Preparing smartcard for the future: from passive to active

Smartcard is originally designed as a passive authentication device. Retaining this passive role will limit its potential and it will eventually be superceded by other technologies. Therefore, it is a must for smartcard to take the active role in the near future. In light of this, this paper presents a novel card-centric framework, in which the smartcard becomes the master whereas the card-connected terminal only a slave. The system prototype based on current smartcard technologies shows reasonable results, whereas another demo system that makes use of enhanced smartcard technologies provides a significant improvement in user perception and proves the feasibility of the framework in the future. Anticipating technology advancement so that all the performance requirements are met, applications will benefit from the framework in portability, data integrity, and chances for hardware-software customization.