Card reader assembly

• US 7,690,495 B1
• Filed: 10/22/2002
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cantaloupe, Inc.
• Original Assignee: USA Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Patrizzi, Barry J., Luce, Stephen, Kolls, H. Brock
• Primary Examiner(s): Shapiro; Jeffrey A
• Application Number:
  US10/277,458
• Time in Patent Office: 2,723 Days
• Field of Search: 194205-213, 209/534, 193/DIG.1, 235/381, 109/49.5, 109/51
• US Class Current: 194/350
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/10 Casings or parts thereof, e.g. with means for heating or cooling

Abstract

The present invention relates to a card reader assembly. The card reader assembly can be mounted in a variety of vending equipment, arcade game equipment, and other suitable equipment. Furthermore, the card reader assembly can be mounted in a standard size vending machine bill validator opening.

The card reader assembly can provide for the optional mounting of a card reader, a card reader interface circuit board, a payment module board, a communication board, and or a printer. The printer mechanism is mounted on a printer bracket. The printer bracket can be slid over the edges of and fastened to the support bracket. A paper exit slot can be provided in the card reader assembly faceplate to allow the printer paper to exit through the faceplate such that a user can receive the printer paper.

In addition, the printer mechanism, card reader, and or a pushbutton can be electrically connected to the card reader interface board. The card reader interface board can be electrically connected to a computing platform 802, vending interface unit (system 500), or other suitable data processing device. In addition, a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED) can be incorporated into the card reader assembly. The LED display can be viewable by a user of the card reader assembly.

Claims

1. A card reader assembly configured to be attached to a printer assembly and retrofit into a vending machine, said vending machine having a vending machine interface, said card reader assembly comprising:

a faceplate having a user accessible front surface portion of approximately 3.375 inches by 4.25 inches, and a display slot and a print slot, said faceplate configured to facilitate access to a card reader;

a support bracket fastened to said faceplate, said support bracket interconnects and aligns for assembly with a printer bracket of the printer assembly, said printer bracket being detachable from the support bracket, thereby detaching said printer assembly from said card reader assembly, the printer assembly being adapted to receive a roll of paper and including a printing mechanism adapted to print receipts on the paper, the printer assembly being remote from the faceplate;

a paper guide configured to guide the paper from the printing mechanism through the print slot in the faceplate, the paper guide extending toward the printing mechanism and in contact with the print slot in the faceplate, the paper guide connected to the faceplate and not connected to the printer assembly so as to be physically separate and distinct from said printer assembly such that the paper guide remains in contact with the print slot of the faceplate when said printer bracket is detached from said support bracket;

a card reader interface circuit board, said card reader interface circuit board being secured in proximity to said faceplate, said card reader interface circuit board further comprising a display configured to be viewable through said display slot; and

said card reader interface circuit board configured to interconnect to and data communicate with a payment module configured to interconnect to and data communicate with said vending machine interface, such that by way of said payment module, said card reader assembly is configured to initiate or terminate cashless vending cycles effectuated by said vending machine interface.

2. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said faceplate further comprises a card reader slot.

3. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said payment module further comprises:

an interactive interface, said interactive interface configured to operationally relate said payment module with at least one of the following;

i) said card reader interface circuit board;

ii) an online module;

iii) a cashless payment system;

iv) a payment semiconductor;

v) a point of sale reference design;

vi) a vending interface unit (VIU);

vii) an audit-credit-interactive system;

viii) a coin mechanism;

ix) a bill validator;

x) a combination bill validator and card reader;

xi) an audit device;

xii) a personal computer;

xiii) a data processing device;

xiv) a data processing resource;

xv) a global network based data processing resource;

xvi) a communication module;

xvii) a microprocessor based system;

xviii) a wireless network;

xix) a wireless phone;

xx) a vending machine;

xxi) a second vending machine interface;

xxii) said vending machine interface;

xxiii) a data exchange interface (DEX);

xxiv) a pager;

xxv) a personal data assistant (PDA);

xxvi) a second payment module, for networking a plurality of payment modules;

xxvii) a global network based data processing resource;

or

xxviii) a computing platform.

4. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said payment module is configured to effectuate remote data communication with a plurality of remote data processing resources.

5. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader interface circuit board comprises a point of sale reference design.

6. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader assembly is configured to integrate a plurality of cashless payment technology into a bill validator slot opening in said vending machine.

7. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said payment module further comprises:

a vending machine interface configured to interconnect said payment module to a vending machine controller (VMC).

8. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 7, wherein said vending machine interface comprises at least one of the following:

i) a multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface;

ii) a data exchange interface (DEX);

iii) a plurality of general purpose input and or output control lines;

iv) a serial communication interface;

v) a mimic multi-drop-bus (MBD) interface;

or

vi) an interface to said vending machine interface.

9. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader interface circuit board further comprises at least one of the following:

i) said card reader;

ii) said display;

iii) a plurality of general purpose input and or output control lines;

iv) a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED);

v) a beeper;

vi) a serial communication interface;

vii) a keypad;

viii) a plurality of pushbuttons;

or

ix) the printing mechanism.

10. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader comprises at least one of the following:

i) a swipe style card reader;

ii) a dip style card reader;

iii) a smart card reader;

iv) a bar code reader;

v) a touch or contact reader;

vi) a biometric reader;

vii) a personal data assistant (PDA) interface reader;

viii) a keypad reader;

ix) a wireless phone;

x) a pager;

xi) an RFID reader;

or

xii) a proximity card reader.

11. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader interface circuit board data is configured to communicate with said payment module by way of at least one of the following:

i) a plurality of general purpose input and or output control lines;

ii) a serial peripheral interface (SPI);

or

iii) a serial communication interface.

12. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader interface circuit board further comprises a microcontroller.

13. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 4, wherein said plurality of remote data processing resources comprises at least one global network based data processing resource.

14. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader assembly or said payment module further comprises at least one of the following:

i) a wireless modem;

ii) a modem;

iii) a local area network (LAN) interface;

or

iv) a wide area network (WAN) interface.

15. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader assembly or said payment module is configured to data communicate with a computing platform.

39. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein data communication between said card reader interface circuit board and said payment module is configured to be performed by way of an interactive interface.

40. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader assembly, in part, is configured to effectuate monitoring of said vending machine activity, and/or control cashless vending cycles by utilization of synapse-like remote data connectivity with a plurality of remote data processing resources.

44. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein the paper guide includes a first opening adjacent the printing mechanism and a second opening in contact with the print slot in the faceplate, the first opening being below the second opening.

47. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said card reader interface circuit board is further configured to directly interconnect to and communicate with said printer assembly.

16. A card reader assembly configured to be attached to a printer assembly and retrofit into a vending machine, said vending machine having a vending machine interface, said card reader assembly comprising:

a faceplate having a user accessible front surface portion, a display slot, and a print slot;

a support bracket fastened to said faceplate, said support bracket interconnects and aligns for assembly with a printer bracket of the printer assembly, said printer bracket being detachable from the support bracket, thereby detaching said printer assembly from said card reader assembly, the printer assembly adapted to receives a roll of paper and including a printing mechanism adapted to print receipts on the paper, the printer assembly being remote from the faceplate;

a paper guide configured to guide the paper from the printer mechanism through the print slot in the faceplate, the paper guide extending toward the printer mechanism and in contact with the print slot in the faceplate, the paper guide connected to the faceplate and separate not connected to the printer assembly so as to be physically separate and distinct from said printer assembly such that the paper guide remains in contact with the print slot of the faceplate when said printer bracket is detached from said support bracket; and

a card reader interface circuit board, said card reader interface circuit board being secured in proximity to said faceplate, said card reader interface circuit board further comprising;

a microcontroller; and

a plurality of peripheral devices operationally related to said microcontroller, at least one of said plurality of peripheral devices being a card reader interface, said card reader interface configured to interconnect to and data communicate with a card reader, said plurality of peripheral devices further including at least one of the following;

a display being viewable through said display slot;

or

a printer interface configured to interconnect to and data communicate with the printing mechanism;

said card reader interface circuit board further comprising;

an interactive interface configured to operationally relate said microcontroller to a payment module, said payment module configured to interconnect to and data communicate with said vending machine interface, such that by way of said payment module, said card reader assembly is configured to initiate or terminate cashless vending cycles effectuated by said vending machine interface.

17. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein said interactive interface effectuated data communications comprises a plurality of multiplexed data organized as follows:

said plurality of multiplexed data communicated to said microcontroller being configured to be demultiplexed and selectively used by said microcontroller, and/or routed to at least one of said plurality of peripheral devices; and

said microcontroller being configured to transmit said plurality of card data, as part of said plurality of multiplexed data when said microcontroller receives a plurality of card data from said card reader.

18. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein said plurality of peripheral devices further comprises at least one of the following:

i) a plurality of general purpose input and or output control lines;

ii) a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED);

iii) a beeper;

iv) a serial communication interface;

v) a keypad;

or

vi) a plurality of buttons.

19. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein said card reader comprises at least one of the following:

i) a swipe style card reader;

ii) a dip style card reader;

iii) a smart card reader;

iv) a bar code reader;

v) a touch or contact reader;

vi) a biometric reader;

vii) a personal data assistant (PDA) interface reader;

viii) a keypad reader;

ix) a wireless phone;

x) a pager;

xi) an RFID style reader;

or

xii) a proximity card reader.

20. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein said card reader interface circuit board is configured to operationally relate said card reader assembly with at least one of the following:

i) a payment semiconductor;

ii) a cashless payment system;

iii) a computing platform;

iv) a communication module;

v) an audit-credit-interactive system;

or

vi) a point of sale reference design.

21. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein said interactive interface is configured to operationally relate said card reader interface circuit board with at least one of the following:

i) an online module;

ii) a cashless payment system;

iii) a computing platform;

iv) a payment semiconductor;

v) a point of sale reference design;

vi) a vending interface unit (VIU);

vii) an audit-credit-interactive system;

viii) a coin mechanism;

ix) a bill validator;

x) a combination bill validator and card reader;

xi) an audit device;

xii) a personal computer;

xiii) a data processing device;

xiv) a data processing resource;

xv) a global network based data processing resource;

xvi) a communication module;

xvii) a microprocessor based system;

xviii) a wireless network;

xix) a wireless phone;

xx) a pager;

xxi) a personal data assistant (PDA);

xxii) a global network based data processing resource;

xxiii) a second vending machine interface;

xxiv) said vending machine;

xxv) a multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface;

xxvi) a data exchange interface (DEX);

xxvii) a plurality of general purpose input and or output control lines;

or

xxviii) a serial communication interface.

22. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein said payment module further comprises:

a second vending machine interface configured to operationally relate said payment module with a vending machine controller (VMC).

23. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 22, wherein said second vending machine interface comprises at least one of the following:

i) a multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface;

ii) a data exchange interface (DEX);

iii) a plurality of general purpose input and or output control lines;

or

iv) a serial communication interface.

24. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein said card reader assembly is configured to monitor by way of said payment module a vending machine vended inventory and/or a vending machine vending activity.

25. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 21, wherein said communication module is configured to effectuate remote data communication with a plurality of remote data processing resources.

26. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 25, wherein said plurality of remote data processing resources comprises at least one global network based data processing resource.

27. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 21, wherein said card reader assembly or said payment module further comprises at least one of the following:

i) a wireless modem;

ii) a modem;

iii) a local area network (LAN) interface;

or

iv) a wide area network (WAN) interface.

28. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein based in part on said interactive interface effectuated data communications, said card reader assembly is configured to effectuate at least one of the following:

i) said vending machine monitoring, based in part on data obtained from a data exchange interface (DEX);

ii) said vending machine monitoring, based in part on data obtained from a serial communication interface;

iii) said vending machine monitoring, based in part on data obtained from said vending machine interface;

iv) cashless vending, based in part on utilization of a serial communication interface;

v) cashless vending, based in part on utilization of said vending machine interface;

vi) interactive vending, based in part on utilization of said computing platform;

vii) performance of a remote vending machine service, and/or maintenance;

viii) a remote vending route management, based in part on utilization of vending machine telemetry data;

or

ix) effectuating synapse like data connectivity, based in part on utilization of a plurality of local and/or remote data processing resources to network a plurality of said vending machines.

41. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein said card reader assembly, in part, is configured to effectuate monitoring of said vending machine activity, and/or control cashless vending cycles by utilization of synapse-like remote data connectivity with a plurality of remote data processing resources.

45. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 16, wherein the paper guide includes a first opening adjacent the printing mechanism and a second opening in contact with the print slot in the faceplate, the first opening being below the second opening.

46. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 45, wherein the second opening of the paper guide is smaller than the first opening of the paper guide.

29. A card reader assembly configured to be attached to a printer assembly and retrofit into a vending machine, said vending machine having a vending machine interface, said card reader assembly comprising:

a faceplate having a user accessible front surface portion that facilitates access to a card reader and a print slot;

a support bracket fastened to said faceplate, said support bracket interconnects and aligns for assembly with a printer bracket of the printer assembly, said printer bracket being detachable from the support bracket, thereby detaching said printer assembly from said card reader assembly, the printer assembly adapted to receiver a roll of paper and including a printer adapted to print receipts on the paper, the printer being remote from the faceplate;

a paper guide configured to guide the paper from the printer through the print slot in the faceplate, the paper guide extending toward the printer and in contact with the print slot in the faceplate, the paper guide connected to the faceplate and not connected to the printer assembly so as to be physically separate and distinct from said printer assembly such that the paper guide remains in contact with the print slot of the faceplate when said printer bracket is detached from said support bracket; and

a card reader interface circuit board secured in proximity to said faceplate, said card reader interface circuit board further comprising;

a microcontroller; and

a plurality of peripheral devices operationally related to said microcontroller, at least one of said plurality of peripheral devices being a card reader interface configured to interconnect to and data communicate with said card reader, said plurality of peripheral devices further including at least one of the following;

a display interface configured to interconnect to and data communicate with a display;

or

a printer interface configured to interconnect to and data communicate with the printer;

said card reader interface circuit board further comprising;

an interactive interface configured to operationally relate said microcontroller to and data communicate with a computing platform configured to interconnect to and data communicate with said vending machine interface, such that by way of said computing platform said card reader assembly is configured to initiate or terminate cashless vending cycles effectuated by said vending machine interface.

30. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 29, wherein said card reader assembly or said payment module is configured to effectuate remote data communication with a plurality of remote data processing resources.

31. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 30, wherein said plurality of remote data processing resources comprises at least one global network based data processing resource.

32. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 29, wherein said card reader assembly or said computing platform further comprises at least one of the following:

i) a wireless modem;

ii) a modem;

iii) a local area network (LAN) interface;

or

iv) a wide area network (WAN) interface.

42. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 29, wherein said card reader assembly, in part, is configured to effectuate monitoring of said vending machine activity, and/or control cashless vending cycles by utilization of synapse-like remote data connectivity with a plurality of remote data processing resources.

33. A card reader assembly configured to be attached to a printer assembly and retrofit into a vending machine, said vending machine having a vending machine interface, said card reader assembly comprising:

a faceplate having a user accessible front surface portion and a print slot;

a support bracket fastened to said faceplate, said support bracket interconnects and aligns for assembly with a printer bracket of the printer assembly, said printer bracket being detachable from the support bracket, thereby detaching said printer assembly from said card reader assembly, the printer assembly adapted to receiver a roll of paper and including a printing mechanism adapted to print receipts on the paper, the printer assembly being remote from the faceplate;

a paper guide configured to guide the paper from the printing mechanism through the print slot in the faceplate, the paper guide extending toward the printing mechanism and in contact with the print slot in the faceplate, the paper guide connected to the faceplate and not connected to the printer assembly so as to be physically separate and distinct from said printer assembly such that the paper guide remains in contact with the print slot of the faceplate when said printer bracket is detached from said support bracket; and

a card reader interface circuit board being secured proximate to said faceplate, said card reader interface circuit board further comprising;

a microcontroller operationally related to a display and a card reader; and

an interface configured to operationally relate said microcontroller to and data communicate with a computing platform interconnecting to and data communicating with said multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface, such that by way of said computing platform said card reader assembly is configured to initiate or terminate cashless vending cycles effectuated by said multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface.

34. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 33, wherein said computing platform is configured to effectuate remote data communication with a plurality of remote data processing resources.

35. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 34, wherein said plurality of remote data processing resources comprises at least one global network based data processing resource.

36. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 33, wherein said computing platform further comprises:

a second vending machine interface configured to operationally relate said computing platform with a vending machine controller (VMC).

37. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 36, wherein said second vending machine interface comprises at least one of the following:

i) a multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface;

ii) a data exchange interface (DEX);

iii) a plurality of general purpose input and or output control lines;

iv) a serial communication interface;

V) a mimic multi-drop-bus (MBD) interface;

or

vi) an interface to said vending machine interface.

38. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 33, wherein said card reader comprises at least one of the following:

i) a swipe style card reader;

ii) a dip style card reader;

iii) a smart card reader;

iv) a bar code reader;

v) a touch or contact reader;

vi) a biometric reader;

vii) a personal data assistant (PDA) interface reader;

viii) a keypad reader;

ix) a wireless phone;

x) a pager;

xi) an RFID style reader;

or

xii) a proximity card reader.

43. The card reader assembly in accordance with claim 33, wherein said card reader assembly, in part, is configured to effectuate monitoring of said vending machine activity, and/or control cashless vending cycles by utilization of synapse-like remote data connectivity with a plurality of remote data processing resources.