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Synonyms

Chip card; Integrated circuit card

Related Concepts

Contactless Cards; e-ID card; Payment Card; SIM/ UICC; Token

Definition

A smart card is a credit card–sized token containing a microprocessor enabling it to process and store information, to support single or multiple applications, and to operate both off-line and on-line.

Background

In 1968, German rocket scientist Helmut Gröttrup and his colleague Jürgen Dethloff invented the automated chip card, receiving a patent applied for in 1968 and granted only in 1982, while working for the German company Giesecke & Devrient. The first mass use of the cards was a Télécarte for payment in French pay phones, starting in 1983.

French inventor Roland Moreno patented the memory card concept in 1974. In 1977, Michel Ugon from Honeywell Bull invented the first microprocessor smart card.

Theory

A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC) is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits which can process data. This...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Guillou LC, Ugon M, Quisquater JJ (1992) The smart card, a standardised security device dedicated to public cryptography. In: Simmons G (ed) Contemporary cryptology – the science of information integrity. IEEE Press, New York, pp 561–613

    Google Scholar 

  2. Henry M (2007) Multi-application smart cards. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. http://www.eurosmart.com/

  4. http://globalplatform.org

  5. http://www.smartcardalliance.org/

  6. http://www.iso.org

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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De Soete, M. (2011). Smart Card. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A., Jajodia, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_281

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