Patent ID: 8152074

Claim:
A method for personalizing a multi-application smart card comprising: preparing, by a smart card issuer, an anonymous smart card, for issuance to an end-user, wherein said anonymous smart card comprises (i) one or more anonymous end-user applications that can be either enabled or disabled depending on whether a use requires that the end-user be identified, or does not require that the end-user be identified, including wherein each of said one or more anonymous end-user applications is disabled for those uses requiring an identified end-user, and wherein said each of said one or more anonymous end-user applications is enabled for those uses not requiring an identified end-user; (ii) at least one anonymous external application; and (iii) an end-user-controlled partition that includes a plurality of empty fields for storing user data for an identified end-user; wherein said preparing comprises determining, by said smart card issuer, a unique internal identifier for said anonymous smart card, and installing an internal identifier based at least in part on said unique internal identifier, and determining, by said smart card issuer, a unique external identifier for said anonymous smart card, and installing an external identifier based at least in part on said unique external identifier; receiving, by said smart card issuer, a smart card request; and issuing, by said smart card issuer, said a prepared anonymous smart card.