® pcProx & RFID1356-ID ® USB & RS-232 Configuration Software for use with pcProx ® Proximity Readers, Wiegand to xxx Converters, and RFID1356® Contactless Smart Card Read-Only Readers HID, Motorola, Indala, Casi-Rusco, MIFARE, iCLASS Compatible Readers User’s Manual www.RFIDeas.
ii © 1998-2004 RF IDeas, Inc.
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT TM End-User License Agreement for RF IDeas SOFTWARE and HARDWARE - RF IDeas’ pcProx®, RFID1356®, and pcProx Proximity Activated Systems. IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY: This End-User License Agreement ("EULA") is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and the manufacturer RF IDeas ("Manufacturer") with which you acquired the RF IDeas software and hardware product(s) identified above ("PRODUCT").
iv SOFTWARE PRODUCT LICENSE The PRODUCT is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. The SOFTWARE PORTION OF THE PRODUCT is licensed, not sold. 1. GRANT OF LICENSE. This EULA grants you the following rights: * Software. You may install and use one copy of the SOFTWARE PORTION OF THE PRODUCT on the COMPUTER. * Network Services.
the terms of this EULA. If the PRODUCT is an upgrade, any transfer must include all prior versions of the PRODUCT. * Termination. Without prejudice to any other rights, RF IDeas may terminate this EULA if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this EULA. In such event, you must destroy all copies of the SOFTWARE PORTION OF THE PRODUCT and all of its component parts. 3. UPGRADES.
vi FOR THE LIMITED WARRANTIES AND SPECIAL PROVISIONS PERTAINING TO YOUR PARTICULAR JURISDICTION, PLEASE REFER TO YOUR WARRANTY BOOKLET INCLUDED WITH THIS PACKAGE OR PROVIDED WITH THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT PRINTED MATERIALS. © 1998-2004 RF IDeas, Inc.
Limited Warranty RF IDeas, Inc. warrants to the original buyer of this product, that the hardware and related disk(s) are free of defects in material and workmanship for a period of one year from date of purchase from RF IDeas or from an authorized RF IDeas dealer.
viii Trademarks All RF IDeas products are trademarks of RF IDeas, Inc. All other product names or names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Disclaimer This User’s Guide is printed in the U.S.A. Any resemblance mentioned in the User’s guide to persons living or dead, or to actual corporations or products is purely coincidental. RF IDeas believes that the information contained in this manual is correct.
Thank You Congratulations on the purchase of your pcProx or RFID1356 reader system. We at RF IDeas hope you enjoy using your new reader system as much as we enjoyed creating and developing it! Please share your comments and suggestions for our future solutions! If you are interested in our OEM or Independent Developer’s Programs, please call! Thank you, The Staff at RF IDeas Need Assistance? Call: (847) 870-1723 Fax: (847) 483-1129 E-mail: TechSupport@RFIDeas.
2 FCC Compliance Statement FCC ID: M9MPCPROXHUSB100 (HID USB model) FCC ID: M9MPCPROXH100 (HID RS-232 model) FCC ID: M9MPCPROXM101 (Indala model) FCC ID: M9MPCPROXC101 (Casi-Rusco model) FCC ID: M9MRFID1356I100 (MIFARE/iCLASS models) According to FCC part 15.21, "The user’s manual or instruction manual for an intentional or unintentional radiator shall caution the user that changes not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.
TABLE OF CONTENTS END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT _____ iii SOFTWARE PRODUCT LICENSE __ iv Limited Warranty ___________________ vii Thank You _____________________ 1 FCC Compliance Statement ______ 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS___________ 1 Proximity Activated Products _____ 3 AIR ID ® LT (Active Badge) _____________ 4 Wiegand Converters __________________ 4 pcProx Reader Choices ______________ 4 Understanding Wireless Identification ______________________________ 6 What is pcProx® Proximity Activated Identification
2 Connect Tab _______________________ 13 Device Connect ___________________ 13 Get/Set Internal Timing _____________ 15 Set Keystroke Data __________________ 17 FAC & ID Data ____________________ 17 Advanced Tab ______________________ 20 LED Control ______________________ 20 Multiple USB Readers on a PC _______ 21 Enter Unique Address ______________ 21 Software Developer Kit Mode ________ 22 Characters Sent When Card is Removed 25 About Tab _________________________ 26 Version Information ________________
Proximity Activated Products RF IDeas offers a variety of wireless products for hands-free or contact-less identification and security. Please review the following to choose which product best fits your need. If you do not see a solution, please contact us. There are several software developers licensing our technology and the solution you are looking for may already be developed.
4 Product AIR ID ® LT (Active Badge) Wiegand Converters Supervised Reader Extenders RFID1356 Readers FEATURE - BENEFIT ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ pcProx Developer’s Kit pcProx USB pcProx-232 pcProx-TTL and Keyboard Wedge Readers ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Great for multiple users sharing a computer Economical solution Badge transmits, Base Unit receives Audit Trail TD2FTM Two-Factor Authentication Wiegand <-> TTL, RS-485, RS-232, USB, Ethernet RS-485, Ethernet, Wireless (900Mhz, 2.
individual manufacturer’s proprietary technology (ex. HID, Indala/Motorola, Casi-Rusco, and others). The pcProx & pcProx USB readers are a more sophisticated design. The reader accepts commands as well as sends output data to the port. Each reader can operate in synchronous (via the software developer’s kit - SDK) or asynchronous mode. The SDK supports all readers and is available to developers. The pcProx-232 serial port reader outputs in an asynchronous mode outputs data in ASCII format.
6 Understanding Wireless Identification What is pcProx® Proximity Activated Identification? The pcProx Configuration software together with the pcProx proximity reader makes up proximity activated identification system. This is used to identify users by using their existing proximity token.
Second, the reader may be set up for operation under the API (application programmer interface) as defined in the pcProx SDK. The pcProx reader attaches to the computer’s USB port. When a proximity token is read, the active application will receive the entire proximity token’s data. The Configuration application allows the user to specify which data bits from the proximity card are used to create an ASCII number. Additionally, the user may specify additional keystrokes to be sent.
8 Additionally, the user may specify additional extra RS-232 characters may be sent. Why is it necessary? With the proliferation of PC’s, cash machines, security systems, and electronic locks, users are increasingly burdened with the requirement of entering identification information to gain access or show they have accessed systems. There are a few reasons for users to investigate the benefits derived by using this system.
Who can benefit using the System? Companies using proximity card/tokens for building access can immediately benefit since their employee identification cards may be useful outside of building security. The majority of the costs (deployment and enrollment) are already recovered. What is included with the pcProx Kit? • • • HID, Indala/Motorola, Casi-Rusco or other compatible Base Unit reader. pcProx Configuration Application for Windows 98 and Windows NT/2000/XP. You may download the latest at www.
10 Hardware Installation Locate an open USB or RS-232 port on the system. Plug the connector into the PC’s (or available on any peripheral) port. You may place the Base Unit next to your monitor, beside your PC, or where you feel it is appropriate. pcProx Badge (Passive badge users) The pcProx badge is the same as your supplied passive proximity badge for your facility access control system. Since the pcProx reader is independent of bit length, it is capable of reading any existing proximity badge format.
Software Installation If there is a problem with the installation, allow the setup program to uninstall. Should you need to reinstall or remove the software, always use the Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs icon so the system is successfully removed, and reboot. Perform the usual entries associated with installing software. Software Configuration In this section you will: Configure any pcProx settings.
12 Configure pcProx Templates The application allows you to save templates (.HWG files) representing your configuration choices for retrieval at a later time. The templates may also be used to auto-run the application. To use the auto-run mode you need to save a template file and specify this as a command line parameter (See Auto-Run Operation section below). Configuration Choices There are many configuration setting choices in Allows the user to 1.
Connect Tab Device Connect Connect Device This check box is used to connect the Configuration application to the internal storage in the device. Once selected, you can read, modify, and write to the device. Once selected, the application will go out and retrieve the device’s current configuration. If you have a connect problem make sure the reader is connected. If you are using the USB model, make sure you are running a version of Windows that supports the USB port. Check the www.RFIDeas.
14 Device Found This indicates the type of pcProx reader found (RS-232 or USB). The configuration program automatically checks for a USB reader first, and if it does not find one, it scans COM ports 1 through 8 for a serial port model. Reset to defaults This button is used to put the device back into a know state. All configuration settings are set back to their factory defaults.
Get/Set Internal Timing Data is valid for The time the card ID remains valid in the device. Once this time elapses, the card data is discarded. The minimum value is 900. Inter-key 'Press' time Sets USB inter-key Press' time delay in msecs. This is how long the key is held down. Inter-key 'Release' time Sets USB inter-key 'Release' time delay in msecs. This is the delay between keystrokes. Send Data Upon Read Immediately sends the card data otherwise it is held based on the lock-out time below.
16 Lock-out Time for Repetitive Reads This parameter can prevent the card’s data from being sent continuously if the card is left on the reader. © 1998-2004 RF IDeas, Inc.
Set Keystroke Data FAC & ID Data This top section of this tab is organized in a manner consistent with the way the card data is organized on generic proximity cards; Leading parity + facility code+ ID code + trailing parity code. The bottom section allows the user to specify keystrokes to be added at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the card’s data. Strip Leading Parity bit count The indicated number of Leading Parity bit(s) are ignored. There are typically only 1 or 2 leading parity bits.
18 Send FAC code Selecting this checkbox will cause the FAC code to be sent. Force data to length This applies to both Facility and ID code data fields. Zeroes are added to the front of the data to create a specific length. For example, if the data were 567 and the length is set to 6, the output will be 000567. FAC fixed to this length Zeroes are added to the front of the FAC portion of the data to create a specific length.
3 special characters (hex 01, 02, 03) that can be specified. These add an extra measure of difficulty in reproducing card data directly from the keyboard. It may be useful when using the proximity reader as a logon device. Please see application note for more details. Strip Trailing Parity bit count The indicated number of Trailing Parity bit(s) are ignored. There is typically only 1 trailing parity bit.
20 Advanced Tab LED Control SDK Controls LED Using the SDK the software developer has the ability to control the red/green/amber colors of the LED on the top of the reader. Normally, the reader goes from red to green when a proximity card is read (i.e. HID proximity card being read by a pcProxH reader). This can be restricted by the bit count. For example, if the user configures the reader to ‘read only 26 bit cards’ the LED will go green when any HID 26 bit card is placed on the reader.
Red LED When selected, the SDK has control of the RED state. Green LED When selected, the SDK has control of the GREEN state. Multiple USB Readers on a PC This section does not apply to the RS-232 readers since these are attached to individual COM ports. This field will show how many readers are attached to the PC. User may attach up to 16 different pcProx-USB devices on their PC at one time.
22 communicate with each device to learn which reader sent the card data stream. SDK users will use this address field to enter the address for the attached reader. NOTE: Only 1 reader may be attached when this feature is used. List of Unique Reader Addresses This drop down list box will show all attached readers that have a unique address. Software Developer Kit Mode If you are a software developer, and have purchased SDK, you can change the mode of operation of the pcProx reader.
reader, will read the card’s data and display the result in the field next to the button. Raw Data This field will contain the number of bits read from the card (less the parity bits stripped) and show the card’s data in hexadecimal format. Filter Mask If the Filter Mask field is empty, the program will try to ‘guess’ at the format for the card. Since there are literally thousands of formats, this truly a guess.
24 Example: NOTE: Any stripped parity bits will not be delivered using the GET ID function. Example: For a 26-bit card, if you have 1 leading and 1 trailing parity bit set to be stripped (see Set Keystroke Data tab), the GET ID will return 24 bits. The button calls a SDK (software developer’s kit) function and shows how and application would use and see data if the SDK were implemented. Example: Filter for a popular 26-bit Wiegand card format is: "PFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP".
Characters Sent When Card is Removed This applies only to the RS-232 reader. The RS-232 device is capable is sending two ‘Card Gone’ characters whenever the card is removed. Use the pull-down character selector boxes to choose the desired ASCII characters. These characters will be sent once the Lifetime hold (see Timings Tab) has elapsed. The SDK is a separate product from RF IDeas.
26 About Tab Version Information This screen describes the version and copyright information. This area shows the version of the firmware (device’s software) as well as the version of the SDK library. © 1998-2004 RF IDeas, Inc.
Card Formats Tab There are several bits constructed together which make up the data sent from the proximity token to the pcProx reader. The pcProx reader reads all bits for any format card produced. The proximity token has several bits, and these will vary from customer to customer. There are literally hundreds of bit formats and lengths for proximity cards! The most popular is the 26-bit format card.
28 Immediately following is the identification code. For a 26-bit card this is 16 bits. FACILITY CODE The next bits are normally used as the facility code. For a 26-bit card there are 8 bits. PARITY BIT The trailing 1-3 bits are usually a the parity bit(s). The software does not perform any data validation checking. This is due to the fact that the data must be known before the read in order to verify its validity.
11000111010000011111 (816159) Notice how deselecting the 1st 7 bits and the last parity bit results in the same binary number! Select bits 2 through 21 and deselect all others will provide the result desired for this customer’s format and example.
30 File Open This allows the user to retrieve a configuration previously saved. The HWG file is useful when more than one template is helpful. All data associated with the configuration selections are saved. File Save All data associated with the configuration selections are saved to the Default.HWG file. Save As All data associated with the configuration selections are saved to the user specified filename (.HWG ) file. © 1998-2004 RF IDeas, Inc.
Auto-Run Operation In auto mode, the user specifies a configuration file (ex. Default.hwg) using a shortcut properties link as defined in the Windows environment. First, the user makes all desired configuration settings. Second, once the settings are defined, the user creates a (.HWG) by using the Save As selection under the File menu system. Third, the user needs to create a shortcut link and specify the (.HWG) configuration file in this link.
32 pcProxusbConfig.exe file and then using a rightclick of the mouse. You will see a ‘Create Shortcut’ menu item. Fourth, once the shortcut is created, the Properties need to be modified by adding the filename of the (.HWG) file after the quote in the target field as shown below. © 1998-2004 RF IDeas, Inc.
Application Note: Logon Reader Overview This document describes how the pcProx USB proximity reader may be used as a logon or automatic password entry device without the need to install software at the client or server. The card can automatically enter passwords into the operating system, login applications which require passwords and even password protected web sites.
34 user supplied PIN. This creates a two-factor authentication system (something you have and something you know) and protects against lost or stolen password. Configuration Utility The following screen shot shows the configuration program supplied with the reader. This program simply configures the reader. Once the configuration information is set and written to the device, the device is ready for deployment. The device will hold this information until it is updated.
Usage under Windows 98, 2000 and XP In order to use the pcProx-USB reader as a logon device under Windows there are a few considerations to review. Administrator Considerations The issues the administrator will face include: Automatic Change Password. To increase security several company have adopted a policy that requires users to change password every xx number of days. To keep this policy in place, you will need to have users password include both the proximity data as well as a user supplied PIN.
36 User Considerations The user will first need to perform a change password-see below. Change Password To use the pcProx reader as a password device the user must first change their password. This operation is performed differently for each operating system and application. Please refer to your User’s Manual for detail. In general, you will enter your Old Password, and wave the proximity token to fill in the New Password and if applicable, the Confirmation Password fields.
As with the Change Password operation described above, the user first makes sure the cursor is in the Password field. Once the cursor is located, the user waves the proximity token to fill in the Password field. If the password is made up of the card data + a user supplied PIN, you will need to add this PIN prior to pressing the ENTER key. Unlocking the WorkStation The following screen will appear slightly different for each of the operating systems (W98, 2000, and XP).
38 Once the cursor is in the Password field, the user may safely wave their proximity token over the pcProx reader and the field is stuffed with the password. The user may finish off the operation by pressing the ENTER key, or the reader may be configured to add the ENTER keystroke as an appended keystroke. If the password is valid for this username account, the user will be logged on.
One-Factor In a one-factor system, the user simply waves the proximity token. Therefore the reader may be configured to add TAB keystrokes ahead of the data as well as a TAB or ENTER keystroke behind the data. Two-Factor In a one-factor system, the user may enter the PIN either before or after the proximity token data is inserted into the field. If the user adds the PIN before the token data, the reader may be configured to append the ENTER keystroke.
40 The reader factory default, without the special configuration, you would see: 15202752 in any application. In pcProx and most text-based applications you would see: ??0007423?0000448? In Microsoft Word or Notepad it looks like: ☻♥0007423☺0000448☻ or depending on settings: 0000975 0062336 The login screen sees: ***************** This makes it much more difficult for an end user to learn or share their password with another.
Auto-Locking the Workstation To increase security when the user steps away, you can use a screen saver but of course this can be a problem since: 1. It the time is set too short, it is annoying because it you get on a phone call or speak to someone without leaving the station it will lock. Users grow tired of this since it can cause them to enter their password 20 times more than necessary. 2.
42 What is Sonar Proximity Detection? This is an ultra-sonic proximity detector functioning as a USB keyboard. The primary purpose is for detecting users stepping away from a computer terminal they have un-locked (log-in active), and issuing keystrokes to lock or log-off the session on the computer. Now when you walk away from your system, you will benefit from a hands-free means of locking your computer. How Does the System Work? The concept of the pcProx-Sonar is easy to understand.
The second event is when you return to your work zone. The pcProx can now detect this event and send some preparatory keystrokes for you. For example, on return to their computer, Windows 2000 users must hit the CTL-ALT-DEL key sequence to prepare the computer for the password entry. Again, with the pcProx attached, it will now send those keystrokes for you.
44 Troubleshooting If your system is not working it could be for one of the following reasons: No pcProx USB Device Attached 1. Check to be sure the pcProx unit is plugged into the USB port. When the PC is on and no card being read, you will see the LED is red. A valid proximity card will cause the led to turn green, provided you have not set the configuration to read only certain bit lengths. 2.
Index AIR ID ® LT, 4 Leading Parity, 17 AIR ID Developer’s Kit, 4 log-in, 42 log-off, 42 AIR ID SDK, 12 Motorola, 9 API, 7 PARITY BIT, 27 ASCI number, 12 passive badge, 10 ASCII number, 12 pcPROX Badge, 10 auto mode, 31 requirements, 9 auto-run, 12 SDK, 5, 24 factory defaults, 14 Shortcut, 32 HID, 9 templates, 12 HWG, 30 Trailing Parity, 19 HWG files, 12 uninstall, 11 inter-key, 15 Windows 98, 9 internal storage, 13 Windows driver, 44 Keyboard Wedge Readers, 4 Windows NT/2000/XP
