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| An asynchronous processor smart card is now starting to appear on credit and debit cards around the world, it is the chip that is used for most satellite decoding systems and the new Smart Card for Windows. In its simplest form it is a single chip processor with onboard memory, similar, but less powerful, than the average processor in a home computer. The simile does not stop there, in the same way a home computer has a keyboard and monitor for inputting data and retrieving results the smart card has a single input/output pin which it uses to communicate with the outside world. In the same way the home computer needs electricity, the smart card also needs electricity to be applied, and a PC can be a 500MHz machine, meaning it requires a clock, so the smart card also needs a clock. |
