General Description:
Wickets are laminated cards or tags having an
ISO 15693 RFID
(radio frequency identification) inlay
in the center layer, a Teslin layer on either side for custom graphics
and to provide exceptional anti-tear and crack physical properties,
and a polyester or PVC cover layer on each side for rigidity. Each
Wicket has a unique 64-bit UserID value to identify each manufactured
tag. If all of the possible UserID values were used it mean that everyone
on this planet could have about 3 billion numbers to themselves....
so, we won't be running out anytime soon. Wickets have no batteries
or electrical contacts to power them, but derive their electrical
power to operate the onboard chip from the RF field emitted from
the Wicket Reader. Wickets are available in either a credit card
style, which is easy to machine dispense and carry in a wallet,
or in a key tag style which is conveniently attached to a key
ring. The inlay consists of a chip and a multi-turn loop antenna
tuned to the 13.56 MHz operating frequency. In addition to the
transceiver functions of the chip, it also contains password and
encryption protected memory blocks for the
stored value payment
system application data. |
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 Wicket
Function Types:
There are seven significant
Wicket functions as
described below. The stored value data on the Wickets may be written to the
Wickets by the factory for you, or you may do so yourself with the
Wickets Administrator
software utility.
Customer Wickets: There are three kinds of customer
Wickets: 1.) Standard Customer, 2.Commercial Accounts, and 3) Gift
Wickets. The Standard Customer Wicket provides for an Account
Balance for real money which can be refunded, a
Bonus Balance for promotion
purposes that cannot be refunded for cash, and
Loyalty
Points which amounts to one point per dollar spent. A
Commercial Card Wicket has the same features, but it is
recognized by the Revalue Station as such and can receive a
different percentage of free Bonus Bucks when more funds are added
to the Wicket. A Gift Card Wicket is loaded with a quantity of
Free Starts or Bonus Bucks and distributed in some promotion to
get folks to try the service. The Wicket Reader keeps a separate
summary of the amounts debited from Wickets for each of these
categories.
Equipment Service Wickets provide your service personnel
with a way to test the equipment without requiring money. The
Wicket is loaded with a quantity of Free Starts which are
accounted for by the Wicket Reader separately in its reporting
function. The Wicket Reader is configured to know the value of the
Start Amount and will debit one Free Start from the Service Wicket
and convert it to the proper amount of pulses or the proper serial
port message for the equipment.
Wickets
Administrator can configure the Wicket Readers to limit the
number of service Free Starts in a 24 hour period to limit abuse
by wayward employees.
Reader Programming
Wickets are the means by which your
WR88 Wicket Reader is field programmed to operate in its
environment. Through
Wickets
Administrator a Reader Programming Wicket receives the
configuration data to be transferred to a installed
Wicket Reader when it is read and recognized. The configuration
data includes such things as the SiteID of acceptance, alternate
SiteIDs to accept, the equipment Start Amount and Increment
Amount, and the Increment Amount Limit. If the Wicket Reader is
configured to have a
Pulse Output interface, the Pulse Time and Pulse value are set and
options for how the Service Sense input is to function are
selected. If the Wicket Reader is configured to have a Serial Port Interface, then
a communication protocol option must also be selected. With this information, the Wicket
Readers can function independently from any network.
System Reports Wickets are the means by which a Wicket
Reader can report
to Wickets Administrator all of the transactions made since
data was last reported. When a Wicket Reader is configured, it
also receives a Group Identity number of 0 to 13. Each Group is
associated with a particular class of machines. For example,
Group-3 might be associated with the high capacity washing
machines and Group-4 might be associated with the high capacity
dryers, etc. The Wicket Reader for each machine in a Group
receives the same configuration data. When a System Reports Wicket is
presented to a Group-3 Wicket Reader, it will add the totals for
debited Account Balances, debited Bonus Balances, Gift Starts, and
Service Starts to the memory blocks on the System Reports Wicket
reserved for Group-3 accounting data. When the System Reports Wicket
has been taken to each of the machines and the summary data from
each collected, it is then taken to Wickets Administrator and
downloaded into its database for viewing and analysis.
Banned List Wickets are used in conjunction with
the Turbo Accessories
Registration and Redemption system to ban the use of
up to three UserID numbers of Wickets by the Wicket Readers on the
equipment. For example, if a registered customer looses his
Wicket, the operator may choose to believe the customer and give
him a new Wicket with claimed loss amount on it, and then
ban the customer's former Wicket by looking up the UserID in
the Registration system under the customer's name, putting the
UserID on the Banned List Wicket, and then reading the Banned List
Wicket into each of the Wicket Readers that are to ignore it.
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Custom Graphics:
While the Service Equipment, Reader Programming, System Reports, and
Banned List type
Wickets may not be graphically customized, all of the Customer
Wickets may be either semi-custom graphics or full-custom graphics
as detailed below.
Full-Custom Graphics allow you to put any
combination of image and text onto the front face a Wicket. The
back has instruction information which is not available for your
customization. You can either submit artwork to us, or we can
create it for you. If you decided to create your own artwork, it
must be submitted according to the downloadable
Wickets
Graphics Standards document. If you ask IDX to create the
artwork for you, there will be a nominal charge of $50/hr, the
costs of which can be minimized by providing clear instructions,
sketches, photographs, logo artwork, or anything else that will
save time for our graphics department. There are a few
downloadable Graphics
Templates that may help you get started.
Semi-Custom Graphics allow you to select form one of
our standard background pictures for the Wicket and print you
company name and location on it as depicted below. There is no
extra charge for this service. All we need is the company name and
location information you want printed on the Wickets, and a color
preference for the text.
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