Patent ID: 8235287
Filing Date: 2012-08-07
Classification: G06Q,G07F

Abstract:
1. A card reader, comprising: a housing; a read head positioned in the housing and having a slot for swiping a magnetic stripe of a financial transaction card with the slot utilized to enable a financial transaction between a buyer and seller, the read head reading data on the magnetic stripe and producing a signal indicative of data stored on the magnetic stripe, the read head including an output jack configured to be coupled and de-coupled to at least one of an audio jack or microphone port of a mobile device, with the read head providing the signal to the mobile device, the slot being oriented and sized to reduce torque applied on the read head as the financial transaction card is swiped through the slot in order to maintain accuracy and reliability of the data read by the read head; an element coupled to the read head that provides the read head to swivel while maintaining contact pressure to track the magnetic strip while the card is swept passive ID circuitry in the housing of the read head to deliver a unique ID of the read head to the mobile device; and wherein decoding of the signal is performed at the mobile device, the decoding including determining pulses in the signal and converting at least some of the pulses to characters.