Non-contact information storage medium and data transmission method for the medium

• US 6,079,622 A
• Filed: 10/24/1997
• Issued: 06/27/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Goto, Yuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, MICHAEL GUNYOUNG
• Application Number:
  US08/957,446
• Time in Patent Office: 977 Days
• Field of Search: 235/492, 235/380, 235/449, 235/487, 340/825.54, 340/825.34
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0701 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising an arrangement for power management
• 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: G11C 5/142 Contactless power supplies, e.g. RF, induction, or IR
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/00 Arrangements for writing information into, or reading information out from, a digital store G11C5/00 takes precedence; auxiliary circuits for stores using semiconductor devices G11C11/4063, G11C11/413

Abstract

A non-contact information storage medium for receiving power from a card reader/writer via an antenna, using the power for driving its internal circuit, and simultaneously transmitting data as a transmission wave to the outside thereof. The output current of a rectifier circuit is interrupted by a switching circuit incorporated in a modulation circuit in accordance with the transmission wave. In the period of interruption, the output voltage of the rectifier circuit is limited by a voltage limiting circuit incorporated in the modulation circuit to a value not more than the breakdown voltage of elements which constitute the circuit. The loss of power during data transmission is extremely small, and hence the circuit can be constituted by elements of a usual breakdown voltage.

Claims

1. A non-contact information storage medium for receiving power from a received radio wave from outside of the medium, and transmitting data in a form of a transmission wave to the outside, comprising:

an antenna for obtaining power from a received radio wave;

a rectifier circuit for converting the power obtained by the antenna into a power current for powering a circuit incorporated in the medium;

a switching circuit connected to an output of the rectifier circuit for switching on and off a current path from the rectifier circuit in accordance with the transmission wave;

a smoothing capacitor connected to the output of the rectifier circuit through the switching circuit for accumulating the output current of the rectifier circuit and smoothing an output voltage; and

a voltage stabilizing circuit connected to the smoothing capacitor for keeping at a constant value a charge voltage of the smoothing capacitor.

2. The medium according to claim 1, further comprising a voltage limiting circuit for limiting an output voltage of the rectifier circuit to a value less than a predetermined value when the current path from the rectifier circuit is switched off by the switching circuit.

3. The medium according to claim 2, wherein the voltage limiting circuit includes:

an n-channel transistor having a drain connected to the gate of the p-channel transistor, and a grounded source, and a gate;

a first voltage divider circuit for dividing the charge voltage of the smoothing capacitor to provide a first divided voltage;

a second voltage divider circuit for dividing the output voltage of the rectifier circuit to provide a second divided voltage; and

a comparator having an input for receiving the first divided voltage, another input for receiving the second divided voltage, and an output connected to the gate of the n-channel transistor.

4. The medium according to claim 2, wherein the voltage limiting circuit includes a control voltage generating circuit for generating a control voltage corresponding to the predetermined value, and a voltage control circuit for controlling the output voltage of the rectifier circuit using the control voltage.

5. The medium according to claim 2, wherein the voltage limiting circuit includes a control voltage generating circuit for generating a control voltage corresponding to the predetermined value, and a voltage control circuit for controlling the output voltage of the rectifier circuit by supplying the control voltage to a gate of the MOS transistor.

6. The medium according to claim 5, wherein the switching circuit includes a p-channel MOS transistor having a source connected to an output of the rectifier circuit, a drain connected to the smoothing capacitor, and a gate, and the voltage control circuit controls the output voltage of the rectifier circuit by supplying the control voltage to the gate of the p-channel MOS transistor.

7. The medium according to claim 5, wherein the control voltage generating circuit includes a booster capacitor which is charged up to a charge voltage of the smoothing capacitor during the time when the rectifier circuit is connected to the smoothing capacitor via the switching circuit, and generates, when the rectifier circuit is disconnected from the smoothing capacitor, a voltage substantially twice the charge voltage of the smoothing capacitor by adding to the charge voltage of the smoothing capacitor a charge voltage applied to the booster capacitor during the time when the rectifier circuit is connected to the smoothing capacitor.

8. The medium according to claim 1, wherein the switching circuit includes:

a p-channel transistor having a source connected to an output of the rectifier circuit, a drain connected to the smoothing capacitor, and a gate connected to the source via a resistor; and

a n-channel transistor having a drain connected to the gate of the p-channel transistor, a source grounded, and a gate for receiving the transmission wave.

9. The medium according to claim 1, wherein the voltage stabilizing circuit includes:

an n-channel transistor having a drain connected to the smoothing capacitor, a grounded source, and a gate;

a voltage divider circuit for dividing a charge voltage of the smoothing capacitor to provide a divided voltage;

a reference voltage generating circuit for generating a reference voltage; and

a comparator having an input for receiving the divided voltage from the voltage divider circuit, another input for receiving the reference voltage from the reference voltage generating circuit, and an output connected to the gate of the n-channel transistor.

10. The medium according to claim 1, further comprising current control means for controlling, in accordance with a control voltage, a charging current flowing from the rectifier circuit to the smoothing capacitor, another capacitor for accumulating an electric charge of the smoothing capacitor, and means for adding a charge voltage of the another capacitor to the charge voltage of the smoothing capacitor when the output current of the rectifier circuit is interrupted to provide current control means with an addition result as the control voltage.