Patent ID: 8079530

Claim:
A smart card reader (SCR) for managing concurrent access to a smart card by a plurality of accessing devices, the SCR comprising: a processor; a channel manager responsive to the processor for interfacing with the smart card; and a communication interface responsive to the channel manager for communicating with the plurality of accessing devices, wherein, when a first session is open on a first channel between a first accessing device and the smart card and the channel manager receives a session request from a second accessing device, the channel manager is configured to issue an open channel command to the smart card to cause the smart card to open a second session on a second channel between the second accessing device and the smart card, wherein, while the first session is open, the channel manager is configured to: receive data units from the second accessing device intended for transmission to the smart card on the first channel; and modify the data units to indicate that the data units are intended for transmission to the smart card over the second channel, and wherein, when the channel manager receives a close session request from the first accessing device, the channel manager is configured to: issue a close channel command to the smart card to close the second channel; issue the close session request from the first accessing device to the smart card to close the first session and the first channel; and issue a further session request to the smart card to re-open the first channel, and continue the second session on the re-opened first channel.