Interfaces for Personal Identity Verification

FIPS 201 defines the requirements and characteristics of a government-wide interoperable identity credential. FIPS 201 also specifies that this identity credential must be stored on a smart card. This document, SP 800-73, contains the technical specifications to interface with the smart card to retrieve and use the PIV identity credentials. The specifications reflect the design goals of interoperability and PIV Card functions. The goals are addressed by specifying a PIV data model, card edge interface, and application programming interface. Moreover, this document enumerates requirements where the international integrated circuit card standards [ISO7816] include options and branches. The specifications go further by constraining implementers’ interpretations of the normative standards. Such restrictions are designed to ease implementation, facilitate interoperability, and ensure performance, in a manner tailored for PIV applications.