PCMCIA-complaint smart card secured memory assembly for porting user profiles and documents

摘要

A portable profile carrier stores and securely transports a user's profile and data files from one computer to the next. The profile carrier is a two-component assembly comprising a smart card and a PCMCIA smart card reader. The reader is physically constructed in a form factor of a PCMCIA card and has a slot to receive the smart card. The reader has a smart card interface and controller to facilitate data communication with the smart card. The reader is equipped with data memory (e.g., flash memory) to store the user profile and data files. Access to the data memory is protected by the smart card. The composite profile carrier enables access to the user profile on the flash memory when the smart card is present and the user is authenticated, and disables access when the smart card is removed or the user is not authenticated.