Copyright © 2012 Vicomp Ltd

All rights reserved

Vicomp Blue Reader™

for
Google Android®

Try Our New ICAO eMRTD Portable Bluetooth Reader in the Droid World

Document contents

Before you start

Downloading and installing the software
Pairing Android device and the reader
Running Vicomp Blue Reader in Droid OS
A note about future development (RFID)

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Before you start
It is assumed you have got our VPR460/VPR460e (or newer) ICAO MRTD Bluetooth
reader. If not, just get in touch with us to order the device for time-limited testing
( office@vicomp.com.pl ).

Besides the reader, to make the test possible you are suppose to have an Android-
based smartphone or tablet as well.

Also, it is required that you have access to the Internet to download necessary
software stuff. Actually, there are two files for downloading from our web site
( http://www.vicomp.eu ):
VicompBlueReader.pdf (this document) and VicompBlueReader.apk.

Of course, you can perform downloading directly to your Android device or to any
external laptop/desktop machine (however, when using external machine, Bluetooth
or USB connection will be required to transfer the files to your target Android SD
storage).

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Downloading and installing the software
Fly to our web page ( http://www.vicomp.eu ). If the intro page is set to Android
announcement, get appropriate stuff from here. Otherwise, go on to Download
section. Among many other items search for the Vicomp Blue Reader for Android
download links. There are two files you should save on your disk (they may be
zipped in one archive). The installation file is VicompBlueReader.apk while a
simple guide is contained in VicompBlueReader.pdf.

The final objective now is to have installation archive file (apk extension) in
VicompBlueReader subfolder of your Android device SD card. Of course, you can
copy here manual as well (pdf extension). If you downloaded the files on some other,
external machine, you have to transfer them to mentioned target location (SD card)
as shown in Fig.1a and Fig.1b. Check the files are present in proper location by
means of Android File Manager. However, DO NOT START INSTALLATION YET!

Fig.1a Fig.1b

Create VicompBlueReader subfolder on your Android SD card and copy all

downloaded files to this location.

Before you can start installing the application from outside of the Android Market it is
necessary to force the system to allow for this.
Go to Settings/Applications and check Unknown sources box (see below).

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 Fig.2

Return to File Manager and tap our application package to start installation
procedure (VicompBlueReader.apk, see Fig.1).

Fig.3

Tap Install when above screen appears.

Wait a moment while the application is being installed (Fig.4).

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 Fig.4

Finally you are going to see successful installation message screen (below).

Fig.5

Tap Done to complete installation process.

Navigate to Download applications to check if VICOMP BLUE READER shortcut

(icon) is present (see Fig.6). If you push the icon for some longer time it will be
copied to your main screen for easier access (see Fig.7).

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 Fig.6 Fig.7

However, DO NOT RUN THE APPLICATION YET! First you have to configure
Bluetooth connection between your Android and our reader. The process is called
“device pairing”. It is described in details in the next section.

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Pairing Android device and the reader
Go to Settings/Wireless & networks and enable your Android device Bluetooth
adapter checking the appropriate box (Fig.8). When ready a Bluetooth icon should
be visible in the screen header tab.

Fig.8

Tap Bluetooth settings now (Fig.9).

Fig.9

Note Scan for devices item that you will use in a moment to search for our reader.
But DON’T DO IT NOW! First, you have to prepare the reader to become
discoverable.

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Turn the reader upside down and swipe any sheet of paper (see Fig.10).

Fig.10

There should be several quick, short beeps. When you can hear them put the reader
on the table. The reader stays discoverable for about a minute. Now return to your
Android screen and tap Scan for devices menu item mentioned earlier. Wait until all
Bluetooth devices in the range will be discovered (Fig.11).

Fig.11 Fig.12

When the scanning activity is finished you should be able to find our VPR460 reader
(along with its serial number, it is not a Bluetooth address) in the list of all discovered
devices. Tap the reader name and you will be asked to enter its PIN.

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Default (factory established) PIN for any Vicomp VPR460 reader is VPROCR01
(capital letters). If you haven’t changed this value by means of our configuration
software, then it is still valid and you should supply this PIN (and do not try 0000 or
1234 as they suggest) in the edit control (see Fig.13). Tap Done when ready and
then OK on the next screen (Fig.14).

Fig.13 Fig.14

IMPORTANT: It may happen your system will not allow for any letter in the PIN code
expecting only numeric values. In such a case the only solution is to change the
reader PIN using our Reader Configuration Utility. For this, you have to download
Vicomp Reader Soft Center from our web page and read supplied User Manual
instructions. After changing the PIN in the reader hardware return here to continue.

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In case the pairing process was performed correctly you get the information “Paired
but not connected” under the reader name (see Fig.15).

Fig.15

If you hit this point then most of the work is done. You are almost ready to play with
the reader testing the connection and automatic reading of ICAO documents MRZ
(Machine Readable Zone) contents. Go on to the next section.

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Running Vicomp Blue Reader in Droid OS
Assure Bluetooth adapter in your Android device is enabled (Bluetooth icon is visible
in the header tab of the screen). Also assure the reader is not sleeping (slowly blinks
every five second). If it is sleeping (no blinking), wake it up swiping a document
through the reading slot. If everything is ready, tap VICOMP BLUE READER icon
created after installation of the application (see Fig.7). Application is starting (Fig.17).
Position your Android screen horizontally (landscape) for this particular application to
get better visual experience.

Fig.17

When the reader monitoring thread is active you hear beeping. If you get two or
more readers paired with your Android, the Select Blue Reader ... button will be
enabled to allow for reader selection.

Try reading any ICAO compatible MRTD (Machine Readable Travel Document).
They are: ID CARD, VISA or PASSPORT. MRZ (Machine Readable Zone) will be
scanned and automatically recognized. The data is formatted and displayed on the
Android screen (Fig.18).

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Both ASCII and HEX representations are shown to the user. Note that in case of
ASCII (plain text) initial (STX-Start of Text, 0x02) and final (ETX-End of Text, 0x03)
bytes are removed as they are non-printable characters. However, you can see they
are present in the data package looking at hexadecimal representation (Fig.18 and
Fig.19, see below).

Fig.18

Fig.19

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When you want to terminate the application it is suggested to use Exit button at the
bottom of the application view. Vicomp Blue Reader monitoring thread will be
stopped and program activity totally destroyed (Fig.20).

Fig.20

In case of any problems encountered while installing and/or running the application
do not hesitate to get in touch with us for help and support. Mail directly to our
software staff: darek@vicomp.com.pl

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A note about future development
As you have noticed, current ß version of the Vicomp Blue Reader for Android is
limited to read and recognize only OCR data. We are working hard to implement
functionality to enable retrieval of chip electronic data. Of course, we have already
developed many RFID solutions for Windows XP/7 and Windows Mobile
environments. However, to realize all the necessary cryptography to perform BAC
(Basic Access Control) and EAC (Extended Access Control) a quite powerful
processor is required. Thus, our current R&D activity is directed to implement those
sophisticated and demanding cryptographic algorithms on the relatively weak
Android platform with slow Java. Hard job! (especially for C/C++ programmers;).

Anyway, if you are interested in the main idea and related topics of implementing
our Bluetooth reader in Android space, please contact us for more detailed
discussion. Your suggestions and comments are welcome as well. We are quite
flexible to adjust both our hardware and software solutions to meet your particular
requirements: office@vicomp.com.pl

Waiting for your move ...

Vicomp Ltd

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