MagTek P-SERIES USB - Manual (Page 19)

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SECTION 4. USB COMMUNICATIONS (HID)
The Reader can be operated in two different modes:
• HID (herein referred to as “HID mode”) and
• HID with Keyboard Emulation (herein referred to as “KB mode”)
Note that only readers 21065148 and 21065151 with firmware version 21042817C01 or newer
support both modes. The other readers only support HID mode.
When operating in the HID mode, this device will not use keyboard emulation. It behaves like a
vendor defined HID device so that a direct communication path can be established between the
host application and the device, without interference from other HID devices.
When configured for the Keyboard Emulation (KB) mode, the Reader emulates a USB HID
United States keyboard or, optionally, any international keyboard using ALT ASCII code keypad
key combinations or customizable key maps. This allows host applications designed to acquire
card data from keyboard input to seamlessly acquire the card data from the USB swipe reader.
This section only describes USB communications when the device is in the HID mode. See the
USB communications (KB) section for a description of USB communication when the device is
in the KB mode. (Refer to
Interface_Type Property for information on how to change modes.)
This device conforms to the USB specification revision 1.1. This device also conforms with the
Human Interface Device (HID) class specification version 1.1. The device communicates to the
host as a vendor defined HID device. The details about how the card data and commands are
structured into HID reports follow later in this section. The latest versions of the Windows
operating systems come with a standard Windows USB HID driver. Windows applications that
communicate to this device can be easily developed. These applications can communicate to the
device using standard windows API calls that communicate to the device using the standard
Windows USB HID driver. These applications can be easily developed using compilers such as
Microsoft’s Visual Basic or Visual C++. A demonstration program and its source code, written
in Visual Basic, that communicates with this device is available. This demo program can be
used to test the device and it can be used as a guide for developing other applications. More
details about the demo program follow later in this document.
It is recommended that application software developers become familiar with the HID
specification and the USB specification before attempting to communicate with this device. This
document assumes that the reader is familiar with these specifications. These specifications can
be downloaded free from www.usb.org.
This is a full speed USB device. This device has a number of programmable configuration
properties. These properties are stored in non-volatile memory. These properties can be
configured at the factory or by the end user. More details about these properties can be found
later in this document in the command section.