Method for access control

Abstract

A method for access control to at least one memory area of a passive and/or backscatter-based transponder is provided. In the method for access control, depending on an identification selection criterion, a first or at least one second identification within the transponder is activated, the activated identification upon an appropriate request by reader unit is transmitted to said unit, the at least one memory area of the transponder is divided into memory blocks with a settable size, access control information is assigned to a respective memory block, and read and/or write access to a specific memory block is released or blocked depending on the associated access control information and the identification selection criterion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitive of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an RFID system with a reader unit and a transponder; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a memory map of the transponder shown in FIG. 1.

Claims

1. A method for access control to at least one memory area of a passive and/or backscatter-based transponder, the method comprising: activating a first or at least one second identification within the transponder, based on an identification selection criterion;transmitting the activated identification upon a request by a reader unit to the reader unit,dividing at least one memory area of the transponder into memory blocks of a settable size;assigning access control information to a respective memory block; andreleasing or blocking read and/or write access to a specific memory block based on the associated access control information and the identification selection criterion.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the access control information is stored in a one-time programmable memory of the transponder.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the access control information comprises two bits, wherein a first bit pattern, made up of the two bits, releases read and write access to the specific memory block regardless of whether the first identification or the second identification is activated, wherein a second bit pattern, made up of the two bits, blocks read and write access to the specific memory block with an activated first identification and blocks with a deactivated first identification, wherein a third bit pattern, made up of the two bits, releases read and write access to the specific memory block with an activated second identification and blocks with a deactivated second identification, and wherein a fourth bit pattern, made up of the two bits, releases read access to the specific memory block and blocks write access, regardless of whether the first identification or the second identification is activated.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first bit pattern is “00,” the second bit pattern “01,” the third bit pattern “10,” and the fourth bit pattern “11,” which are expressed in binary notation.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein access to the transponder is released by the transponder only when the reader unit transmits a password that is assigned to the activated identification to the transponder.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein a size of the memory block is an integer multiple of 8 bits.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein access to the memory area at a preconnected access level is controlled by a memory area access control information comprising 2 bits, wherein for a first value of the memory area access control information, write access to the memory area is released independent of a transponder status information for a second value of the memory area access control information, wherein write access to the memory area is released based on the transponder status information, and wherein, for a third value of the memory area access control information, write access to the memory area is blocked permanently.