RFID token with multiple interface controller

• US 20060208066A1
• Filed: 02/15/2006
• Published: 09/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DPD Patent Trust Limited
• Original Assignee: DPD Patent Trust Limited
• Inventors: Finn, David, Ryan, Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 7,762,470 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07732 the record carrier having a housing or construction similar to well-known portable memory devices, such as SD cards, USB or memory sticks housings for electrical equipment in general, see H05K5/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07733 the record carrier containing at least one further contact interface not conform ISO-7816
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07769 the further communication means being a galvanic interface, e.g. hybrid or mixed smart cards having a contact and a non-contact interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0004 Hybrid readers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/321 using wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/353 Payments by cards read by M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0873 Details of the card reader
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/372 Programme
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/63 for services of sales data processing systems or methods specially adapted for electronic commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/74 using programme related information, e.g. title, composer or interpreter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

An RFID token apparatus has a connection module for interfacing with an appliance capable of communicating and interacting with remote servers and networks, a translation module for moving signals between a USB interface and a smart card interface, a processor module which may be capable of operating as a dual-interface (DI) chip; and an input/output module having at least one RF antenna and a modulator. An RFID-contactless interface according to ISO 14443 & ISO 15693 and/or NFC. A wireless interface according to Zigbee, Bluetooth, WLAN 802.11, UWB, USB wireless and/or any similar interface. An RFID reader apparatus has a housing; a slot for a contact or contactless fob; and a USB stick alternately protruding from the housing and retracted within the housing.

Claims

1. A compact personal RFID token apparatus, comprising:

a connection module;

a translation module;

a processor module; and

an input/output module.

2. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the connection module is for interfacing the device with an appliance capable of communicating and interacting with remote servers and networks.

3. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the translation module can move signals between a USB interface and a smart card interface.

4. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 3, wherein:

the smart card interface is selected from the group consisting of ISO 7816 (Contact Interface), ISO 14443 &

ISO 15693 and NFC (Contactless Interface).

5. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 3, wherein:

the translation module is incorporated in the processor module and can move signals between a USB interface and a smart card interface.

6. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 3, wherein:

the translation module is incorporated in the processor module and can move signals &

data directly from USB to Contactless without being limited by smart card software architecture limitations.

7. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the processor module is for controlling operation of the compact personal RFID token apparatus and is capable of operating as a dual-interface (DI) chip.

8. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the input/output module comprises at least one RF antenna and a modulator.

9. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

flash memory.

10. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

the processor module comprises a dual interface (contact &

contactless) chip; and

the translation module moves data or signals from a USB interface to the contact interface (smart card protocol) of the processor module with storage of data in the flash memory or in an EEPROM of the processor module.

11. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a triple interface processor including contact (e.g. compliant SIM module (ISO

     7816) for insertion into the apparatus), contactless and USB (connection module).

12. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

means for transferring messages &

data from the contactless to the wireless interface in active mode and to run contactless to wireless applications.

13. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the personal RFID token apparatus is configured for interfacing with the Internet and emulating a smart card.

14. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a standard-compliant contactless interface and a wireless interface;

wherein the contactless interface complies to one or more of the following standard interfaces;

RFID-contactless interface according to ISO 14443 &

ISO 15693 and NFC; and

wherein the wireless interface comprises at least one of the interfaces selected from the group consisting of Zigbee, Bluetooth, WLAN 802.11, UWB, USB wireless and any similar interface.

15. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the connection, translation and processor modules enable the download of content or value data from the virtual world of the Internet to the internal memory of the apparatus and the use of the content or value data in the real world via it'"'"'s contactless RFID interface (output module) operating in a passive mode.

16. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

the data stored in the personal token apparatus via the standard contact based interface (connection module) is used for personal identification, secure network logon, access control, e-ticketing, e-payment and similar applications using either the standard compliant interface or the RFID-compliant interface.

17. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

data received through the RFID-interface can be stored in the memory of the personal RFID token apparatus and can then be provided to the host processing device via the standard interface, thus allowing a complete information exchange between the virtual world and the real world.

18. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the apparatus has an interface with an Internet-capable appliance; and

the interface with the Internet-capable appliance is selected from the group consisting of Zigbee, NFC, Bluetooth, WLAN, UWB and wireless USB or optically via Infrared.

19. A compact personal RFID token apparatus comprising:

a standard-compliant connection based interface, the connection based interface complying to at least one standard interface selected from the group consisting of USB, IEEE 1394, PCMCIA, Compact Flash, Multi Media, Memory Stick, Smart Media, Secure Digital, mini SD, IBM Micro Drive, and any similar standard interface.

20. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 19, wherein:

the connection module is for interfacing the personal token apparatus with an Internet-capable appliance, and further comprising;

an input module for connecting to the Internet; and

firewall functionality incorporated into the personal token apparatus for protecting the Internet-capable appliance.

21. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

interfaces for USB connection (front input module), ISO contact (insertable SIM module), contactless, wireless and DSL connection (rear input module).

22. The compact personal RFID token apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

additional memory selected from the group consisting of flash memory and EEPROM device powered and addressed by the processor module;

wherein the additional memory can be used for user authentication and to run applications.

23. A compact personal RFID reader apparatus comprising:

a housing;

a slot for a contact or contactless fob; and

a USB stick alternately protruding from the housing and retracted within the housing.

24. The compact personal RFID reader apparatus of claim 23 wherein:

the USB stick comprises an antenna and the housing is metallized so that when the USB stick is retracted within the housing the antenna is shielded by the metallized housing.

25. The compact personal RFID reader apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

the apparatus can emulate Multiple ISO Standard Protocols (Mifare, ISO 14443, ISO 15693, NFC, etc) by storing the communication protocols and the modulation type of each transponder type in NAND Flash memory or in any other non-erasable memory form.

26. The compact personal RFID reader apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

a slot(s) or hatch(s) to accommodate the insertion of a contact or contactless fob, transponders in various formats, SIM module, removable SD, mini SD, MMC, RS-MMC, Intelligent Stick, Memory Stick or Compact Flash card.

27. The compact personal RFID reader apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

a standard-compliant wireless &

optical interface;

wherein the wireless interface comprises at least one of the interfaces selected from the group consisting of Zigbee, Bluetooth, WLAN 802.11, UWB, USB wireless and any similar interface as well as an optical interface such as infrared.

28. The compact personal RFID reader apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

the apparatus generates a digital receipt in the memory of the token after every contactless or wireless transaction.

29. A RFID token apparatus comprising:

two or more internal USB devices; and

a USB hub controller integrated into the apparatus for facilitating communication (enabling transmission of data) between the internal USB devices and a host computer into which the USB apparatus is plugged.

30. The RFID token apparatus of claim 29, wherein:

the internal USB devices are selected from the group consisting of USB (NAND) flash memory device, USB hard disk drive (HDD), USB devices with RFID that can adopt the smart card protocol, USB smart card devices and USB wireless devices.

31. The RFID token apparatus of claim 29, further comprising:

a micro-controller for the purpose of accelerating an encryption/decryption process.

32. The RFID token apparatus of claim 29, wherein:

the apparatus has a Flash memory drive, WLAN &

RF ID interfaces with parameters configured for in-flight computing and the MAC address of the contactless/wireless USB apparatus can be encrypted with debit—

credit card details

33. The RFID token apparatus of claim 29, wherein:

the apparatus can generate a One Time Password when in an electromagnetic field or in a wireless hotspot.

34. The RFID token apparatus of claim 29, wherein:

the apparatus uses a single chip multiple interface microcontroller with memory management capability, which communicates directly with a combination of block devices selected from the group consisting of non-volatile flash memory chip, hard disk drive, smart card device, RFID device with smart card protocol and wireless device.

35. An external, multiple interface RFID token with an integrated gatekeeper hub, comprising:

two or more internal USB devices; and

a USB hub controller integrated into the apparatus for facilitating communication (enabling transmission of data) between the internal USB devices and a host computer into which the USB apparatus is plugged;

wherein the internal USB devices are selected from the group consisting of USB (NAND) flash memory device, USB hard disk drive (HDD), USB devices with RFID that can adopt the smart card protocol, USB smart card devices and USB wireless device.

36. The external, multiple interface RFID token of claim 35, wherein:

hub management software for the various USB devices resides in EEPROM, the flash memory or in the hard disk drive.