METHOD OF ROUTING INCOMING APPLICATION DATA IN AN NFC CHIPSET, FOR IDENTIFICATION OF THE APPLICATION

• US 20100227553A1
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verimatrix Incorporated (Verimatrix SA)
• Original Assignee: INSIDE Contactless
• Inventors: Charrat, Bruno, Martineau, Philippe
• Granted Patent: US 8,744,347 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.100
• 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 20/3552 Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0886 the card reader being portable for interacting with a POS or ECR in realizing a payment transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/04 including near field communication means, e.g. RFID
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A method for routing incoming or outgoing application data in an NFC system includes an NFC interface circuit performing contactless data sending and receiving. The routing of incoming application data received by the interface circuit includes routing at least a first portion of the incoming application data to a destination point located in the NFC system and designated as arbitration point of incoming application data routing; analyzing by the arbitration point the first portion of the incoming application data to identify the application for which the data is sent to the NFC system; designating by the arbitration point a point of destination of the application data and application processing; and routing a second portion of the incoming application data to the destination and processing point.

Claims

1-26. -26. (canceled)

27. A method for routing incoming or outgoing application data in a Near Field Communication (NFC) system having an NFC interface circuit performing contactless data sending and receiving, characterized in that the routing of incoming application data received by the interface circuit comprises:

conveying at least a first portion of the incoming application data to a destination point located in a host processor of the NFC system and designated as an arbitration point of the routing of incoming application data;

analyzing by the arbitration point the first portion of the incoming application data to identify the application for which the data is sent to the NFC system;

designating by the arbitration point a destination point of the application and application processing data; and

conveying a second portion of the incoming application data to the destination and processing point and conveying outgoing application data sent by the destination and processing point to the NFC interface circuit.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the first portion of the incoming application data is also conveyed to the destination and processing point.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein the analysis of the first portion of the incoming application data by the arbitration point to identify the application includes extraction of an application identifier present in the data.

30. The method according to claim 27, wherein the analysis of the first incoming application data by the arbitration point to identify the application is completed by the analysis of operating parameters of the NFC interface circuit.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the operating parameters include at least one of an operating mode of the interface circuit and a contactless data transmission protocol in which the incoming data is received

32. The method according to claim 27, wherein the routing of the first portion of the incoming application data to the arbitration point, the routing of the second portion of the incoming application data to the destination and processing point, and the routing of the outgoing application data sent by the destination and processing point to the NFC interface circuit are performed by a routing element different from the arbitration point.

33. The method according to claim 27, wherein the destination and processing point is located in a host processor of the NFC system.

34. The method according to claim 27, wherein the arbitration point is located in a secure host processor of the NFC system.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the host processor in which the arbitration point is located is an integrated circuit of a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card.

36. The method according to claim 33, further comprising authenticating the host processor in which the destination and processing point is located, and refusing to convey the second portion of the incoming application data to the destination and processing point if the host processor has not been validly authenticated.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the authenticating of the host processor in which the destination and processing point is located includes checking a certificate presented by the host processor.

38. The method according to claim 27, wherein the arbitration point designates the destination and processing point of the application data by addressing to a routing element a routing command triggering the opening of a bi-directional routing channel between the NFC interface circuit and the destination and processing point.

39. The method according to claim 27, wherein the application data is conveyed within the NFC system through a routing channel defined by a routing channel number and associated routing parameters including at least one identifier of a source point and one identifier of a destination point, and is encapsulated in a frame having a header field including the routing channel number.

40. The method according to claim 39, wherein the interface circuit is configurable according to a predetermined number of operating modes and according to a predetermined number of contactless communication protocols, and the routing parameters associated to the routing channel number include an operating mode parameter and a communication protocol parameter of the interface circuit.

41. The method according to claim 39, wherein a routing channel is managed by a routing table associating the routing parameters with the routing channel number.

42. A Near Field Communication (NFC) system comprising an NFC interface circuit performing contactless data sending and receiving, and an element for routing data within the NFC system,

the routing element being configured to process the routing of incoming application data received via the NFC interface circuit by conveying at least a first portion of the incoming application data to a destination point located in a host processor of the NFC system and designated as arbitration point of the routing of incoming application data,

the arbitration point being configured to analyze the first portion of the incoming application data to identify the application for which the data is sent to the NFC system, and designate to the routing element a point of destination of the application data and of processing of the application, and

the routing element being configured to convey a second portion of the incoming application data to the destination and processing point designated by the arbitration point, and convey outgoing application data sent by the destination and processing point to the NFC interface circuit.

43. The system according to claim 42, wherein the routing element is further configured to convey the first portion of the incoming application data to the destination and processing point designated by the arbitration point.

44. The system according to claim 42, wherein, to identify the application, the arbitration point is configured to extract an application identifier present in the first portion of the incoming application data.

45. The system according to claim 42, wherein, to identify the application, the arbitration point is configured to complete the analysis of the first portion incoming application data by analyzing operating parameters of the NFC interface circuit like the operating mode of the interface circuit or the contactless data transmission protocol in which the incoming data are received.

46. The system according to claim 45, wherein the operating parameters include at least one of an operating mode of the interface circuit and a contactless data transmission protocol in which the incoming data is received.

47. The system according to claim 42, wherein the routing element is different from the arbitration point and is configured to perform routing of the first portion of the incoming application data to the arbitration point, routing of the second portion of the incoming application data to the destination and processing point, and routing of the outgoing application data sent by the destination and processing point to the NFC interface circuit.

48. The system according to claim 42, wherein the destination and processing point is located in a host processor of the system.

49. The system according to claim 42, wherein the arbitration point is located in a secure host processor of the system.

50. The system according to claim 49, wherein the host processor in which the arbitration point is located is an integrated circuit of a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card.

51. The system according to claim 49, configured to authenticate the host processor in which the destination and processing point is located, and to withhold the second portion of the incoming application data from the destination and processing point if the host processor has not been validly authenticated.

52. The system according to claim 51, configured to authenticate the host processor by checking a certificate presented by the host processor.

53. The system according to claim 42, wherein the arbitration point is configured to designate the destination and processing point of the application data by addressing to the routing element a routing command triggering the opening of a bi-directional routing channel between the NFC interface circuit and the destination and processing point.

54. The system according to claim 42, wherein the application data is conveyed in a routing channel defined by a routing channel number and associated routing parameters including at least one identifier of a source point and one identifier of a destination point, are is encapsulated in a frame having a header field including the routing channel number.

55. The system according to claim 54, wherein the interface circuit is configurable according to a predetermined number of operating modes and according to a predetermined number of contactless communication protocols, and wherein the routing parameters associated with the routing channel number include an operating mode parameter and a contactless communication protocol parameter of the interface circuit.

56. The system according to claim 54, further comprising a routing table associating the routing parameters with the routing channel number.