HANDHELD MOBILE CREDIT CARD READER

• US 20110198395A1
• Filed: 02/16/2010
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mike Chen
• Original Assignee: Mike Chen
• Inventors: CHEN, Mike
• Application Number:
  US12/706,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20110198395A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/084 sensing magnetic material by relative movement detecting flux changes without altering its magnetised state
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10346 the antenna being of the far field type, e.g. HF types or dipoles
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0886 the card reader being portable for interacting with a POS or ECR in realizing a payment transaction

Abstract

A handheld mobile credit card reader includes a handy housing having a clamping space for holding a mobile electronic device, a card reader module mounted in a compartment in the housing and having a card slot set in alignment with a card-sliding slot at the front side of the housing for allowing a person to slide an electronic card therethrough and a card reader unit adapted for reading data from the electronic card being moved through the card slot, and a signal transmission device set in the front side of the housing for the connection of the attached mobile electronic device and electrically connected with the card reader unit for transmitting fetched data from the cad reader unit to the attached mobile electronic device for enabling the attached mobile electronic device to transmit the data to a remove remote credit card transaction processing center wirelessly to make a payment.

Claims

1. A handheld mobile credit card reader for use with a mobile electronic device for the swiping of a mobile electronic card to conduct wireless electronic transactions, the handheld mobile credit card reader comprising:

a housing, said housing comprising an accommodation chamber, a compartment disposed at one lateral side relative to said accommodation chamber, a card-sliding slot disposed at a front side thereof in communication with said compartment, a clamping space defined in said front side at one lateral side relative to said card-sliding slot and a plurality of supporting rods suspending in a lower part in said front side;

a card reader module mounted in said compartment, said card reader module comprising a card slot set in said card-sliding slot of said housing for allowing a person to slide an electronic card therethrough and a card reader unit adapted for reading data from the electronic card being moved through said card slot; and

a signal transmission device set in between said supporting rods of said housing, said signal transmission device comprising a connection interface for the connection of an internal transmission interface of the mobile electronic device that is attached to said clamping space of said housing and a signal transmission line electrically connected to said card reader unit for transmitting fetched data from said card reader unit to the attached mobile electronic device for enabling the attached mobile electronic device to transmit the data to a remove remote credit card transaction processing center wirelessly;

said housing further comprising a base frame defining therein said compartment, said card-sliding slot and said clamping space, a track unit mounted in a back side of said base frame, said track unit comprising a channel-like shell affixed to the back side of said base frame, two transverse rails transversely located on the back side of said base frame in parallel and two transverse grooves located on said channel-like shell and respectively coupled to said transverse rails, and a sliding clamping plate, said sliding clamping plate having a clamping portion disposed at one end thereof and protruding over one lateral side of said base frame remote from said card-sliding slot and movable to adjust the width of said clamping space, a sliding rail portion disposed at an opposite end thereof and inserted into the inside of said track unit and movable with said clamping portion between said two transverse rails and a back cover shell covered on the back side of said base frame;

said accommodation chamber is defined between said base frame and said back cover shell.

4. The handheld mobile credit card reader as claimed in claim 1, wherein said card slot of said card reader module is configured for enabling a user to slide therethrough an electronic card that is a magnetic stripe credit card or cash card.

5. The handheld mobile credit card reader as claimed in claim 1, wherein said connection interface of said signal transmission device is compatible to the internal transmission interface of the attached mobile electronic device and selected from a group consisting of USB (Universal Serial Bus), Mini-USB (Mini Universal Serial Bus), SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) and eSATA (External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) connectors.

6. The handheld mobile credit card reader as claimed in claim 1, wherein the attached mobile electronic device is a PDA (personal data assistant) or cellular telephone.

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)