US 8,336,771 B2 · Payment card terminal dongle for communications devices

Abstract

A dangle, which plugs into the audio/earpiece jack of host devices, allows them to accept payment cards as a point of sale (POS) terminal. It contains a magnetic stripe (magstripe) card reader, a smart card reader, and/or a proximity card reader (reader(s)); a microprocessor or microcontroller (CPU); and a circuit for drawing power from a digital audio signal (power circuit). Payment card data is collected by the reader(s), passed to the CPU where it is encrypted, encoded, and modulated, sent to the host device through the Microphone input contact of the audio/earpiece jack, then transmitted via one the host device's networks to a merchant account provider for processing. A digital audio signal, constantly generated by the host device, provides power to the dongle via the power circuit. The power circuit converts the digital audio signal to stable DC power with the appropriate voltage for powering the dongle's other components.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A payment card transaction device comprising:

a payment card reader configured to read payment card data;
a power generation circuit configured to provide power to the payment card transaction device;
an audio jack connector;
wherein said payment card reader is configured to connect to an audio plug of an external communication device via the audio jack connector;
and
wherein said power regeneration circuitry is configured to receive a continuous periodic sound wave from the external communication device and to convert the continuous periodic sound wave into an amplified DC electrical signal.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Payment card terminal dongle for communications devices

Life of this patent

Payment card terminal dongle for communications devices

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims14