Credit card communication system

[0001] (Not Applicable)

[0002] (Not Applicable)

[0003] The present invention relates generally to communications systems, and more particularly to a miniaturized communications system.

[0004] Miniaturization of commercial communications systems has focused upon the use of micro-cellular architectures, such as the one shown in FIG. 1 which employs one high power base station transmitter 20 to communicate to remote communication devices 22 and many micro-cell receivers. Given that the remote communication devices only radiate a low power radio frequency (RF) signal, many receivers are required to encompass the area of the high power transmitter. Given the multitude of receivers required, the micro-cellular architecture is costly. Due to the fluid and ever-changing military battle space, traditional commercial communication systems are unsuitable for military deployment.

[0005] Thus, a need exists for a miniaturized communication system with an architecture suitable for military deployment. Preferably, the architecture includes one base station which can be located in an aircraft (manned or unmanned) or atop a tower.

[0006] A system for communications is disclosed. The system includes a base station and wireless long-range communication devices which are approximately the size of a credit card.

[0007] Preferably, the base station includes a high temperature superconductivity receiver.

[0008] In accordance with other aspects of the invention, the wireless communication devices each include a transceiver, a man machine interface, a processor, a power supply and an antenna.

[0009] In accordance with still other aspects of the invention, preferably, the transceiver includes a frequency shift keying receiver. Preferably, the transceiver includes a direct sequence spread spectrum modulator with differential phase shift keying.

[0010] In accordance with yet other aspects of the invention, the man machine interface includes a display. Preferably, the display is a thin polymer emissive display that is capable of displaying both graphical and textual information. Preferably, the man machine interface includes pushbuttons (e.g., four pushbuttons).

[0011] In accordance with further aspects of the invention the power supply includes a battery. Preferably, the battery is a primary lithium non-rechargeable battery or a secondary lithium polymer rechargeable battery. Preferably, the power supply also includes a constant current source charger and a low dropout analog regulator.

[0012] In accordance with still further aspects of the invention, the antenna is either a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna, or a patch antenna.

[0013] In accordance with yet further aspects of the invention, the communications system is a voice response architecture and includes a microphone. Preferably, the voice response architecture also includes an integrated broadband processor.

[0014] These as well as other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:

[0015] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary prior art commercial micro-cellular architecture;

[0016] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary architecture formed in accordance with the present invention;

[0017] FIG. 3 is an exemplary configuration of the credit card communications system of the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary architecture of a credit card communication system of the present invention;

[0019] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an alternative (voice response) architecture of a communication system of the present invention;

[0020] FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary antenna configurations suitable for use in an exemplary architecture for the present invention;

[0021] FIG. 7 illustrates the assignment of a unique slot in a master frame via a hashing function;

[0022] FIG. 8 illustrates how adaptive sleep eliminates variation in resistor capacitor (RC) oscillator frequency due to process and temperature changes;

[0023] FIG. 9 is an exemplary communications state diagram; and

[0024] FIG. 10 is an illustration of a forward/reverse channel frame format.

[0025] The exemplary architecture of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 is a network architecture which includes a single high power base station 20 which communicates with credit card size wireless communications devices. Thus, the invention is referred to as a Credit Card Communications System (C3S) herein. Due to the single base station (or interrogator) architecture, the C3S system is capable of quick setup and mobility which can accommodate battle field operations. While ideally suited for military operations, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not so limited. For example, the invention has commercial uses, such as a credit card sized pager, preferably with smart card capabilities. The invention can also be used as a reduced function device which serves as a low cost long-range active radio frequency identification device (RFID). For example, several of the credit card sized communication devices can be put on several sides of a pallet or container. Traditional RFIDs are much more costly than the credit card sized communication device of the present invention because smart card form factor devices can be mass produced (for example, using reel-to-reel processing). The credit card communication system of the present invention can communicate with a Global Positioning System (GPS) such that the credit card communications device can receive its location and can then upload its location to the base station. Another application of the present invention is for the credit card communications device to receive information which includes a phone number. The card is then inserted into a phone and the phone number is automatically dialed. It will be appreciated that the above examples illustrate a few possible applications of the credit card communications system of the present invention and that many other applications are possible.

[0026] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the C3S utilizes a single high power forward channel transmitter 30. Because the communicator of the C3S uses a simple receiver due to the aggressive size constraints, preferably, FSK modulation is utilized. In exemplary embodiments, the C3S employs high temperature superconductivity technology and spread spectrum coding to improve base sensitivity which eliminates the need for multiple micro-cellular receivers. Due to the enhanced base station, the C3S communicator's radio frequency output power is very low which increases battery life and enables using a small planar battery. FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary configuration of the C3S credit card 40. The packaging of the credit card 40 is a smart card form factor (e.g., approximately 9.6 mm6.4 mm with a thickness of 0.79 mm) and includes a complex transceiver 42, an antenna 44 and a man machine interface (MMI). Preferably, the communicator's MMI includes a display 46, such as a dot matrix display, push buttons 48 and a microphone (not shown) Although a smart card form factor is preferable, it will be appreciated that other configurations can be used, for example, the card can be a magnetic stripe card.

[0027] Text or graphical information is delivered to the communicator, for example, via a forward channel frequency shift keying (FSK). The user can communicate with the base station (e.g., using predetermined responses and/or compressed voice) via, for example, the direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), phase shift keying (PSK) reverse channel. Preferably, the C3S single base station architecture of the invention is predicated upon a forward channel high power base station and an optimized reverse channel. The architecture combines various technologies, for example, DSSS, a high temperature superconductivity receiver, and an adaptive base station antenna array. Together these technologies allow a low power C3S transmitter to communicate with the base station with an acceptably low error rate.

[0028] Preferably, the invention employs DSSS reverse channel in order to improve interrogator sensitivity and to reject unwanted signals. Due to the nature of DSSS communications, when transmissions from remote transmitters are correlated, interfering signals are de-correlated. This allows for rejecting of unwanted signals that are not strong enough to overload the receiver's low noise amplifier (LNA).

[0029] The sensitivity of the interrogator is a function of temperature and bandwidth. For a DSSS based link, the bandwidth is the coherent bandwidth for the focused code. Preferably, the C3S utilizes a focused code bandwidth of 1000 hertz and a temperature of 77 degrees Kelvin.

[0030] An adaptive interrogator antenna array helps reject unwanted signals because unwanted signals which are not located at the same geolocation as wanted signals can be rejected by use of a sectored gain antenna array or an adaptive sectored gain antenna array. The adaptive sectored antenna array subtracts the unwanted signal from the wanted signal thus canceling the unwanted signal.

[0031] The sensitivity of a receiver is defined primarily by its noise figure and noise power. High temperature superconductivity (HTS) allows the LNA and front end power filter RF components to be constructed such that a noise figure of less than 0.5 dB can be realized. In addition, noise power is set by the system's temperature and bandwidth. Thus, the overall interrogator receiver sensitivity can be as great as 186 dBm.

[0032] As described in further detail below, in exemplary embodiments, a convergence of technologies allow a C3S communicator to: perform long range communications (e.g., approximately 30 kilometers); be a self-contained credit card form factor; include an MMI with a flexible emissive display; and have low recurring costs. Long range communications are accomplished via the following technologies: an HTS interrogation receiver; a low profile efficient antenna, DSSS, and an interrogator adaptive antenna array. A self-contained smart card form factor is accomplished using the following technologies: a thinned flexible die (which produces a flexible card), printed integrated passives thus eliminating discrete resistors and capacitors, thus reducing manufacturing costs, a flip chip on flex (die attachment method where the die is attached to the substrate material with solder ball connection pads), a thin lithium polymer battery, a Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) microphone and a low profile efficient antenna. The technology of a thin polymer emissive display is used for an integrated MMI. The following are exemplary technologies that contribute to low recurring costs for producing credit card communications systems in accordance with the invention: reel-to-reel production and fluidic self assembly. Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA) is a process which decouples the fabrication of transistors from the processing of display materials and permits the efficient assembly of drive electronics into all types of Flat Panel Displays (FPDs) . For example, see www.alientechnology for a description of FSA developed by Alien Technology. It will be appreciated that FSA processing can be applied to devices other than displays.

[0033] The exemplary architecture of a credit card communications system formed in accordance with the present invention shown in FIG. 4 includes four primary subsystems: a transceiver 50, a man machine interface 52, a processor 54 and a power supply 56. An exemplary transceiver utilizes a single conversion Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) receiver 58 to provide a robust means of transmitting information to the card. Preferably, receiver 58 is a single Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) device. Preferably, the transmitter is implemented with a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) differential phase shift keying (DPSK) modulation 68 to provide rejection to interference and enhance reverse channel link range.

[0034] In exemplary embodiments, the man machine interface 52 is implemented with a one-quarter VGA size dot matrix (46 of FIG. 3) display and four push buttons (48 of FIG. 3). Preferably, the display 46 can hold a combination of text and graphics. For example, the display can be utilized to hold context sensitive textual prompts such that the user will reuse the four push buttons for multiple functions.

[0035] The primary function of the processor 54 is to process the forward channel information for display and to generate the reverse channel information. In exemplary embodiments, the forward channel uses a simple repetition due to the simplicity of processing (which minimizes power consumption) and high forward channel carrier to interference (C/I). Preferably, the reverse channel utilizes a robust forward error correcting code.

[0036] Preferably, the power supply 56 includes of a single Lithium (Li) polymer secondary chemistry (rechargeable) battery 60 along with a constant current source charger 62 and a low drop out analog regulator (LDO) 64. While a switch mode regulator is normally more efficient than an analog regulator, a magnetic element of sufficient size is difficult to realize with an integrated passive structure. With respect to analog regulators, the low drop out regulator circuit topology is the most efficient and can be matched to the battery's inherent flat discharge curve to maximize efficiency.

[0037] An alternative architecture is a voice response architecture such as the one shown in FIG. 5. The voice response architecture is similar to the exemplary architecture shown in FIG. 4, but with two significant differences: (1) a microphone 70 (e.g., a MEMS microphone) is included to allow a voice information to be transferred by the user to the base station; and (2) the efficient transmission of voice traffic is permitted on the reverse channel coding. Preferably, the coding function includes vocoding (compression), forward error correction coding, framing, etc. included in an integrated baseband processor 72.

[0038] Due to the credit card form factor, the antenna configuration used must be capable of integrating into the credit card form factor. FIG. 6 illustrates three possible antenna designs: a monopole antenna 100, a dipole antenna 102, and a patch antenna 104.

[0039] Preferably, the C3S communicator card's power source is planar and has a high energy density. In exemplary embodiments, a primary non-rechargeable thin Li battery or a secondary rechargeable thin Li polymer battery is used.

[0040] An International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard contact pad (66 of FIG. 4) provides a means of communicating with the C3S's integrated processor via a bi-directional bit serial communications link. In addition, as the contact pad also provides power and ground which can be utilized to charge the battery.

[0041] The choice of interrogation protocol utilized to communicate between the base station and the C3S communicator is critical to achieving high battery endurance for the communicator. With any communications protocol development, performance modeling typically is based upon well-known fundamental protocols. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention utilize the reservation aloha model as a basis for the C3S protocol.

[0042] Aloha is a protocol for satellite and terrestrial radio transmissions. In pure Aloha, a user can transmit at any time but risks collisions with other users' messages. Slotted Aloha reduces the chance of collisions by dividing the channel into time slots and requiring that the user send only at the beginning of a time slot. As with any aloha based protocol, time is divided into slots. The C3S protocol groups N slots together into a master frame which repeats every X seconds as shown in FIG. 7. C3S communicators are assigned by default to a unique slot in the master frame via a hashing function, as shown in FIG. 8. The communicator only wakes up from sleep for its assigned time slot(s). The system will assign additional slots for a period of time after an interrogation of the communication to minimize latency for subsequent interrogations.

[0043] To enhance power savings during sleep, a low frequency resistor capacitor (RC) oscillator/complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) counter is utilized to measure the time the communicator is sleeping. Normally a crystal oscillator is utilized to drive a CMOS counter. However, the crystal oscillator based structure is not desirable due to the C3S communicator's size and power constraints. A low speed oscillator is more efficient but requires a large crystal. Small crystals while possibly fitting on the card would be prohibitively power inefficient.

[0044] The RC oscillator's accuracy is a function of voltage, temperature and CMOS process variations. Potential problems can be mitigated because the voltage is controlled accurately by the communicator's voltage regulator and temperature and process variations can be handled by adapting the sleep to feedback timing from the base station (or network), as shown in FIG. 10.

[0045] An exemplary C3S communications state diagram is shown in FIG. 11. A sleep timer awakens the system from a sleep state 110. Once awakened, the system looks for an interrogation frame and start timer 112. Once the frame is found, the system computes a sleep timer correction 114. The system then decodes the interrogation frame 116. If the ID of the interrogation frame matches (i.e., if the identification matches the unique identification of this credit card communications device) a response (e.g., a keyboard response, a voice message response or a combination there of) is transmitted 118. Once the response has been transmitted 118 or if the ID did not match the system returns to a sleep state 110.

[0046] The C3S communication system utilizes identical frame formats for the forward and reverse channels. As shown in FIG. 12, the frame consists of a bit sync, a frame sync, payload and cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The payload can be any arbitrary data, for example, a query ID and time sync information.

[0047] Additional modifications and improvements of the present invention may also be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the particular combination of parts described and illustrated herein is intended to represent only a certain embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to serve as a limitation of alternative devices within the spirit and scope of the invention.