Non-contact IC card with antenna switching circuit

• US 5,801,372 A
• Filed: 08/01/1997
• Issued: 09/01/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamaguchi, Atsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Hajec, Donald T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, MICHAEL GUNYOUNG
• Application Number:
  US08/905,213
• Time in Patent Office: 396 Days
• Field of Search: 235/492, 235/380, 235/439, 235/449, 235/451, 235/382, 340/825.34, 340/825.54, 343/701
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• 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

Abstract

A batteryless non-contact type IC card using an electromagnetic wave as a communication medium includes an antenna resonance circuit for data transmission and reception, the antenna resonance circuit including first and second terminals; a bridge rectifying circuit coupled to the antenna resonance circuit for rectifying a signal from the antenna resonance circuit; and a switch for switching, in accordance with a switching signal, so that a lower-voltage is supplied to the first terminal of the antenna resonance circuit and a higher-voltage signal is extracted from the second terminal.

Claims

1. A batteryless non-contact IC card, using electromagnetic waves as a communication medium, comprising:

an antenna resonance circuit for data transmission and reception, said antenna resonance circuit including first and second terminals;

a bridge rectifying circuit coupled to said antenna resonance circuit for rectifying a signal from said antenna resonance circuit; and

switching means for switching, in accordance with a switching signal, so that a lower-voltage signal is supplied to the first terminal of said antenna resonance circuit and a higher-voltage signal is extracted from the second terminal.

2. The batteryless non-contact IC card according to claim 1, further comprising:

a phase locked loop (PLL) for receiving, as an input signal, a signal indicative of a received signal changing to a negative state and generating an output tuned to the received signal; and

detecting means for demodulation of a phase modulated signal by sampling, in response to the switching signal, every half period on the basis of the output of said PLL.

3. The batteryless non-contact IC card according to claim 1, wherein said switching means includes a signal generating circuit for generating the switching signal and having an inverted output when the higher-voltage signal changes to a negative state.

4. The batteryless non-contact IC card according to claim 3, further comprising:

a phase locked loop (PLL) for receiving as an input signal a signal indicative of a received signal turning into a negative state to generate an output tuned to the received signal; and

detecting means for demodulation of a phase modulated signal by sampling, in response to the switching signal, every half period on the basis of the output of said PLL.

5. The batteryless non-contact IC card according to claim 1, wherein the switching signal is inverted at zero crossing points of a waveform across said antenna resonance circuit to produce a transmission frequency different from a power frequency at which power is received by said IC card so that electromagnetic waves are transmitted by said IC card while power is being received by said IC card.

6. The batteryless non-contact IC card according to claim 5 wherein the switching signal is inverted at alternating zero crossing points of a waveform across said antenna resonance circuit except during modulation when the switching signal is inverted at every fourth zero crossing point of the waveform across said antenna resonance circuit.

7. The batteryless non-contact IC card according to claim 5 wherein the switching signal is inverted at at least every fourth zero crossing point of the waveform across said antenna resonance circuit during modulation for phase modulation with up to four phases.