Smart Card Applications
Design models for using and programming smart cards
Chapter One
Overview of Smart Cards
In contrast to information technology practices in the PC realm, the development and
functionality of smart cards are strongly driven by international standards. The reason
for this is that interoperability and interchangeability are very important factors for smart
cards. From the very beginning, this has fostered specification of their characteristics in
standards. Another significant factor is that none of the suppliers of smart card hardware
or software has ever held a monopoly position.
1.1 Card Classification
If you were to classify smart cards in the same manner as living beings in biology, you
would obtain a tree chart similar to what is shown in Figure 1.1. The top level includes
all types of cards, which can have various formats.
Cards can be divided into cards without chips and cards with chips. Logically enough,
the latter type are called chip cards, which are also commonly known as smart cards.
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