RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a National Phase of International Application Number PCT/EP2018/079766, filed Oct. 30, 2018, and claims priority to French Application No. 1760304, filed Oct. 31, 2017.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns the field of devices for reading electronic cards and, in particular, a payment terminal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic payment devices are, like the Internet, the most commonly used means for making transactions. Specifically, the transactions or the payment are made using a credit card and the majority of payments by credit card are made either in stores using a point-of-sale terminal where you insert or swipe your credit card and identify yourself with a Personal Identification Number, PIN, or over the Internet using a computer where you enter the details of your credit card and, in some cases, also a security code.

There are many different types of electronic payment device, but most of them have functionalities which are limited to the sole validation of transactions, despite the development of digital technology.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has as its object to obviate certain drawback of the prior art by offering a means for ensuring transactions and taking advantage of advances in digital technology.

This goal is achieved by a payment terminal with a housing comprising a planar upper face with an extension at one end forming an angle θ2between 30 and 50° with the planar face for receiving a contactless reading device for contactless reading and communicating with contactless payment means, the other end of the planar face comprising a magnetic stripe card reader and receiving, in a slot, located above the magnetic stripe card reader and forming an angle θ1between 30 and 50° with the planar face, a contact chip card reader, said terminal comprising a main circuit board comprising at least a controller, at least a memory for storing data and/or programs, said controller comprising at least a processor for executing said programs when it receives instructions from the memory of the controller in order to control at least a display device displaying a virtual keyboard, means for communicating by Internet or by WiFi, and a functionality of contact or contactless card reading, the terminal being characterized in that said main circuit board comprises, at one end, a connector for a contact card reader oriented with an angle θ1between 30 and 50° with the planar surface of the card and, at the other end, a flexible connector for connecting a wired antenna for a functionality of reading of contactless payment means with an angle θ2between 30 and 50° with the planar surface of the card.

According to another feature, the memory of said main circuit board also comprises at least a program, the execution of which implements a “device tree” functionality, said functionality allowing the association of at least a set of devices with said terminal, said devices being controlled by the processor of said main circuit board.

According to another feature, said housing comprises a lower face opposite the planar upper face and comprising at least:bearing areas in such a way that, when it is disposed on a counter or a desk, the extension of the planar upper face forms an angle of 45° with the surface of the counter or of the desk;a cavity comprising at least:a set of sockets for plugging said terminal into a charging device and/or an electrical socket by means of a connector;an Ethernet socket for plugging in at least an Ethernet cable;a set of retention means for attaching said terminal to a support or attaching at least a charging device to the terminal.

According to another feature, the cavity of the lower face of said terminal comprises at least a SIM card slot for the 4G and/or 3G wireless connection of said payment terminal to the Internet, a micro-SD slot for recording data and at least a secure access module (SAM) slot for receiving at least a SAM card which manages the secure access to the functionality of said payment terminal.

According to another feature, the display device is an interactive touch-screen for displaying at least information such as icons or a button and comprising a virtual keyboard allowing a user to enter information or to make a selection of one or more icons to trigger a functionality or an application.

According to another feature, the interactive touch-screen comprises at least a light sensor for the automatic adaptation of the contrast of the display.

According to another feature, the interactive touch-screen comprises at least an accelerometer for the automatic orientation of the user interface in landscape mode or in portrait mode as a function of the orientation of the payment terminal.

According to another feature, the planar upper face comprises at least:a camera for recording events when the terminal is used, said events being stored in the memory of said terminal;a light guide located below the screen and near the edge of the extension of said planar face for detecting the contactless card.

According to another feature, the camera starts to record the events when a user interacts with the screen (14) of said payment terminal, the recording functionality of the camera being automatically turned on.

According to another feature, the camera stops recording when no user interacts with said screen of said payment terminal during a predetermined time, the recording functionality being automatically turned off.

According to another feature, said camera is adapted for reading tags or QR codes comprising information concerning a product via a scanning functionality included in said camera.

According to another feature, the payment terminal comprises a second camera located at the upper end of at least one lateral face of the housing of said payment terminal or at the lower face of said terminal.

According to another feature, the memory of the controller comprises at least a program, the execution of which enables to implement the functionality of triggering and recording of the camera.

According to another feature, the housing of the payment terminal also comprises at least one lateral face comprising a hole comprising at least a headphone socket for audio guiding during the plugging-in of a headphone and an accessibility control switch for increasing at least the contrast of the display or the font size used.

According to another feature, the end of said planar surface, comprising the slot of the chip card reader, comprises at least a speaker for guiding a user.

According to another feature, the housing of the payment terminal comprises, on a lateral face opposite said at least one lateral face comprising the headphone socket, a physical safety slot for receiving at least a lock which prevents the removal of a component of said payment terminal.

According to another feature, at least one lateral face of the housing of said payment terminal comprises at least a USB port allowing the connection of said terminal to at least a computer device or a smartphone, said computer device comprising at least wireless communicating means for configuring and communicating with the payment terminal.

According to another feature, the payment terminal is configured by said computer device or transfers at least information and/or data associated with a payment process to said computer device or vice versa by means of the connection.

According to another feature, the payment terminal is configured by the computer device to at least:manage the programs implementing the functionalities of said terminal and already contained in the memory of the main circuit board;add at least a set of new programs into said memory, the executions of which allow the implementation of at least a set of functionalities additional to the preceding functionalities of said payment terminal.

According to another feature, the lower face of the payment terminal comprises a reset button for resetting the configuration of the terminal, when said terminal is malfunctioning, a reset confirmation being requested on the screen of said terminal, when said reset button is enabled, in order to avoid the configuration of the terminal being automatically reset if said reset button is accidentally enabled.

According to another feature, the housing of the payment terminal comprises, on at least one of its lateral faces, a location for attaching a touch-sensitive pen, said pen being used to interact with the screen of said payment terminal.

According to another feature, the payment terminal comprises attaching means for cooperating with an attachment plate orienting the planar upper face of the terminal in such a way that the orientation of the chip card reader is such that said card forms an angle:between 30 and 50° with respect to the horizontal, if said terminal is disposed on the attachment plate placed on the surface of a counter;between 30 and 50° with respect to the vertical, if said terminal is disposed on the attachment plate mounted against a wall.

According to another feature, the payment terminal records information concerning at least one product that a customer usually purchases, said information being stored in a secure database with which said terminal communicates using its communicating means.

According to another feature, the payment terminal is adapted for displaying information stored in the secure database and associated with said product when a product purchased by a customer is nearly out of stock.

According to another feature, the payment terminal is adapted for connecting to the secure database or to the Internet, by a secure access, and searches for information concerning products and their availability on markets or in shopping centers in the neighborhood, said information being displayed on the screen of said terminal and suggested to the customer.

According to another feature, the payment terminal is adapted for displaying advertisements for a shopping center, to a cinema, a sports center or any other entertainment center when it is in standby mode.

According to another feature, the accessibility control switch of the payment terminal enables to remove the advertisements displayed on the screen of the payment terminal.

According to another feature, the contactless payment means comprise at least a chip card or other devices comprising a smartphone or other mobile devices.

Another object of the present invention consists in proposing an infrastructure for transactions.

This aim is achieved by a payment system comprising a connector housing (ITF) cooperating with the terminal as described in the present application, said connector housing being configured to be housed in the cavity of the lower face of said terminal and comprising at least an electrical power inlet socket, an Ethernet port, a USB port and at least a USB host to allow said payment terminal to communicate with at least a device configured on the “device tree”.

Another object of the present invention consists in proposing a secure and nomadic payment device.

This aim is achieved by a portable payment terminal comprising a battery housing cooperating with said payment terminal (1) as described in the present application, said housing being configured to be housed in the cavity of the lower face of said payment terminal and comprising at least a battery, a power supply inlet socket and a micro USB device.

