Smart Card OS Auto-Configuring Data Migration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for configuring smart cards are complex and require either simultaneous installation of the operating system (OS) and card-specific data or involve handling each smart card twice, making it difficult to manage and secure the initialization process.
Innovation Solution
An automatically configurable smart card system that allows the initialization of card-specific data before the OS, enabling the OS to rely on pre-configured cryptographic keys and using a generic data structure that can be migrated during the first boot, with integrity checks using hash or cyclic redundancy check algorithms for security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the OS and card specific data are installed simultaneously in one go, then the configuration process is completed in a single step, but different entire images are required for every smart card even if they differ only in one unique cryptographic key pair
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the smart card configuration into two independent parts: a common OS image that can be shared across multiple cards, and card-specific data (such as cryptographic keys) that are individually configured. This allows the OS to be initialized once and reused, while only the specific data needs to be customized for each card, thereby reducing image management complexity while maintaining configuration efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring card-specific data in the non-volatile memory before the OS initialization process. This allows the OS to be loaded and initialized first, and then automatically detect and utilize the pre-existing card-specific data during its first boot, eliminating the need for separate configuration steps and complex image management.
2Ease of operation
If the OS is initialized first and then card specific data is imported, then the smart card can be handled in a standardized sequence, but every smart card has to be handled twice which increases processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reverses the traditional sequence by performing preliminary configuration of card-specific data in the non-volatile memory before OS initialization. This allows the OS to be initialized once and automatically detect the pre-configured data during its first boot, eliminating the need for a second handling step and reducing total configuration time while maintaining standardized procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The OS is designed to automatically detect and utilize pre-configured card-specific data during its first initialization boot. This self-service capability eliminates the need for manual or automated second-handling processes, reducing processing time while maintaining standardized configuration sequences.
3Reliability
If card specific data is stored in non-volatile memory before OS installation, then the OS can rely on pre-configured cryptographic keys, but the data structure must be migrated during the first boot requiring integrity checks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent stores card-specific data including cryptographic keys in the non-volatile memory with preliminary structure and integrity information (such as hash values) before OS installation. During the OS first boot, the system automatically migrates this data to the appropriate file system structures and performs integrity verification, ensuring security while managing the migration process systematically.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms through integrity checks (such as hash verification) during the data migration process. The system verifies the integrity of pre-configured card-specific data during OS initialization, providing feedback to ensure security and reliability while managing the complexity of data migration through automated verification protocols.
Data Source
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AI summary
An automatically configurable smart card comprises - a generic data structure provided for containing smart card specific data, and - a smart card operating system being adapted to automatically detect the generic data structure and to migrate the generic data structure.