System and method for flexibly loading in IC card

• US 6,488,211 B1
• Filed: 05/12/1998
• Issued: 12/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Multos Ltd (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Mondex International Ltd. (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Everett, David Barrington, Richards, Timothy Philip, Miller, Stuart James, Viner, John Charles, Simmons, Ian Stephen, Peacham, Anthony David
• Primary Examiner(s): TREMBLAY, MARK STEPHEN
• Application Number:
  US09/076,550
• Time in Patent Office: 1,666 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 235/379, 235/492, 705/41
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0719 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising an arrangement for application selection, e.g. an acceleration sensor or a set of radio buttons application selection on smart cards using pure software control, see G07F7/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/355 Personalisation of cards for use
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3552 Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/35765 Access rights to memory zones
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4097 using mutual authentication between devices and transaction partners
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40975 using encryption therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/084 Additional components relating to data transfer and storing, e.g. error detection, self-diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1016 Devices or methods for securing the PIN and other transaction-data, e.g. by encryption arrangements for secret communication, see H04L9/00

Abstract

A system and method of flexibly loading an application and its associated data from an application provider onto an IC card. The application and its associated data is divided into segments which can each fit into the input buffer of an Integrated circuit card. Each segment is transmitted separately and the Integrated circuit card then stores the segment in an available space in the IC card'"'"'s memory. The segments can be placed in non-contiguous memory in order to reduce memory fragmentation.

Claims

1. A method for loading an application and its associated data from an application provider onto an integrated circuit card, subsequent to issuance of the card, wherein said integrated circuit card comprises a memory containing one or more available spaces resulting from content deletions from or additions to said memory, and wherein said one or more available spaces are each defined by a contiguous memory space of sequential memory addresses with no skipped addresses, comprising the steps of:

determining said integrated circuit card'"'"'s input buffer size;

dividing said application to be loaded and its associated data into a plurality of segments, each segment adapted to be stored in said integrated circuit card'"'"'s input buffer wherein the size of each segment is a function of the determined input buffer size;

separately transmitting each said segment to said integrated circuit card;

storing each said separately transmitted segment in one of said one or more available spaces of said integrated circuit card'"'"'s memory depending on the size of each segment; and

determining an available area in said integrated circuit card'"'"'s memory to store each said segment, wherein said step of determining an available area comprises determining which of said one or more available spaces has the smallest available area in said integrated circuit card'"'"'s memory in which said segment can be stored.

2. A system for loading an application and its associated data onto an integrated circuit card subsequent to issuance of the card comprising:

an application provider comprising means for determining said integrated circuit'"'"'s input buffer size, means for dividing said application and its associated data into a plurality of segments each segment adapted to be stored in said integrated circuit card'"'"'s input buffer wherein the size of each segment is a function of the determined input buffer size, and means for separately transmitting each said segment to said integrated circuit card; and

an integrated circuit card comprising a memory containing one or more available spaces resulting from content deletions from or additions to said memory wherein said one or more available spaces are each defined by a contiguous memory space of sequential memory addresses with no skipped addresses, means for receiving said transmitted segments, means for storing each said transmitted segment in one of said one or more available spaces of said integrated circuit card'"'"'s memory depending on the size of each segment, and means for determining an available area in said memory to store each said segment, wherein said means for determining an available area is for determining which of said one or more available spaces has the smallest available area in which said segment can be stored.

3. A method for loading an application and its associated data from an application provider onto an integrated circuit card, subsequent to issuance of the card, wherein said integrated circuit card comprises a memory containing one or more available spaces resulting from content deletions from or additions to said memory, and wherein said one or more available spaces are each defined by a contiguous memory space of sequential memory addresses with no skipped addresses, comprising the steps of:

determining said integrated circuit card'"'"'s input buffer size;

dividing said application to be loaded and its associated data into a plurality of segments, each segment adapted to be stored in said integrated circuit card'"'"'s input buffer wherein the size of each segment is a function of the determined input buffer size;

separately transmitting each said segment to said integrated circuit card; and

storing each said separately transmitted segment in one of said one or more available spaces of said integrated circuit card'"'"'s memory depending on the size of each segment, wherein at least two of said plurality of segments are not stored in two contiguous available spaces, and wherein said at least two of said plurality of segments which are stored in non-contiguous spaces are contiguous with at least a portion of another application previously stored on said integrated circuit card.

4. A system for loading an application and its associated data onto an integrated circuit card subsequent to issuance of the card comprising:

an application provider comprising means for determining said integrated circuit'"'"'s input buffer size, means for dividing said application and its associated data into a plurality of segments each segment adapted to be stored in said integrated circuit card'"'"'s input buffer wherein the size of each segment is a function of the determined input buffer size, and means for separately transmitting each said segment to said integrated circuit card; and

an integrated circuit card comprising a memory containing one or more available spaces resulting from content deletions from or additions to said memory wherein said one or more available spaces are each defined by a contiguous memory space of sequential memory addresses with no skipped addresses, means for receiving said transmitted segments and means for storing each said transmitted segment in one of said one or more available spaces of said integrated circuit card'"'"'s memory depending on the size of each segment, wherein at least two of said plurality of segments are not stored in two contiguous available spaces in said integrated circuit card, and wherein said at least two of said plurality of segments which are stored in non-contiguous spaces are contiguous with at least a portion of another application previously stored on said integrated circuit card.