Portable object reader terminal and process for self-diagnosis and supervision of same

• US 6,253,163 B1
• Filed: 08/24/1998
• Issued: 06/26/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bull CP8 (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: Bull CP8 (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Lapie, Ronan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoff, Marc S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): VO, HIEN XUAN
• Application Number:
  US09/125,714
• Time in Patent Office: 1,037 Days
• Field of Search: 702/183, 702/188, 702/182, 235/380, 235/432, 235/383, 235/462, 235/487, 235/492, 714/26, 714/30, 714/39, 714/718, 714/25
• US Class Current: 702/183
• 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 7/084 Additional components relating to data transfer and storing, e.g. error detection, self-diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system

Abstract

A terminal includes a memory in which is stored an application program and further includes at least one output constituted either by a display, or by a printer, or by a communications network, or by a portable object. The terminal cooperates with a portable object such as a “smart card”, which includes a non-volatile memory area (ZD) containing data. The terminal includes a reader which communicates with the portable object and is characterized in that there is provided a mechanism for reading or storing self-diagnostic or supervisory data (Ti, Dj, Sk) in the terminal memory and a mechanism for sending the data to outputs (1-4) of the terminal specified as a function of information supplied by the self-diagnostic or supervisory data following the execution of at least one task Tt of the application program operating in connection with the portable object.

Claims

1. A portable object reader terminal having a memory in which an application program is stored and at least one output constituted by at least one of a display, a printer, or a communications network, or a portable object, said reader adapted to cooperate with a portable object including a non-volatile memory area (ZD) containing data including self-diagnostic or supervisory data (Ti, Dj, Sk), characterized in that said reader terminal comprises means for reading or storing, in said memory, said self-diagnostic or supervisory data (Ti, Dj, Sk) and means for sending said self-diagnostic or supervisory data (Ti, Dj, Sk) to the output specified as a function of information supplied by the self-diagnostic or supervisory data (Ti, Dj, Sk) following execution of at least one task Tt of said application program in connection with the portable object.

2. The terminal according to claim 1, further including means for activating the means for sending the self-diagnostic data (Ti, Dj, Sk) a predetermined number of times.

3. The terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for sending the self-diagnostic or supervisory data comprise means for writing into the portable object connected to the terminal.

4. The terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that the self-diagnostic or supervisory data are constituted by at least one triplet (Ti, Dj, Sk) of information corresponding, for a first piece of information (Ti), to a predetermined task of the application program, for a second piece of information (Dj), to a data type correlated to the task executed and to be presented to an output, and for a third piece of information, to a value (Sk) for specifying the output to which the data type must be presented among those present in the terminal.

5. The terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that it further includes a means for testing for the presence of self-diagnostic or supervisory data in the portable object and for initiation of reading and storage of said data in a specific area (ZTD) of the memory of the terminal.

6. The terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for entering self-diagnostic or supervisory data into the portable object.

7. A process for supervising the operation of a terminal or for the self-diagnosis of a terminal cooperating with a portable object from a triplet of information (Ti, Dj, Sk) corresponding, for a first piece of information, to a predetermined task of an application program executed either by the portable object or by the terminal;

for a second piece of information, to a data type correlated to a task executed and to be presented to an output of the terminal; and

for a third piece of information, to a value for specifying the output of the terminal among those present in the terminal, characterized in that said process comprises;

executing the task of the application program in the terminal;

testing an indicator, either in the terminal or in the portable object, to determine whether a self-diagnostic or supervisory function is operational, then in the case of a positive response;

searching in a memory of either the portable object or the terminal to determine if among information stored there is a triplet of information wherein the first piece of information corresponds to the predetermined task executed by the terminal or the portable object; and

sending to an output of the terminal specified by the triplet thus read the value of the datum correlated to the task executed and to be labeled by the second piece of information of the triplet.

8. The process according to claim 7, characterized in that it further comprises a testing step comprised of determining whether there are other tasks to be executed, and, if so, upon the execution of said tasks, searching for all triplets of information corresponding to the execution of said tasks.

9. The process according to claim 7, characterized in that it further comprises a step for reading from the contents of the portable object having stored in a non-volatile memory therein a plurality of triplets and a step for storing triplets read from said portable object memory in a non-volatile memory area of the terminal, followed by a step for activating an indicator of an active self-diagnostic or supervisory function.

10. The process according to claim 7, characterized in that it further comprises testing to determine whether the portable object is a card specific to the self-diagnostic or supervisory function or a general-purpose card.

11. The process according to claim 7, characterized in that the self-diagnostic or supervisory function includes a fourth field of information containing in the portable object initially the write address and the number of octets to be written, and after a self-diagnosis operation, a value to be written.

12. A portable object for use with a terminal equipped with an application program and having at least one output constituted either by a display, or by a printer, or by a communications network, or by a portable object, a memory for reading or storing, in said memory, self-diagnostic or supervisory data (Ti, Dj, Sk) and means for sending said data to outputs specified as a function of information supplied by the self-diagnostic or supervisory data following execution of at least one task Tt of the application program in connection with the portable object, characterized in that said portable object comprises a microprocessor card operating system for said card stored a first memory part of a non-volatile memory in the card, said non-volatile memory containing at least one triplet (Ti, Dj, Sk) of information stored in a predetermined area (ZD) of said non-volatile memory, the location of which is defined by address fields located in the first memory part used to store the operating system.

13. The portable object according to claim 12, characterized in that the first memory part of the non-volatile memory used to store the operating system also comprises, in a memory field, a piece of information constituting a counter of utilizations of the self-diagnostic function.

14. The portable object according to claim 12, characterized in that the first memory part storing the operating system comprises a memory field for storing an indicator of the activation of the self-diagnostic or supervisory function.