The Smart Card
Smart cards are chip cards in size of credit cards with a microprocessor and
a programmable data storage. These data can be read by a chip card
reader except for the personal key. Using these cards ensures the highest
level of data security.
The large advantage of the smard card compared with the magnetic card is
the security. The stored data are better protected against unrequested
access and manipulation. Only the internal CPU is to access the internal
data.
A smart card provides a higher reliability and lifetime than a magnetic card.
The data can be stored encoded.
Chip cards are mainly used as telephone cards or identification cards.
Communication
The smart card is an identification card, which is characterised by the fact
that it is equipped with an integrated circuit (chip). Via contact areas the
data are exchanged. Via the I/O port individual instruction are sent to the
operating system of the smart card which process the instruction and data.
A transmission protocol is defined by the ISO standard 7816 part of 3.
The contacts of the chip are gilded, in order to ensure an optimal corrosion
protection.
Contact Assignment
The contact assignment of such a smart card is
subject to standardization according to ISO
7816-2-standard. The structure is shown in the
figure left side.
Supply voltage Vcc is defined with 5 V ± 10 %.
5
COMMUNICATION
CLK
RST
Vcc
GND
I/O
