Dynamic power levels in NFC card communications

• US 10,516,447 B1
• Filed: 06/17/2019
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Capital One Services LLC (Capital One Financial Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Capital One Services LLC (Capital One Financial Corporation)
• Inventors: Rule, Jeffrey, Ilincic, Rajko
• Primary Examiner(s): Trail, Allyson N
• Application Number:
  US16/442,603
• Time in Patent Office: 190 Days
• Field of Search: 235492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10217 parameter settings controlling the transmission power of the interrogator
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/40 using two or more transmitting or receiving devices H02J50/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

Various embodiments are directed to dynamically and temporarily adjusting power to an NFC reader of a computing device from a first power level to a second power level based on a feedback mechanism between a contactless card and the computing device. The contactless card may provide a message containing a checksum. The computing device may receive the message and calculate a checksum based on the received message. By comparing these two checksums, it may be determined whether the entire message has been correctly received. If not, the power to the NFC reader may be temporarily increased to allow better communication between the contactless card and the computing device.

Claims

1. A system for dynamic power level adjustment in near-field communication (NFC) card communications, the system comprising:

a computing device, including;

the NFC reader coil;

a memory to store instructions; and

one or more processors, coupled with the memory, operable to execute the instructions, that when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

receive, in response to a contactless card entering an active magnetic field of the NEC reader coil, a first NDEF message from the contactless card, wherein the first NDEF message includes a first checksum;

calculate a second checksum;

compare the first checksum and the second checksum and determine whether the first checksum and the second checksum match; and

increase power to the NFC reader coil from a first power level to a second power level to strengthen the magnetic field of the NFC reader coil when the first checksum and the second checksum do not match, and wherein the second checksum indicates a percentage of the first NDEF message that has been correctly received by the computing device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors of the computing device is further caused to:

receive a second NDEF message via the NEC reader coil at the second power level, wherein the second NDEF message includes the first checksum; and

calculate a third checksum and determine whether the first checksum and the third checksum match.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors of the computing device is further caused to decrease the power to the NFC reader coil from the second power level to the first power level when the first checksum and the third checksum match.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the third checksum indicates a percentage of the second NDEF message that has been correctly received by the computing device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the power provided to the NFC reader coil at the third power level is a fraction of a maximum power providable to the NFC reader coil;

wherein the fraction of the maximum power is inversely proportional to the percentage of the second NDEF message that has been correctly received.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors of the computing device is further caused to decrease the power to the NFC reader coil from the second power level to the first power level after a predetermined period of time.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the first NDEF message and the second NDEF message are identical and include a same message content, and wherein the one or more processors of the computing device is further caused to:

determine whether one or more portions of the message content in the first NDEF message has been correctly received;

store the one or more portions of the message content in the first NDEF message that has been correctly received;

determine whether one or more portions of the message content in the second NDEF message has been correctly received;

compare the stored one or more portions of the message content of the first NDEF message with the one or more portions of the message content in the second NDEF message that has been correctly received; and

determine whether the message content has been acquired in entirety.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors of the computing device is further caused to:

(i) send a retransmission request to the contactless card when the first checksum and the second checksum do not match or (ii) send a negative acknowledgment (NACK) message to the contactless card when the first checksum and the second checksum do not match.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors of the computing device is further caused to receive a second NDEF message when an acknowledgement (ACK) message from the computing device has not been received by the contactless card after a first predetermined period of time, wherein the second NDEF message is identical to the first NDEF message, and where the second NDEF message includes the first checksum.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the power provided to the NFC reader coil at the second power level is a fraction of a maximum power providable to the NFC reader coil, wherein the fraction of the maximum power is inversely proportional to the percentage of the first NDEF message that has been correctly received.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the power provided to the NFC reader coil at the second power level is a maximum power providable to the NFC reader coil when the percentage of the first NDEF message that has been correctly received is at or below a predetermined threshold percentage.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the power provided to the NFC reader coil at the first power level is a default power, and wherein the default power is preset on computing device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the power provided to the NFC reader coil at the second power level is a maximum power providable to the NFC reader coil.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors of the computing device is further caused to:

receive a second NDEF message via the NFC reader coil at the maximum power, wherein the second NDEF message includes the first checksum;

calculate a third checksum and determine whether the first checksum and the third checksum match; and

display one or more instructions to a user to reposition the contactless card when the first checksum and the third checksum do not match.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a contactless card, including;

a memory to store instructions; and

one or more processors, coupled with the memory, operable to execute the instructions, that when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

detect whether the contactless card has entered the active magnetic field of the NFC reader coil; and

transmit the first NFC data exchange format (NDEF) message based on the detection.

16. A method for dynamically adjusting a power level of a near-field communication (NFC) reader con, the method comprising:

receiving, via the NFC reader coil at a first power level, a first NFC data exchange format (NDEF) message, wherein the first NDEF message includes a first checksum;

calculating, via a computing device, a second checksum;

comparing, via the computing device, the first checksum, and the second checksum and determining whether the first checksum and the second checksum match;

increasing, via the computing device, a power to the NFC reader coil from the first power level to a second power level when the first checksum and the second checksum do not match, and wherein the second checksum indicates a percentage of the first NDEF message that has been correctly received by the Computing device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, via the NFC reader coil at the second power level, a second NDEF message, wherein the second NDEF message includes the first checksum;

calculating, via the computing device, a third checksum;

comparing, via the computing device, the first checksum and the third checksum and determining whether the first checksum and the third checksum match; and

increasing, via the computing device, the power of the NFC reader coil from the second power level to a third power level when the first checksum and the third checksum do not match, and wherein the first NDEF message and the second NDEF message are identical.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the power provided to the NFC reader coil at the third power level is a maximum power providable to the NFC reader coil.

19. An apparatus for dynamic adjustment of a power level of at least one near-field communication (NFC) reader coil, the apparatus comprising:

the at least one NFC reader coil;

a memory to store instructions; and

one or more processors, coupled with the memory, operable to execute the instructions, that when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

receive an NFC data exchange format (NDEF) message from a contactless card, wherein the NDEF message includes a first checksum value;

calculate a second checksum value;

determine a percentage of the NDEF message that has been correctly received by the apparatus based on the calculated second checksum value; and

increase, dynamically, power to the NFC reader coil based at least in part on the determined percentage.