Card reader foreign object detection
A card reader includes a movable upper surface platform with a lower surface platform including one or more sensors. When there is no card transaction in progress, the upper surface platform moves toward the lower surface platform and locks in place making contact with the lower surface platform. The one or more sensor indicate whether the two surfaces are in contact with one another. When the two surfaces are not in contact with one another, when the card reader is in an idle state, the card reader shuts down/disables since there is foreign object is present in the card reader's transport path, which may indicate a skimmer/shimmer was placed in the card reader.
1. A card reader, comprising:
a sensor attached to a first interior surface of the card reader;
a moveable platform associated with at least a portion of a second interior surface of the card reader, wherein the first interior surface and the second interior surface oppose one another on an interior of the card reader;
a processor;
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions as firmware;
the firmware when executed by the processor from the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium causes the processor to perform operations comprising:
disabling the card reader when the card reader is in an idle state and the sensor is reporting an event indicating that the moveable platform is not in contact or not covering the sensor indicating that a foreign object is on the interior of the card reader between the first interior surface and the moveable platform;
wherein the moveable platform further includes a motor or solenoid to move the moveable platform down towards and on the first interior surface and to move the moveable platform away from and off of the first interior surface.
2. The card reader of claim 1 , wherein a card transport area of the card reader is defined by distance between the first interior surface and a lower surface of the moveable platform.
3. The card reader of claim 2 further comprising;
a card transport attached to the first interior surface to transport the card within the card reader;
a magnetic card reader attached to the first interior surface to read card data off a magnetic strip of the card; and
a chip reader attached to the first interior surface to read chip encoded card data off an embedded chip of the card.
4. The card reader of claim 1 further comprising:
a card sensor or slot sensor located proximate to a card slot or card shutter to report when a card is present at the card slot or to report when the card shutter opens.
5. The card reader of claim 1 , wherein the moveable platform further includes a spring attached to a backside of the movable platform, the spring causes retraction of the moveable platform away from the first interior surface permitting a card inserted into the card reader to be transported within the card reader and card data read by a magnetic reader or a chip reader located on the first interior surface.
6. The card reader of claim 1 , wherein the firmware when executed by the processor from the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further causes the processor to perform additional operations comprising:
controlling the motor to move the moveable platform down towards and on the first interior surface and to move the moveable platform away from and off of the first interior surface.
7. The card reader of claim 1 , wherein the additional operations associated with the controlling further include:
causing the moveable platform to move away from and off of the first interior surface when the card reader is in a card is present or card slot is open state; and
causing the moveable platform to move down towards and on the first interior surface when the card reader is in the idle state.
8. The card reader of claim 1 , wherein the operations associated with the disabling further include reporting a foreign object detected event to a transaction terminal associated with the card reader, wherein the card reader is a peripheral device of the transaction terminal.
9. A system, comprising:
a terminal; and
a card reader comprising:
a card transport area defined by a distance between a lower fixed interior surface of the card reader and a dynamic moving upper interior surface of the card reader;
wherein the card transport area is sufficient to permit a card inserted into the card reader to have card data read from the card through a magnetic card reader or a chip card reader located on the lower fixed interior surface;
wherein the card transport area reduces by urging the dynamic moving upper interior surface down towards and on top of the lower fixed interior surface when the card reader is in an idle state;
wherein when the card reader is in an idle state and the dynamic moving upper interior surface is not touching or covering the lower fixed interior surface, the card reader disables for card transactions on the terminal; and
a solenoid or a motor to drive the dynamic moving upper interior surface upward and downward based on a given state of the card reader.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the terminal is an automated teller machine, a self-service terminal, or a point-of-sale terminal.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the card reader further includes at least one sensor located on lower fixed interior surface to report an event associated with whether the lower fixed interior surface and the dynamic moving upper interior surface are touching during the idle state.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at lease one sensor is microswitch sensor, a time-of-flight sensor, or an optical sensor.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises two or more sensors distributed and attached along the lower fixed interior surface.
14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the dynamic moving upper interior surface is spring loaded to cause a spring attached to the backside of the dynamic moving upper interior surface to compress and move the dynamic moving upper interior surface upward off of the lower fixed interior surface creating the card transport area when the card is inserted in the card reader, and wherein the spring expands or de-coils pushing the dynamic moving upper interior surface onto the lower fixed interior surface when the card is removed from the card reader.
15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the card reader is configured to report a foreign object detected event to the terminal before the card reader is disabled.