Abstract:
A portable apparatus is capable of switching between a plurality of smart cards and associated circuits to provide a user various independent electronic wallet functions via a single portable apparatus, thereby increasing utilization flexibility and convenience. The portable apparatus includes at least a first smart card and a second smart cart, a near-field communication (NFC) unit, and a control circuit. The first smart card and the second smart card respectively include a first interface and a second interface. The NFC unit is coupled to the first smart card and the second smart card via the first interface and the second interface, respectively. The NFC unit is capable of performing NFC with external apparatuses. The control circuit controls the NFC unit to communicate with either the first smart card or the second smart card using control signals.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION 
     This patent application is based on Taiwan, R.O.C. patent application No. 099116947 filed on May 27, 2010. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an electronic wallet, and more particularly, to a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In recent years, various electronic payment and electronic transaction functions using a mobile phone with an electronic wallet function has become more and more popular. A common application is where the mobile phone serves as a contactless smart card from which value of an electronic wallet is added or deducted provided that the mobile phone is placed within a radio sensing range of a reader supporting the electronic wallet function, e.g., the radio sensing range is within a radius of around 10 centimeters.  FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a mobile phone  10  having the foregoing electronic wallet function in the prior art. The mobile phone  10  communicates with an external near-field communication (NFC) reader  16  via the NFC technique. The mobile phone  10  comprises a subscriber identity module (SIM) card  11 , a security chip  12 , an NFC chip  13 , an antenna  14 , and a control circuit  15 . When the mobile phone  10  is within a sensing range of the NFC reader  16 , the NFC chip  13  writes via the antenna  14  information (e.g., value-added/value-deducted information) from the NFC reader  16  to the security chip  12 , or responds data (e.g., available balance) stored in the security chip  12  to the NFC reader  16 . 
     However, following problems may occur when the mobile phone  10  is applied to perform the electronic wallet function. A first problem may occur when a user replaces a mobile phone, the data (e.g., available balance) originally stored in the security chip  12  cannot be accessed and transmitted to a new mobile phone. A second problem may occur, since the NFC chip  13  is only powered by a battery (not shown) of the mobile pone  10 , the battery needs to have remaining power when the mobile phone  10  performs electronic payment. Therefore, a situation may occur where after a user enters a railway station, he cannot leave the railway station since the battery becomes empty due to frequent utilization of the mobile phone  10  (e.g., answering a phone call). The foregoing problems may incur significant inconveniences of the user. 
     To solve the foregoing problems, a Single Wire Protocol (SWP) for accessing an SIM card by a mobile phone via the NFC technique is developed. As shown in  FIG. 2 , a mobile phone  20  comprises an SIM card  21  conforming to the SWP, an NFC chip  23  conforming to the SWP, an antenna  24 , and a control circuit  25 . When a battery of the mobile phone  20  becomes empty, the NFC chip  23  can generate power supply by electromagnetic waves transmitted from an NFC reader to maintain operation. Data originally stored in a security chip is stored into the SIM card  21  and is applied to different mobile phones. However, since most electronic wallet function providers, e.g., bank systems, public transport system, and the like, independently operates, the electronic wallet functions cannot be integrated to a single SIM card released by a telecommunication company thereby creating limitations of the service range of an electronic wallet function supported by the SIM card  21 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the foregoing issues, one object of the present invention is to provide a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function. The portable apparatus has a design of switching between various smart cards and associated circuits to provide user various independent electronic wallet functions via a single portable apparatus thereby increasing utilization flexibility and convenience. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, a portable apparatus comprises a first smart card having a first interface; a second smart card having a second interface; an NFC unit, coupled to the first smart card via the first interface and coupled to the second smart card via the second interface; and a control circuit, coupled to the NFC unit, for controlling the NFC unit to communicate with either the first smart card or the second smart card. 
     According to another embodiment of the present invention, a portable apparatus comprises a first smart card and a second smart card each comprising an interface; an NFC unit; a switch for selectively connecting the NFC unit to either the interface of the first smart card or the interface of the second smart card according to a control signal; and a control circuit for generating the control signal. 
     According to yet another embodiment, a portable apparatus comprises an NFC unit; a control circuit, for generating a control signal; a first smart card and a second smart card, each comprising an interface; a first switch, for switching the interface of the first smart card between the NFC unit and the control circuit according to the control signal; and a second switch, for switching the interface of the second smart card between the NFC unit and the control circuit according to the control signal. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a mobile phone for performing an electronic wallet function in the prior art. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of another mobile phone for performing an electronic wallet function in the prior art. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     A smart card, or so-called integrated circuit (IC) card, as implemented in the present invention, is referred to as various chips having built-in IC circuits, which can be classified as a contact smart card, a contactless smart card, or a smart card with a telecommunication function, e.g., an SIM card or a universal integrated circuit card (UICC). 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. A portable apparatus  30  comprises smart cards  31  and  32 , an NFC unit  33 , an antenna  34 , a control circuit  35 , and a switch circuit  36 . The smart card  31  comprises a first interface, e.g., an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 7816 interface (i.e., a standard interface of the contact smart card), and is coupled to either the NFC unit  33  or the control circuit  35  via the switch circuit  36 , which switches according to a control signal  39  generated by the control circuit  35 . The smart card  32  comprises a second interface for connecting to the NFC unit  33  as shown in  FIG. 3 , e.g., the second interface is an SWP interface. The smart card  32  further comprises an interface, e.g., an ISO 7816 interface, which is connected to the control circuit  35 . The antenna  34  coupled to the NFC unit  33  is for performing communicating between the NFC unit  33  and an external NFC reader  16 . The control circuit  35  generates the control signal  39  to control the NFC  33  to select one smart card (i.e., the smart card  31  or smart card  32 ) for communication, and to control the switch circuit  36  to connect the first interface of the smart card  31  to either the NFC unit  33  or the control circuit  35 . In the first embodiment, the NFC unit  33  and the control circuit  35  are respectively integrated into a single a chip. 
     Preferably, both of the smart cards  31  and  32  support the electronic wallet function, e.g., any tool having a payment capability for depositing electronic money, consumption points, or virtual money. The portable apparatus  30  can communicate with the external NFC reader  16  or other NFC apparatuses by using the NFC technique. For example, the NFC reader  16  sends an access command that is transmitted to the NFC unit  33  via the antenna  34  to instruct to add value to or deduct value from the smart card  31  or  32 . Therefore, when the smart cards  31  and  32  respectively support different electronic wallet systems (e.g., the systems generally independently operate and lack uniformity of integration), e.g., when the smart card  31  supports a public transportation system and the smart card  32  supports a band system, a user may use different electronic wallet functions of incompatible systems via a single portable apparatus. For example, a user can determine to select one smart card for performing the electronic wallet function by a user interface (not shown), and the control circuit  35  generates an appropriate control signal  39  according to the command of the user to correspondingly control the NFC unit  33  and the switch circuit  36 . The portable apparatus  30  in the first embodiment may be extended to comprising three or more than three smart cards, so as to provide to the user more types of electronic wallet functions of different systems. 
     Preferably, the portable apparatus  30  is a mobile phone, and at least one of the smart cards  31  and  32  supports a mobile telecommunication function. When the smart card  31  (or  32 ) supports the mobile telecommunication function, the portable apparatus  30  can communicate with a telecommunication network via the smart card  31  (or  32 ), and is connected to an electronic wallet function provider on the Internet via the telecommunication network to perform electronic transaction with the smart card  31  (or  32 ), e.g., an electronic wallet is value-added or value-deduced. In this embodiment, the control circuit  35  is a baseband circuit of a mobile phone. 
     Therefore, the portable apparatus  30  applies to two different types of approaches to add/deduct value. One approach realized by performing near-field communication between the portable apparatus  30  and an external apparatus is referred to as a practical value-added/deduced function. Another approach realized by connecting the portable apparatus  30  to an electronic wallet function provider on the Internet via the telecommunication network is referred to as virtual value-added/deduced function. The user may select a more convenient effect approach for performing electronic payment according to his requirements or ambient conditions. For example, the user may implement the practical value-added/deduced function or the virtual value-added/deduced function to increase utilization flexibility of the electronic wallet function. 
       FIG. 4  to  FIG. 6  are schematic diagrams of portable apparatuses for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with other embodiments of the present invention. Each of the portable apparatuses comprises two smart cards (or each of the portable apparatuses is extended to comprising three or more than three smart cards) to support various electronic wallet systems that are not integrated. When one smart card supports the mobile telecommunication function, the portable apparatuses in these embodiments also provide practical/virtual value-added/value-deducted functions so as to provide more diversify in electronic payment approaches.  FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. A portable apparatus  40  comprises smart cards  41  and  42 , an NFC unit  43 , an antenna  44 , a control circuit  45 , and a switch circuit  46 . Each of the smart cards  41  and  42  comprises an interface, e.g., an SWP interface, which is for communicating with the NFC unit  43 . The NFC unit  43  is coupled to either the smart card  41  or the smart card  42  via the switch circuit  46 , which is controlled to selectively connect the NFC unit  43  to either the interface of the smart card  41  or the interface of the smart card  42  according to a control signal  49  generated by the control circuit  45 . The NFC unit  43  near-field communicates with the external NFC reader  16  via the antenna  44 . For example, the NFC reader  16  sends an access command that is transmitted to the NFC unit  43  via the antenna  43  to instruct to add value to or deduct value from the smart card  41  or  42 , i.e., the foregoing practical value-added/value-deducted function. In this embodiment, the NFC unit  43  may only comprise a single interface connected to the smart cards, and at this point, the portable apparatus  40  can still achieve an object of supporting two smart cards via the switch circuit  46 . 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a third embodiment. A portable apparatus comprises smart cards  51  and  52 , an NFC unit  53 , an antenna  54 , a control circuit  55 , and a switch circuit  56 . Each of the smart cards  51  and  52  comprises an interface, e.g., an ISO 7816 interface, which is coupled to either the NFC unit  53  or the control circuit  55  at any given time. The switch circuit  56  is controlled to selectively connect the NFC unit  53  to the interface of the smart card  51  or  52  by a control signal  59  generated by the control circuit  55 , so as to perform the electronic wallet function of the smart card  51  or  52 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , the switch circuit  56  further comprises switch units  561  and  562 . The switch unit  561 , coupled to the NFC unit  53 , the smart card  51  and the control circuit  55 , switches the interface of the smart card  51  between the NFC unit  53  and the control circuit  55  according to the control signal  59 . The switch unit  562 , coupled to the NFC unit  53 , the smart card  52  and the control circuit  55 , switches the interface of the smart card  52  between the NFC unit  53  and the control circuit  55  according to the control signal  59 . The NFC unit  53  near-field communicates with the external NFC reader  16  via the antenna  54  to perform practical value-added/value-deducted function on the smart card  51  or  52 . In this embodiment, the smart cards  51  and  52  may comprise only one interface for connecting to external apparatuses. By appropriately controlling the switch units  561  and  562 , the control circuit  55  and the NFC unit  53  are respectively connected to the smart cards  51  and  52  (or are respectively connected to the smart cards  52  and  51 ). Accordingly, the portable apparatus also achieves an object of simultaneously supporting two smart cards. 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention. A portable apparatus  60  comprises smart cards  61  and  62 , an NFC unit  63 , an antenna  64 , a control circuit  65 , and switches  66 ,  67 , and  68 . A main difference between the portable apparatus in the third and fourth embodiment is that, the NFC unit  63  in the fourth embodiment comprises another interface, e.g., a SWP interface, and the interface is connected to either the smart card  61  or the smart card  62  via the switch  68  that switches according to a control signal  69 . Therefore, there are two interfaces (e.g., an ISO 7816 interface and an SWP interface as shown in  FIG. 6 ) between the NFC unit  63  and the smart cards  61  and  62  for communication, e.g., for performing practical value-added/value-deducted function. 
       FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a portable apparatus for supporting an electronic wallet function in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the present invention. A portable apparatus  70  comprises a smart card  71 , a memory  72 , a radio frequency (RF) module  73 , and a baseband circuit  75 . The smart card  71  supports a mobile telecommunication function of a telecommunication network, such that the portable apparatus  70  serves as a mobile phone. The RF module  73  comprises a built-in antenna (not shown) for data transmission and reception between the portable apparatus  70  and the telecommunication network. The memory  72  is stored with application software associated with the electronic wallet function, and the baseband circuit  75  accesses the memory  72  to execute the associated software, such that the portable apparatus  70  is connected to an electronic wallet service provider  76  on the Internet via the telecommunication network to add value to or deduct value from the smart card  71 , i.e., the foregoing virtual value-added/value deducted function. The fifth embodiment may be integrated with the foregoing first to fourth embodiments, for example, in the foregoing embodiments, the memory  72  (comprising built-in application software associated with the electronic wallet function) and the RF module  73  are further defined and a smart card supporting the mobile telecommunication function is applied to connect the portable apparatus to the electronic wallet service provider  76  on the Internet via the telecommunication network. Accordingly, the portable apparatus is capable of simultaneously supporting the practical/virtual electronic wallet functions to further increase utilization convenience and flexibility. 
     While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not to be limited to the above embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.