Abstract The present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for interfacing smart cards with any terminal. The memory capacity and the features of smart cards are increasing exponentially. Therefore a terminal with a card reader designed today will hardly be able to follow future evolution of smart cards. The invention uses a process which allows efficient use of the smart card capacities by actual terminals. This process is based on the following architecture: A terminal equipped with a display, a pointing device (e.g. a keyboard), a smart card reader and a smart card are combined together. The terminal must have the following capacities which are quite normal: to display a list of action which will be described in ASCII characters; to select actions; to enter key sequences; to display messages and clear them afterwards. A communication protocol between the smart card and the terminal is implemented in the terminal comprising special commands.
Method for interfacing smart cards with terminals, whereby a smart card (5) is connected by a smart card reader (4) to a terminal (1), and whereby said terminal is provided with display means (2) and with the following capacities and/or commands: - send to said smart card (5) first data which cause said smart card to send a list of different actions to said terminal (1); - send to said smart card (5) second data identifying an action selected by a user; - send to said smart card (5) third data identifying a key sequence; - send to said smart card (5) fourth data identifying that said user has cleared a message and/or said whole display means (2); and whereby said smart card (5) is provided with the following capacities and/or commands: - send to said terminal (1) fifth data containing said list of said actions; - send to said terminal (1) sixth data which request said user to enter an information using said pointing device (3); - send to said terminal (1) seventh data identifying said message; - send to said terminal (1) eighth data and wait for clearing of said message by said user; - send to said terminal (1) ninth data which cause said terminal to clear said display means (2); - send to said terminal (1) tenth data identifying the end of a session.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
38 words
Method according to claim 1, characterized in that said fifth data contain numbers identifying said different actions, a byte identifying the length of each of said actions and ASCII characters identifying the name of each of said actions.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said sixth data contain numbers of expected characters and/or masks of permitted characters and/or messages which explain something to said user.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
28 words
Method according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said second data contain a number identifying the kind of said action selected by said user.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
45 words
Apparatus for a method according to any of claims 1 to 4, containing a terminal (1), display means (2), one or more pointing devices (3), a card reader (4) and a smart card (5), which exchange first to tenth data as claimed in claim 1.
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