Reference equipment for testing contactless payment devices

• US 20060022044A1
• Filed: 07/15/2005
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Smets, Patrick, Garrett, Duncan, Van De Velde, Eddy Lodewijk Hortensia
• Granted Patent: US 7,431,217 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/451
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/302 Contactless testing G01R31/66 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/308 using non-ionising electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical radiation investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means G01N21/00; image analysis G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/00 Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns methods or arrangements for marking the record carrier in digital fashion G06K1/00; pattern recognition G06F18/00; arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding G06V10/00; character recognition, recognising digital ink or document-oriented image-based pattern recognition G06V30/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0095 Testing the sensing arrangement, e.g. testing if a magnetic card reader, bar code reader, RFID interrogator or smart card reader functions properly testing of electrical circuits G01R31/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10019 resolving collision on the communication channels between simultaneously or concurrently interrogated record carriers. collision between the communication channels used by wireless communication devices, where the solution is not particularly adapted for RFIDs or the like, H04W74/08
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10336 the antenna being of the near field type, inductive coil
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10465 the interrogation device being capable of self-diagnosis, e.g. in addition to or as part of the actual interrogation process testing of electrical circuits in general G01R31/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/084 Additional components relating to data transfer and storing, e.g. error detection, self-diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system

Abstract

Reference equipment including a reference card and a reference reader is provided for testing electronic payment devices such as cards and card readers. The reference equipment is designed to simulate the external behavior of a variety of payment devices that are currently or expected to be deployed in electronic payment systems. Further, the reference equipment is configured to subject devices under test to extreme behaviors which are expected in field use or which are representative of a large class of payment devices. The external behaviors may relate to functional parameters, for example, power consumption, resonance frequency, Q-factor, modulation depth, noise, and timing. Exemplary reference devices are configured to exhibit representative external behavior, which is an empirically determined average behavior of the product devices in the field. Use of the reference equipment for product specification compliance testing will enhance the interoperability of product payment devices.

Claims

1. A reference card for testing card readers that are used to read several payment cards in an electronic payment system, the reference card comprising:

an electronic circuit whose external behavior is representative of the behaviors of the several payment cards that are used in the electronic payment system, and wherein the electronic circuit is configured to exhibit the representative external behavior to a card reader under test.

2. The reference card of claim 1 wherein the several payment cards are contactless payment cards and wherein the reference card electronic circuit comprises an antenna having a resonant frequency of about 16.1 MHz.

3. The reference card of claim 1 further comprising a calibration coil which is configured to analyze the full frequency content of signals transmitted by a card reader under test.

4. The reference card of claim 1 wherein the several payment cards are contactless payment cards, wherein the reference card electronic circuit comprises a variable load, and wherein the reference card electronic circuit is configured to exhibit load conditions that simulate field use of the several payment cards in the electronic payment system to the card reader under test.

5. The reference card of claim 4, wherein the variable load represents a maximum card power consumption in a worst case scenario to the card reader under test.

6. The reference card of claim 4, wherein the reference card electronic circuit is configured to transmit information to the card reader under test using different levels of load modulation.

7. The reference card of claim 6, wherein the calibration coil is configured to induce noise in the transmitted information, whereby a receiver quality of the card reader under test can be investigated.

8. A reference reader for testing a payment card that can be used with any of several card readers deployed in an electronic payment system, the reference reader comprising:

an electronic circuit whose external behavior is representative of the behaviors of the several readers deployed in the electronic payment system, and wherein the electronic circuit is configured to exhibit the representative external behavior to the payment card under test.

9. The reference card of claim 8 wherein the several readers are contactless payment card readers and wherein the reference reader electronic circuit comprises an antenna having a resonant frequency of about 13.56 MHz.

10. The reference reader of claim 9 wherein the antenna is a circular antenna fabricated on a circuit board, and wherein the reference reader further comprises a landing plate on which cards are placed for testing and which is disposed at a fixed distance of about 15 mm away from the printed circuit board.

11. The reference reader of claim 10 wherein the antenna is a circular antenna having a diameter of about 7 cms which represents an average of the antennas of the several readers deployed in the field, and which generates a magnetic field representative of readers deployed in the field.

12. The reference reader of claim 10 wherein the antenna has Q factor which causes circuit ringing and which represents a worst case scenario for signal modulation for the several readers deployed in the electronic payment system.

13. The reference reader of claim 10 wherein the antenna has Q factor in the range of about 30 to about 35.

14. The reference reader of claim 8 further comprising a common mode rejection circuit which is configured to analyze card responses.