The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 06, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 23, 1994
Zenzo Oda, Suwa, JP;
Noriaki Sakurada, Suwa, JP;
Seiko Epson Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An objective of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable IC card which is large in the scale of integration, fast, and low power-consuming, which contains the latest type of IC that has an operating voltage of 3.3 V and a maximum rated voltage of 5 V or less, and which can be used in either the latest equipment rated at 3.3 V or existing equipment rated at 5 V, or which does not cause this latest type of IC to be destroyed. The interface circuit comprises an analog switch, an external interface circuit, an interval interface circuit, and a high-voltage detection circuit. If the voltage of the power supply Vcc of the host system is less than or equal to an upper-limit voltage of 4 V, the power supply voltage is applied unchanged through the analog switch to a ROM that is the main circuit. On the other hand, if the power supply voltage is greater than this upper-limit voltage of 4 V, the analog switch is made non-conductive and thus the power supply voltage is not applied to the ROM. This prevents the ROM from being destroyed. If a regulated-voltage circuit is also provided, a power supply voltage regulated at 3.3 V can be applied to the ROM, even when the power supply voltage of host system is greater than the upper-limit voltage of 4 V.