International Business Machines Corporation

Hermann R Bublitz

Klaus Rindtorff

Walter Hanel

Jan Barthel

An apparatus according to the invention for communication of an application (,) with a chip card (,) in which there is at least one application data storing means (,), also known as the dictionary, for recording of information concerning application specific data of the application (,), and at least one chip card dialog module (,), also known as the agent, for the generation of commands using the application data storing means (,) for an interface to the chip card (,), whereby the chip card dialog module (,) contains card specific data concerning the chip card (,). A request (,) for communication to the chip card (,) is made by the application (,) to the chip card dialog module (,) which is specified for the chip card (,). Upon the request (,), the chip card dialog module (,) generates at least one command (,), which is required for communication with the chip card (,). To achieve this, the chip card dialog module (,) accesses application specific information for itself which is stored in the application data storing means (,).

Method for simplifying communication with chip cards

A method and a system are proposed for increasing the data integrity on smartcards. In accordance with the invention a sequence of write processes on a smartcard is defined as a unit for which the integrity of the data to be written is ensured. The write process may involve the writing of data to one or more files. The data of an integrity unit i.e. a unit of data for which the integrity is to be ensured is preferably written to shadow memory. The method in accordance with the invention decreases considerably the likelihood that data will be corrupted through an error in writing the data on the smartcard. Data can be restored or completed through the interface of read-write units. The method in accordance with the invention can serve as a basis for maintaining data files external to the smartcard consistent with data on the smartcard.

Method and system for improving the integrity of data on a smartcard

A translator (300) for generating a tool (315) for a modifying data on a chip card (10) or for a communicating with the chip card (10) is proposed, the translator (300) receiving as input data a description (310) in a card definition language provided for that purpose, said description (310) comprising information about objects on the chip card (10) which are described with the use of constructional instructions. The translator (300) comprises a means for generating an internal list of attributes (320) from the information about the objects in the description (310), there existing for each object at least one entry (330) in the internal list of attributes (320). The translator (300) furthermore comprises at least one structure information means (335) describing how the data stored in the at least one entry (330) in the internal list of attributes (320) is transformed into the format determined for the chip card (10), which information from the at least one entry (330) is used and in which format it is stored in the special structure.

Device and method for the simplified generation of tools for the

Method for controlling line printers comprising a revolving type band (400) and a print hammer bank for precalculating the firing times of the print hammers. The type band generally comprises equidistantly spaced scannable time marks (402) and a reference mark (501). The character spacing on the type band is subject to a coarse raster pitch .DELTA.T which is derived from the time mark pitch. The time mark positions are associated with coarse raster positions. The arrangement of the print hammers is subject to a coarse raster pitch .DELTA.T and a fine raster pitch .DELTA.T. Coarse and fine raster values are defined as time values. The hammers are sorted according to the fine raster values and their firing times are calculated by means of a special algorithm according to the order resulting from the sort step. The calculated values are entered in a first table (600) (comprising a field for each coarse raster value) and in a second table (700) (in which the fine raster values associated with the coarse raster value are entered). The printer control method permits

Method for controlling line printers comprising a revolving type band

Microprocessor-controlled adapter circuit for real-time controls, in particular for print hammer controls in line printers with revolving type carrier with two asynchronously driven FIFO buffers (FIRST IN, FIRST OUT). The first FIFO buffer contains time values (e.g., firing times for the print hammers) and the second FIFO buffer control information associated with these time values (e.g., print hammer address, control commands for the print hammer). By a request circuit (e.g., counters), the time values are successively read from the first FIFO buffer and fed to a gate circuit for switching the control information, associated with these time values, from the second FIFO buffer for controlling the output values. A method of determining the firing times of the print hammers uses a reduced table in which for each character in each print position the positions (time values), in which the character is to be printed, are stored only for some displacement values of the revolving type carrier relative to the printer frame. For the remaining displacement values, the time values for character printing can be determined by division, using the table data. Mechanical or electrical tolerances influencing the firing times of the print hammers are compensated for by accommodating in the table additional correction delay values for the print hammers, thus eliminating adjustments.

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Boblingen, Germany

Hermann R Bublitz