NFC Device And Connection System Of NFC Devices

• US 20160080039A1
• Filed: 11/23/2015
• Published: 03/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Famoco
• Original Assignee: Famoco
• Inventors: Brahami, Lionel, Berbigier, Nicolas
• Granted Patent: US 10,020,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation

Abstract

The present device aggregates all kinds of contactless services such as credit card, loyalty card, micro-payment, discount card, transport card, access control, e-ticket, parking, etc. An NFC (Near Field Communication) device comprises a host CPU, a memory, a GPRS modem controlled by the CPU to access Internet, a SIM holder, an antenna and a battery. The NFC device is shaped as a credit card and it also includes a touch-screen, able to implement technical functionalities to operate contactless services, visualize his ticket/coupon and consult the latest transaction, a secure element to store and execute the contactless applications, and a ST controller connected to Host CPU and to the SE.

Claims

1. A device (NFC) comprising a host CPU/MCU, a memory, a GPRS modem controlled by the CPU to access an Internet, a SIM holder, an antenna and a battery, the NFC being shaped as a credit card and further comprising a touch-screen adapted to operate contactless services, visualize a ticket/coupon, and consult the latest transaction or equivalent, a secure element (SE) adapted to store and execute the contactless applications, and a NFC Front-end controller connected to host CPU/MCU and to the SE, the device using a dedicated SC Reader as a smartcard chip, and the SC reader being connected to the SE and to the host CPU.

2. The NFC device according to claim 1, wherein the antenna is on a daughterboard connected to a motherboard on which the battery is connected.

3. The NCF device according to claim 1, wherein the touch-screen is a color LCD display and the associated touch-panel.

4. The NCF device according to claim 1, wherein, the SC Reader and the secure element define a double level of security:

the internal security by the secure element and the external security by the SC reader.

5. The NCF device according to claim 1, wherein a specific power management module powers up the NFC device with a stabilized tension, the ST controller main power pin is connected to the power module and, in order to take advantage of the battery off mode, the SE power pin is connected to a ST pin.

6. The NCF device according to claim 1, wherein the ST controller battery pin is connected to the battery in order to have the NFC feature available event if the device is power off.

7. The NCF device according to claim 4, wherein the SC reader being a generic micro-controller, a firmware being designed to interface the Host CPU.

8. The NCF device according to claim 1, wherein the NCF device layout comprises a TFT layer connected to a printed circuit board PCB motherboard connected to a PCB antenna daughterboard and to a battery, and the GSM antenna connected to the TFT layer and to the PCB motherboard.

9. The NFC device according to claim 1, further comprising a software components stack broken into two subcomponents:

a HCl layer, which implements the protocol related to ST command via a driver, and a NFC Forum specification layer with a card emulation, NDEF Emulation and a peer-to-peer module.

10. The NFC device according to claim 9, wherein the NFC Forum specification layer provides applications in two kinds of components:

service applications that implements a given service, and a service application Manager that manages the service application running on the board.

11. A connection system of Near Field Communication devices (NFC), the system comprising:

a host CPU/MCU, a memory, a GPRS modem controlled by the CPU to access an Internet, a SIM holder, and a battery, the NFC further comprising a touch-screen adapted to operate a contactless application, visualize a ticket/coupon, and consult the latest transaction or equivalent, a secure element (SE) adapted to store and execute the contactless application, and a NFC Front-end controller connected to host CPU/MCU and to the SE; and

the NFC devices being connected through the mobile Internet and the GPRS connection to a backend server to manage application download on the SE of the NFC devices and, when a new user subscribes a service, the contactless application is downloaded to the SE and the user interface is downloaded to the NFC device of the new user.