Sleep control method of POS machine and POS machine

Abstract

The invention provides a dormancy control method of a POS machine and the POS machine. The method comprises the following steps: in response to a sleep start instruction, controlling a processor, a magnetic stripe card reading module and an NFC module to enter a deep sleep state; waking up the processor in the deep dormant state according to a preset wakeup period, so that the processor controls the NFC module to send a radio frequency signal outwards once through the NFC antenna, and determining a target distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna based on the strength of a feedback radio frequency signal of the bank card received by the NFC antenna; and judging the relationship between the target distance and a preset distance threshold value, if the target distance is not smaller than the distance threshold value, enabling the processor and the NFC module to recover to a deep dormant state, otherwise, controlling the processor and the NFC module to enter a shallow dormant state, and enabling the magnetic stripe card reading module to keep awakened. The POS machine adopts the method provided by the invention. According to the invention, the power consumption of the POS machine can be kept at a low level, and the POS machine can be awakened and correctly read the magnetic track data of the magnetic stripe card based on one-time magnetic stripe card swiping action.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of POS machine power consumption control, and more specifically, relates to a sleep control method of a POS machine and the POS machine. Background Art

[0002] At present, on the one hand, more and more bank cards have both magnetic stripe card swiping function and NFC card swiping function. On the other hand, the existing POS machines that support both magnetic stripe card swiping function and NFC card swiping function are facing the contradiction between low power consumption requirement and awakening of magnetic stripe card reading function. Specifically, most of the existing acquiring applications require that the POS machine in dormant state can wake itself up and correctly read the magnetic stripe card track data based on a magnetic stripe card swiping action. However, in order to meet the low power consumption requirement, the magnetic stripe card reading module of the existing POS machine needs to be set to a deep dormant state, which makes the magnetic stripe card reading module unable to read the magnetic stripe card track data.

[0003] Regarding the above problems, the existing solutions mainly include the following two methods:

[0004] 1. Hardware solution: Add sensors at both ends of the magnetic stripe card reader slot. When swiping the card, the magnetic stripe card will first trigger the sensor, and then trigger the magnetic head to read the data. When the POS machine is in deep sleep, the sensor will wake up the MCU and the magnetic stripe card reader module based on the action of swiping the magnetic stripe card. When the magnetic stripe card reaches the magnetic head, the magnetic stripe card reader module reads the data. However, this solution requires improvements to the hardware and structure, which increases the design difficulty and cost.

[0005] 2. Software solution: Reduce the level of low power consumption. When the POS machine is in sleep mode, the magnetic stripe card reading module will only enter a shallow sleep state, which will cause the MCU to also be in a shallow sleep state, resulting in higher sleep power consumption of the POS machine. Summary of the invention

[0006] In view of this, the present invention provides a sleep control method of a POS machine and a POS machine.

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present invention, a sleep control method for a POS machine is provided, wherein the POS machine includes a processor, a magnetic stripe card reading module, an NFC module and an NFC antenna;

[0008] The sleep control method comprises:

[0009] In response to a sleep start instruction, controlling the processor, the magnetic stripe card reading module and the NFC module to enter a deep sleep state;

[0010] A processor in a deep sleep state is awakened according to a predetermined awakening cycle, so that the processor controls the NFC module to send a radio frequency signal to the outside through the NFC antenna, and determines a target distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna based on the strength of the feedback radio frequency signal of the bank card received by the NFC antenna;

[0011] The relationship between the target distance and a predetermined distance threshold is determined. If the target distance is not less than the distance threshold, the processor and the NFC module are restored to a deep sleep state. Otherwise, the processor and the NFC module are controlled to enter a shallow sleep state, and the magnetic stripe card reading module is kept awake.

[0012] Optionally, the wake-up period is 200 ms.

[0013] Optionally, the duration for the NFC antenna to send a radio frequency signal to the outside is 5 ms.

[0014] Optionally, the method for determining the target distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna includes:

[0015] Pre-acquire a mapping relationship between a received radio frequency signal strength under a predetermined transmitted radio frequency signal strength and the target distance;

[0016] After determining the strength of the received feedback radio frequency signal, the target distance is determined based on the mapping relationship.

[0017] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a POS machine, the POS machine comprising a processor, a memory, a magnetic stripe card reading module, an NFC module and an NFC antenna;

[0018] When the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, any of the above-mentioned sleep control methods for the POS machine is implemented.

[0019] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0020] By adopting the sleep control method of the POS machine of the present invention, the processor, the magnetic stripe card reading module and the NFC module are firstly in a deep sleep state; in the deep sleep state, the processor is awakened periodically, controls the NFC module to send a radio frequency signal once through the NFC antenna, and determines the target distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna based on the strength of the feedback radio frequency signal of the bank card received by the NFC antenna; if the target distance is not less than the distance threshold, the processor and the NFC module are restored to the deep sleep state; otherwise, the processor and the NFC module are controlled to enter a shallow sleep state, and the magnetic stripe card reading module is kept awake.

[0021] By adopting the sleep control method of the POS machine of the present invention, the processor, the magnetic stripe card reading module and the NFC module are all in a deep sleep state most of the time. Only when the user starts to swipe the card and the distance between the bank card and the POS machine is less than a certain distance, the processor and the NFC module enter a shallow sleep state, and the magnetic stripe card reading module remains awake. It can be seen that by adopting the sleep control method of the POS machine of the present invention, the power consumption of the POS machine can be kept at a low level, while the POS machine can realize its own awakening and correctly read the magnetic track data of the magnetic stripe card based on a magnetic stripe card swiping action.

[0022] The POS machine of the present invention and the sleep control method of the POS machine described above belong to a general inventive concept, and have at least the same beneficial effects as the sleep control method of the POS machine described above, and the beneficial effects are not repeated here.

[0023] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail in the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The present invention may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to represent the same or similar components.

[0025] Figure 1 The following is a flowchart showing an implementation of a sleep control method for a POS machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] In order to enable those skilled in the art to more fully understand the technical solution of the present invention, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more comprehensive and detailed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings below. Obviously, the one or more embodiments of the present invention described below are only one or more of the specific ways in which the technical solution of the present invention can be implemented, and are not exhaustive. It should be understood that other ways belonging to a general inventive concept can be used to implement the technical solution of the present invention, and should not be limited by the exemplary embodiments described. Based on one or more embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in the field without making creative work should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0027] Example: Figure 1 The following is a flowchart showing the implementation of the sleep control method of the POS machine according to the embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 The sleep control method of the POS machine according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises the following steps:

[0028] Step S100, in response to the sleep start instruction, controlling the processor, the magnetic stripe card reading module and the NFC module to enter a deep sleep state;

[0029] Step S200, waking up the processor in the deep sleep state according to a predetermined wake-up cycle, so that the processor controls the NFC module to send a radio frequency signal to the outside through the NFC antenna, and determines the target distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna based on the strength of the feedback radio frequency signal of the bank card received by the NFC antenna;

[0030] Step S300, determining the relationship between the target distance and a predetermined distance threshold, if the target distance is not less than the distance threshold, restoring the processor and the NFC module to a deep sleep state, otherwise, controlling the processor and the NFC module to enter a shallow sleep state, and keeping the magnetic stripe card reading module awake.

[0031] Specifically, the sleep control method of the POS machine according to the embodiment of the present invention does not require adjustment of the hardware of the POS machine, and the processor, magnetic stripe card reading module and NFC module are all original modules of the POS machine.

[0032] Furthermore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the wake-up period is 200 ms.

[0033] Furthermore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the duration for the NFC antenna to send a radio frequency signal to the outside is 5 ms.

[0034] Specifically, in the embodiment of the present invention, there are two sleep states, one is deep sleep, in which the processor, the magnetic stripe card reading module and the NFC module all enter deep sleep. During the deep sleep, the processor wakes up periodically, for example, once every 200ms, to control the NFC module to send a radio frequency signal to the outside through the NFC antenna to detect the presence of the bank card. The other is shallow sleep, in which the magnetic stripe card reading module remains awake, and the processor is in shallow sleep, and the magnetic track information can be read normally.

[0035] Specifically, in an embodiment of the present invention, the location of the bank card is identified by field strength measurement technology. In deep sleep, the processor wakes up regularly and controls the NFC module to send a shorter carrier signal through the NFC antenna, for example, wakes up once every 200ms, and controls the NFC module to send an NFC carrier signal with a width of 5ms. After sending the NFC carrier signal to the outside, if there is a bank card within the field strength range, the bank card will feedback a radio frequency signal. Since the strength of the NFC carrier signal sent by the NFC module through the NFC antenna is fixed, the strength of the feedback radio frequency signal of the bank card received by the NFC antenna is inversely proportional to the distance from the bank card to the NFC antenna, so the distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna can be calculated by the strength of the received signal. It should be pointed out that the ratio of the duration of sending the NFC carrier signal after waking up to the wake-up period needs to be set to a smaller level to ensure a low level of power consumption.

[0036] Specifically, in the embodiment of the present invention, the sleep mode is switched according to the identified bank card position. When the distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna is not less than the set value, the POS machine remains in deep sleep and maintains a low power consumption state; when the user starts to swipe the card, the bank card gradually approaches the NFC antenna. When the distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna is less than the set value, the POS machine will switch to a shallow sleep state, at which time the bank card information can be read normally.

[0037] Furthermore, in an embodiment of the present invention, a method for determining a target distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna includes:

[0038] Pre-acquire a mapping relationship between a received radio frequency signal strength under a predetermined transmitted radio frequency signal strength and the target distance;

[0039] After determining the strength of the received feedback radio frequency signal, the target distance is determined based on the mapping relationship.

[0040] Accordingly, based on the sleep control method of the POS machine of the embodiment of the present invention, the embodiment of the present invention further proposes a POS machine, which includes a processor, a memory, a magnetic stripe card reading module, an NFC module and an NFC antenna;

[0041] When the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, the sleep control method of the POS machine according to the embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

[0042] Although one or more embodiments of the present invention are described above, it should be known to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be implemented in any other form without departing from its subject matter and scope. Therefore, the embodiments described above are illustrative rather than restrictive, and many modifications and substitutions are obvious to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A sleep control method for a POS machine, characterized in that: The POS machine includes a processor, a magnetic stripe card reading module, an NFC module and an NFC antenna; The sleep control method comprises: In response to a sleep start instruction, controlling the processor, the magnetic stripe card reading module and the NFC module to enter a deep sleep state; A processor in a deep sleep state is awakened according to a predetermined awakening cycle, so that the processor controls the NFC module to send a radio frequency signal to the outside through the NFC antenna, and determines a target distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna based on the strength of the feedback radio frequency signal of the bank card received by the NFC antenna; The relationship between the target distance and a predetermined distance threshold is determined. If the target distance is not less than the distance threshold, the processor and the NFC module are restored to a deep sleep state. Otherwise, the processor and the NFC module are controlled to enter a shallow sleep state, and the magnetic stripe card reading module is kept awake.

2. The sleep control method of a POS machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wake-up period is 200ms.

3. The sleep control method of a POS machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The duration of the NFC antenna sending a radio frequency signal to the outside is 5 ms.

4. The sleep control method of a POS machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method for determining the target distance between the bank card and the NFC antenna includes: Pre-acquire a mapping relationship between a received radio frequency signal strength under a predetermined transmitted radio frequency signal strength and the target distance; After determining the strength of the received feedback radio frequency signal, the target distance is determined based on the mapping relationship.

5. A POS machine, characterized in that: Includes a processor, a memory, a magnetic stripe card reading module, an NFC module and an NFC antenna; When the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, the sleep control method of the POS machine described in any one of claims 1 to 4 is implemented.

Images