Title of Invention

"A CONTACT-LESS SMART CARD READER SYSTEM"

Abstract

A Contact-less Smart Card reader system comprising a reader (1.2) with circuitry for transmission of Radio Requency (RF) energy signals in presence of a smart card; (1.1) said smart card (1.1) receiving said RF energy signal for powering said smart card; (1.1) and Said RF energy signal on said smart card for bi-directional transfer of information in said reader system; (1.2) characterized in that a primary energy source in said reader (1.2) for generating energy signal for contact-less transfer of power to said smart card(l.l), wherein each said primary energy source is an optical energy source (1.2.1) of specified frequency range from 1.5 x 10 14 Hz to 3 x 10 15 Hz. And a receptor in said smart card (1.1) for receiving said energy signal for powering said smart card (1.1) may also receive energy from an ambient light source.

Full Text

FIELD OF INVENTION A Contact-less Smart Card reader system BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Smart Cards are used in several applications worldwide. Their uses vary from pre-paid telephone cards to bank transaction cards to driver's license to identifications cards. The smart card consists of chips which could contain input / output (I/O) interfaces, power supply, a central processing unit (CPU), read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM) and a non-volatile memory that can be read and written to. The non-volatile memory is where the data specific to the card which is usually secure (cash balance, identity, etc.) is stored. Traditionally, smart cards were read with a 'reader' by making physical contact to it. However, due to the increased wear and tear and increased cost of maintaining such systems, smart cards have moved to contact-less readers. Here the card is placed within the prescribed range of the reader and the information in the card is read, processed and any information necessary is written into the card. The absence of physical contact has been found to be a much quicker method of accessing the information and also the maintenance costs of the readers have been brought down. One of the main challenges in the implementation of such reader systems is the low power with which the circuits on the contact-leass smart cards have to operate. The information is transferred by the RF signals, which is also the source of power for the card. Hence, the amount o power that can be transmitted from the reader (and this is regulated) limits the power that can be coupled to the circuits on the card. This in turn limits the sophistication of the circuits that can be placed on the card. The power transfer also forces the noise margin in the signal transmitted to the card to be lower - which is not a desirable situation. One way to overcome the problem of power transfer to the card is to place a battery on the card. This method has its limitations as the battery has a finite lifetime and will eventually need replacement. Moreover the cost and weight of the card goes up considerably. Emphasis has also been laid on designing the circuits on the card that operate with lower power. Such circuits are designed to work with low noise margin, and have a limited range in terms of the distance of the card from the reader. Also, as the circuits are designed for low power operation, such circuits have limited complexity. French patent FR2743021 discloses an autonomous display, allowing immediate reading of the value stored on the card. The autonomous display comprises a window housing a liquid crystal display that is connected to the operating system of the smart card. The liquid crystal display is supplied with energy by a photovoltaic cell. The photovoltaic cell also supplies transistors that provide the connection between the chip on the smart card and the display. The display window is formed on one face of the plastic support forming the card, and a window for the photovoltaic cell is on the same face. This photovoltaic cell is limited to providing power to a display and does not talk about providing additional power source to the operation of the circuitry in the card. Additionally, the invention does not discuss about the source or energy (light) being located on the reader which can be activated when the card is in operation. Hence, there is need for providing an apparatus/methodology of contact-less transmission of power to a smart card. There is also need for a system which does not put a limit on the complexity of circuitry on a smart card. Furthermore, there is need for a power efficient reader system with control circuitry for controlling the operation of power source in the reader. Additionally, there is need of a reader system which can transfer power to the card using multiple power sources. Object and Summary of the Invention To obviate the aforesaid drawbacks the object of the instant invention is to provide a contact-less smart card reader system and a method for contact-less power transfer in said reader system Another object of the invention is to reduce the complexity of low power circuitry on a smart card. Yet another object of the invention is to provide smart cards which may be powered using different energy sources. Yet another object of the invention is to reduce the tester clock cycles, due to which the diagnose timings are reduced drastically. To achieve the aforesaid objects the instant invention provides a contact-less smart card reader system comprising: - a reader with circuitry for transmission of Radio Frequency (RF) energy signals in presence of a smart card; - said smart card receiving said RF energy signal for powering said smart card; and - said RF energy signal on said smart card for bi-directional transfer of information in said reader system; characterized in that: - atleast one primary energy source in said reader for generating energy signal for contact-less transfer of power to said, smart card; and - a receptor in said smart card for receiving said energy signal for powering said smart card. Reader system includes a controller for actuation of primary edergy source responsive to RF energy signal. Furthermore, to achieve the aforesaid objects the instant invention also provides a method for contact-less power transfer in a reader system comprising the steps of: - providing a smart card to a reader; - generating a RF energy signal by said reader in presence of said smart card; characterized in that: - generating an energy signal by a primary energy source; and - receiving said energy signal for powering said smart card. Actuation of the primary energy source is responsive to the RF energy signal. Brief Descriptions of the Drawings The present invention is described with the help of accompanying drawings: Figure 1 illustrates a Contact-less smart card reader system in accordance to the instant invention. Figure 2 illustrates the flowchart for the method for the operation of the Contact-less smart card reader system in accordance to the instant invention. Detail Description of the Invention The main idea of this invention is to provide energy for smart cards with the help of energy source(s) on the reader. The energy is collected using an energy receptor cell present on the smart card. The energy source on the reader is turned on only when the card is brought near the reader. The energy source may also be used as a supplementary" source of power along with the RF signal used as a source of power. Alternatively, other energy sources available in the environment may be used. Figure 1 illustrates the preferred embodiment for the invention with the optical energy source in the reader. The said system comprises a contact-less smart card (1.1) and a reader (1.2). The smart card comprises an antenna (1.1.2) for receiving RF signals, a chip (1.1.3) with circuitry for smart card operations and a photovoltaic cell (1.1.1). The reader comprises of an optical light source (1.2.1) with a controller and reader RF circuitry (1.2.2) for communicating with the smart card. A photovoltaic cell (1.1.1) on the smart card (1.1) is used as the energy receptor cell for the operation of the smart card. The photovoltaic cell (1.1.1) is charged using signals (1.1.4) with a range of frequencies ranging from 1.5 x 1014 Hz to 3 x 10 15 Hz, The reader has a light source (1.2.1) which is used to charge the photovoltaic cell on the smart card. Figure 2 illustrates this method for operation of the reader system. The proposed solution in the preferred embodiment of the invention is to have a photovoltaic cell (1.1.1) on the card (1.1). The optical power (1.1.4) to the photovoltaic cell (1.1.1) is provided by a light source, which is placed on the reader (2.1 and 2.2). The light from light source on the reader falls on the cell in the smart card when it is brought near the reader (2.3). The light then generates power with the help of the photovoltaic cell on the smart card (2.4). This power drives the circuitry on the chip for information transfer (2.5). The power coupled by the conventional RF source (1.2.2) to the chip (1.1.3) through the antenna (1.1.2) will be 100s of nW to a few mW. One can easily achieve 10s to 100s of mW of power or even more, coupled by the use of photovoltaic cells (1.1.1), which can be made available to the chip (1.1.3). For optimal energy transfer, the spectrum of efficient energy conversion of the photovoltaic cell (1.1.1) should be similar to the spectrum of the light source (1.2.1). A person skilled in the art will understand that there may be several different embodiments for the invention. In one of the embodiment, in order to avoid the condition where the light source (1.2.1) on the reader (1.2) is on all the time including the time when it is not reading any smart cards. Therefore, one may turn on this light by using RF signal which detects the card's presence and turns on the light. There may be a controller added in the RF circuitry (1.2.2) of the reader for actuating the light source (1.2.1) in the presence of a smart card (2.4 and 2.7). In yet another embodiment, one may use laser beams emanating from the reader (1.2) to provide the energy to the card (1.1). In yet another embodiment, the energy source may be an ambient light source for charging the smart card in the absence of a light source in a reader. The invention covers all such embodiments for the reader system. The smart card (1.1) has a source of energy which is more efficient than what was previously available. The photovoltaic cells (1.1.1) can be easily packed within the smart card (LI) with the existing technology. With the advent of organic solar cells, this will become easier in the coming days. With increased power available for circuit operations, some of the perceived advantages are - the design constraints of circuits for the smartcard chip (1.1.3) will be simpler, circuit functioning complexity may be increased and memory size available on chip will increase. WE CLAIM; 1 .A Contact-less Smart Card reader system comprising: - a reader (1.2) with circuitry for transmission of Radio Requency (RF) energy signals in presence of a smart card; (1.1) - said smart card (1.1) receiving said RF energy signal for powering said smart card; (1.1) and - Said RF energy signal on said smart card for bi-directional transfer of information in said reader system; (1.2) characterized in that: - a primary energy source in said reader (1.2) for generating energy signal for contact-less transfer of power to said smart card(l.l), wherein each said primary energy source is an optical energy source (1.2.1) of specified frequency range from 1.5 x 10 14 Hz to 3 x 10 is Hz. and - a receptor in said smart card (1.1) for receiving said energy signal for powering said smart card (1.1) may also receive energy from an ambient light source. 2. A Contact-less Smart Card reader system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said receptor is a photovoltaic cell. (1.1.1) 3. A Contact-less Smart Card reader system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said RF energy signal is a secondary energy signal for operation of said smart card(l.l). 4. The Contact-less Smart Card reader system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said reader (1.2) includes a controller for actuation of said primary energy source responsive to RF energy signal. 5. The Contact-less Smart Card, reader system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method for Contact-less power transfer in said reader system (1.2) comprising the steps of: - providing a smart card (1.1) to a reader;(1.2) - generating a RF energy signal by said reader (1.2) in presence of said smart card;(1.1) characterized in that: - generating an energy signal by a primary energy source; and - receiving said energy signal for powering said smart card.(1.1) 6. The Contact-less Smart Card reader system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method for Contact-less power transfer in said reader system (1.2) as claimed in claim 1 and 5 wherein actuation said primary energy source is responsive to said RF energy signal.

Documents:

2190-DEL-2005-Abstract-(04-06-2012).pdf

2190-del-2005-abstract.pdf

2190-DEL-2005-Claims-(04-06-2012).pdf

2190-del-2005-claims.pdf

2190-DEL-2005-Correspondence Others-(04-06-2012).pdf

2190-DEL-2005-Correspondence Others-(09-06-2011).pdf

2190-del-2005-Correspondence-others (09-06-2011).pdf

2190-del-2005-correspondence-others.pdf

2190-DEL-2005-Description (Complete)-(04-06-2012).pdf

2190-del-2005-description (complete).pdf

2190-del-2005-drawings.pdf

2190-DEL-2005-Form-1-(04-06-2012).pdf

2190-del-2005-form-1.pdf

2190-DEL-2005-Form-2-(04-06-2012).pdf

2190-del-2005-form-2.pdf

2190-del-2005-form-3.pdf

2190-DEL-2005-GPA-(04-06-2012).pdf