Energy Harvesting Bidirectional Audio Interface

• US 20160055478A1
• Filed: 08/19/2014
• Published: 02/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Skoog, Lukas
• Granted Patent: US 9,799,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3272 using an audio code
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0873 Details of the card reader
• 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 payment card reader connected to an audio port of a mobile computing device may include a card interface, the card interface configured to read data from a payment card; a TRRS connector to couple the payment card reader with the mobile computing device; and an audio interface circuit coupled with the TRRS connector. The audio interface circuit may include a communication circuit configured to transmit data to and receive data from the mobile computing device via the TRRS connector and an energy harvesting circuit configured to receive an audio signal via the TRRS connector, to harvest energy from the audio signal, and to provide energy to other components of the card reader.

Claims

1. A mobile point-of-sale (POS) terminal for processing a financial transaction between a buyer and a merchant, the POS terminal comprising:

a mobile computing device having a TRRS jack, the mobile computing device configured to run a register application, wherein the register application is configured to receive payment information from the buyer for facilitating a transfer of funds from the buyer to the merchant; and

a payment card reader coupled with the mobile computing device via the TRRS jack, the payment card reader comprising;

a card interface, the card interface configured to read data from a payment card;

a processor coupled with the card interface, the processor configured to process the data from the payment card to determine financial information associated with the buyer that is used by the register application to facilitate the transfer of funds from the buyer to the merchant;

a TRRS connector; and

an audio interface ASIC coupled with the TRRS connector, the audio interface circuit comprising;

a communication circuit configured to transmit data to and receive data from the mobile computing device via the TRRS connector; and

an energy harvesting circuit configured to receive an audio signal via an audio contact of the TRRS connector and a bias voltage via a microphone contact of the TRRS connector, to harvest energy from the audio signal and the bias voltage, and to provide energy to the card interface and the processor.

2. The mobile POS terminal of claim 1, wherein the audio interface ASIC further comprises a demodulator configured to demodulate a data signal from the audio signal.

3. The mobile POS terminal of claim 1, further comprising an energy storage device coupled with the energy harvesting circuit, the energy storage device configured to store energy harvested by the energy harvesting circuit.

4. The mobile POS terminal of claim 1, wherein the audio signal comprises a first signal received via a left channel audio contact of the TRRS connector and a second signal received via a right channel audio contact of the TRRS connector.

5. A payment card reader comprising:

a card interface, the card interface configured to read data from a payment card;

a TRRS connector to couple the payment card reader with a mobile computing device; and

an audio interface circuit coupled with the TRRS connector, the audio interface circuit comprising;

a communication circuit configured to transmit data to and receive data from the mobile computing device via the TRRS connector; and

an energy harvesting circuit configured to receive an audio signal via the TRRS connector, to harvest energy from the audio signal, and to provide energy to other components of the card reader.

6. The payment card reader of claim 5, further comprising a processor coupled with the card interface and the audio interface circuit, the processor configured to process the data from the payment card to determine financial information associated with a buyer and the audio interface circuit configured to transmit the financial information associated with the buyer to the mobile computing device.

7. The payment card reader of claim 5, wherein the energy harvesting circuit comprises a first circuit coupled with an audio contact of the TRRS connector, the first circuit configured to harvest energy from the audio signal received via the audio contact.

8. The payment card reader of claim 7, wherein the energy harvesting circuit comprises a second circuit coupled with a microphone contact of the TRRS connector, the second circuit configured to harvest energy from a bias voltage received via the microphone contact.

9. The payment card reader of claim 5, wherein the audio interface circuit further comprises a demodulator configured to demodulate a data signal from the audio signal.

10. The payment card reader of claim 5, further comprising an energy storage device coupled with the energy harvesting circuit, the energy storage device configured to store energy harvested by the energy harvesting circuit.

11. The payment card reader of claim 5, wherein the card interface is configured to read a magnetic strip of the payment card.

12. The payment card reader of claim 5, wherein the card interface is configured to read an integrated circuit of the payment card.

13. The payment card reader of claim 5, wherein the audio signal comprises a first signal received via a left channel audio contact of the TRRS connector and a second signal received via a right channel audio contact of the TRRS connector.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, at an audio interface circuit of a payment card reader, an audio signal from a mobile computing device via an audio contact of a TRRS connector;

driving a first energy harvesting circuit using the audio signal, wherein the energy harvesting circuit is configured to harvest energy from the audio signal and to provide energy to other components of the payment card reader;

reading a payment card using a card interface of the payment card reader;

receiving at the audio interface circuit payment card information from the payment card reader; and

transmitting the payment card information to the mobile computing device via the TRRS connector using the audio interface circuit.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising processing the payment card information to determine financial information associated with a buyer, wherein transmitting the payment card information comprises transmitting the financial information associated with the buyer.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, from the mobile computing device, a bias voltage via a microphone contact of the TRRS connector; and

driving a second energy harvesting circuit using the bias voltage, wherein the second energy harvesting circuit is configured to harvest energy from the audio signal and to provide energy to other components of the payment card reader.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising demodulating a data signal from the audio signal.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising storing energy harvested by the energy harvesting circuit.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the card interface is configured to read a magnetic strip of the payment card.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the card interface is configured to read an integrated circuit of the payment card.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving the audio signal comprises:

receiving a first signal via a left channel audio contact of the TRRS connector; and

receiving a second signal via a right channel audio contact of the TRRS connector.