Smarter than the average card reader

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Nov 27, 2001

Flint's new intelligent card reader supports three card technologies, standard Smart Card, contactless card or magstripe, from a single RS232 port.

Flint's new intelligent card reader supports three card technologies, standard Smart Card, contactless card or magstripe, from a single RS232 port.

Based on the industry-standard Gemplus Gemcore chipset, the new Panasonic units provide full read and write capabilities for Smart Cards, and can also accept magstripe cards in the same slot.

A separate plug in pad and control board allows the reader to support contactless technology as well.

This unit is available on both the motorised and the manual insertion reader.

There is support for ISO-14443 and ISO-15693 standards, ensuring compatibility with popular RF-ID platforms including Mifare, I-Code and Tag-iT.

All functions are achieved from just one RS232 port.

The reader's built-in intelligence detects which style of card is being offered automatically, providing unrivalled convenience and flexibility for applications such as electronic purse, ticketing and logistics.

The use of an industry standard chipset ensures in the readers will give system integrators an easy upgrade path from other current readers, and allow them to migrate to future releases of Panasonic readers, whilst maintaining software compatibility.

Currently, Flint is offering the readers as a manual insertion reader and a fully motorised version.

Both are ideal for use in kiosks and other unattended units in public places.

The motorised reader is flush mounted and incorporates a full shutter, card capture, and even detects cut cards.

The manual reader manually holds the card whilst the transaction takes place, and electrically releases the card on completion of the transaction.

Both units offer DES encryption between the reader and the host.

One SAM slot is fitted as standard, and an extra four SAM chip modules may be added, by a separate plug in board, to provide additional levels of security.