Smart
Cards
Smart Cards - Smart cards
look like
credit
cards. These have a computer chip about the size of a
fingernail
implanted in the card. It can hold up to 100+ times more information
than standard
magnet strip cards. Typically they have a microprocessor and
a substantial amount of memory, say 1 Megabyte.
The smart card's CPU typically is 8-bit.
The CPU's speed typically is slow, 3-5 MHz. It has some RAM
128-258 bytes) and ROM for the operating system. (A higher-end
operating system
size is around 24 KB) and EEPROM (which acts like a hard drive in a PC
and can be erased and re-written
on.) It can't interface with keyboards, monitors and other
peripherals but it does have an I/O interface to communication with
your set-top box which in turn communicates with the content provider.
The card's built in
miniature integrated
circuit can hold information about you - a bank balance, a phone card,
timer and even
medical records. They're expected to be a big future player in
e-commerce transactions regarding iTV/ITV.
Passwords determine
who has access to the card's information. Smart cards can modify the
information they hold. Connection to a bank is not necessary
to
use them. Some Web TV, Satellite service providers, Cable
service
providers and others use them for security and monetary transaction
purposes. Smart cards are also used to identify you as the
subscriber and thus allow you access to a network. www.teleport.com/~samc/scard.html
The subscriber
inserts their smart card into
the set-top boxes’ Smart Card Slot(s). (Typically the set-top
box will
have one or two slots. The Smart Card Slots are part of the Smart Card
Reader.) If there are two Smart Card Slots in the Smart Card Reader,
typically one would be for electronic commerce
transactions and the other for providing authorization and
authentication for the subscriber to access the various services their
provider offers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_cards
http://softtecharticles.com/mambo/content/view/45/53
Some
Related Definitions
CableCard
Smart Card Reader - Standard set-top
boxes can
contain two slots for 'reading' the cards. One would be for
electronic commerce functions and the other for providing authorization
and
authentication for the subscriber to access the various services their
provider offers.
Smart Card Slots –
(Smart Card
Expansion
Slots) - The opening(s) on a set-top
box where
the user can insert
his/her smart card. Advanced slots can accept next generation Smart
Cards without having to change the Smart Card hardware/software.
SmartCard
Televisions
– TVs with Smart Card functionality
built
into them. Often the TV also has other advanced
functions.
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