e-Wallet

THE FUTURE OF CARDS

Abstract:Using the basic concepts of Embedded Systems, an idea for changing the future of Cards (Banking, Petro, Health, Televoice, etc.) is proposed in this pa per. Requirement of a special card reader, limited lifetime, acceptance being th e main disadvantages of today s traditional cards, led to the design of e-Wallet. The main objective of e-Wallet is to make paperless money transaction easier. Th e main idea behind this paper is to bring in a cheaper, more versatile and much more easily usable kind of a card. Using this e-Wallet the transaction procedure can be as simple as: the customer goes to the point of sale (POS), does the pur chasing and when it comes to the payment, the customer submits his e-Wallet to v ender who connects it to his terminal (PC).The vender displays the billing infor mation to the customer who finalizes it. The amount in the e-Wallet is updated a ccordingly. Later at periodic intervals, the vender intimates the bank (in case of credit cards) which transfers the amount from the customer (s) account to his. The advantages of e-Wallet are its ease of use (doesn t require a separate card re ader), ease of maintenance, flexibility, safety, being the primary ones. The des igning of the card is similar to any other embedded card. The designing cost of the card (e-Wallet) being as low as the price of a pizza. There are ample enhanc ements to this application from credit cards to televoice cards. Unlike traditio nal cards which are application oriented, all the applications software can be em bedded into this e-Wallet which provides multi-functionality. Introduction:With the advent of computers many technologies are taking this worl d by a surprise. These include Embedded Systems (ES), Artificial Intelligence (A I), Neural Networks (NN), Fuzzy Logic, Bluetooth and many more are upcoming. Thi s paper deals with Embedded Systems in a new perspective. In easy terms, Embedded Systems can be viewed as a combination of ha rdware and software components, in which the software is implanted into the hard ware to do the specific job. These ES were implemented in various fields from Ba ttery chargers to Aviation Systems besides Cell phones (GSM, GPRS, CDMA, etc.). These ES are being developed in leaps and bounds . The never-ending efforts of many scientists in the field of ES led to the evolution of Smart Technology (ST). Using the basic concept of ES, an idea for changing the future of Cards (Banking , Petro, Health etc.) is proposed in this paper. To interpret this idea, it is f irst needed to know the pros & cons of today s traditional cards. Consider the examp le of banking: The magnetic stripe cards used for transactions are as simple as visiting cards, with a magnetic tape to hold the user information. The basic advantages of thes e cards are: <!--[if !supportLists]--> obility <!--[if !supportLists]--> se <!--[endif]-->Ease of m <!--[endif]-->Ease of u

Coming to the disadvantages of these cards, few are listed here under: <!--[if !supportLists]--> ication <!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[endif]-->Easy Dupl <!--[endif]-->Requires

a special card reader <!--[if !supportLists]--> g problems <!--[if !supportLists]--> to hold the current balance <!--[if !supportLists]--> ifetime <!--[if !supportLists]--> ular user authentication <!--[if !supportLists]--> remote transaction <!--[if !supportLists]--> cceptance <!--[if !supportLists]--> e to moisture, heat, dirt etc.

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and the list goes on Keeping these pros & cons in view, the Smart Technology is introduced to develop a new class of cards. This stream of Smart Technology can be termed as Smart Ca rd Technology (SCT). This smart card has a microprocessor or memory chip embedde d in it that, when coupled with a reader, has the processing power to serve many different applications. Such cards can be referred to as e-Wallet (electronic W allet). e-Wallet:The main objective of e-Wallet is to make paperless money transaction e asier. The electronic wallet (e-Wallet) is just like a leather wallet as it does the same, in terms of e-cash. In today s life where monetary value and security b oth, go hand in hand, it is difficult to satisfy customers using the routine car ds. The main idea behind this paper is to bring in a cheaper, more versatile and much more easily usable kind of a card. Salient features of e-Wallet are: <!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[if !supportLists]--> . <!--[if !supportLists]--> ccess our card. <!--[if !supportLists]--> in our card. <!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[if !supportLists]--> in the same card. <!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[endif]-->More than 40 years of data retention <!--[endif]-->Firewall encrypted security logic <!--[endif]-->Compatible with many supporting hardware <!--[endif]-->No separate card reader is required to a <!--[endif]-->Polarity reversal indicator is pre-built <!--[endif]-->Reusability of our card is unlimited. <!--[endif]-->Multiple card features are incorporated <!--[endif]-->External complexities are less.

Transaction Procedure:The e-Wallet cardholder goes to a point of sale (POS) loca tion where the e-Wallet is accepted. Having chosen the goods he wishes to buy, he goes to the cash desk. Here, the merchant calculates the total value and ente rs it on the payment terminal using a keypad. The terminal then displays the amo unt on a small screen facing the cardholder, who confirms the amount by pressing an "OK" button. In less than a second, the value is transferred from the e-Wall et to the terminal, and the value remaining in the e-Wallet is adjusted. This is an off-line transaction. A message is displayed to both the cardholder and the merchant saying that the payment has been accepted. Periodically, the merchant connects the terminal to his bank to do a collection that is to transfer the value collected in the terminal to his bank account. Thi s is an on-line transaction. The terminal sends a message for each transaction t o the e-Wallet host system, identifying the card number and issuer and the amoun t. The host system debits the float account of the issuer and credits the mercha

nt's account. This typically takes a few seconds per transaction. Merchants can program their terminals to automatically do collections each day, week or month, or when a specified value of transactions is reached. If merchant s have a number of terminals (e.g. a vending machine operator, or a large superm arket) then they can use the "shuttle collection" system, where terminals downlo ad their data onto a special collection card, which in turn then downloads it in to a central terminal, which is then used to perform an on-line collection. <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--> Card Designing:

<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--> Application Specific Integrated Circuit: Most of the home friendly el ectronic oriented products works on custom specified integrated circuit chips li ke electric oven, cellular phones, washing machines etc. Following this global t rend we are using FIELD PROGRAMABLE GATE ARRAY (FPGA) belonging to the family of APPLICATION SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA):FPGA is widely used in all consumer elect ronic devices because of its low cost and better reliability. It can be easily p rogrammed by the end user and used in any applications. FPGA can be broadly clas sified into two types 1. Custom designed IC 2. General purpose IC Custom design FPGA s are developed by user specification from wafer level and fina l output is obtained. It is only suitable for mass production systems with uniqu e programming .Another widely used one is general purpose FPGA s which were suppli ed by the vendor in IC form where the user has to program to his requirements wi th the help of EDA tools (electronic device automation). Internal Architecture of FPGA: The internal blocks of FPGA IC are: Embedded Microcontroller: The embedded microcontroller used here is ATMEL AT40K . It has the overall system control and it interprets the encryption algorithm. A dedicated logic is used for security measures such as personal identification number (pin) authentication or challenge response. The voltage level is: VCC= 1. 8 +/- 0.15V. Crypto Coprocessor: This is a custom designed unit (Modular Exponential unit) t o implement encryption algorithm. Inside, it has a ROM to store the password use d. It runs independent of the microcontroller unit and it minimizes the delay in data encryption and decryption. By using a crypto-coprocessor, the password in encrypted and stored and it would be almost impossible for a hacker to crack the password. Random Word Generator: The random word generator unit generates a random word wh ich replaces the password (correct password) in the buffers and other terminals with a random word after the transaction is over. Hence it is almost impossible to replicate the behavior of the ASIC and thereby obtain the encryption key or a lgorithm used. On Chip Security Power Management: This unit protects the card (ASIC) against o ver voltage or under voltage and over frequency or under frequency of the clock signals given for operation.

Access Control: Access control unit protects the on chip memory. It provides add ress and data bus scrambling and detects any non-standard attempt to acquire mem ory access. Flash ROM / ROM: Flash ROM stores the instruction set for the microcontroller u nit, the necessary monitor routine programs and the application code. Here the f lash ROM is used because there are 32 available instructions sets for different applications. But only one instruction set is used. If another instruction set i s used the card can be used for only the specific application. EEPROM: EEPROM is used to store the processed data i.e. the balance amount in th e card. This part is of commercial importance as it holds the monetary informati on of the card. Also the EEPROM sends the data to be read for establishing trans action RAM: It provides the workspace for both the microcontroller unit and the crypt o co-processor. It s where the actual comparison of the stored password (original password) and the given password for transaction to take place. Only if the give n password is the actual password, the access is given to view the details of th e card, deposition, withdrawal are allowed. Serial Interface: It has six valid pins CS-chip select, CLK-external clock, DIdata input, D0-data input, VOC-voltage input, GND-ground. Actually a parallel pr inter port is used for interface of the card with PC. But only the six required pins of the printer ports are activated. Thus the advantages of parallel and ser ial communication are utilized. There is no need for a separate USB. RF Interface: This unit provides establishment of transaction using Blue tooth t echnology, which is our future enhancement. Internal 16 Bit Address/Data Bus: This provides communication betwe en different units inside ASIC chip. This ASIC chip is built satisfying ISO 7816 standards. Operation:1.Once the card is given the power supply all the units are activated. 2.The password is sought and the password is sent. The first bit is chip select then the start bit, two opcode bits, 6-address bits and 16 data bits. The dedicated embedded microcontroller looks after this process. 3.Then the given password is sent to the RAM work space. 4.The password (original password) after decryption by the crypto processor is s ent to the RAM. 5.Here the passwords are compared by the microcontroller. Only if the both the p asswords are correct, the access control unit brings the flash ROM, EEPROM units of low impedance state. 6.Otherwise the units are kept in high impedance state. 7.The on-chip security power management unit provides the correct voltage and co rrect frequency (CLK signal) for functioning of the ASIC. 8.If the password is correct, then the microcontroller fetches the instructions from the instruction set in the FLASH ROM. 9.The balance amount can be fetched form the EEPROM, through the D0 pin of the s erial interface. 10.After the transaction is over the balance amount is stored in the EEPROM thro ugh D1 pin of the serial interface. 11.Once the transaction is over, the random word generator generates a random wo rd and sends it to the terminal ends and other buffers where the original passwo rd is present. This protects the original password from being hacked by hackers. 12.Thus the ASIC is designed for effective transaction with proper security to t he customers. Features of e Wallet: Refillable Infinite lifetime

Current balance can be stored and read User authentication is provided Universal access Maximum possible cash Cannot be duplicated Advantages of e-Wallet:Ease of use: Withdraw or deposit value by telephone Pay the exact amount, no fiddling for change No signature required Immediate payment In the future, access points may include mobile phones Accessibility and convenience: Cash machines and telephones give more access point s to funds in bank account Available 24 hours / 365 days Cash machines and telephones cannot run out of electronic cash Flexibility: Transfer value by telephone Pay person to person For low or high values Multi-currency capability No age limit, so suitable for all the family Safety and control: Spend only what you have Read your balance Load value at home Lock your card or wallet Keep track of what you have spent and where Customer is traceable if a lost card is found Conclusion: With all the above mentioned features it is definite that the future of cards is definitely e-Wallet s. Besides credit cards, this e-Wallet can also be extended into the following fields, namely: <!--[if <!--[if <!--[if <!--[if <!--[if <!--[if <!--[if <!--[if <!--[if !supportLists]--> !supportLists]--> !supportLists]--> !supportLists]--> !supportLists]--> !supportLists]--> !supportLists]--> !supportLists]--> !supportLists]--> <!--[endif]-->Sim card <!--[endif]-->Petro card <!--[endif]-->Credit card <!--[endif]-->Health card <!--[endif]-->Intelligent web surfing card <!--[endif]-->Insurance card <!--[endif]-->Access card <!--[endif]-->ATM <!--[endif]-->Televoice card

These are only the few to mention. Due to its ease of adaptability to its enviro nment, this e-Wallet would certainly change the way people transact (monetary tr ansactions).