Square, Inc.

Block, Inc.

Haipeng Yan

Afshin Rezayee

Emad Bidari

Bertram Leesti

Kevin Ka Wai Ng

Yue Yang

Malcolm Smith

Kshitiz Vadera

Jason Binder

Yuchu He

A system for sensing a proximity of a near field communication (NFC) device includes an NFC reader that communicates with a remote NFC device through load modulation. The NFC reader transmits a wireless carrier signal from an antenna, and the remote NFC device modulates the carrier signal by changing its internal impedance in order to transmit data to the NFC reader. The NFC reader has at least one antenna for receiving the modulated signal. The antenna is coupled to circuitry that analyzes the signal received from the remote NFC device The circuitry then identifies a resonant frequency for the remote NFC device based on the received signal and controls transmission characteristics of the NFC reader for communicating with the remote NFC device based on the identified resonant frequency.

Controlling reader transmissions based on device resonant frequency

A near field communication (NFC) system includes an NFC reader that communicates with a remote NFC device through load modulation. The NFC reader transmits a wireless carrier signal from an antenna and has a plurality of passive receive antennas to receive the modulated signal. The NFC reader also has circuitry to provide a plurality of data streams that define data recovered from the modulated wireless carrier signal received from the plurality of receivers. The circuitry then selects, based on a location of the NFC device relative to the NFC reader, one of the plurality of data streams for use in processing a transaction.

Transaction processing based on device location

A system for sensing a proximity of a near field communication (NFC) device includes an NFC reader that communicates with a remote NFC device through load modulation. The NFC reader transmits a wireless carrier signal from an antenna, and the remote NFC device modulates such carrier signal by changing its internal impedance in order to transmit data to the NFC reader. The NFC reader has at least one antenna for receiving the modulated signal. This antenna is coupled to circuitry that measures a spectrum of the received signal and identifies a resonant frequency of the NFC device based on the measured spectrum. Such circuitry also determines the signal's amplitude at such resonant frequency and precisely estimates the distance of the remote NFC device from the reader based on such amplitude. By estimating the precise distance of the remote NFC device from the reader, the location of the remote NFC device relative to the reader can be precisely determined, and this information may be used to operate the NFC reader more efficiently.

Systems and methods for sensing locations of near field communication devices

A point of sale system has a display for receiving touch inputs, a controller to receive the touch inputs from the display, and a secure controller to receive touch input data from the controller. The system also has a card interface module and a contactless interface module to provide encrypted data to the secure controller. The secure controller can operate in either a secure mode or a non-secure mode. When a non-secure mode is engaged, the secure controller provides the touch input data to a processor. When a secure mode is engaged, the secure controller blocks at least a portion of the touch input data from the processor.

Point of sale system with secure and unsecure modes

A multi-layer antenna for near-field communications can have a first layer on a top surface of flexible circuit board and a second layer on a bottom surface of the flexible circuit board. The first layer and the second layer can be connected in series by a through connection in the flexible circuit board. The first layer can incorporate a single loop in the shape of a rectangle and the second layer can incorporate a single loop in the shape of a rectangle. The second layer of the antenna can be vertically aligned with the first layer of the antenna and can have current flow in the same direction as the first layer to provide for an increased magnetic flux from the antenna.

Multi-layer antenna

A communication device generates a wireless carrier signal and communicates by modulating the wireless carrier signal. A measurement circuit of the communication device measures an inductively coupled signal that is based on the transmitted wireless carrier signal and a measurement value is calculated for that signal. The measurement value is used to select a modulation procedure that is used by the communication device to encode data to be transmitted. The communication device generates and transmits a wireless data signal based on the data to be transmitted, the selected modulation procedure, and the carrier signal.

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Whitby, Canada

Haipeng Yan