Feedback control loop for NFC transmitter voltage control

• US 9,760,883 B1
• Filed: 12/31/2015
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wade, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Talukder, Md
• Application Number:
  US14/986,308
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• Field of Search: 455 411, 455 412, 455 413
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A payment object reader configured to read data from NFC or EMV enabled payment objects. The payment device includes a NFC antenna, a boost converter (voltage regulator) chip. A first feedback circuit is connected to the NFC antenna and the feedback pin of the boost converter chip. The boost converter chip regulates a first voltage provided to the NFC antenna for the NFC antenna to modulate a field. A second feedback circuit includes a microcontroller with an ADC input and a DAC output. ADC input is connected to NFC antenna, and DAC is connected to the feedback pin of the boost converter chip. The microcontroller receives the voltage at the ADC input and controls the DAC output to transition based on the value of the ADC input.

Claims

1. A payment object reader that is configured to read data from payment objects using a near field communication (NFC) protocol, the payment object reader comprising:

a NFC antenna configured to modulate a magnetic field to read data from a NFC-enabled payment object;

a boost converter integrated circuit (IC) chip having a voltage output pin connected to the NFC antenna, and a feedback pin connected to a first feedback circuit, the boost converter IC chip configured to regulate a first voltage provided to the NFC antenna to modulate the magnetic field;

the first feedback circuit connected at a first terminal to the NFC antenna, and connected at a second terminal to the feedback pin of the boost converter IC chip, whereby the boost converter IC chip monitors the first voltage at the NFC antenna;

a second feedback circuit comprising a microcontroller having an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input, and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) output, the ADC input connected to the NFC antenna, and the DAC connected to the feedback pin of the boost converter IC chip by a line having a transistor and a resistor divider therein; and

whereby the second feedback circuit is configured to feed an antenna voltage from the NFC antenna to the microcontroller through the ADC input, and the microcontroller can control the DAC output to the transistor based on the antenna voltage from the NFC antenna, in this manner the microcontroller is configured to control an amount of power provided to the NFC antenna by the boost converter IC chip such that the boost converter IC chip can be controlled to output an output voltage selected from a set of voltages including the first voltage and a second voltage as determined by the microcontroller, and the microcontroller is configured to account for factors affecting accuracy of the second voltage caused by signal drift from a desired output signal value due to temperature effects at the transistor.

2. The payment object reader of claim 1, further comprising a chip card reader interface and associated card contacts, and wherein the first voltage corresponds to a NFC transaction and the second voltage corresponds to a chip-type transaction.

3. The payment object reader of claim 1, wherein the boost converter IC chip is controlled to output the first voltage when the NFC-enabled payment object is positioned at least a first distance from the NFC antenna.

4. The payment object reader of claim 3, wherein the boost converter IC chip is controlled to output the second voltage when the NFC-enabled payment object is positioned at least a second distance from the NFC antenna, wherein the second distance is greater than the first distance.

5. The payment object reader of claim 1, wherein the second feedback circuit is configured to increase a value of the DAC output to increase a output from the first voltage to the second voltage.

6. The payment object reader of claim 1, wherein the first voltage and the second voltage are each pre-selected voltage values where the first voltage is greater than or less than the second voltage.

7. A payment object reader comprising:

a microcontroller having an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) output;

a line having a transistor and a resistor divider therein, the line connected at a first end to the DAC output of the microcontroller, the line connected at a second end to a feedback pin of a boost converter integrated circuit (IC) chip to complete a feedback loop associated with the boost converter IC chip; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed are effective to cause the microcontroller to;

receive, at the ADC input of the microcontroller, a first voltage provided by the boost converter integrated circuit (IC) chip to a payment object reader interface that is configured to read payment data from a payment object; and

control the DAC output of the microcontroller that is coupled to the feedback pin of the boost converter IC chip via the line having the transistor and the resistor divider therein, the DAC output controlling an amount of power output by the boost converter IC chip to the payment object reader interface based on the ADC input, such that the amount of power output by the boost converter IC chip to the payment object reader interface is an output voltage selected from a set of voltages including the first voltage and a second voltage as determined by the microcontroller wherein the microcontroller is configured to account for factors affecting accuracy of the second voltage caused by signal drift from a desired output signal value due to temperature effects at the transistor.

8. The payment object reader of claim 7, wherein the payment object reader interface comprises a Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna.

9. The payment object reader of claim 7, wherein the payment object reader interface comprises a chip card interface.

10. The payment object reader of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the microcontroller to increase or decrease the DAC output based on the ADC input.

11. The payment object reader of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the microcontroller to check the ADC input in increments of a predetermined amount of time.

12. The payment object reader of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the microcontroller to adjust the DAC output according to the ADC input for each increment of the predetermined amount of time.

13. The payment object reader of claim 11, wherein the predetermined amount of time comprises 50 milliseconds (ms).

14. A method of controlling an output of a boost converter chip, the method comprising:

monitoring a first voltage at a near field communication (NFC) antenna connected to a first feedback circuit, the NFC antenna connected to the boost converter chip that is configured to regulate the first voltage provided to the NFC antenna, the NFC antenna configured to read data from a NFC-enabled payment object;

feeding the first voltage from the NFC antenna to a second feedback circuit, wherein the second feedback circuit is configured to feed the first voltage from the NFC antenna to a microcontroller of the second feedback circuit through an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input of the microcontroller; and

controlling a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) output of the microcontroller that is coupled to a feedback pin of the boost converter chip, to thereby cause the boost converter chip to output an output voltage to the NFC antenna based on the ADC input, the output voltage selected from a set of voltages including the first voltage and a second voltage determined by the microcontroller.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining a first predetermined amount of time has passed;

detecting a distance from the NFC antenna to a NFC-enabled payment object;

determining that the distance is less than a predetermined threshold distance; and

increasing a DAC output value of the DAC output.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the microcontroller is configured to change the DAC output value linearly as the distance from the NFC antenna to the NFC-enabled payment device changes with respect to the predetermined threshold distance.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining that a second predetermined amount of time has passed;

determining that a distance from the NFC antenna to a NFC-enabled payment object is greater than a predetermined threshold distance; and

decreasing a DAC output value of the DAC output.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the microcontroller controls the DAC output by performing one of a set of software techniques on an ADC value of the ADC input, the set of software techniques including:

an averaging technique, a histogram technique, a use of accurate voltage reference, a linear compensation technique, maintaining a lookup table, and a zone compensation technique.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising maintaining a lookup table by storing a list of a plurality of ADC values of the ADC input and a list of corresponding DAC values to be output for each respective ADC value.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising using a zone compensation technique by using a plurality of DAC values that each correspond to one of a plurality of zones of ADC values of a plurality of ADC values of the ADC input, such that the DAC is output that correspond to an ADC input one of the plurality of ADC values lying within one of the plurality of zones of ADC values.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the DAC output of the microcontroller is coupled to a feedback pin of the boost converter IC chip via a line having a transistor and a resistor divider therein.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the microcontroller is configured to account for factors affecting accuracy of the second voltage caused by signal drift from a desired output signal value due to temperature effects at the transistor.