Dynamic Magnetic Card Payment Interface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current payment systems using magnetic cards are limited in their ability to provide dynamic and flexible payment options, such as immediate payment, installment plans, and rewards usage, requiring users to access online services or log into webpages for transactions.
Innovation Solution
A card equipped with a dynamic magnetic communications device, capacitive touch-screen display, RFIDs, IC chips, and light/sound sensing devices, allowing users to select payment options via buttons and receive confirmations on their mobile device, enabling immediate payment, installment plans, and rewards usage directly at the point of sale or through mobile applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a magnetic card uses a static magnetic stripe, then the card structure is simple and manufacturing is easy, but the payment options are limited and cannot provide dynamic payment flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by replacing the static magnetic stripe with a dynamic magnetic communications device that can change its output based on user selections. The device allows users to choose different payment options (full payment, installment plans, rewards usage) and dynamically generates corresponding magnetic stripe data patterns. This enables the card to adapt its payment behavior in real-time while maintaining a relatively simple card structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The magnetic communications device serves multiple functions: it can generate standard magnetic stripe data for traditional transactions, dynamic data for installment plans, and varied data patterns for rewards redemption. This multi-functionality allows a single device to replace what would otherwise require multiple separate systems, providing versatile payment options without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a card includes multiple communication devices (RFID, IC chip, dynamic magnetic stripe), then the adaptability and payment options increase, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple communication capabilities (RFID, IC chip, dynamic magnetic stripe) into a single integrated card structure. The magnetic communications device is designed to work in conjunction with RFID and IC chip components, creating a unified payment system that leverages the strengths of each technology while sharing common control and power infrastructure, thereby reducing overall manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The card is segmented into distinct functional modules: an RFID communication module, an IC chip module, and a dynamic magnetic stripe module. Each module can be independently tested and manufactured before assembly, allowing for specialized production processes for each component while simplifying the integration process. This modular approach makes the complex multi-communication card easier to manufacture through standardized assembly procedures.
3Ease of operation
If users must access online services or log into webpages for payment management, then centralized control is maintained, but user convenience and transaction speed decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The card enables self-service by allowing users to directly select and execute payment options (full payment, installments, rewards) through the magnetic communications device without requiring intermediary online account access. The card itself becomes the interface for payment management, letting users make decisions and execute transactions immediately at the point of sale, thereby eliminating the time loss associated with online logins and web-based payment processing.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables users to manage payments flexibly and efficiently, reducing the need for online services and providing timely alerts and confirmations, enhancing user control and convenience in payment transactions.
Implementation Method 1
A magnetic emulator may generate electromagnetic fields that directly communicate data to a magnetic stripe reader
Implementation Method 2
Electrodes of a display may be coupled to one or more capacitive touch sensors such that a display may be provided as a touch-screen display
Data Source
AI summary
Advanced payment applications are provided to improve the functionality of cards and devices. For example, a user interface may be placed on a card (e.g., a physical button) or a telephonic device (e.g., a virtual button on a capacitive touch screen). Manual input provided to this user interface may, for example, cause an item purchased on credit to be paid via one or more user accounts (e.g., bank accounts) as soon as the next credit statement posts or becomes due. A user may decide to pay for an item when the next statement becomes due at a point-of-sale magnetic stripe reader by using an interface on a card to cause information to be communicated through the infrastructure indicative of a user's desire to pay the for an item when the next statement becomes due.