Wireless Payment Reader Power State Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless payment systems face challenges in extending battery life while maintaining efficient operation and secure data transmission during transactions, often requiring manual intervention and experiencing latency in power state transitions.
Innovation Solution
A wireless payment reader that transitions between multiple power states, including low-power and high-power states, to conserve battery life, while securely encrypting and transmitting payment data, using microcontrollers to manage power states and cryptographic operations, and employing visual indicia like QR codes for device pairing and instruction management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the wireless payment reader operates continuously in a high-power state, then transaction processing speed and reliability are improved, but battery life is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic power state transitions where the wireless payment reader automatically switches between low-power and high-power states based on operational requirements. The system monitors transaction needs and adjusts its power state accordingly, transitioning to high-power state only when transactions are required and returning to low-power state otherwise, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and battery life.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs periodic checking mechanisms where the low-power state microcontroller periodically checks for incoming payment transactions and sends wake-up signals to the high-power state microcontroller when needed. This periodic action allows the system to maintain readiness for transactions while minimizing power consumption during idle periods.
2Duration of action of moving object
If the wireless payment reader frequently transitions between power states, then battery life is extended, but latency in cryptographic operations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having the low-power state microcontroller continuously monitor for payment transactions and prepare wake-up signals in advance. When a transaction is detected, the system already has the necessary context and can rapidly transition to the high-power state without significant latency, as the transition trigger is pre-prepared.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs feedback mechanisms where the low-power state microcontroller continuously monitors transaction status and provides real-time feedback to the high-power state microcontroller. This feedback loop ensures that when power state transition is needed, the system can quickly respond and minimize latency in cryptographic operations by having the transition path already established through continuous monitoring.
3Reliability
If manual user intervention is required for device pairing, then security control is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling the wireless payment reader to automatically perform pairing operations without manual user intervention. The high-power state microcontroller automatically handles the pairing process with payment devices, and the low-power state microcontroller manages wake-up and communication protocols autonomously, thus improving ease of operation while maintaining security through automated authentication mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques described herein enable a payment service to generate and send different instructions regarding a wireless payment reader based on a current state of the payment reader. For instance, a wireless payment reader may include a quick-response (QR) code that uniquely identifies the payment reader relative to other payment readers. Further, the QR code may embed information identifying the wireless payment reader and/or a uniform resource locator (URL) pointing back to a payment service configured to process payment transactions with the wireless payment reader. In response to receiving an indication of a scan of the QR code, the payment service may determine whether the payment reader is currently paired. If not, then the payment service may generate and send pairing instructions to enable pairing with the payment reader. If so, then the payment service may generate and send payment instructions to cause the device to engage in a payment flow.