Smart Card Reader

Smart ID

Smart Card Reader / Specification of Smart ID Card

Features of Smart Card Reader

To process a smart ID card (e.g. use the e-Cert embedded to conduct electronic transactions), the computer has to be equipped with a smart card reader with the following mandatory features.

Mandatory Features

To process a smart ID card, a smart card reader with the following mandatory features is required.

Feature	Requirement	Remarks
Smart Card Interface Standard	ISO 7816	ISO 7816 is required as the smart ID card adopts this standard.
Driver	PC/SC	As the applications in the smart ID card conform to the PC/SC specification, a PC/SC driver supporting the OS of the computer is required.

Brief descriptions of the features are provided below :

(a) Smart Card Interface Standard - ISO 7816 is an international standard that describes the interface requirements for contact-type smart card. It has multiple parts. Part 1, 2 and 3 are applicable to card readers. Part 1 defines the physical characteristics of the card. Part 2 defines dimension and location of chip contacts of the card. Part 3 defines electronic signals and transmission protocols of the card. Card readers may be referred to as conforming to ISO 7816 1/2/3, or in its simplified term, ISO 7816.

(b) Driver - This refers to the software used by the operating system (OS) of a PC for managing a smart card and a card reader. To read a smart ID card, the driver of the card reader must be PC/SC compliant which is supported by most card reader products available in market. It should be noted that different OS would require different drivers. In acquiring card readers, the compatibility between the driver and the OS has to be ensured.

Desirable Features

In addition to the mandatory features, the following desirable features would be required subject to the needs of the cardholders :

Feature	Requirement	Remarks
Type of Card Contact	Landing contact	Landing contact type is desired in view of the protection it can provide to the smart ID card which is expected to last for at least 10 years.
Software Interface Standard	Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV)	EMV is desired in consideration of its capability for supporting potential electronic payment applications.

Brief descriptions of the features are provided below :

(a) Type of Card Contact - It refers to how the contact between a card reader and a card is physically made. There are basically two main types of contact : landing contact and friction contact (also known as sliding or wiping). For card readers of friction contact, the contact part is fixed. The contact wipes on the card surface and the chip when a card is inserted. For card readers of the landing type, the contact part is movable. The contact “lands” on the chip after a card is wholly inserted. In general, card reader of landing type provides better protection to the card than that of the friction type.

(b) Software Interface Standard – EMV is a common application standard developed by the consortium of Europay International, MasterCard International and Visa International (EMV) with an aim to facilitate the use of smart cards for payments worldwide. To pave the way for future payment applications that may run on a smart card, it may be worth acquiring a card reader that supports EMV.

Related Software

To access the e-Cert on smart ID card, the e-Cert Control Manager software provided by the Hongkong Post Certification Authority is required. It can be downloaded from the Hongkong Post Certification Authority website.

Specification of Smart ID Card

To facilitate the manufacturing/sourcing of the smart card readers, a high level specification of the smart ID card is provided below for reference :

Card Standard
Electrical Contacts	ISO7816
Physical characteristics	ISO7810 (ID-1)
Operating System
MULTOS version 4.06 or higher
Chip Characteristics
Brand	Infineon
Family	SLE66Plus
EEPROM Size	32 kbytes
Card Characteristics
Card material	Polycarbonate
Card type	Microprocessor

Top

End of page