Integrated read head device
AssigneeSquare, Inc.
InventorJim McKelvey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated read head system includes a mobile device with an audio jack and at least one microphone input port. A read head is physically coupled to the mobile device. The read head has a slot for swiping a magnetic stripe of a financial transaction card to enable a financial transaction between a buyer and seller. The read head reads data on the magnetic stripe and produces a signal indicative of data stored on the magnetic stripe. The read head has an output jack that physically connects the read head to at least one of the audio jack or microphone port of the mobile device. The read head provides the signal to the mobile device. The signal is decoded at the mobile device. The decoding includes determining pulses in the signal and converting at least some of the pulses to characters.
Claims15
An integrated read head system, comprising:
- a seller's mobile device including an audio jack or at least one microphone input port;
- a card reader that has a housing with a read head positioned therein, the card reader being physically coupled to the seller's mobile device, the card reader having a slot for swiping a magnetic stripe of a buyer's financial transaction card with the slot utilized to enable a financial transaction between a buyer and seller, the read head reading data on the magnetic stripe and producing a signal indicative of data stored on the magnetic stripe, the card reader including an output jack that physically connects the read head to at least one of the audio jack or microphone port of the seller's mobile device with the read head providing the signal to the mobile device,
- passive ID circuitry in the housing of the read head to deliver a unique ID of the read head to the mobile device;
- and
- wherein decoding of the signal is performed in the seller's mobile device, the decoding including determining pulses in the signal and converting at least some of the pulses to characters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.