Java Card

Hi there,


I'm new to this Java card world, and really got a big confusion even after reading a lot of information.Forgive me asked such a stupid question, but i'm sure someone else must have the same confusion.

I'm search for a good smart card for my company's application, and also encouraged by the engineer that JavaCard will make his life easier and Mifare SmartMX IC would be a good choice. Then i found NXP has a big amount of "Smart Card Controller", such as P5CN072, P5CD072, etc. I know that they are just ICs, to become a card i need find a manufacturer to add the antenna for wireless use and also a PVC card body. But the sales of manufacturer told me that i need to provide them a COS(card/chip OS) to them before production. I told her we were going to use a JavaCard OS, but she tried very hard to convince me that JavaCard is not a COS.

Then the problem comes.

1. What is a COS? What i understand is, it is something like Windows or Linux on your PC. It allows other applications run on the top.

2. Where does the COS come from? The IC manufacturer or we have to buy it from a third party? It certainly does not have to come from the IC manufacturer, and it could also be free from third party.

3. Does anyone know how much a COS costs usually? Who provide Java Card operating system? It usually the IC manufacturer, sometimes a third party could develop for you according with the specific hardware.

4. What is JavaCard? I know it's a specification instead of a COS, e.g. a smart card supports JavaCard2.2.1 means you can have Java Card environment version 2.2.1 running on it.

5. Does JavaCard RE contain a COS? I think it does not because it should be related with different hardware implementation, but the SUN's reference tells two different results. http://java.sun.com/javacard/reference/techart/javacard1/
Check figure 4 and 10, they mark Java Card Runtime Environment to two different place. One contains COS, one does not. But from the description of JCRE we know it does not.

6. Does SmartMX IC have COS inside with shipping? I know there should be a mask ROM if COS is inside, but unfortunately the manual does not mention anything about mask ROM. So i guess the COS is not in the IC if you buy IC only.

7. What is "Java Card Global Platform"? Is it JCOP(Java Card Open Platform)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JCOP
The IC's manual says that SmartMX enables the easy implementation of state-of-the-art operating systems and open platform solutions including Java Card Global Platform and MULTOS.

8. Does JCOP from NXP is a COS? From the definition and the manual of JCOP card from NXP, it sounds JCOP is a COS and the JCOP card is a card with a SmartMX IC which has JCOP written inside. There also different types of JCOP card from NXP, JCOP-21,JCOP-31,JCOP-41 and so on. Different JCOP type comes with different IC, and you can not know what it is until it arrives to you.

In conclusion, what i guess, if someone want to write application in a Java Card environment, you need to buy a Java "Card" which has a COS could support JavaCard, otherwise if you buy a Smart Card Controller such as P5CN072, you have to either write or buy a COS such as JCOP to do the same job, and what's more, NXP won't sell JCOP to you.


Please check if i'm right for the above assumptions.

Edited by: zhijia on Jul 10, 2010 7:43 PM

Edited by: zhijia on Jul 10, 2010 7:56 PM

Edited by: zhijia on Jul 10, 2010 8:20 PM