Smart gets smarter
a smart card that can pretend to be a floppy disc is due to be launched in the uk soon. It will allow the user to programme numbers into his or her cellphone simply by slotting the card into the floppy disc drive of a computer.
The card fits into a shell that resembles a standard 3.5-inch floppy disc. The shell also contains a microprocessor powered by a tiny battery. Electrical contacts inside the shell mate with contacts on the card.
The microprocessor reads the data stored in the smart card's memory, converts the data in to the standard format that is used on the normal floppies, and then feeds the resulting signal to an induction coil mounted on a disc shell. This coil then radiates a fluctuating magnetic signal. Software installed in the computer instructs the read/write head of the floppy disc drive to move to a position where it can pick up the signal from the coil in the dummy disc shell as if it were coming from a genuine spinning disc. To record information on the card, the computer sends a signal to the disc drive head, which is then picked up by the coil mounted on the dummy disc and passed to its built-in microprocessor. The processor reformats the data so that it can be written onto the smart card ( New Scientist , Vol 158, No 2128).
Cellphones normally contain a smart card that can save up to 200 names and numbers. But using the phone's keypad to enter and then edit these numbers is so laborious than few people even bother to store more than a few important numbers.
This new system will allow the users to write and edit the list of numbers on their computer, then transfer it on to the smart card through the floppy disc drive. If the user loses or damages the smart card, the original list can easily be recovered from the computer's memory. The system uses proprietary smart cards