Contactless card reading employing gain and attenuation control
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorHyunjae Kang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A contactless integrated circuit (IC) card reader configured to communicate with a contactless IC card includes an antenna circuit, a variable amplifier that amplifies a carrier signal at an amplification gain and outputs the amplified carrier signal to the antenna circuit as a transmit signal, a variable attenuator that attenuates a receive signal received through the antenna circuit at an attenuation ratio, and a controller that controls the amplification gain and the attenuation ratio based on the attenuated receive signal.
Claims16
A contactless integrated circuit (IC) card reader configured to communicate with a contactless IC card, comprising:
- an antenna circuit;
- a variable amplifier configured to amplify a carrier signal at an amplification gain and to output the amplified carrier signal to the antenna circuit as a transmission signal;
- a variable attenuator configured to attenuate a receive signal received through the antenna circuit at an attenuation ratio;
- and
- a controller configured to decrease both the amplification gain of the variable amplifier and the attenuation ratio of the variable attenuator under a condition in which a level of the receive signal is smaller than a reference level.
A contactless integrated circuit (IC) card reader configured to communicate with a contactless IC card, comprising:
- an antenna circuit;
- a variable amplifier configured to amplify a carrier signal at an amplification gain and to output the amplified carrier signal to the antenna circuit as a transmission signal;
- a variable attenuator configured to attenuate a receive signal received through the antenna circuit at an attenuation ratio;
- a reception circuit configured to filter the carrier signal from the attenuated receive signal and to generate a filtered receive signal;
- and
- a controller configured to compare an amplitude of the filtered receive signal with a reference level, and to decrease the amplification gain of the variable amplifier when the amplitude of the filtered receive signal is smaller than the reference level,
- wherein the controller is further configured to decrease the attenuation ratio of the variable attenuator as the amplification gain of the variable amplifier is decreased.
An operation method of a contactless integrated circuit (IC) card reader configured to communicate with a contactless IC card, the operation method comprising:
- outputting a transmission signal amplified at an amplification gain;
- receiving a receive signal from the contactless IC card;
- attenuating the receive signal at an attenuation ratio;
- filtering a carrier signal in the attenuated receive signal to generate a filtered receive signal;
- and
- decreasing the amplification gain when the amplitude of the filtered receive signal is smaller than a reference level, and decreasing the attenuation ratio based on the decreased amplification gain.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.