Fat Memory for Smart Cards

As you probably know, smart cards aren't limited to that little chip on your American Express Blue card. The technology, which can be put into computers, cells phones, and PDAs, allows you to "charge up" the embedded chip with cash - much like pre-purchasing minutes on a phone card. To embrace this burgeoning technology, those who want to support it and those who want to embed it in devices need to tool up to accept this type of payment scenario. Hence, there is a bit of competition to give devices at both ends the maximum capabilities. Today, Hitachi announced its latest competitor in the race to make it easier for you to spend your hard-earned cash. The company's new AE46C is an enhanced function smart card controller that combines 68 kB EEPROM, 160 kB ROM, 6 kB RAM, and a 1024-bit co-processor. Hitachi says that the chip currently has the world's largest on-chip memory integrated into a smart card device. The memory in the AE46C controller can support multi-application cards based on operating systems that include Multos, Java Card, and Windows for Smart Card. The chip's coprocessor supports e-commerce and WAP applications, along with a Data Encryption Standard (DES) Engine, Phase-Locked-Loop (PLL), Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART), and an interval timer. Soon, you should be able to buy a Coke from a vending machine using your cell phone, just like in the commercials.