Card reader with power efficient architecture that includes a power supply and a wake-up circuit

摘要

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in a card reader with a read head positioned in a housing. The read head is configured to be coupled to a mobile device and has a slot for swiping a magnetic stripe of a card. The read head reads data on the magnetic stripe and produces a raw magnetic signal indicative of data stored on the magnetic stripe. A power supply is coupled to wake-up electronics and a microcontroller. An output jack is adapted to be inserted in a port of the mobile device and deliver an output jack signal to the mobile device.

主权项

1. A financial transaction device reader comprising:
a housing; a slot for receiving a financial transaction device; wake-up electronics configured to send a wake-up signal to a microcontroller to wake up device electronics of the financial transaction device reader from a sleep state to an active state in response to the financial transaction device being received in the slot, the device electronics configured to, in the active state, receive data from the financial transaction device and convert the data into a digital signal; wherein the microcontroller is configured to power down the wake-up electronics into a power conservation state when the device electronics transition to the active state and to power up the wake-up electronics when the device electronics return to the sleep state; and an output port configured to transmit the data to an input port of a mobile device coupled to the financial transaction device reader.