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Time card recorder — Parallax Forums

Time card recorder

JRCantrellJRCantrell Posts: 2
edited 2004-11-02 22:17 in BASIC Stamp
Hello all

I have a project I want to tell you about.
This is a description of what it needs to do:

A) Display time,HHMM, MMDDYYYY , on an LCD display

B) Be able to read a mag card swipe or Prox card
1) Compare Card ID with internal list of 100+ card ID's ( 32 bit ID)
2) If valid Card ID operate dry contact
3) Display " VALID" or " INVALID" on LCD

C) Record Time and Card ID into memory , at least 1000 entrys

D) Able to retrive Data by Modem, Unit to call a PC at a preselected time.

E) Battery backup to operate Clock display, card reader and relay 1/2 hr, Battery backup for Clock and Data for at least a week.

F) Overwrite previous data FIFO

G) Operate a second dry contact at preselected times at least 100 events

Items that are needed

Card reader
Memory for data,list, event time list and program
Backup battery
Modem
Clock
LCD Display
2 relays
Controller to run it all
Programming

Before I buy something I dont need or won't work and spend tons of time on this I thought I would ask all of you:
Does this sound like something the Parallax Stamp can do?
If it can, which version?
What accessories are available from Parallax?
How hard is it to integrate (other) hardware with the Parallax stamp?

Thanks for the forum
And thank you in advance for your replys

Rick

Comments

  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2004-11-01 17:36
    If someone contracted me to do this project -- and I'm NOT volunteering -- I would select a BS2pe. It is a low-power version of the BS2p that has LCD and I2C commands built in. With I2C, I would connect a DS1307 to handle the clock, and perhaps a few 24LC256 memormy modules if the onboard memory was not sufficient (I would use the extra banks to store the ID database, and put events in external EEPROM). You can use the Modem AppMod to handle the BASIC Stamp to PC telephone connection.

    You could easily prototype your project with the BS2p24-40 demo board. It has an LCD connection, an AppMod connection, and plenty of breadboard space for other devices. That said, all of this is possible, but it's not something that you can expect to simply slap together and write a few lines of code.

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
    Dallas Office
  • JRCantrellJRCantrell Posts: 2
    edited 2004-11-01 20:28
    Jon
    That gives me a place to start. Although I have no experence with PBasic or Stamps, I don't think that each subsystem by it self will present to much of a problem. Working together as one system , well that's another story.
    I think I'll break the project down into subsystems. Clock,Display, Store data, compare ID's to list, Event timer, Mag reader, transmit data. I think the tricky part will be comparing the card ID to a stored list of valid ID's.


    Thanks for your reply
    Rick
  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2004-11-01 21:33
    That's a great way to proceed. I've actually done many of the subsystems you mention, and some are combined. As far as identifying known serial numbers, have a look at our NX-1000-24/40 documentation; it has a project that identifies known 1-Wire serial number devices. The code should help you.

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
    Dallas Office
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2004-11-01 21:51
    Rick,

    ·· If you find a suitable Card Reader, or if you develop of good interface with an existing one and some code, I'm sure there are a bunch of people on here who would love to have you share those findings.· The RTC, LCD and datalogging stuff has been covered for a lot of applications, but card reading seems to be one of those user-dependant areas...Especially Prox cards...



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    Chris Savage

    Knight Designs
    324 West Main Street
    P.O. Box 97
    Montour Falls, NY 14865
    (607) 535-6777

    Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
    Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
    Designs Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/designs
    ·
  • Eric REric R Posts: 225
    edited 2004-11-01 22:18
    I would also be interested. I have a TTL level reader but was never able to assemble the code to produce a readable string. Counting the bars was easy enough but the time table eludes me! I thought maybe Jon may have a bit of code around to get us started in the right direction.
  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2004-11-01 22:43
    What are you asking for, specifically?

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
    Dallas Office
  • Eric REric R Posts: 225
    edited 2004-11-01 22:54
    Jon,

    My understanding is that the optical scan of a barcode produces a square wave that in turn needs to be decoded into a user readable format. What I do not understand is the relationship between time and bar width. One would think that swiping the card faster or slower would shoot the possibility of measuring via time. Exactly how is a barcode decoded as I have at least a couple of applications on the back burner waiting until I am a little smarter on the subject.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2004-11-02 00:50
    Eric,

    ·· I was referring to Magnetic Strip and Prox readers...When it comes to reading Bar Codes, the hardware for them is fairly straigh-forward.· Being a hobbyist before anything else, I always take the "cheap" road.

    ·· Radio Shack used to give away free Cue-Cat Bar Code readers, which were capable of reading almost any UPC Bar Code, and even several other formats/variations.· When adjusted properly (Read: hacked), the Cue Cat outputs standard·data like a computer keyboard, sending the keyboard equivalents of the characters as if they were typed on a computer keyboard.· In fact many wedge between the keyboard and the computer's keyboard port.

    ·· There are many other wand and other Bar Code scanners that work this way, so if you could read a computer keyboard, you could read one of these Bar Code Scanners.· Parallax used to sell a device which might have helped with this...Keyverter.· I may have to try mine to see how effective it is in this manner.



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    Chris Savage

    Knight Designs
    324 West Main Street
    P.O. Box 97
    Montour Falls, NY 14865
    (607) 535-6777

    Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
    Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
    Designs Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/designs
    ·
  • Eric REric R Posts: 225
    edited 2004-11-02 03:39
    Sorry dude! Guess I got caught up in the whole swipe thing!?!
  • JKtechJKtech Posts: 12
    edited 2004-11-02 13:26
    Eric R,·



    Try useing the relationship between white and black or on and off to·decode your barcode.· In other words compare how long it is on to how long it was off.
  • JKtechJKtech Posts: 12
    edited 2004-11-02 13:53
    JR Cantrell,

    An alternative to a card swipe is the maxim iButton for ID. Here are a couple of sites with information and good source code.

    http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/an/app204.pdf

    http://www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes.cfm/appnote_number/1790
  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2004-11-02 14:27
    I'm not a big fan of 1-Wire components -- EXCEPT for the serial number i-Buttons.· The attached program shows how to select a known i-Button (serial number) from an EEPROM-based table.· Using a BS2pe, one gets 1-Wire protocol, and can use the extra program banks for tables.

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
    Dallas Office
    BSP
    BSP
    1W_SECURITY.BSP
    5K
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2004-11-02 16:11
    Eric R said...
    Sorry dude! Guess I got caught up in the whole swipe thing!?!

    No biggie...I was just saying there are other routes to reading Bar Codes than the way the Mag/Prox readers are read, since on those I know many act like a keyboard wedge.




    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Chris Savage

    Knight Designs
    324 West Main Street
    P.O. Box 97
    Montour Falls, NY 14865
    (607) 535-6777

    Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
    Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
    Designs Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/designs
    ·
  • Eric REric R Posts: 225
    edited 2004-11-02 22:17
    Those·i-buttons look sweet! Might have to give one a try soon.
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