SMARTCARD AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A SMARTCARD

Abstract

A smartcard having multiple operating modes. The smartcard may include a processor for controlling operation of the smartcard and an accelerometer for sensing movements of the smartcard, wherein the processor is arranged to switch between different modes of the multiple operating modes in response to the movements sensed by the accelerometer.

Claims

1. A smartcard having multiple operating modes, the smartcard comprising a processor for controlling operation of the smartcard and an accelerometer for sensing movements of the smartcard, wherein the processor is arranged to switch between different modes of the multiple operating modes in response to the movements sensed by the accelerometer, to identify the movements of the card based on the output of the accelerometer, and to change the operating mode of the smartcard in response to pre-set movements including, one or more rotation, translation, acceleration, jerk or impulse, wherein at least one of the pre-set movements includes a repeated movement or a sequence of movements.

2. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor determines the length of a time period without motion and changes the operating mode of the smartcard when a pre-set length of time without motion is detected.

3. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the smartcard is arranged to allow the user to set their own movements and or combinations of movements and to associate them with particular changes to the operating mode of the smartcard.

4. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operating modes of the smartcard that are controlled by movements sensed by the accelerometer include one or more of: turning the card on or off; activating secure aspects of the card such as contactless payment; switching between operating as an access card, a payment card, and/or a transportation smartcard; or switching between different accounts of the same type.

5. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operating modes of the smartcard that are controlled by movements sensed by the accelerometer include one or more of: switching between communications protocols; activating a communication protocol; activating a display such as an LCD or LED display; and/or obtaining an output from the smartcard.

6. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operating modes of the smartcard that are controlled by movements sensed by the accelerometer includes prompting the card to automatically perform a standard operation of the smartcard.

7. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor is arranged to identify when the accelerometer indicates a free fall and to place the card into a dropped card mode when free fall is detected; and wherein the dropped card mode requires reauthorisation via a security feature after the card has been picked up before further use of the card is permitted, or before full use of the card is permitted.

8. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the accelerometer is a micro-machined accelerometer.

9. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensing by the accelerometer is based on the principle of a differential capacitance arising from acceleration-induced motion of a sense element of the accelerometer.

10. A smartcard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the smartcard comprises a biometric sensor, such as a fingerprint sensor, which is embedded into the card.

11. A smartcard as claimed in claim 10, wherein a fingerprint sensor is used as the biometric sensor and wherein the smartcard is arranged to enable the authorised user to initially enroll their fingerprint onto the smartcard, and to thereafter required an enrolled finger or thumb to be placed on the fingerprint sensor in order to authorise some or all uses and/or operating modes of the card.

12. A smartcard as claimed in claim 10, wherein authorisation via the biometric sensor is required to activate subsequent control of the card by movements and/or to activate card features denoted as higher security.

13. A smartcard as claimed in claim 10, wherein in the event of a failure of biometric authorisation or failure to enroll a user via the biometric sensor then the smartcard is arranged to accept a pre-set movement as a back-up for biometric authorisation.

14. A smartcard as claimed in claim 11, wherein the pre-set movement accepted as a back-up for biometric authorisation is a complex movement taking the form of a motion sequence that includes two or more movements.

15. A smartcard as claimed in claim 11, wherein the smartcard is arranged to permit enrolment of a user using a sequence of sensed movements as the mechanism to authorise use of the card in place of biometric authorisation.

16. A method for controlling a smartcard, the smartcard comprising a processor for controlling operation of the smartcard and an accelerometer for sensing movements of the smartcard, wherein the method comprises detecting movements of the smartcard using the accelerometer and the processor, and switching between different modes of multiple operating modes of the smartcard in response to the detected movements.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16, comprising allowing the user to specify which movements should activate particular operating modes.

18. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the smartcard comprises a biometric sensor, such as a fingerprint sensor, and the method includes using the biometric sensor to activate subsequent control of the card by movements, or to activate features denoted as higher security.

19. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the smartcard includes a biometric sensor embedded within the smartcard and the method comprises using a sequence of movements in place of biometric authorisation to allow for use of some or all operating modes of the card when biometric authorisation fails and/or to allow for enrolment without using the biometric sensor.

20. A computer programme product comprising instructions that, when executed on a processor in a smartcard as claimed in claim 1, will cause the processor to identify movements of the smartcard based on the output from the accelerometer, and to switch between different modes of multiple operating modes of the smartcard in response to the detected movements.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Certain preferred embodiments on the present invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates a circuit for a smartcard with an accelerometer;

[0035] FIG. 2 illustrates a circuit for a smartcard also incorporating a fingerprint scanner; and

[0036] FIG. 3 illustrates an external housing for the passive smartcard incorporating the fingerprint scanner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] By way of example the invention is described in the context of a card that uses contactless technology and uses power harvested from the reader. These features are envisaged to be advantageous features of the proposed movement sensitive smartcards, but are not seen as essential features. The smartcard may hence alternatively use a physical contact and/or include a battery providing internal power, for example.

[0038] FIG. 1 shows the architecture of a smartcard 102 with the proposed accelerometer 16. A powered card reader 104 transmits a signal via an antenna 106. The signal is typically 13.56 MHz for MIFARE® and DESFire® systems, manufactured by NXP Semiconductors, but may be 125 kHz for lower frequency PROX® products, manufactured by HID Global Corp. This signal is received by an antenna 108 of the smartcard 102, comprising a tuned coil and capacitor, and then passed to a communication chip 110. The received signal is rectified by a bridge rectifier 112, and the DC output of the rectifier 112 is provided to processor 114 that controls the messaging from the communication chip 110.

[0039] A control signal output from the processor 114 controls a field effect transistor 116 that is connected across the antenna 108. By switching on and off the transistor 116, a signal can be transmitted by the smartcard 102 and decoded by suitable control circuits 118 in the reader 104. This type of signalling is known as backscatter modulation and is characterised by the fact that the reader 104 is used to power the return message to itself.

[0040] The accelerometer 16 is connected in an appropriate way to the processor 114. The accelerometer 16 can be a Tri-axis Digital Accelerometer as provided by Kionix, Inc. of Ithaca, N.Y., USA and in this example it is the Kionix KXCJB-1041 accelerometer. The accelerometer senses movements of the card and provides an output signal to the processor 114, which is arranged to detect and identify movements that are associated with required operating modes on the card as discussed below. The accelerometer 16 may be used only when power is being harvested from the powered card reader 104, or alternatively the smartcard 102 may be additionally provided with a battery (not shown in the Figures) allowing for the accelerometer 16, and also the related functionalities of the processor 114 and other features of the device to be used at any time.

[0041] FIG. 2 shows the architecture of a card reader 104 and a passive smartcard 102, which is a variation of the passive smartcard 102 shown in FIG. 1. The smartcard 102 shown in FIG. 2 has been adapted to include a fingerprint authentication engine 120. The accelerometer 16 can be as discussed above and interacts with the processor 114 in the same way as the processor 114.

[0042] Similar to the card of FIG. 1, the smartcard 102 of FIG. 2 comprises an antenna 108 for receiving an RF (radio-frequency) signal, a passive communication chip 110 powered by the antenna 108, and a passive fingerprint authentication engine 120, also powered by the antenna 108.

[0043] As used herein, the term “passive smartcard” should be understood to mean a smartcard 102 in which the communication chip 110 is powered only by energy harvested from an excitation field, for example generated by the card reader 118. That is to say, a passive smartcard 102 relies on the reader 118 to supply its power for broadcasting. A passive smartcard 102 would not normally include a battery, although a battery may be included to power auxiliary components of the circuit (but not to broadcast); such devices are often referred to as “semi-passive devices”.

[0044] Similarly, the term “passive fingerprint/biometric authentication engine” should be understood to mean a fingerprint/biometric authentication engine that is powered only by energy harvested from an excitation field, for example the RF excitation field generated by the card reader 118.

[0045] The antenna 108 comprises a tuned circuit including an induction coil and a capacitor, which are tuned to receive an RF signal from the card reader 104. When exposed to the excitation field generated by the reader 104, a voltage is induced across the antenna 108.

[0046] The antenna 108 has first and second end output lines 122, 124, one at each end of the antenna 108. The output lines of the antenna 108 are connected to the fingerprint authentication engine 120 to provide power to the fingerprint authentication engine 120. In this arrangement, a rectifier 126 is provided to rectify the AC voltage received by the antenna 108. The rectified DC voltage is smoothed using a smoothing capacitor and supplied to the fingerprint authentication engine 120.

[0047] The fingerprint authentication engine 120 includes a processor 128 and a fingerprint reader 130, which can be an area fingerprint reader 130 mounted on a card housing 134 as shown in FIG. 3. The card housing 134 encases all of the components of FIG. 2, and is sized similarly to conventional smartcards. The fingerprint authentication engine 120 is passive, and hence is powered only by the voltage output from the antenna 108. The processor 128 comprises a microprocessor that is chosen to be of very low power and very high speed, so as to be able to perform biometric matching in a reasonable time.

[0048] The fingerprint authentication engine 120 is arranged to scan a finger or thumb presented to the fingerprint reader 130 and to compare the scanned fingerprint of the finger or thumb to pre-stored fingerprint data using the processor 128. A determination is then made as to whether the scanned fingerprint matches the pre-stored fingerprint data. In a preferred embodiment, the time required for capturing a fingerprint image and authenticating the bearer of the card 102 is less than one second.

[0049] With the example of FIG. 2 if a biometric match is determined and/or if appropriate movements are detected via the accelerometer 16, then the processor 114 takes appropriate action depending on its programming. In this example the fingerprint authorisation process is required to enable use of the smartcard 104 with the contactless card reader 104. Thus, the communication chip 110 is only authorised to transmit a signal to the card reader 104 when a fingerprint match is made. The communication chip 110 transmits the signal by backscatter modulation, in the same manner as the conventional communication chip 110.

[0050] For both FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 the processor 114 receives the output from the accelerometer 16 and this allows the processor 114 to determine what movements of the smartcard 102 have been made. The processor 114 identifies pre-set movements that are linked with required changes to the operating mode of the smartcard. As discussed above, the movements may include any type of or combination of rotation, translation, acceleration, jerk, impulse and other movements detectable by the accelerometer 16.

[0051] The operating modes that the processor 114 activates or switches to in response to an identified movement associated with the require change in operating mode may include any mode of operation as discussed above, including turning the card on or off, activating secure aspects of the card 102 such as contactless payment, or changing the basic functionality of the card 102 for example by switching between operating as an access card, a payment card, a transportation smartcard, switching between different accounts of the same type (e.g. two bank accounts), switching between communications protocols (such as blue tooth, wifi, NFC) and/or activating a communication protocol, activating a display such as an LCD or LED display, obtaining an output from the smartcard 102, such as a one-time-password or the like, or prompting the card 102 to automatically perform a standard operation of the smartcard 102.

[0052] The processor 114 has a learn mode to allow for the user to specify which movements (including combinations of movements) should activate particular operating modes. In the learn mode the processor 114 prompts the user to make the desired sequence of movements, and to repeat the movements for a predetermined set of times. These movements are then allocated to the required operating mode. The processor 114 can implement a dropped card mode and/or a biometric failure back up mode as discussed above.

[0053] In some circumstances, the owner of the biometric smartcard 102 of FIGS. 2 and 3 may suffer an injury resulting in damage to the finger that has been enrolled on the card 102. This damage might, for example, be a scar on the part of the finger that is being evaluated. Such damage can mean that the owner will not be authorised by the card 102 since a fingerprint match is not made. In this event the processor 114 may prompt the user for a back-up identification/authorisation check via a sequence of movements. The user can hence have a “password” entered using movements of the card to be used in the event that the biometric authorisation fails.

[0054] After such a back-up authorisation the card could be arranged to be used as normal, or it could be provided with a degraded mode in which fewer operating modes or fewer features of the cards are enabled. For example, if the smartcard 102 can act as a bank card then the back-up authorisation might allow for transactions with a maximum spending limit lower than the usual maximum limit for the card.