matches identification information of the data management apparatus.

7. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the recording media stores version information updated every time the data thereof is updated;

and

said access control part records the data of a first one of the recording media on a second one of the recording media so as to set the first and second recording media controllable if the version information of the first and second information media are different from each other, the version information of the first recording medium being updated more times than that of the second recording medium.

8. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a version number update part updating the version information of each of the recording media when the recording media are removed from the data management apparatus in which the recording media are loaded.

9. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the recording media stores determination information for determining whether the recording medium is independently controllable;

and

said access control part recognizes the determination information of each of the recording media if said access control part determines that there is no data consistency between the recording media, and sets one of the recording media controllable if the determination information of the one of the recording media shows that the one of the recording media is independently controllable.

10. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the recording media stores determination information for determining whether the recording medium is in use;

and

said access control part inhibits the access to the recording media if the determination information shows that at least one of the recording media is in use, and sets the recording media usable if the determination information shows that all of the recording media are unused.

11. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the recording media stores determination information for determining whether the data recorded on the recording medium is valid or invalid;

and

said access control part inhibits the access to the recording media if the determination information of one of the recording media shows that the data recorded thereon is invalid.

12. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the recording media has the data stored divided into a plurality of data blocks, and stores data identification information for identifying divided pieces of the data with corresponding data block identification information for identifying the data blocks storing the divided pieces of the data;

and

said access control part recognizes the data block identification information based on the data identification information and makes accessible one of the data blocks which one stores a required one of the divided pieces of the data based on the data block identification information.

13. The data management apparatus as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

a monitoring part monitoring an abnormality in each of the recording media storing abnormal information indicating whether another of the recording media has the abnormality; and

an information recording part recording information indicating occurrence of the abnormality in one of the recording media on the rest of the recording media as the abnormal information if the abnormality in the one of the recording media is detected.

14. A recording medium for recording data, comprising:

a plurality of data blocks for recording the data,

the data blocks each comprising;

a data recording part recording a number of times the data is updated as number management information; and

a recording control part moving the data stored in the data block to a next available one of the data blocks if the number management information reaches a preset given number of times.