Patent ID: 8876003

Claim:
A card reader system, comprising: a housing having a slot for swiping a magnetic stripe of a financial transaction card to complete a financial transaction between a buyer and seller; a read head in the housing for reading data stored on the magnetic stripe and for producing a signal indicative of data stored on the magnetic stripe; an output jack adapted to be coupled to at least one of an audio jack or microphone input port of a mobile device for providing, to the mobile device, the signal indicative of data stored on the magnetic stripe; a card reader circuit with a control unit, the control unit being coupled to a pathway subsystem that is configured to direct bias voltage received from the mobile device to a card reader power subsystem, the card reader power subsystem including a modified charge pump and being configured to convert the bias voltage to a system voltage that is usable by the control unit, wherein the control unit configures the pathway subsystem to allow the card reader circuit to access the mobile device; and an encryption system in communication with a communication system and the control unit, wherein the control unit, in operation, provides for communication of encrypted information from the encryption system.