Abstract:
A smartcard communicating simultaneously with a smart phone and a point of sale, thereby allowing the smartcard to act as a bridge between the point of sale and the smart phone. The smart card is typically powered by the point of sale and typically communicates with the smart phone using BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE).

Description:
[0001]    The current developments in mobile payments is leading to the dematerialization of smart cards (e.g. credit cards) into a virtual wallet which is typically made possible at an electronic transaction terminal such as the point of sale (POS) by, for example, a Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled phone. For secure and efficient use, a Secure Element (SE) is typically needed in the mobile or smart phone to house a digital wallet. If the mobile phone does not have a secure element, secure online connectivity to a cloud is typically required for transactions using a virtual wallet stored in a cloud. The cloud is defined to be a communications network such as, for example, the Internet. Smart phones typically do not have ISO7816 (international standard related to electronic identification cards with contacts) connectivity so that mobile phones need to be equipped with, for example, NFC capability and additionally there needs to be NFC transaction terminal capability at the point of sale (POS). NFC transaction terminal capability typically requires significant additional investment by the merchant and during the transition away from a smart card to the virtual wallet using NFC, a merchant and the card issuer will typically need to support both solutions (virtual and physical cards). However, smart phones today typically have BLUETOOTH capability for headset connectivity. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0002]      FIG. 1  shows an embodiment in accordance with the invention. 
           [0003]      FIG. 2  shows an embodiment in accordance with the invention. 
           [0004]      FIG. 3  shows an embodiment in accordance with the invention. 
           [0005]      FIG. 4  shows an embodiment in accordance with the invention. 
           [0006]      FIG. 5  shows an embodiment in accordance with the invention. 
           [0007]      FIG. 6  shows an embodiment in accordance with the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0008]    In accordance with the invention, interoperability between various payment solutions is provided by adding mobile payment capability to typical bank cards such as, for example, personal account number (PAN) embossed cards, magnetic stripe cards, contact cards and contactless cards by having the card interface to a smart phone and the POS. The smart phone interfaces to the cloud. Typical elements in accordance with the invention are the cloud, smart phone, smartcard and POS. Each communication link may be built on a number of technologies. The communication link between the cloud and the smart phone may be Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G or other suitable data connection. The communication link between the smart phone and the smartcard is typically compliant with existing smart phone wireless low power short range connectivity solutions such as BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE) or NFC (Near Field Communication), for example. The communication link between the smartcard and the POS is compliant with the POS connectivity such as ISO 7816 (contact card) and /or ISO 14443 (contactless/NFC card). The smartcard is powered by the POS typically via the ISO 7816 contacts and/or ISO 14443 (contactless/NFC). 
         [0009]    In accordance with the invention, all communication links between the smart phone and the smartcard must be authenticated and secured. Hence, an initial pairing between the digital wallet and the smartcard is typically required. The initial pairing may occur via pre-personalization, bootstrapped using a shared secret (e.g. using a number on a scratch card) or performed by an accredited retailer. 
         [0010]    In an embodiment in accordance with the invention shown in  FIG. 1 , ISO 7816 and/or ISO 14443 (contactless/NFC) connectivity to the POS is provided for the digital wallet (not shown) located either in smart phone  125  or cloud  115  using smartcard  120 , typically in its classical ISO 7816 shape. Smartcard  120  allows the digital wallet to communicate with ISO 7816 POS  130  or ISO 14443 POS  135  using smartcard  120  as the interface between POS  130  or POS  135  and smart phone  125 . The digital wallet may reside in virtual SE  116  in cloud  115  or in real SE  116  in smart phone  125  and communication occurs between SE  116  via smart phone  125  and POS  130  or  135  via ISO 7816 communication link  118  or ISO 14443 communication link  117 , respectively. Smartcard  120  functions as a bridge between incompatible technologies such as, for example, POS  130  or POS  135  and smart phone  125  being BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE)  110  enabled. 
         [0011]    In an embodiment in accordance with the invention, smartcard  120  may be equipped with SE  540  (see  FIGS. 4 and 5 ) having a functionality typical of conventional bank card SEs. SE  540  typically supports one or two payment schemes and is already appropriately certified or smartcard  120  may not have an SE. Note that communication link (2) between POS  430  or  435  and smart phone  425  does not rely on the SE  540  of smartcard  420  (see  FIGS. 4 and 5 ). In an embodiment in accordance with the invention, smartcard  120  may lack SE  540  (see  FIG. 2 ). 
         [0012]    Typically, smartcard  120  is typically powered by POS  130  or  135  and establishes BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE) communication link  110  between smartcard  120  and the digital wallet stored in SE  116  of smart phone  125 . Smartcard  120  may also be powered by an on-board battery. Smartcard  120  functions as a relay between POS  130  or  135  and smart phone  125  with adequate protocol encapsulation and transformation. On ISO 14443 communication link  117  and ISO 7816 communication link  118 , data are transmitted on the physical layer as bytes bundled in Application Protocol Data Units (APDUs). The APDUs become the data payload of BLE communication link  110  and are encrypted according to the BLE standard which provides for full AES-128 encryption using CCM (Counter with CBC-MAC). Because the data payload for BLE is between 8 bytes and 27 bytes, APDUs shorter than the minimum length need to be padded and APDUs longer than the maximum length need to be broken into pieces to comply with the BLE standard. 
         [0013]    The actual transaction is processed in the digital wallet stored in SE  116  of smart phone  125 . In an embodiment in accordance with the invention, the transaction may be relayed to the user&#39;s virtual digital wallet in cloud  115  which includes virtual SE  116  and smart phone  125  is not required to have an SE. Smart phone  125  relays the transaction up to cloud  115  and the actual transaction is processed in the user&#39;s virtual digital wallet in cloud  115  using SE  116 . 
         [0014]    In an embodiment in accordance with the invention, smartcard  120  acts as a communication interface and protocol adapter between POS  130  or  135  and BLUETOOTH Low Energy equipped smart phone  125 .  FIG. 2  shows adapter chip  200  for smartcard  120  in an embodiment in accordance with the invention. Control logic  205  bridges BLUETOOTH Low Energy Interface (BLE)  210  either to ISO 7816 contact interface  215  or ISO 14443 contactless interface  220  to provide for autonomous bi-directional data transfer between smart phone  125  and POS  130  or  135 . Typically all links between interfaces  210 ,  215  and  220  and control logic  205  are serial UARTs (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter). 
         [0015]      FIG. 3  shows the operation of adapter chip  200  in accordance with the invention. In step  310 , power is provided via either contactless interface  220  or contact interface  215  to power smartcard  120  from POS  130  or  135 . In step  320 , control logic  205  determines whether contactless interface  220  is providing the power or whether contact interface  215  is providing the power to smartcard  120 . 
         [0016]    If power is provided via contactless interface  220 , in step  340  the Answer To Select (ATS) activation sequence is initiated for smartcard  120  upon reception of the Request to Answer To Select (RATS) from POS  135 . ATS is part of the activation sequence for smartcards that communicate using ISO 14443. In step  360 , a communication link is established between smart phone  125  and POS  135  via smartcard  120  using BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE) communication link  110  between smart phone  125  and smartcard  120  and using ISO 14443 communication link  117  between smartcard  120  and POS  135 . 
         [0017]    If power is provided via contact interface  215 , in step  330  smartcard  120  outputs Answer to Reset (ATR) to start communication with POS  130 . ATR is a message output by smartcard  120  when using ISO 7816 following electrical reset of smartcard  120  by POS  130 . In step  350 , a communication link is established between smart phone  125  and POS  130  via smartcard  120  using BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE) communication link  110  between smart phone  125  and smartcard  120  and using ISO 7816 communication link  118  between smartcard  120  and POS  130 . 
         [0018]    In an embodiment in accordance with the invention in  FIG. 4 , smartcard  420  has SE  540  which is a typical bankcard type SE as mentioned above. This allows smart phone  425  to function as a user interface, for example, (e.g. for entering PIN numbers) when smart phone  425  does not incorporate an SE but instead smartcard  420  incorporates SE  540 . 
         [0019]    Having smartcard  420  equipped with SE  540  also provides a fallback solution to address situations where POS  430  or POS  435  cannot operate with smart phone  425  via smartcard  420 . For example, the user may not have smart phone  425  with him, the smart phone battery may not have charge or smartcard  420  is inserted into a reader slot and shielded, so that a communication link with smart phone  425  is not possible. Smartcard  420  is typically powered by POS  430  or POS  435  over ISO 7816 communication link  418  or ISO 14443 communication link  417 , respectively. 
         [0020]      FIG. 5  shows adaptor chip  500 . Communication link (1) provides for communication between POS  435  or POS  430  and SE  540  where routing is controlled by control logic  505  and provides for switching to SE  540  if, for example, a communication link to smart phone  425  (having SE  416 ) is not possible using BLE I/F  410  (e.g., the battery of smart phone  425  is too low or exhausted or the user does not have smart phone  425  with them) or a communication link between smart phone  425  (lacking real SE  416 ) and cloud  415  is not possible (e.g. data connectivity to cloud  415  is not available). 
         [0021]    If smart phone  425  is available and includes real SE  416  or smart phone  425  is able to communicate with virtual SE  416  in cloud  415 ,  FIG. 5  shows communication link (2) is selectable between POS  430  or POS  435  and smart phone  425  using contact I/F (ISO 7816)  515  or contactless IF (ISO 14443)  520  via control logic  505  to BLE I/F  510 . 
         [0022]    If smart phone  425  is available and does not include an SE but smartcard  420  does include typical bankcard SE  540 , communication may be established between POS  430  or POS  435  and SE  540  using communication link (1) and communication between SE  540  and BLE/IF  510  may be established using communication link (3). This allows smart phone  425  to act as a remote user interface to SE  540  in smartcard  420 , for example. Communication links (1) and (3) may be in operation simultaneously or alternately. 
         [0023]      FIG. 6  shows the operation of adapter chip  500  in  FIG. 5  in an embodiment in accordance with the invention. In step  610 , smartcard  420  is powered via ISO contact interface  515  or ISO contactless interface  520  of POS  430  or POS  435 , respectively. In step  620 , control logic  505  determines whether contactless interface  520  is providing the power to smartcard  420  or whether contact interface  515  is providing the power to smartcard  420  and then selects the appropriate protocol ATR or ATS for communications. ATR and ATS protocols are slightly different and ATR is selected if POS  430  supplies the power to smartcard  420  and ATS is selected if POS  435  supplies the power to smartcard  420 . 
         [0024]    Control logic  505  in step  630  determines whether smart phone  425  having BLE capability is available. If not, communication link (1) is established in step  650  between SE  540  of smartcard  420  and contact I/F  515  or contactless I/F  520  by control logic  505 . If smart phone  425  having BLE capability is available, in step  640  it is determined whether single or dual mode operation is to be selected. Typically, dual mode is selected in step  640  if smart phone  425  does not have an SE and in step  660  communication link (1) is established between ISO 7816 or ISO 14443 and SE  540  and communication link (3) is established between SE  540  and BLE I/F  510  by control logic  505 . If single mode is selected in step  640 , communication link (2) between ISO 7816 or ISO 14443 and BLE I/F  510  is established by control logic  505 . Note that single mode typically requires that smart phone  425  have real SE  416  or that smart phone  425  can connect to virtual SE  416  in cloud  415 .