how to start to develop SIM card reader

good day,


I wish to develop a sim card reader/writer, wish able to backup the data inside the card, and restore it back to another sim card.


I wish to know how to start with.

as far as i know, Maxim has MAX1740, MAX1741 level shifter.
perhaps i will use PIC as controller. I don't know how to control the Sim card.

I guess Sim card is one of the smart card, and those circuit might be the same



Thanks.

janetsmith2000@yahoo.com said:

I wish to develop a sim card reader/writer, wish able to backup the data inside the card, and restore it back to another sim card.

Click to expand...

Why not just go and buy one?.

They are freely available at low cost in mobile phone shops!.

Hi Nigel,

My boss wants me to make one



here are some question more.
1. What's the relation between smart card and sim card?

2. There are quite a number of smart card reader from the web. Can I

use smart card reader to read sim card? I found one smart card reader IC from Atmel as well.

3. What is gold card / silver card? where can i get them? i couldn't

find it from microchip.com.

4. What uC is used in sim card? mine have "GEMPLUS" printed on it. Is

that a pic or avr?

5. Are the sim cards using same file system, regardless the phone

model and service provider?

6. What protocol and the filesystem of sim card?

BTW, what the chinese character (ur icon) means? I cann't recognise it.

janetsmith2000@yahoo.com said:

Hi Nigel,

My boss wants me to make one

Click to expand...

Should keep you busy then 8)

here are some question more.
1. What's the relation between smart card and sim card?

Click to expand...

No idea, they 'may' use the same basic pinouts, I suggest you try and find manufacturers datasheets for them?.

2. There are quite a number of smart card reader from the web. Can I

use smart card reader to read sim card? I found one smart card reader IC from Atmel as well.

Click to expand...

Again, try and get the datasheets?.

3. What is gold card / silver card? where can i get them? i couldn't

find it from microchip.com.

Click to expand...

They are smart cards, commonly used for pirate TV cards, some use PIC's, some use other processors - and some use a processor and an EEPROM.

4. What uC is used in sim card? mine have "GEMPLUS" printed on it. Is

that a pic or avr?

Click to expand...

I would have thought neither, a SIM card may well just be a memory chip, but even if it includes a processor it probably won't be PIC or AVR.

5. Are the sim cards using same file system, regardless the phone

model and service provider?

6. What protocol and the filesystem of sim card?

Click to expand...

Again, no idea, it's something you need to try and find out - and it may not be easy?.

BTW, what the chinese character (ur icon) means? I cann't recognise it.

Click to expand...

It's 'Jitsu' from 'Ju Jitsu'.

janetsmith2000@yahoo.com said:

3. What is gold card / silver card? where can i get them? i couldn't

find it from microchip.com.

Click to expand...

Silver card has 16F84 and I2C eeprom connected together, and gold card has 16F877 and bigger I2C EEPROM... If you find the pinout of the Smartcard, you may be able to program it as normal PIC through PGD,PGC PINs. As far as I know Ic-Prog supports smart cards.