Switching Between Internal and External Antennas

• US 20100012721A1
• Filed: 09/28/2009
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DeviceFidelity, Inc. (Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: DeviceFidelity, Inc. (Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.))
• Inventors: Jain, Deepak, Dao, Tuan Quoc
• Granted Patent: US 8,070,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/077 Constructional details, e.g. mounting of circuits in the carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07732 the record carrier having a housing or construction similar to well-known portable memory devices, such as SD cards, USB or memory sticks housings for electrical equipment in general, see H05K5/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07741 comprising a first part operating as a regular record carrier and a second attachable part that changes the functional appearance of said record carrier, e.g. a contact-based smart card with an adapter part which, when attached to the contact card makes the contact card function as a non-contact card
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07767 the first and second communication means being two different antennas types, e.g. dipole and coil type, or two antennas of the same kind but operating at different frequencies
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10237 the reader and the record carrier being capable of selectively switching between reader and record carrier appearance, e.g. in near field communication [NFC] devices where the NFC device may function as an RFID reader or as an RFID tag
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC 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: G06Q 20/352 Contactless payments by cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3574 Multiple applications on card
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3576 Multiple memory zones on card
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0806 Details of the card record carriers per se G06K
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/22 by structural association with other equipment or articles
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2216 used in interrogator/reader equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2225 used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2283 mounted in or on the surface of a semiconductor substrate as a chip-type antenna or integrated with other components into an IC package
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/38 formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support patch antennas H01Q9/0407; microstrip dipole antennas H01Q9/065; microstrip slot antennas H01Q13/106; transmission line microstrip antennas H01Q13/206; manufacturing reflecting surfaces using insulating material for supporting the reflecting surface H01Q15/142
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 : Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3816 : Mechanical arrangements for accommodating identification devices, e.g. cards or chips; with connectors for programming identification devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3818 : Arrangements for facilitating insertion or removal of identification devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/70 : specially adapted for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 : for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0274 : for an electrical connector module
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7246 : by connection of exchangeable housing parts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/77 : involving multiple accounts per user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/774 : per card
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7254 : Multiple accounts per user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7272 : per card
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 : using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/00 : Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49016 : Antenna or wave energy "plumbing" making

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for switching between internal and external antennas. In some implementations, a system includes an antenna, a connector, and a housing. The antenna is configured to communicate wirelessly transactions with transaction terminals. The connector is connected to the antenna and configured to connect a transaction card to the antenna in response to at least insertion in the housing. The housing enclosing at least a portion of the antenna and at least a portion of the connector and including one or more elements that form an opening for receiving the transaction card. In addition, the housing is substantially rectangular and includes a first portion with a first thickness and a second portion with a second thickness different from the first thickness and at least the thickness of the transaction card.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an antenna configured to communicate wirelessly transactions with transaction terminals;

a connector connected to the antenna and configured to connect a transaction card to the antenna in response to at least insertion in the system; and

a housing enclosing at least a portion of the antenna and at least a portion of the connector and including one or more elements that form an opening for receiving the transaction card, the housing is substantially rectangular and includes a first portion with a first thickness and a second portion with a second thickness different from the first thickness and at least the thickness of the transaction card.

2. The system of claim 1, the housing includes dimensions in accordance with International Organization for Standardization ISO/IEC 7810 standard.

3. The system of claim 1, the second thickness is at least approximately 1 mm, approximately 1.4 mm, or approximately 2.1 mm.

4. The system of claim 1, the housing comprising a length and the second thickness extending in a direction substantially parallel to the length of the housing.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a magnetic strip adjacent a surface of the housing and encoding information for executing transactions with transaction terminals.

6. The system of claim 1, the magnetic strip configured to execute contact transactions with the transaction terminals and the antenna of the housing configured to execute contactless transactions with RF enabled terminals after insertion of the transaction card.

7. The system of claim 1, the housing including a plurality of raised portions identifying information associated with a financial account.

8. The system of claim 1, the housing including a top surface and a bottom surface that are substantially rectangular and a side surface that forms the opening to receive the transaction card.

9. The system of claim 1, the housing including a top surface and a bottom surface that are substantially rectangular, the top surface forms the opening to receive the transaction card.

10. The system of claim 1, the transaction card is a SecureDigital (SD) card, MicroSD card, MiniSD card, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) dongle.

11. The system of claim 1, the housing including a substantially-planar interior surface, the antenna includes a coiled antenna adjacent the substantially-planar interior surface.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a smart-card contact pad affixed to the housing and connected to the connector, the transaction card connected to the smart-card contact pad during insertion and configured to execute a contact transaction with smart-card terminals.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising the transaction card comprising:

a microSD interface that connects to a microSD slot of a mobile host device;

a communication module that wirelessly receives Radio Frequency (RF) signals from and transmits RF signals to a retail terminal;

secure memory that stores user credentials and a payment application used to execute financial transactions with the retail terminal, the user credentials and the payment application associated with a financial institution;

a user-interface module that presents and receives information through the GUI of the mobile host device; and

a processing module that executes the payment application using the user credentials in response to at least a transaction request received by the RF module and transmits at least one transaction response to the retail terminal based, at least in part, on the executed payment application.

14. The system of claim 13, when inserted into a mobile phone device, the transaction card configured to execute transactions with RF enabled terminals using RF signals transmitted in accordance with contactless standards ISO 14443 Type A and Type B, MiFare, RFID, Felica, NFC, ISO 15693, or Bluetooth.

15. The system of claim 13, the user credentials associated with one of a credit card account, a checking account, a debit account, a gift account, or a prepaid account.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the processing module comprises:

a security module that generate the transaction response based, at least in part, on the user credentials and the payment application; and

an operating system with a runtime environment that executes the payment application independent of the mobile host device.

17. The system of claim 16, the operating system loaded on the processing module during a manufacturing process, the security module loaded on the processing module during a personalization process different from the manufacturing process.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein a same user credentials are used by magnetic-strip transactions, contactless transactions after insertion in the housing, smart-card transactions after insertion in the housing, and mobile-device transactions after insertion in a mobile device.

19. A method, comprising:

identifying a bottom element including a first portion that forms a cavity for receiving an antenna and a second portion that receives connector;

selectively positioning the antenna in the cavity formed by the first portion;

selectively position the connector in the second portion;

electrically connecting the antenna and the connector;

selectively positioning a top element to overlap the bottom element, the overlapped top element and the bottom element for an opening configured to receive an SD card; and

affixing the top element to the bottom element to form a card element that connects an inserted SD card to the antenna using the connector.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising inserting a transaction card in the card element to form a card system to connect the transaction card to the antenna for personalization using a current personalization system.

21. A method, comprising:

identifying a bottom element that receives a connector;

identifying a top element that contain a cavity to receive the smart card contact pad

selectively positioning the smart card contact pad in the cavity in the top element;

selectively position the connector in the bottom element;

electrically connecting the smart card contact pad and the connector;

selectively positioning the top element to overlap the bottom element, the overlapped top element and the bottom element for an opening configured to receive an SD card; and

affixing the top element to the bottom element to form a card element that connects an inserted SD card to the smart card contact pad using the connector.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising inserting a transaction card in the card element to form a card system and connect the transaction card to the smart-card contact pad for personalization using a current personalization system.

23. The method of claim 22, further personalizing the card system independent of modifying operating aspects of the current personalization system.

24. The method of claim 23, the personalization comprises at least one of electric personalization, magnetic personalization, or graphical personalization.

25. The method of claim 24, the electric personalization further comprising personalizing a secure element in the transaction card to encode transaction application, security information and user data, the user data comprising at least an account number, a name, and an expiration date.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising personalizing a magnetic strip on the card element with user data including at least an account number, a name, and an expiration date, the user data in the magnetic strip matches the user data encoded in the transaction card.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising graphically personalizing by marking or embossing the card element with identification data comprising at least a serial number, an account number, a name, and an expiration date, the identification data matches the user data encoded in the transaction card