Datacard
Encyclopedia
Datacard is a card which contains data or which is used for data operations (transfer, transformation, input, output).

Datacard types

Datacards can be sorted by their purposes:
  1. Expansion card
    Expansion card
    The expansion card in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard or backplane to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus.One edge of the expansion card holds the contacts that fit exactly into the slot...

     – printed-circuit board
    Printed circuit board
    A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...

     which is inserted in special slot in the device and used to add functions to this device;
  2. Memory card
    Memory card
    A memory card or flash card is an electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital information. They are commonly used in many electronic devices, including digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers, MP3 players, and video game consoles...

     or flash
    Flash memory
    Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...

     card is a card which is inserted into the corresponding device socket and used for data storage and transmission;
  3. Identification card
    Identity document
    An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...

     is a card that works by the contact/contactless interface and contains the data used for performance of various functions, for example, entry access control in subway or offices. It is also used for prepaid service, banking, telecom, etc.;
  4. Datacard or "electronic card" is a geographical, climatic, road, topographical or another card displayed on the video screen of any device (computer or GPS-navigator) or represented otherwise to be more convenient to use in a certain situation (for example, navigator’s vocal instructions).

Expansion cards

The expansion card in the computer is equipped with contacts on one of its edges equipped which precisely correspond to the motherboard
Motherboard
In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...

 slot socket. Contacts provide electric connection between card and motherboard components.

There are various types of expansion cards:
  • videocard is a device that reformates image from computer memory into the video signal for the monitor, videocard has her own microprocessor, relieving the central processor of the computer;
  • sound card
    Sound card
    A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...

    , allows to work with sound;
  • network card
    Network card
    A network interface controller is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network....

    is a printed-circuit board, that enables computers’ interaction by local network.

Memory cards

Many modern devices demand a bulk of non-volatile memory
Non-volatile memory
Non-volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, NVM or non-volatile storage, in the most basic sense, is computer memory that can retain the stored information even when not powered. Examples of non-volatile memory include read-only memory, flash memory, ferroelectric RAM, most types of magnetic computer...

 with low power. Flash memory is used for these purposes. It widespread in digital portable devices — a photo and video cameras, dictaphones, MP3 players, a handheld computer, mobile phones, and also in smart phones and communicators. Besides, it is used for storage of the built-in software in various devices (routers, mini-phonestations, printers, scanners, modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...

s) and various controllers.

Also in recent years USB flash-drives are becoming more and more popular and have almost forced out diskettes and CDs. Flash-memory is a most known for application in USB flash-drives. The NAND-type of memory which is connected through USB interface (USB mass storage device) is basically applied.

Flash cards also are based on flash-memory, such as Secure Digital (SD) and Memory Stick which are actively applied in the portable devices (cameras, mobile phones). Flash-memory occupies the biggest part of the portable data device market.

Identification cards

  • Contact cards with ISO 7816
    ISO 7816
    ISO/IEC 7816 is an international standard related to electronic identification cards with contacts, especially smart cards, managed jointly by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission ....

     interface

Contact smart cards (cards with chip) have a contact zone, which consists of a few small contact petals. When the card is inserted into the input reader, the chip adjoins with electric connectors and the input reader can read and write down the chip information. Standard ISO/IEC 7816 also regulates exchange reports and some aspects of work with the other smart cards data.

Such cards are used for the holder authorization for reception of any services (the bank account access for payments realization, use of the prepaid mobile services, etc.)

The most widespread contact smart cards are SIM cards, payphone cards, some banking cards.
  • Contact cards with USB interface

Often it is a microcircuit, such as a SIM card segregated from the ISO 7816 card and inserted in tiny case with reader and USB slot. It makes smart-card application for computer authentification much more conveniently.
For example, an electronic key, or eToken which is a personal authentification tool and the protected data storage device, that supports work with digital certificates and with an electronic digital signature.
  • Contactless cards

They are smart cards that communicate with the reader through RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology. The card must be close enough to the reader to perform necessary operations. RFID are often applied in areas where operations must be performed quickly, for example, in public transport.

There are many examples of contactless smart cards, such as travel ticket in underground and ground transport, the electronic ("biometric") passports, some kinds of cards in access monitoring systems.

Electronic cards

Electronic card is a program-controlled cartographical image visualized with the use of programs and technical facilities in a projection accepted for cards and system of conventional signs. Electronic card is constructed on the basis of the digital cards data or databases of geographical information systems (GIS).

Digital topographic geodesic electronic cards can be represented by:
  • Raster
    Raster graphics
    In computer graphics, a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium...

     electronic plan
    is an electronic plan, its cartographic information is presented by the matrix, the matrix’s elements are codes of the cartographical image colors. Raster electronic plans are created by traditional topographical materials scanning or vector digital district models rasterization. Raster materials can be black-and-white, gray-scale and color. The basic characteristic of the raster image is its density measured usually in dots per inch (dpi).
  • Vector
    Vector graphics
    Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...

    electronic plan
    – the electronic plan (cards), its cartographical information is presented by the sequence of vectors. The semantic information at vector electronic plans can be not defined (be absent). Vector electronic plans are created on the basis of the automated methods (information transfer from geodetic devices’ electronic stores) or by the graphic representation of traditional plans scanning and their subsequent vectoring.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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