Non-contact communication device

• US 6,464,145 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2000
• Issued: 10/15/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Chimura, Shigemi
• Primary Examiner(s): Frech, Karl D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sanders, Allyson
• Application Number:
  US09/530,581
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• Field of Search: 235/492, 235/380, 235/451
• 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: G06K 19/0726 the arrangement including a circuit for tuning the resonance frequency of an antenna on the record carrier

Abstract

An IC card produces electric power by rectifying a high-frequency signal received from a reader/writer. A MOS transistor is connected to an antenna and the received signal is rectified by the parasitic diode of the MOS transistor. The capacitance accompanying the transistor is added to the capacitance of an input tuning capacitor. Switching the on/off state of the transistor causes the capacitance added to that of the tuning capacitor to change; accordingly, the input tuning frequency changes and the relation between the input tuning frequency and the frequency of the received high-frequency signal changes. As a result, the amplitude of the received high-frequency signal changes and thus the obtained power also changes.

Claims

1. A communication device that produces electric power by rectifying a received high-frequency signal, the communication device having a rectifying circuit comprised of a MOS transistor of which one of a source and a drain is kept open and of which another of the source and the drain is connected directly to an antenna so that the received signal is rectified by a parasitic diode of the MOS transistor,

wherein a junction capacitance accompanying the MOS transistor enables the communication device to vary an input tuning frequency.

2. A communication device as claimed in claim 1,

wherein, as the MOS transistor, one or more MOS transistors are provided, and control means is provided for controlling on/off states of the transistors so as to change capacitance of the junction capacitance.

3. A communication device as claimed in claim 2,

wherein the control means controls the MOS transistors in such a way as to change a tuning frequency in a direction in which a rectified output becomes equal to a predetermined level.

4. A communication device as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the communication device is built as an IC card that receives the signal from a reader/writer on a non-contact basis.