US 11,748,739 B2
Wireless communication system with auxiliary antenna
Emad Bidari, Toronto (CA); and Afshin Rezayee, Richmond Hill (CA)
Assigned to Block, Inc., Oakland, CA (US)
Filed by Block, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 10, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/94,746.
Application 17/094,746 is a continuation of application No. 15/176,589, filed on Jun. 8, 2016, granted, now 10,937,019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0065159 A1, Mar. 4, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06Q 20/32 (2012.01); H04B 5/00 (2006.01); H04B 7/06 (2006.01)
CPC G06Q 20/3278 (2013.01) [H04B 5/0031 (2013.01); H04B 5/0087 (2013.01); H04B 7/0602 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A payment terminal for wirelessly communicating payment information with a payment device inductively coupled to the payment terminal, the payment terminal comprising:
a transponder antenna, wherein the transponder antenna transmits (1) a modulated wireless signal during transmit events for which the payment terminal transmits data to the payment device and (2) a wireless carrier signal during receive events for which the payment terminal receives data from the payment device;
a transmit circuit coupled to the transponder antenna, wherein the transmit circuit comprises a transmit load for the transponder antenna, and wherein the modulated wireless signal and the wireless carrier signal are provided to the transponder antenna through the transmit circuit;
a receive circuit coupled to the transponder antenna, wherein the receive circuit is configured to output a received signal representing an inductively coupled load for the wireless carrier signal;
an auxiliary antenna, wherein the auxiliary antenna is positioned at a fixed location and in a fixed orientation relative to the transponder antenna, and wherein the auxiliary antenna only receives the wireless carrier signal through inductive coupling with the transponder antenna;
a processing element configured to execute control instructions stored in a memory to perform steps comprising:
disabling, based on the transponder antenna transmitting the modulated wireless signal, an inductive coupling between the transponder antenna and the auxiliary antenna,
enabling, based on a detection of one of the receive events by the processing element, the inductive coupling between the transponder antenna and the auxiliary antenna,
demodulating, during the one of the receive events, the received signal, and
controlling the inductive coupling such that the inductive coupling is disabled if the payment terminal is transmitting data via the transponder antenna and the inductive coupling is enabled if the payment terminal is receiving data via the transponder antenna while the payment device is within range for communication with the transponder antenna,
wherein the inductively coupled load represented by the received signal includes inductive loads of the auxiliary antenna and the payment device.