Method and apparatus for protocol selection on ICC

• US 20070210174A1
• Filed: 11/09/2006
• Published: 09/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Deprun, Jean-Francois, Jolivet, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,922,091 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07 with integrated circuit chips
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07733 the record carrier containing at least one further contact interface not conform ISO-7816
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10297 arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00

Abstract

The present invention provides a solution for supporting both the MMC and USB protocol modes to provide enhanced services and applications in a UICC. The UICC, methods and the terminal for dynamically selecting a protocol on the UICC card are disclosed. The invention provides that at least MMC and USB can be operated in the UICC without multiplexing or implementing a heavy procedure in the terminal. With the present invention, the UICC can be used in any host implementing either USB or MMC without having to add any new negotiation phase.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit (IC) card configured to communicate with a mobile terminal having a processor, comprising:

a plurality of electrical contacts;

a memory to store information, the memory being allowed to communicate with the processor via the plurality of electrical contacts,

wherein at least one set of electrical contacts are allowed to be allocated by the processor to support an operation in at least one protocol mode depending on a presence of a high speed protocol mode detected by the processor,

wherein the processor detects the presence of the certain protocol mode by detecting a voltage class when the IC card is powered on, and

wherein the IC card automatically switches from a first high speed protocol to a second high speed protocol depending on the voltage class detected when the IC card is powered on.

2. The IC card of claim 1, wherein the high speed protocol mode comprises a MultiMedia Card (MMC), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and Universal InterChip (USB_IC).

3. The IC card of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to identify the presence of the high speed protocol mode by detecting a type of an IC card reader and initiate a session on a chosen protocol mode.

4. The IC card of claim 2, wherein at least one set of electrical contacts is allocated in accordance with an International Standard Organization (ISO) 7816 protocol and at least one contact is allocated for the USB protocol if 5V is detected.

5. The IC card of claim 3, wherein at least one electrical contact is allocated for the MMC protocol if 3V or lower is detected.

6. The IC card of claim 3, wherein the at least one electrical contact is allocated for the USB_IC if 1.8V or lower is detected.

7. The IC card of claim 5, wherein the plurality of electrical contacts comprise eight electrical contacts including C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, and C8 contacts in accordance with an International Standard Organization (ISO) 7816 protocol, and C4/C6/C8 contacts are allocated for implementing the MMC protocol.

8. The IC card of claim 4, wherein the plurality of electrical contacts comprise eight electrical contacts including C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, and C8 contacts in accordance with an International Standard Organization (ISO) 7816 protocol, and C4/C8 contacts are allocated for implementing the USB protocol.

9. The IC card of claim 1, wherein the IC card is configured to be compatible with at least one of the group comprising a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) function, a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) function, and IP based MultiMedia Subsystem SIM (ISIM or IMS SIM) function.

10. The IC card of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to implement procedures that are compatible with at least one of group comprising a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) function, a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) function, and IP based MultiMedia Subsystem SIM (ISIM or IMS SIM) function.

11. The IC card of claim 2, wherein the IC card is in a slave mode and accessed by a computer to read/write data and execute operations when the IC card is inserted in the computer, and wherein at opening session, the computer supplies 5V current that is detected by the IC card which proceeds with the operation in USB mode.

12. The IC card of claim 2, wherein the IC card is accessed by a camera designed with a corresponding high speed protocol format reader when the IC card is inserted in the camera, and wherein the camera supplies 3V current that is detected by the IC card which automatically switches to the MMC protocol to store data of the camera.

13. The IC card of claim 2, wherein the IC card is located at a mobile communications terminal, and wherein the mobile terminal supplies 3V current that is detected by the IC card which automatically switches to the MMC protocol for mass storage.

14. The IC card of claim 2, wherein the IC card is located at a mobile communications terminal, and wherein the mobile terminal supplies 5V current that is detected by the IC card which automatically switches to the USB protocol for connectivity service with an external device.

15. The IC card of claim 14, wherein the mobile terminal is configured to support the operation in the high speed protocol mode and a contactless protocol mode simultaneously.

16. The IC card of claim 15, wherein the plurality of contacts comprise eight electrical contacts including C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, and C8 contacts in accordance with an International Standard Organization (ISO) 7816 protocol, and C4/C8 contacts are allocated by the processor for implementing the USB protocol and C6 contact is allocated by the processor for implementing the contactless communication protocol.

17. A method of dynamically selecting protocol on an IC card arranged in a mobile terminal having a processor, comprising:

connecting the IC card to the mobile terminal;

detecting a type of a high speed protocol mode of the IC card by detecting a voltage class supplied to the IC card when a power is supplied to at least one of the mobile terminal and the IC card;

allocating at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the IC card according to the detected type of the high speed protocol mode; and

operating in the detected type of the high speed protocol mode.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

automatically switching from a first high speed protocol mode to a second high speed protocol mode depending on the voltage class detected when the IC card is powered on.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the high speed protocol mode comprises a MultiMedia Card (MMC), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and Universal InterChip (USB_IC).

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

allocating at least one electrical contact for the USB protocol if 5V is detected;

allocating at least one electrical contact for the MMC protocol if 3V or lower is detected; and

allocating at least one electrical contact for the USB_IC if 1.8V or lower is detected.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining whether 5V current is supplied to the IC card;

allocating the at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the IC card according to the USB protocol mode and operating in the USB protocol mode if the 5V current is supplied.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

if the less than 5 V current is supplied to the IC card, detecting information regarding the high speed protocol mode included in an Answer To Reset (ATR), which is stored in the IC card, in accordance with an International Standard Organization (ISO) 7816 protocol at an initial phase of session opening of the mobile terminal;

if the MMC protocol mode is detected, allocating the at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the IC card according to the MMC protocol mode and operating in the MMC protocol mode; and

if the USB_IC protocol mode is detected, allocating the at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the IC card according to the USB_IC protocol mode and operating in the USB_IC protocol mode.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

if the less than 5 V current is supplied to the IC card, detecting a list of enabled protocol modes in a Service Table, which is stored in the IC card, in accordance with ETSI SCP TS 102 221 in the IC card, the list comprising information regarding the high speed protocol mode at power on of the mobile terminal;

if the MMC protocol mode is detected, allocating the at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the IC card according to the MMC protocol mode and operating in the MMC protocol mode; and

if the USB_IC protocol mode is detected, allocating the at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the IC card according to the USB_IC protocol mode and operating in the USB_IC protocol mode.

24. A mobile communications terminal comprising:

a physical interface allowed to be engaged with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM);

a memory to store information;

an allocating module allocating at least one set of the plurality of electrical contacts of the SIM; and

a processor cooperating with the physical interface, the memory and the allocating module to perform,

detecting a type of a protocol mode of the SIM by detecting a voltage class supplied to the SIM when a power is supplied to the mobile terminal;

allocating at least one set of a plurality of electrical contacts of the SIM according to the detecting; and

operating in the detected type of the protocol mode.

25. The terminal of claim 24, wherein the protocol mode comprises at least one of a high speed protocol mode and a contactless protocol mode, and the processor is configured to implement procedures that are compatible with at least one of the group comprising a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) function, a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) function, and IP based Multimedia Subsystem SIM (ISIM or IMS SIM) function.

26. The terminal of claim 25, wherein the at least one set of electrical contacts allocated for ISO 7816 protocol is disabled when the high speed protocol mode is present and used, and wherein the at least one set of electrical contacts allocated for the ISO 7816 protocol is reallocated for the contactless protocol mode.