APIs for Ticketing Terminal processing smartcard

In order to facilitate the design of terminals processing smartcard readers (user card, security module), CNA (the Calypso Networks Association) has standardized software interfaces for ticketing terminals. This solution enables:

• any smart card reader solution to be operated independently of the terminal architecture,
• and any ticketing applications to be ported independently of the terminal products supplied by manufacturers.

First solutions translating these interface definitions into programming languages, or implementing these interfaces, are available.

2 levels of APIs are offered, from the lowest to the highest:

• at the bottom the ‘reader layer’ generic interfaces:
  • the Reader API to control any reader solution and manage the application selection on a smart card,
  • the Card API for interfacing a card processing library specific to a smart card solution.
• Just below ‘smartcard solution layer’ specific interfaces:
  • several interfaces to integrate Calypso processing support:
    • Card and Legacy SAM APIs to perform secure transactions with Calypso cards or with Calypso security modules such as SAM-S1 or SAM-C1.
    • Symmetric Crypto and Asymmetric Crypto APIs to interface Calypso SAM or Calypso PKI processing libraries.