Payment card terminal dongle for communications devices
View Patent ↗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.
1. 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.
2. The payment card transaction device of claim 1 , further comprising a microcontroller configured to receive the payment card data from the payment card reader and wherein the microprocessor is configured to encrypt the payment card data, to encode the payment card data, to modulate the payment card data and to send the encrypted, encoded and modulated payment card data to a microphone input of the external communication device.
3. The payment card transaction device of claim 2 , further comprising an application configured to run on the external communication device and to generate the continuous periodic sound wave.
4. The payment card transaction device of claim 3 , wherein the application is configured to demodulate and to decode the encrypted, encoded and modulated payment card data and then to send the decoded payment card data to a server configured to process a payment transaction.
5. The payment card transaction device of claim 2 , wherein the external communication device is configured to make a phone call to a remote server and the remote server generates the continuous periodic sound wave.
6. The payment card transaction device of claim 5 , wherein the remote server is configured to demodulate and to decode the encrypted, encoded and modulated payment card data and then to send the decoded payment card data to a server configured to process a payment transaction.
7. The payment card transaction device of claim 1 , wherein the power generation circuit comprises a diode-capacitor voltage multiplier circuit.
8. The payment card transaction device of claim 1 , wherein the power generation circuit comprises a transformer.
9. The payment card transaction device of claim 1 , wherein the power generation circuit comprises a voltage stabilizer and a power storage.
10. The payment card transaction device of claim 1 , wherein the payment card transaction device comprises one of a magnetic stripe card reader, a smart card reader, or a near field communication (NFC) card reader.
11. The payment card transaction device of claim 6 , wherein the payment transaction comprises a debit card transaction or a credit card transaction.
12. The payment card transaction device of claim 1 , wherein the external communication device comprises one of a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a Blackberry™, an iPhone™, or a netbook.
13. A payment card transaction system comprising:
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 and an audio jack connector;
an external communication device comprising an audio plug;
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.
14. A method for processing a payment card transaction comprising:
providing a payment card reader configured to read payment card data;
providing a power generation circuit configured to provide power to the payment card transaction device;
providing 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.