Abstract:
A magnetic card reader module includes a magnetic sensor and an adjacent groove, a microcontroller and an application. The magnetic sensor is configured to pick-up an analog magnetic signal generated by swiping a magnetic stripe through the groove. The magnetic stripe is attached to a card and comprises tracks with magnetically encoded data. The microcontroller is configured to convert the analog magnetic signal into a digital signal. The application is configured to analyze the digital signal, and to perform soft-decision decode of the digital signal and to generate an output comprising the magnetically encoded data and side information providing card swipe information feedback.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/736,116 filed on Feb. 6, 2013 and entitled MAGNETIC STRIPE READER WITH CARD SWIPE INFORMATION FEEDBACK, which is commonly assigned, and the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a system and a method for a magnetic stripe reader that provides card swipe information feedback. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Magnetic stripe cards are used for storing various types of data in the magnetic stripe. They find applications in different areas including payment cards, gift cards, security access control systems, identification system and toys, among others. A magnetic stripe card includes a plastic or paper card that has an attached magnetic stripe. Data are encoded magnetically on the magnetic stripe by modifying the magnetism of iron based ferromagnetic particles that are embedded in the magnetic stripe. There are usually three tracks of data encoded onto the magnetic stripe. The data can be retrieved by using magnetic card readers. 
     A magnetic card reader includes a magnetic read head and an adjacent card gliding groove. The magnetic read head includes a magnetic sensor, which in one example is a magnetic coil. A magnetic stripe of a magnetic card reader is swiped through the groove and the swiping motion generates an analog magnetic signal that is picked up by the magnetic sensor of the adjacent magnetic read head. The analog magnetic signal contains the magnetically encoded data of the magnetic stripe. The strength of the analog magnetic signal with the magnetically encoded data is usually weak, therefore the magnetic read head and the magnetic stripe need to be in close contact in order to obtain a “good” signal read. In manually operated magnetic card readers, the card gliding groove includes two opposing walls and the magnetic read head is placed on one of the walls, so that when the magnetic stripe of the magnetic card is placed inside the groove, the magnetic stripe on the card and the magnetic read head are aligned in position. The magnetic read head is usually housed in a metal compartment that also contains all the electronics inside. In most cases, the magnetic stripe can be read from both directions, that is, the magnetic card can be swiped starting from either end of the groove. 
     A magnetic stripe card is inexpensive compared to other card technologies and is easy to program. However, magnetic stripe technology is also susceptible to misreads, card wear, and data corruption. Therefore, in some cases, the magnetic card reader may be unable to read a magnetic card swipe successfully. There are many possible causes for this effect including, card swipe speed and uniformity, card alignment, degradation of the magnetically encoded data, and magnetic read head failure, among others. 
     When a magnetic card read fails, the user usually has to retry the card swipe. However, without any error feedback, the user has no way of knowing why the previous swipe failed and how to correct it. Therefore, a magnetic card reader with feedback information will be very useful in improving the success rate of a magnetic card read after a card read failure. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention provides a new magnetic card reader module with card swipe information feedback. This feature improves greatly the user experience of a magnetic card reader and helps to diagnose the cause of a failed card read. 
     In general, in one aspect, the invention provides a magnetic card reader module including a magnetic sensor and an adjacent groove, a microcontroller and an application. The magnetic sensor is configured to pick-up an analog magnetic signal generated by swiping a magnetic stripe through the groove. The magnetic stripe is attached to a card and comprises tracks with magnetically encoded data. The microcontroller is configured to convert the analog magnetic signal into a digital signal, and the application is configured to analyze the digital signal, and to perform soft-decision decode of the digital signal and to generate an output comprising the magnetically encoded data and side information providing card swipe information feedback. 
     Implementations of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The magnetic card reader module further includes an amplifier and a rectification circuit and the analog magnetic signal is amplified by the amplifier and rectified by the rectification circuit, and thereby a train of square-shaped pulses is generated. The application comprises an edge detection decoding algorithm configured to determine the spacings between rising and/or falling edges of two consecutive rectified pulses. The determined spacings are used as soft decision parameters. Far apart spaced rising and/or falling edges of two consecutive rectified pulses indicate a fast magnetic stripe swipe. Rising and/or falling edges of two consecutive rectified pulses are spaced far apart when their spacing is comparable to or larger than their height. Closely spaced rising and/or falling edges of two consecutive rectified pulses indicate a slow magnetic stripe swipe. Rising and/or falling edges of two consecutive rectified pulses are closely spaced when their spacing is smaller than their height. The magnetic card reader module further includes an amplifier and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The analog magnetic signal is amplified by the amplifier and converted to a digital signal by the ADC. The application decodes the digital signal by determining positions of peaks in the digital signal, determining the spacing between consecutive peaks. The determined spacing is used as soft decision parameter. The microcontroller is further configured to determine the magnetic stripe swipe speed and to provide magnetic stripe swipe diagnostic information. The magnetic stripe swipe diagnostic information comprises a graphical plot of the magnetic stripe swipe speed versus time. The graphical plot of the magnetic stripe swipe speed versus time further comprises upper and lower swipe speed limits. The side information is further configured to be controlled via a software command or a hardware configuration. The side information is further configured to be controlled via an input pin. The magnetically encoded data further comprise an error detecting code. The error detecting code comprises a parity bit for each encoded character and the application is further configured to determine positions of parity error bits. The error detecting code further comprises a longitudinal parity bit for each track of data and the application is further configured to determine positions of longitudinal parity error bits. 
     In general, in another aspect, the invention provides a method for reading data encoded in a magnetic stripe including the following. Providing a magnetic card reader comprising a magnetic sensor and an adjacent groove. The magnetic sensor is configured to pick-up an analog magnetic signal generated by swiping a magnetic stripe through the groove. The magnetic stripe is attached to a card and comprises tracks with magnetically encoded data. Next, providing a microcontroller configured to convert the analog magnetic signal into a digital signal. The microcontroller is further configured to analyze the digital signal, and to perform soft-decision decode of the digital signal and to generate an output comprising the magnetically encoded data and side information providing card swipe information feedback. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a simplified block diagram of a magnetic read head module; 
         FIG. 2  shows a simplified block diagram of a magnetic read head module of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  shows a typical segment of the magnetic flux signal read by a magnetic read head of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  shows a typical segment of the magnetic flux signal after passing through a rectification circuit; 
         FIG. 5  shows a typical segment of the magnetic flux signal and its sampled values in an analog-to-digital conversion process; 
         FIG. 6  shows a block diagram of one possible embodiment of a magnetic read head module including a rectification circuit; 
         FIG. 7  shows a block diagram of one possible embodiment of a magnetic read head module including an analog-to-digital conversion circuit; 
         FIG. 8A  shows a graph of swipe speed versus time indicating that the speed is too low at the beginning and is too high towards the end of the swipe; and 
         FIG. 8B  shows a graph of swipe speed versus time indicating that the user readjusts his swipe behavior to fall within the speed limits 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As was mentioned above, in some cases, the magnetic card reader may be unable to read a magnetic card swipe successfully. There are many possible causes for this effect including, card swipe speed and uniformity, card alignment, degradation of the magnetically encoded data, and magnetic read head failure, among others. 
     In particular, the way and speed the card is swiped affects the success rate of a magnetic stripe read. A swipe that is too fast, too slow, or a swipe with a non-uniform speed or otherwise not smooth, usually causes a failed card read. Another possible cause is the degradation of the magnetically encoded data. Weak signal, data error, or a damaged track may make a data track unreadable. Another possible cause, of course, is the failure of the magnetic reader itself. A misalignment between the magnetic stripe and the magnetic reader is also a possible factor. This can be due to problems with the magnetic card, the magnetic reader or the swipe. 
     In most magnetic card reader modules, the track data output is a “hard decode” of the analog magnetic signal that is picked up by the magnetic read head. A “hard decode” or a “hard decision” or a “hard-decision decoder” refers to a decoding mechanism or a decoder that operates on data that take on a fixed set of possible values, i.e., 0 or 1 in a binary code. After the hard decision, any information about the magnetic card read is lost. 
     The raw magnetic signal, however, contains much more information that may be helpful in determining the cause of a failed magnetic read. 
     When a magnetic card read fails, the user usually has to retry the card swipe. However, without any error feedback, the user has no way of knowing why the previous swipe failed and how to correct it. Therefore, a magnetic card reader with feedback information will be very useful in improving the success rate of a magnetic card read after a card read failure. The card swipe information feedback would allow the user to adjust the card swipe speed or the way the card swipe is performed, to identify the possible causes of the failure or reduce the number of retries if the user knows that the card data are corrupted. 
     The present invention provides a new magnetic card reader module that provides card swipe information feedback, that is based on a “soft decode” mechanism or a “soft-decision decoder”. A “soft decode, or “soft decision” or “soft-decision decoder” refers to a class of algorithms used to decode data that have been encoded with an error correcting code. In addition to the “hard-decision” data of a fixed set of possible values (i.e., 0 or 1 of a binary code), the inputs to a “soft-decision decoder” may take on a whole range of in-between values. This extra information indicates the reliability of each input data point, and is used to provide better values of the original data. Therefore, a soft-decision decoder typically performs better in the presence of corrupted data than the hard-decision decoder. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a magnetic read head module  200  typically includes a magnetic read head  202  and a microcontroller or decoder  203 . The magnetic read head  202  includes a magnetic sensor that picks up an analog magnetic flux  201  and converts the input magnetic flux signal  201  into an electronic signal. The analog magnetic flux  201  contains the magnetically encoded data of a magnetic stripe. The microcontroller or decoder circuit  203  converts the electronic signal back into the data encoded on the tracks of the magnetic stripe and outputs the digital track data  204  to be consumed by other circuits. The output data  204  are results of a “hard decision decoder” and have a fixed set of possible values, i.e., 0 or 1 in a binary code. Therefore, when a card read fails, there is no feedback indicating why the card read swipe failed. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the magnetic read head module  210  of the present invention includes a magnetic read head  212 , a microcontroller  213  and an application  215 . The magnetic read head  212  includes a magnetic sensor that picks up an analog magnetic flux signal  211  and converts the magnetic flux signal  211  into an electronic signal. The microcontroller  213  and application  215  process the electronic signal to extract values based on a “soft decision decoder” mechanism. The microcontroller  213  outputs card swipe information (or side information)  214  based on the analysis performed by the “soft decision decoder” mechanism. If the card read is successful, the track data of the magnetic stripe will be generated as an output. If an error occurs during the card read, the side information  214  will help the user to determine the possible cause of the failed read. In this way, the user can either adjust the card swipe speed accordingly or identify a possible bad card when the data are not readable. 
     Binary track data are encoded on magnetic cards using a frequency/double frequency (F2F) encoding scheme where bit  1  and bit  0  are represented by encoded signals with different spacing. When a magnetic stripe is swiped through a groove of magnetic card reader, the generated magnetic flux is picked up by the magnetic read head and the encoded track data are retrieved from the magnetic stripe.  FIG. 3  shows the analog signal output from a magnetic read head front end. The separation distance between peaks  100  and  101  is half of the separation distance between peaks  110  and  111 . The signal pulses  100  and  101  correspond to two bit  0 s. Pulses  110  and  111  are at double frequency and correspond to a bit  1 . 
     The present invention utilizes two different ways of decoding the input magnetic signal  211  signal with magnetic read head modules  220 ,  230 , shown in  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , respectively. Referring to  FIG. 6 , magnetic read head module  220  includes a magnetic read head  221 , an amplifier  222 , a rectification circuit  223 , a microcontroller  224  and an edge detection algorithm  215   a . Input magnetic signal  220  is converted by the magnetic read head  221  into an electronic signal. The electronic signal is first amplified by the amplifier  222  and then passes through the rectification circuit  223 . The analog electronic signal is then converted to a train of pulses  120 ,  121 ,  122 ,  123  (shown in  FIG. 4 ) with the rectifier circuit  223  and the positions of the pulses are determined by the edge detection algorithm  215   a  that is implemented and executed by the microcontroller  224 . The spacing between consecutive pulses is computed and interpreted to be either bit  1  or bit  0 .  FIG. 4  shows the train of pulses  120 ,  121 ,  122 ,  123  in the resulting waveform after rectification of the raw electronic signal. Pulses  120  and  121  are wide pulses corresponding to bit  0 . Pulses  122  and  123  are narrow pulses and together they represent a bit  1 . The spacings between rising edges  120   a ,  122   a  and/or falling edges  120   b ,  122   b  of the pulses  120 ,  121 ,  122 ,  123  are used as soft-decision parameters. In particular, edges that are spaced far apart indicate a swipe with fast speed and edges that are closely spaced indicate a swipe with slow speed. Edges are far apart when their spacing is comparable to or larger than their height. Edges are closely spaced when their spacing is smaller than their height. 
     Alternatively, instead of rectification, the amplified signal is sampled and converted to a digital signal through an analog-to-digital convertor (ADC) circuit. Referring to  FIG. 7 , magnetic read head module  230  includes a magnetic read head  231 , an amplifier  232 , an analog-to-digital convertor (ADC) circuit  233 , a microcontroller  234 , and an algorithm  215   b . The ADC circuit  233  samples the signal generated by the amplifier  232  and converts it to a digital signal, shown in  FIG. 5 . The positions of the peaks  130  in the digital signal are determined by the algorithm  215   b  that is implemented and executed by the microcontroller  234 . The spacing between consecutive peaks is computed and interpreted to be either bit  1  or bit  0 . These sampled data usually preserve more information than the rectified data and are more useful for analysis and diagnosis. Some microcontrollers can perform AD conversion in one or more of their input pins. Thus, the AD convertor may be part of the microcontroller and not necessarily an external circuitry.  FIG. 5  shows the resulting waveform after amplification of the raw signal. Sample points  130 ,  131  and  132  are converted to digital values for processing. For example,  130  is a local maximum value and can be interpreted as the position of the peak of the pulse. In either the edge detection data or the AD converted data, a set of soft-decision data is available before hard-decision. The soft-decision data is then used for hard decision to restore the original encoded bit stream. The track data are encoded with some simple mechanisms to determine if it is a good read or if there is an error. Each encoded character has a parity bit to ensure that each character is read correctly. The whole track has also a longitudinal parity bit to ensure that the whole track is read correctly. If there are one or more parity errors, the card read is bad and should be discarded. 
     In the present invention, card swipe information about the error cause is output as side information. In the edge detected soft decision data, the spacing between the edges is used to indicate the speed of the swipe. Widely spaced pulses indicate a fast swipe, whereas, closely spaced pulses indicate a slow swipe. In the AD converted soft decision data, the spacing between the peaks and the height of the peaks are used to indicate the speed of the swipe. A widely spaced signal indicates a fast swipe, whereas, a closely spaced signal indicates a slow swipe. A high peak also indicates a fast swipe, whereas, a low peak indicates a slow swipe. Side information about the speed of the swipe is fed back to the user of the card reader who can then improve the speed of further card read retries. 
     In one implementation, a graphical plot  250  of the speed profile of the card swipe is generated by the application and is displayed graphically, as shown in  FIG. 8A  and  FIG. 8B . The speed plot  250  also includes the upper and lower speed limits  251 ,  251 , respectively. Ideally, the speed graph  255 , should be in the range between the upper and lower speed limits  251 ,  251 , as shown in  FIG. 8B . Furthermore, a uniform swiping speed is best for decoding. However, it is common that the speed near the start  255   a  or the end  255   b  of the swipe is very different from the speed in the middle  255   c  of the swipe. By looking at the speed profile  250  graphically, the user can learn to adjust the swipe speed so that it is uniform and in the range between the upper and lower speed limits  251 ,  252 , respectively. 
     Furthermore, by analyzing the soft decision data, the position of the parity error bits is determined. The microcontroller outputs the error position which can then help the operator to pin-point the problem of a probably badly encoded or damaged card. A common problem is that the card is bent or angled at a bad position near the end of a swipe because the operator changes the pathway of the card too early. If the soft decision data contain many errors after a certain point, it strongly indicates that there is an operation error. 
     Several embodiments of the present invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.