Abstract: A mechanism is provided that enables an application to interact directly with certain types of communication messages, while at the same time retaining the advantages of a semantics-based framework, such as remote method invocation. A set of standard entry points are defined that can be employed by any application to receive and interact with communication messages. In one implementation of the invention, three such entry points are established as invokable methods that are called within the application. These three methods respectively relate to data processing operations, pre-processing operations and post-processing operations.

Abstract: In a distributed computing system which employs smart cards to provide services, the need for a fixed mapping between methods that can be invoked from a card application and APDU messages is avoided. A card skeleton provides a decoding table to a client proxy when a connection is established between a card and a terminal. With the information provided from the skeleton, the proxy dynamically maps methods to APDU messages, for communication during a given session. As a result, if the on-card application is enhanced to provide new methods, its corresponding skeleton is upgraded to recognize those methods. When the card is connected to a terminal, the updated information is provided to the proxy at the terminal, to enable the user to access the enhanced features of the application.

Abstract: A method of conducting a transaction between a chip card and an information system protects against fraud and malfunction during the transaction. The method involves a multi-step recording procedure wherein the transaction is first temporarily recorded in the chip card and the information system, and then later is definitively recorded after it has been verified that both sides have performed the temporarily recording step. In order to perform the temporary recording, information which describes the transaction is sent to both the chip card and the information system from a transaction management device. In order to verify that both sides have performed the temporary recording, a first set of messages is sent from the chip card and the information system to the transaction management device which indicate that the temporary recording has been performed. The transaction management device receives these messages and responds by sending a second set of messages to the chip card and the information system.