1.0. Introduction
This document contains information regarding the ACR38 with firmware 1.12c and 1.10 using the
PC/SC Platform. The ACR38 with firmware 1.12c uses CCID interface to communicate with the USB
port. CCID refers to the Device Class Specification for USB chip/Smart Card Interface Devices and
defines the communication protocol and commands for the USB chip-card interface devices. The
ACR38 FW1.12c is backward compatible with the ACR38 FW1.10 for smart card applications using
the PC/SC platform and MCU cards.
The ACR38 acts as an interface for the communication between a computer (for example, a PC) and
a smart card. Different types of smart cards have different commands and different communication
protocols which prevents, in most cases the direct communication between a smart card and a
computer. The ACR38 establishes a uniform interface from the computer to the smart card for a wide
variety of cards. By taking care of the card specific particulars, it releases the computer software
programmer from getting involved with the technical details of the smart card operation, which arenot
relevant in many cases of the implementation of smart card system.
NOTE: Although the ACR38 is a true card reader/writer as it can read and write data from and to smart
cards. The terms card reader or reader will be used indifferently to refer to the ACR38. These designations
are commonly used for this kind of devices. We will also refer to ACR38 with firmware 1.12c as ACR38
FW1.12c while ACR38 with firmware 1.10 will be referred to as ACR38 FW1.10.
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ACR38 Reference Manual
Version 5.0
Page 4 of 26
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