Importance

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Abstract

A portable card reader designed to be carried in a wallet or purse has an electromagnetic head that reads information from a magnetic strip of a card or information is read from the card by an array of Hall sensors. In a further embodiment, the card reader uses a magnetic sensor based on magnetoresistive sensing of magnetic transitions of a magnetic stripe, suitable for use with small, portable electronic devices. In each embodiment, the information read from the card may be converted to a sequence of electronic bursts of predetermined frequency, preferably in the audible or ultrasound range. The sound signals are output by a speaker to the microphone of a telephone. The signal is then transmitted over the telephone lines to a remote receiver. The receiver then converts the sound bursts into signal pulses, which can be read using the computer software of a conventional card reader.

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First Claim