Glossary of Terms

  • ADEPT - Automated Debiting and Electronic Payment for Transport.

  • APACS - Association for Payment Clearing Services. APACS is the industry body, which manages the main networks, which allow UK banks and building societies to exchange payments on behalf of their customers. Every smart card has an APACS registered serial number that uniquely identifies the owner and the card.

  • API - Application Programming Interface.

  • ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

  • ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit

  • ATMAutomated Teller Machine

  • CAD - Card Acceptor/Accepting Device. A key component in reader/writer terminals and the mechanism into which a smart card is inserted.

  • CCC - Common Chip Card.

  • CEN - Comité Eurpoeen de Normalisation: The European standards association.

  • CEPS - The Common Electronic Purse Specifications.

  • Chip card - Also known as an Integrated Circuit Card (ICC) or smart card. A chip card is a plastic payment card with a microchip built into it, which can store and process information.

  • CIS - Card Information Structure: A data structure written on every card that complies with the PCMCIA standard containing information about the formatting and organisation of the data on the card.

  • Clearing - The process of transmitting, reconciling and in some cases, confirming payment orders prior to settlement. Sometimes the term is used (imprecisely) to include settlement.

  • Contact smart card - A card with visible module (usually coloured gold), which has six or eight contact points.

  • Contactless smart card - Smart card capable of working with a read/write unit without physical connection.

  • Cryptography - The application of mathematical theory to develop techniques and algorithms that can be applied to data to ensure goals such as confidentiality, data integrity, and/or authentication.

  • Dual Interface smart cardA card that combines the features of both contact and contactless cards.

  • e-Cash - Electronic cash, also known as electronic purse. A small monetary value stored in electronic form on an electronic device such as a smart card.

  • EMV - Europay, Mastercard and Visa International, integrated circuit card specifications.

  • EPOS - EPOS Electronic Point Of Sale.

  • GUI - Graphical User Interface.

  • IPR - Intellectual Property Rights.

  • ISO - International Standard Organisation.

  • ITSO - Integrated Transport Smart card Organisation. ITSO is a member organisation founded to help deliver smart card systems in public transport in the UK.

  • Java - One of the most open, flexible programming languages currently in use. It is being enthusiastically adopted by the smart card industry. Java makes it easier to combine multiple functions on a single card and maximises space on the chip. It also provides a greater degree of security and interoperability and enables access from a variety of devices.

  • KB - Kilobyte (1024 bytes)

  • Multi-application smart card - A smart card capable of storing data from a number of different applications- such as electronic purse, ID and health records. The application may be provided by different parties or be controlled by a single scheme developer.

  • NIM - Net-user Identifier Module. The Global Chip-card Alliance's NIM project is a collaborative effort by member organisations to design a single application that will enable smart card terminals worldwide to identify and grant access to "foreign" application providers.

  • OPUS - Open Architecture Purse System.

  • PAC - Pin Authentication Code

  • PBT - Pin Based Transaction.

  • PC/SC - The PC/CS Workgroup is a joint effort of CP8 (Groupe Bull), Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Schlumberger and Siemens Nixdorf, initiated to develop a draft specification that can facilitate the interoperability necessary to allow smart cards to be effectively utilised within the PC environment.

  • PCMCIA - Personal Computer Memory Card International Association.

  • PIN - Personal Identification Number.

  • PKC - Public Key Cryptography.

  • PKI - Public Key Infrastructure.

  • SAM - Secure Applications Module. A device used on some e-Purse schemes to authenticate transactions.

  • SBC - Smart Bank Card.

  • SCIA - Smart Card Industry Association.

  • SET - Secure Electronic Transaction.

  • SICAP - SIM card Application Platform.

  • SIM - Subscriber Identity Module.

  • Smart Card - An intelligent, credit card sized piece of plastic that owes its intelligence to a tiny microprocessor computer circuit or chip stored within.

  • SVC - Stored-Value -Card: Term usually applied to prepaid cards with a predetermined value that is used until exhausted.

  • TC - Transaction Certificate: A cryptogram, generated by the chip card that can be used as proof that card approved the transaction and that the data sent to clearing relates to the transaction.