Wireless system, semiconductor device, and communication device

• US 8,058,997 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2008
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Kurokawa, Yoshiyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US12/010,790
• Publication Number:
  US 20080186182A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,385 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/572.4, 340/10.1, 340/508, 714/699, 714/746, 714/797, 714/799, 714/819, 714/820
• US Class Current: 340/572.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/183 by voting, the voting not being performed by the redundant components
• 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 19/0724 the arrangement being a circuit for communicating at a plurality of frequencies, e.g. for managing time multiplexed communication over at least two antennas of different types

Abstract

A wireless system includes a semiconductor device including a plurality of functional circuits each having the same function, and a communication device. The semiconductor device modulates and transmits a processing result of each functional circuit using subcarriers each having different frequencies. The communication device extracts a normal response by majority decision from a processing result of each functional circuit received. In this manner, a wireless system with high durability can be provided at low cost.

Claims

1. A wireless system comprising:

a semiconductor device comprising a plurality of functional circuits and configured to transmit signals processed by the plurality of functional circuits with subcarriers; and

a communication device comprising an arithmetic processing circuit and configured to receive the signals,

wherein each of the subcarriers is associated with a corresponding functional circuit and has a different frequency, and

wherein the arithmetic processing circuit in the communication device performs a majority decision process on the signals.

2. The wireless system according to claim 1, wherein the communication device comprises a computation processor.

3. The wireless system according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic processing circuit is connected to a server separated from the communication device.

4. The wireless system according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor device is included in an IC label or an IC card.

5. The wireless system according to claim 1,

wherein the semiconductor device comprises a transmission/reception circuit, and

wherein the transmission/reception circuit comprises a modulation circuit configured to transmit the subcarriers each having different frequencies.

6. A wireless system comprising:

a plurality of semiconductor devices each comprising a functional circuit and configured to transmit a signal processed by the functional circuit with a subcarrier; and

a communication device comprising an arithmetic processing circuit and configured to receive the signals,

wherein each subcarrier is associated with a corresponding functional circuit in each of the plurality of semiconductor devices and has a different frequency, and

wherein the arithmetic processing circuit in the communication device performs a majority decision process on the signals.

7. The wireless system according to claim 6, wherein the communication device comprises a computation processor.

8. The wireless system according to claim 6, wherein the arithmetic processing circuit is connected to a server separated from the communication device.

9. The wireless system according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of semiconductor devices are included in an IC label or an IC card.

10. The wireless system according to claims 6,

wherein each of the plurality of semiconductor devices comprises a transmission/reception circuit, and

wherein the transmission/reception circuit comprises a modulation circuit configured to transmit the subcarriers each having different frequencies.

11. A wireless system comprising:

a semiconductor device comprising a plurality of functional circuits and a first transmission/reception circuit comprising a modulation circuit; and

a communication device comprising an arithmetic processing circuit and a second transmission/reception circuit,

wherein a signal comprising processing results of the plurality of functional circuits is transmitted from the first transmission/reception circuit to the second transmission/reception circuit with a plurality of subcarriers transmitted from the modulation circuit, each of the plurality of subcarriers having different frequencies for each of the processing results, and

wherein the arithmetic processing circuit performs a majority decision process on the signal transmitted from the first transmission/reception circuit.

12. The wireless system according to claim 11, wherein the communication device comprises a computation processor.

13. The wireless system according to claim 11, wherein the arithmetic processing circuit is connected to a server separated from the communication device.

14. The wireless system according to claim 11, wherein the semiconductor device is included in an IC label or an IC card.

15. A semiconductor device comprising:

a plurality of functional circuits;

a controller configured to read data stored in each of the plurality of functional circuits; and

a transmission/reception circuit,

wherein the transmission/reception circuit is configured to transmit the data as a first signal to a communication device,

wherein the first signal includes subcarriers superimposed thereon,

wherein each of the subcarriers is associated with a corresponding functional circuit and has a different frequency, and

wherein the transmission/reception circuit is configured to receive a second signal according to majority decision processed data which is obtained by a majority decision process based on the first signal in an arithmetic processing circuit included in the communication device.

16. The semiconductor device according to claim 15, wherein the communication device comprises a computation processor configured to output the second signal according to the majority decision processed data.

17. The semiconductor device according to claim 15,

wherein the arithmetic processing circuit is connected to a server separated from the communication device, and

wherein the arithmetic processing circuit outputs the second signal according to the majority decision processed data.

18. An IC label or an IC card comprising the semiconductor device according to claims 15.

19. The semiconductor device according to claim 15,

wherein the transmission/reception circuit comprises a modulation circuit configured to transmit the subcarriers each having different frequencies.

20. A communication device comprising:

a transmission/reception circuit configured to receive a first signal from a semiconductor device comprising a plurality of functional circuits, and configured to transmit a second signal to the semiconductor device; and

an arithmetic processing circuit configured to perform a majority decision process on the first signal received at the transmission/reception circuit, and configured to output majority decision processed data,

wherein the first signal includes subcarriers superimposed thereon, and

wherein each of the subcarriers is associated with a corresponding functional circuit and has a different frequency.

21. The communication device according to claim 20, further comprising a computation processor configured to output the second signal according to the majority decision processed data.

22. The communication device according to claim 20, wherein the arithmetic processing circuit is separated from the communication device, and is connected to a server configured to output the second signal according to the majority decision processed data.

23. The communication device according to claim 20, wherein the semiconductor device is included in an IC label or an IC card.

24. A communication device comprising:

a transmission/reception circuit configured to receive a first signal from a plurality of semiconductor devices each comprising a functional circuit, and configured to transmit a second signal to the plurality of semiconductor devices; and

an arithmetic processing circuit configured to perform a majority decision process on the first signal received at the transmission/reception circuit, and configured to output majority decision processed data,

wherein the first signal includes subcarriers superimposed thereon, and

wherein each subcarrier is associated with a corresponding functional circuit in each of the plurality of semiconductor devices and has a different frequency.

25. The communication device according to claim 24, further comprising a computation processor configured to output the second signal according to the majority decision processed data.

26. The communication device according to claim 24, wherein the arithmetic processing circuit is separated from the communication device, and is connected to a server configured to output the second signal according to the majority decision processed data.

27. The communication device according to claim 24, wherein the plurality of semiconductor devices are included in an IC label or an IC card.