A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Analog: Information presented in the form of a continuously varying signal. Compare with digital.
Answer To ATTRIB: A string of bytes from the card to the reader in type B contactless confirming that the communications have been initialised and the card is ready to accept APDUs
Answer To Reset (ATR): A string of characters generated by a card following a reset. It is normally a standard format specified by ISO7816.
MULTOS has the capability of generating a "dual" ATR. That is, the ATR differs in response to a warm reset and a cold reset. A cold reset is the first reset following application of power. A warm reset is a subsequent reset when power has been continually applied.
Answer To Select (ATS): A string of bytes from the card to the reader in type A contactless confirming that the communications have been initialised and the card is ready to accept APDUs.
Anti-collision: A feature of contactless cards which deals with potential conflicts at the reader caused by multiple signals competing to be read at once.
Application Load (and Delete) Certificates (ALC/ADC): used to prevent unauthorised creation or deletion of applications.
An ALC is loaded with an application to authorise the load.
ALCs and ADCs must be signed by the MULTOS KMA to be valid.
Application Load Unit (ALU): contains the code and static data of an application (minimum). The ALU can also include FCI information, a directory file entry, a KTU and an application signature.
In practice, all applications in the field will include an application signature. This prevents unauthorised tampering with the code or data of the application between the application source and loading on the card.
An ALU is specific terminology to MULTOS that basically identifies the package of data that is loaded onto the smartcard. It may be simply an application, or it may be an application with personalised data. This is an important concept because a prepersonalised application load unit can reduce manufacturing time significantly – and therefore reduce cost. (The ALU can be built in a personalisation bureau prior to cards being manufactured.)
Additional MULTOS Data (AMD): Information that is supplied by the implementer to the MULTOS KMA to create enablement data for each MULTOS implementation.
Most implementers will include the ability to add new primitives or codelets in the AMD.
These primitives or codelets will be loaded into EEPROM during enablement. In this way, additional operating system features may be added to the card after masking, but before enablement.
As primitives are native-code, it is essential that AMDs for a given implementation be controlled by the MULTOS implementer. This is because any change to native code could threaten the security of the implementation. Therefore, AMDs require Type Approval by the authority managing the MULTOS specification (MAOSCO).
Application Programming Interface (API): A set of routines that an application uses to request and carry out lower-level services performed by a computer's operating system.
Also, a set of calling conventions in programming t