Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-23
2001-07-10
Le, Thien M. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
C235S492000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257486
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to user authentication and, more particularly, to user authentication for the use of smart cards.
Smart Cards
The term “smart card” herein denotes any device which may be conveniently carried upon one's person and which contains an active internal logic device capable of securely interfacing with and exchanging data with specifically authorized external devices. Smart cards are sometimes referred to as “integrated circuit cards” or “chip cards”. Smart cards are generally described by a set of international standards well-known in the art, including, but not limited to publications ISO 7810, ISO 7811, ISO/IEC 7812, ISO 7813, ISO/IEC 7816, ISO/IEC 10373, ISO/IEC 10536, and ISO/IEC 14443, all of which are herein collectively denoted by the term “standards for integrated circuit cards” and incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Smart cards are both defined by and based on the standards for integrated circuit cards. Smart cards based on the standards for integrated circuit cards generally conform thereto, where applicable, but also include features not necessarily described therein.
Purposes to which smart cards may be applied include, but are not limited to, performing financial transactions, establishing personal identity, providing access control, managing accounting information, and storing and retrieving personal records and other individual data. Smart cards are characterized by a high level of security, and are the medium of choice for storing sensitive information. A smart card capable of containing monetary instruments for use in financial transactions is herein referred to as a “stored-value smart card”. The term “issuer” herein denotes any entity which distributes smart cards for a particular purpose or set of purposes. The term “user” herein denotes any person using, or attempting to use, a specific smart card. The term “authorized user” herein denotes a person who has been given permission, or is “authorized”, to use that smart card for a specific purpose or set of purposes. In many cases, the authorized user of a smart card is the owner thereof, but the owner and authorized user need not be the same.
Prior art smart cards include but are not limited to, the various devices illustrated in the accompanying diagrams.
FIG. 1A
illustrates a smart card
100
substantially similar in external physical size and shape to an ordinary banking card or charge card, having a plastic card body
102
containing an active internal logic device (not shown), and having metallic electrical contacts
104
on the surface of card body
102
for interfacing with external devices and for obtaining electrical operating power therefrom. Normally, a smart card does not have a self-contained source of electrical power, but rather depends on an external device to supply electrical energy for operation (various configurations for powering a smart card are discussed herein).
FIG. 1B
illustrates an example of a smart card
150
as commercially distributed, usually having various markings printed thereon, such as the issuer's logo
152
or similar trademark, user photograph
154
, user name and identifying information
158
, and bar code
156
or other means of machine-readable identification independent of the active internal logic device. There is considerable variety in the markings found on commercial smart cards, and those shown in the figures are merely illustrative non-limiting examples. In addition, smart cards are sometimes embossed in a manner similar to that of ordinary charge cards, but the location where embossing is done is restricted to avoid damage to the active internal logic device. Furthermore, smart cards frequently have magnetic stripes on the reverse side (not shown), similar to that of ordinary charge cards.
FIG. 2
illustrates an example of a prior art contactless smart card
200
, which is similar to smart card
100
(FIG.
1
B), except that there are no electrical contacts
104
(as in FIGS.
1
A and
1
B). For interfacing with an external device, contactless smart card
200
has an internal radio frequency transceiver and antenna (not shown) to obtain electrical power from the radio frequency carrier transmitted by the external device, and to communicate therewith by radio-frequency transmission. Contactless smart cards are sometimes referred to as “proximity smart cards” or “RF smart cards”. Because contactless smart cards can interface with an external device merely by coming into proximity with that external device and without the need for contact therewith, the physical size and shape of contactless smart cards is variable.
Smart Card User Interaction
In addition to interfacing with external devices, a smart card must also be able to interact in some way with the user, although direct exchanges of data with the user are normally limited to a few basic commands from the user and limited information sent to the user (such as a monetary balance held within the smart card). A specialized form of interaction with the user involves the issue of authentication, which is discussed separately below.
Because of the limited interaction of a smart card with the user, only a simple visual display is generally needed to output information from the smart card to the user.
User input to a smart card is in the form of a sequence of symbols, where the sequence contains one or more symbols selectable from a predefined set. The sequence of symbols can represent a desired command, action, choice, selection, or response from the user to the smart card, and in many cases the sequence can consist of a single symbol. The term “symbol” herein includes, but is not limited to, alphabetic characters, numerical digits, words, abbreviations, punctuation signs, typographical marks, written notations, pictorial representations, abstract graphical elements and the like, as well as any combination thereof. Because the symbol set is limited, only a simple keypad is necessary to receive input from the user. The term “keypad” herein denotes any device having distinct user-activatable touch-sensitive, contact-sensitive, pressure-sensitive, or proximity-sensitive areas which respectively represent the different allowable symbols of the predefined symbol set, and which interfaces with another device to signal to that device the areas activated by the user or the symbols corresponding thereto. The terms “enter”, “entering”, and “entry” herein denote the action, by a user, and the result thereof, of sequentially activating the different areas of the keypad to indicate the different symbols of a sequence. The term “receiving” in the context of an entry into a keypad, or the symbols thereof, herein denotes an active response to the entry or symbols. The term “identifying indicia” herein denotes any features which physically distinguish or identify to a user the different areas of a keypad for the purposes of entering a sequence of symbols. Identifying indicia include, but are not limited to, printed, painted, molded, engraved, layered, laminated, attached, colored, cut, etched, embossed, debossed, raised, recessed, shaped, stamped, textured, electrically displayed, illuminated, imaged, reflecting, projected, punched, and holographic markings. The term “visible identifying indicia” herein denotes identifying indicia which are visible to the human eye. The term “conditionally visible identifying indicia” herein denotes identifying indicia which are visible to the human eye only when certain conditions are met. A keypad need not necessarily have identifying indicia, and these terms as used herein denote separate entities.
Variations of prior art smart cards include devices with additional capabilities for user interaction, such as the prototype combination smart card developed by Smart Card International, Inc., Daytona Beach, Fla. and illustrated in
FIG. 3. A
combination smart card
400
has a plastic card body
102
and electrical contacts
104
, but also contains a visual display
402
and a keypad
Teicher Mordechai
Townend Robin
Cardis Research & Development Ltd.
Le Thien M.
Needle & Rosenberg PC
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