IC card and an adapter for the same

• Main Authors: OSAWA KENJI, NISHIZAWA HIROTAKA, HIGUCHI AKIRA, OSAKO JUNICHIRO
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 02.11.2010
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; BOOK COVERS; BOOKBINDING; CALCULATING; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; COMPUTING; COUNTING; DEVICES FOR USE THEREWITH AND NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; FILES; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS; LOOSE LEAVES; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS; MOVABLE-STRIP WRITING OR READING APPARATUS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; PRESENTATION OF DATA; PRINTED CIRCUITS; PRINTED MATTER CHARACTERISED BY IDENTIFICATION OR SECURITYFEATURES; PRINTED MATTER OF SPECIAL FORMAT OR STYLE NOTOTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; RECOGNITION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; SPECIAL PRINTED MATTER; TRANSPORTING

An IC card and card adapters are designed so that the IC card of a specific standard (e.g., MMC standard) is compatible with IC cards and terminals of other standards (e.g., MS card standard and USB terminal standard). In the IC card (MMC), a controller IC, which is connected to a flash memory, includes a voltage pull-down detector, a mode controller, a USB-mode interface controller, a MS-mode interface controller, and an MMC/SD-mode interface controller. The card adapters suffice to have component parts which are easy in formation and low in cost such as wiring lines and resistors. The voltage pull-down detector of the IC card detects the voltage pull-down caused by the resistors, and the mode controller selects the USB-mode interface controller, MS-mode interface controller or MMC/SD-mode interface controller so that the IC card becomes compatible with the corresponding IC card standard.