JPH0525152B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a card-type memory, and in particular to a memory layer comprising a large number of memory cells arranged to store digital values depending on the level of reflectance of light. The present invention relates to a memory provided on a card-type substrate.

[Prior art]

In recent years, with the development of computer online systems, magnetic cards that store financial, personal identification, and other information have come into use. This magnetic card consists of a strip-shaped magnetic memory piece that stores predetermined information attached to a plastic substrate about the size of a business card. Magnetic cards are being used in various fields because of their portability and ease of handling.

However, this magnetic card can only store a small amount of information, so its uses are limited. For example, in the case of financial cards, it is hoped that past deposits and withdrawals, balance details, loan balances, repayment details, etc. can be recorded like a passbook, but this has not been possible due to insufficient storage capacity. .

In contrast, optical memories have recently attracted attention. There are various types of optical memory, but one suitable for card-type memory is one in which a memory layer is formed by arranging a large number of memory cells that store digital values depending on the level of reflectance of light. There is a type of memory that is made by pasting on a card-type substrate.

Since this memory has memory cells arranged at high density, it has a large storage capacity of several kilobytes to several megabytes. Therefore, in addition to the above-mentioned uses, storage of medical charts and various printed matter for educational purposes is being considered.

However, this optical memory has the following problems, and its practical application has been delayed. That is, because of the high-density storage, there is a problem in that it is not easy to position the write or read head when writing or reading information.

With conventional magnetic cards, even if there is a slight error when attaching the magnetic memory piece to the board, there is no problem with writing and reading, so positioning can be done using the physical form of the edge of the card's board. can be done. However, since optical memory uses high-density recording, even a slight positional shift or angular displacement causes writing and reading errors. Therefore, in order to use the end surface of the substrate as a reference for positioning, the memory layer must be accurately placed at a specific position on the substrate. This is extremely difficult in terms of production technology,
It is not easy to realize. Even if it were technically possible, the cost of the card would be high and it would be impractical.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and does not increase the production cost of cards.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide an optical memory card that can accurately form a reference for positioning, suppress positional deviation and angular displacement during writing and reading to as small as possible, and can accurately record or reproduce high-density recorded information. .

[Structure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a structure in which a memory layer consisting of a large number of memory cells arranged to store digital values based on the level of light reflectance is provided on a card-type substrate, and a light beam is In an optical memory card of a type in which stored information is read by irradiating light and detecting the reflected light, the memory cells of the memory layer are arranged in a matrix, and the memory cells are arranged on one side in the column direction of the memory cell matrix. A column reference line is provided as a reference for column positioning, and a row reference line is provided between the rows in the row direction of the memory cell matrix, and among the row reference lines, the memory The cell matrix is characterized in that one line located at the center in the column direction of the cell matrix and orthogonal to the central part of the column reference line in a T-shape serves as a row reference generatrix having a width different from that of the other row reference lines.

[Action of the invention]

According to such a configuration, the column reference line and the row reference line are set corresponding to the rows and columns of the memory cell matrix, so that when writing or reading, the head positioning is performed using these reference lines as a reference. can be done. These reference lines can be used simultaneously to form the storage cell matrix. Therefore, the relative positional relationship between each reference line and each memory cell forming the matrix can be maintained with high precision.

Furthermore, with this configuration, the edge of the substrate or the like is not used as a reference for positioning, so there is no need to make the relative positional relationship between the memory layer and the substrate particularly highly accurate. Therefore, in this respect, the increase in cost of the memory card can be suppressed.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Configuration of Embodiment> An embodiment of the optical memory card of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 has a large number of strip-shaped data bands 3 arranged side by side on a plastic substrate 1, which is about the size of a business card, for example. A memory layer 2 consisting of a memory layer 2, a column reference line 6 provided along the column direction of the memory layer 2, and a row substrate bus line 70 and a row reference line 71 provided along the row direction of the memory layer 2. It consists of

The memory layer 2 is located approximately at the center of the substrate 1, and is provided so that 32 data bands 3 are arranged in parallel and in a rectangular shape as a whole. In the example, the leftmost side)
A column reference line 6 is provided at . Data band 3 is
The memory layer 2 is divided into 16 upper and 16 lower lines at the center, and at the boundary between the two, there is a row reference line generatrix 70 that is perpendicular to the center of the column reference line 6 and the T-shape. is provided. Also, each data band 3
A row reference line 71 is provided along the longitudinal direction on each side of the data band 3 between and outside.

The data band 3 is constructed by providing a large number of memory cells 5 for storing one bit of digital data. The memory cells 5 are lined up in a row in the width direction of the data band 3 to form a track 4, and a large number of these tracks 4 are arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the data band 3, as shown in FIG. form a long strip-like matrix. Although the memory cells 5 are shown in a grid pattern in the figure, this is for convenience of explanation, and lines are not actually provided in a grid pattern.

In this embodiment, this memory cell 5 is 30 μm×
The size is about 32 μm. Furthermore, in the case of this embodiment, the data band 3 has 32 memory cells 5 lined up in its width direction.

Each of the above tracks 4 corresponds to each other data band 3.
It is set so that it is aligned on the same straight line as the corresponding track 4. Therefore, in the memory layer 2, all the memory cells 5 thereon constitute a memory cell matrix.

The memory layer 2 is specifically constructed as shown in FIG. That is, a base layer 22, a reflective layer 23, and a transparent sealing layer 24 are laminated in this order on a film base 21 made of polyester or the like. Then, the film base 21 is attached to the substrate 1 to form a memory card.

Data is stored in the memory cell 5 by forming a small hole 51 in the reflective layer 23, and making the presence or absence of the small hole 51 correspond to "1" and "0". That is, the state in which the small hole 51 is present is made to correspond to either "1" or "0".

This small hole 51 is, for example, a laser beam L.
irradiate the area of the memory cell where the small hole is to be provided,
The reflective layer 23 is formed by heating at a temperature near the melting point of the substance forming the reflective layer 23 to melt the reflective layer 23. Also,
In the case of a read-only memory card, the reflective layer 2
3, the small holes 51 are formed by photoetching according to the digital information to be stored. The size of this small hole is, for example, approximately several diameters plus microns.

The column reference line 6 only needs to be optically distinguishable from the reflective layer of the adjacent track 4, for example, the reflective layer 23.
is peeled off and formed in the shape of the column reference line 6 to be formed. Of course, instead of the reflective layer 23, or on the reflective layer 23, a layer of a substance having a different reflectance from that of the reflective layer may be deposited.

On the other hand, the row reference bus line 70 and the row reference line 71, for example,
The reflective layer is peeled off, and a layer of a substance having a different reflectance from that of the reflective layer is applied to this part. This substance is
The same material used to form the column reference line 6 may be used.

Note that the row reference generatrix 70 and the row reference line 71 are formed with different widths from each other as shown in the figure. Thereby, when positioning the data bank 3, the row reference bus line 70 can be clearly distinguished from the row reference line 71 and can be detected accurately.

The column reference line 6, row reference bus line 70, and row reference line 71 can be formed by a series of steps when forming the data band 3 of the memory layer 2. By forming in a series of steps in this manner, the positional relationship between these reference lines and each memory cell can be set with high precision.

<Operation of the embodiment> The operation of the optical memory card of the above embodiment will be explained.

The card of this embodiment configured as described above stores one bit of digital data, that is, "1" or "0", depending on the presence or absence of the small hole 51 in each memory cell 5, so that the information to be stored is The data is converted into digital data and written into the memory cell 5 using the method described above.

Data is stored in data bands. Therefore, first, a data band in which data is to be written is selected. The data band can be selected arbitrarily as long as the card has not been written to. On the other hand, in the case of a card on which data has already been written, a writable area is detected and a write head (not shown) is sent to the writable data band 3. Note that if the configuration is such that a write inhibit signal is stored in the top track 4 of each data band 3,
The above-mentioned writable area can be easily detected.

The data is written in the column direction, that is, by serially tracing the tracks of the same data band, and data is written in track 4 in order from the top. When data is written to one column of tracks, the next track is moved to the top and data is written thereto. In this way, data is written by sequentially moving from the leftmost track 4 of the data band 3 to the rightmost track. Of course, a configuration may also be used in which a plurality of memory cells or all one track are read at one time.

Reading of written data is performed by a read head, by irradiating the memory cell to be read with light such as a laser beam and detecting the reflected light with a light receiving element such as a photodiode.
At this time, if the small hole 51 exists in the memory cell 5, the detection level of the light-receiving element is low because the reflectance is small, whereas if the small hole 51 does not exist in the memory cell 5, the irradiated light is high due to the reflective layer 23. The light is reflected by the light receiving element, and the detection level of the light receiving element increases. Information is read by associating the magnitude of this detection level with a digital value.

In the above writing and reading, data band 3 and track 4 to which information is to be written or read.
and to determine the location of the storage cell 5, for example:
Do it as follows.

Regarding the track, the boundary between the column reference line 6 and the leftmost track 4 is detected using a dedicated photoelectric detector or a readout light receiving element. on the other hand,
The position of the data band 3 is determined by detecting the row reference bus line 70 in the same manner as described above, and using this as a reference, detecting the row reference line 71, so that the row reference line 71 is separated from the row reference bus line 70. Detection is done by detecting the number of pieces.

Using this data, by moving the write or read head a predetermined distance, the column reference line 6 to n
Information is written or read from the memory cells 5 in the mth data band 3 above the track 4 and the row reference bus 70. However, if the method is such that information is always read serially from the top position of the memory layer 2 instead of at random, then the position of the top memory cell is set to the position of the column reference line 6, the row reference bus 70, and the row reference. The position of the line 71 can be measured and detected, and the head can be accurately sent in the column and row directions.

<Modification of the above embodiment> In the above embodiment, the data band is provided in the longitudinal direction of the card, but it may also be provided in the width direction.

Further, in the above embodiment, a plurality of data bands are provided, but there may be only one data band. In this case, one row reference line may be provided on one side of the storage cell matrix in the row direction.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a large-capacity optical memory card in which memory cells are arranged in a matrix to form a memory layer, and a column reference line is provided on one side of the memory cell matrix in the column direction. A row reference line is provided on one side of the memory cell matrix in the row direction or between the rows, and among the row reference lines,
By configuring one line located at the center in the column direction of the storage cell matrix and perpendicular to the center part of the column reference line in a T-shape as a row reference generatrix having a width different from that of the other row reference lines, It is possible to increase the production cost of the card, form the reference for positioning with high accuracy, and to keep positional deviation and angular displacement during writing and reading as small as possible to accurately record or reproduce high-density recorded information. Not only is this possible, but when positioning the data band, it is sufficient to first detect the row reference bus line, and then use that reference bus line as a reference to detect the row reference line of the target track. At most, only half of the number of tracks can be scanned. All you have to do is
This has the effect of reducing access time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the optical memory card of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged plan view of the above embodiment, FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a portion viewed from arrow A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the optical memory card of the above embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Substrate, 2...Memory layer, 21...Film base, 22...Underlayer, 23...Reflection layer, 24...Transparent sealing layer, 3...Data band, 4...Track, 5... ...Storage cell, 6...Column reference line, 70...Row reference bus line, 71...Row reference line.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A memory layer consisting of a large number of memory cells arranged to store digital values depending on the level of reflectance of light is provided on a card-shaped substrate, and the memory layer is formed by irradiating a light beam to In an optical memory card of a type in which stored information is read by detecting reflected light, the memory cells of the memory layer are arranged in a matrix, and a reference for positioning the memory cell row is set on one side of the memory cell matrix in the column direction. Further, a row reference line is provided between the rows in the row direction of the memory cell matrix to serve as a reference for row positioning, and among the row reference lines, a row reference line is provided between the rows in the row direction of the memory cell matrix. An optical memory card characterized in that one line located at the center and perpendicular to the central part of the column reference line and the T-shape serves as a row reference generatrix having a width different from that of the other row reference lines.