Tyfone picks up another patent, shows off NFC on Androids

NFC-on-microSD specialist Tyfone has been granted another patent that covers its use of memory cards as an NFC-enabler in mobile phones.

US patent 7,828,214, “Mobile phone with electronic transaction card”, was issued on 9 November and covers the use of an add-on card in a mobile phone or other device to communicate via a magnetic field with “magnetic card readers, smartcard circuitry, other point-of-sale interfaces, or any combination thereof.”

“This patent will uniquely enable solutions that will allow consumers to benefit from the convergence of money and mobility,” says Dr Siva Narendra, chief technology officer at Tyfone.

At the same time, the Portland, Oregon-based firm has released a short video demonstration of its SideTap microSD cards and wallet software being used to NFC-enable five different Android handsets, ranging from a venerable HTC Google G1 to a Samsung Galaxy S:

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4 comments on this article

  1. Looks like Tyfone has obtained more stupid and obstructionary patents …… along with a lot of other companies

  2. I am guessing ( so take this with a grain of salt ) , that the patent is obvious and that it is sweeping in breadth. I think patents may have once had a utilitarian ethical value ; I no longer think patents serve a useful purpose and I applaud other countries that use the information. I can see some value in copyrights but only for 20 years duration.

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