EEurope SmartCards

Starting back in the late 1960s, the story of the smart card follows the trail of technology through the second half of the 20th century. Helmut Grottrup came up with the first card with an automated chip inside. He was a rocket scientist, but the cards didn’t see use until almost thirty years later, and then were only to be used as swipe cards on French pay phones. The Frenchman Roland Moreno invented the first memory card in 1974. This version of the smart card is widely used today; video game systems, digital cameras, etc.

Smart cards have been put to everyday use now. Bus passes are a version of the smart card, the ID cards used by numerous businesses for their employees, and contactless credit cards all use this technology.

Germany uses smart cards for cigarette machines, ensuring that only age-appropriate customers buy. Argentina had the idea of using smart cards in driver’s licenses. The country had been plagued by countless car wrecks, massive amounts of unpaid fines, and the driving situation was in poor shape in general. With smart card driver’s licenses, unpaid fines couldn’t fall through the cracks, and poor driving records couldn’t be escaped from. A state in India, Gujarat, later did the same.

A smart card works in this manner: when the card is swiped or pressed again its reader, the card will download software to the reader, which then relays the information to whatever machine may be in use, whether it be a camera or a building’s gateway. Programs like SmartcardManagar can download software through APDU (Application Process Data Unit), which is what actually handles the communication that goes on between the smart card and the smart card reader.

If you think the smart card is a new invention, keep in mind that its use dates back to 1968, when two men, named Helmut Grottrup and Jurgen Dethloff, invented what they called an automated chip card. However, these German rocket scientists would not obtain a patent for the card until 1982. At that point, the cards were called Telecarte. Consumers in France began using them a year later to use pay phones.

Smart Cards Grow In Popularity

In 1974, a man named Roland Moreno added his contribution to the smart card. At that time, he patented the concept of a memory card. Just three years after this, another inventor, Michel Ugon invented a new version, which contained a microprocessor. The following year, Honeywell Bull, who Ugon worked on behalf of, invented what was called the SPOM, or Self Programmable One Chip Microcomputer. This device was necessary to load information onto chip and was a critical component of the design of the smart card.

During the next years, Honeywell Bull would amass some 1200 patents, all related to smart cards in some way. The company would later sell some of these to other competitors as the need and the demand for these devices became larger.
In the 1990’s, the smart card really took off for general public use. It was at this point that smart card based SIM’s and GSM mobile phone equipment entered Europe. With their use in mobile phones, there was no doubt that these small devices, which just a few decades previously were unknown, would become such a dominant element in the marketplace.

Today, individuals looking for them can find smart cards throughout daily life. They are part of everything from mobile phones to health record devices and identification tools. It is even possible to find Kmart coupons and other discounts on products that contain these all important devices for everyday life.

Have you been to a major casino lately? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t. Some people get down on the poker tables, and some people would rather stay at home and read a book. It’s no problem either way. But if you have been to a lot of casinos lately, you may have noticed that you do not necessarily need to use change for some of the machines anymore. A lot of these places let you get a membership of sorts, and load money into a little thing called a smart card. While they don’t look like much, smart cards are pretty much taking over the world, a little bit at a time.

All you have to do is scan your smart card, and the microprocessor changes a little variable inside. Without trying to sound all technical, the cards knows how much money you have on it. And the card knows what you use it for most often, so it can help you find deals that you’ll actually like to use. With smart cards, you can get a lot of great services and little perks, without having to fill out a bunch of stupid forms.

But casino comps are not the only way a smart card is changing the subtle aspects of people’s lives. If only it were that small and contained. Smart cards are being used to make buying goods easier – just swipe the card, and it does the rest. That tiny little computer can store all sorts of neat information – such as your identification. Who needs a key to get into the office, when all you have to do is swipe your card and waltz on in? While the technology isn’t perfect (and really, when is it ever?), it works nearly all the time. And the convenience just can’t be beaten.