JPH10275251A - Automatic ticket examination device and ticket examination method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic ticket examination device which can effectively collect the passenger tickets and a ticket examination method that is applied to the ticket examination device. SOLUTION: This device fetches every sheet of passenger ticket media (ST100) and detects the sizes of these media (ST102). If a passenger ticket medium has an Edmondson ticket size (ST104, Y), it's decided in a reading process (ST110) whether the ticket medium is a specific medium that needs no magnetic writing process (ST112). If a specific passenger ticket medium is decided (ST112, Y), the pass of the medium is decided with no inversion process executed regardless of the upper or rear face side of the medium (ST114). Then the ticket medium is collected (ST116).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic ticket gate apparatus and a ticket gate method applied to the apparatus, and more particularly, to an automatic ticket gate apparatus for automatically performing ticket collection processing based on a ticket medium possessed by a passenger. And its ticket gate method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, automatic ticket gates and automatic ticket gates have been installed at entrances and exits of transportation stations such as railways and various facilities for the purpose of labor saving in ticket gate operations. Is installed. This automatic ticket gate accepts and inspects the ticket media possessed by the user when entering or leaving the facility or when changing facilities, and as a result of this inspection, the ticket media is If it is legitimate, the passage of the user is permitted, and if it is not legitimate, the passage of the user is blocked.

In such an automatic ticket gate, when entering, exiting or changing facilities, a magnetic field formed on one side of a ticket medium inserted by a user, that is, on the back side of the side on which printing processing is performed. The magnetic information recorded in the recording unit, for example, the entrance station information and the fare information is read, and based on the read information, whether or not the user is allowed to pass is determined, and if necessary, the magnetic card is inserted into the inserted ticket medium. Information recording or processing such as punching and printing is performed.

[0004] By the way, this type of automatic ticket gate is designed so that even if the ticket medium is inserted on the front side, that is, the entrance station information and the fare information are inserted with the printed side facing up, the ticket medium is placed on the back side. Insertion, that is, to read the magnetic information even when inserted with the magnetic recording part where the magnetic information such as entrance station information and fee information is recorded facing up,
Magnetic heads for reading are respectively provided above and below the transport path of the ticket medium.

A magnetic writing magnetic head for writing magnetic information to a magnetic recording portion of a ticket medium is located downstream of the reading magnetic head on the transport path.
And it is provided only below the transport path. In the transport path between the magnetic head for reading and the magnetic head for writing,
A front / back inversion mechanism is provided to unify the front and back of the ticket medium.

That is, even if the ticket medium is loaded on the front side or the back side, the magnetic information on the ticket medium can be read because the reading magnetic heads are provided up and down in the transport path. However, the magnetic head for writing is
Since it is provided only below the transport path, the magnetic recording section of the ticket medium inserted on the back faces upward and cannot write magnetic information with this write head. Therefore, after reading the magnetic information, the ticket medium inserted on the back side is always turned upside down so that the magnetic recording unit is directed downward of the transport path.

[0007]

In the conventional automatic ticket gate apparatus described above, the automatic ticket gate apparatus for collecting ticket media provided at the entrance of a facility, etc., uses a rear-mounted boarding ticket. All the ticket media are guided to the reversing mechanism, and the front and back are reversed. Such reversal processing is necessary for a large-sized ticket such as a commuter pass, or a ticket medium ejected after being subjected to magnetic writing processing, such as an Edmonson ticket-sized transit ticket. is there.

However, some Edmonson ticket-sized tickets, such as ordinary tickets, collect tickets without performing magnetic writing. Such a ticket medium does not need to be turned upside down.

[0009] This upside down process requires a processing time of about 0.1 second for operation. Further, in order to perform the reversing process, it is necessary to convey the ticket medium to a portion having a complicated structure in the reversing mechanism, and the extremely deformed ticket medium may cause ticket jamming.

As described above, in the conventional automatic ticket gate, when collecting the ticket media, regardless of whether the magnetic writing process is required or not, all the ticket media inserted on the back side are processed. Inversion processing is being performed. For this reason, the reversing process is also performed on a ticket ticket of the Edmonson ticket size, which does not require the magnetic writing process and is collected as it is, so that the processing time becomes longer. Further, since the reversing process is performed on all types of ticket media, there is a problem that the probability of occurrence of ticket jamming increases.

Therefore, there arises a problem that efficient ticket collection processing cannot be executed. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic ticket gate that enables efficient ticket collection processing and a ticket gate method applied to the automatic ticket gate.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made based on the above problems, and according to claim 1, receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction,
The ticket medium received by the receiving means is the first ticket medium.
Reading means for determining whether the direction is the second direction and reading the data recorded on the ticket medium; and the ticket determined to be the second direction by the reading means. Reversing means for reversing the medium in the first direction; writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction; and the ticket medium based on the data read by the reading means. When it is not necessary to write data in the writing means, the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means is not inverted by the inverting means in the first direction. And a control means for performing such control.

According to the second aspect, receiving means for receiving the ticket media in the first direction and the second direction, and whether the ticket medium received by the receiving means is in the first direction or the second direction. Reading means for reading the data recorded on the ticket medium while determining whether the orientation is the same as the orientation of the ticket, and reading the ticket medium determined to be the second orientation by the reading means in the first direction. Inverting means for inverting the data, reading means for collecting the ticket medium from which data has been read by the reading means, and collecting the ticket medium based on the data read by the reading means, Control means for controlling the collection means to recover the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means without being reversed by the reversing means to the first direction; Automatic gate apparatus characterized by comprising is provided.

According to the third aspect, receiving means for receiving the ticket media in the first direction and the second direction, and whether the ticket medium received by the receiving means is in the first direction or the second direction. Reading means for reading the data recorded on the ticket medium while determining whether the orientation is the same as the orientation of the ticket, and reading the ticket medium determined to be the second orientation by the reading means in the first direction. Reversing means for reversing the information; writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction; collecting means for collecting the ticket medium from which data has been read by the reading means; and reading means In the case where it is not necessary to write data to the ticket medium based on the data read by the method and the ticket medium is collected, it is determined by the reading means to be in the second direction. Squared Automatic gate apparatus characterized by comprising a controller that controls so as to recover at the recovery means without inverting the ticket medium in said first direction by said inverting means.

According to claim 4, a receiving means for receiving the ticket media in the first direction and the second direction, and a size of the ticket media in the first or second direction received by the receiving means. Is a first size or a second size, a reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium, and a receiving means for receiving the data in the second direction. Reversing means for reversing the ticket medium in the first direction; and, if the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detecting means is the first size, the receiving means sets it in a second direction. And a control means for controlling the reversal means so as not to reverse the ticket medium received in the first direction by the reversing means.

According to the fifth aspect, receiving means for receiving the ticket media in the first direction and the second direction, and the size of the ticket media in the first or second direction received by the receiving means. Is a first size or a second size, and it is determined whether the ticket medium received by the receiving unit is in the first direction or the second direction. Reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium; reversing means for reversing the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means in the first direction; The size of the ticket medium detected by the size detecting means is the first
And control means for controlling the reversing means so that the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means is not reversed in the first direction. An automatic ticket gate device is provided.

According to claim 6, receiving means for receiving the ticket media in the first direction and the second direction, and the size of the ticket media in the first or second direction received by the receiving means. Is a first size or a second size, and it is determined whether the ticket medium received by the receiving unit is in the first direction or the second direction. Reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium; reversing means for reversing the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means in the first direction; Writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction;
If the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detecting means is the first size and it is not necessary to write data to the ticket medium by the writing means,
Control means for controlling the reversing means so that the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means is not reversed in the first direction. Is provided.

According to claim 7, receiving means for receiving the ticket media in the first direction and the second direction, and the size of the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means. Is a first size or a second size, and it is determined whether the ticket medium received by the receiving unit is in the first direction or the second direction. Reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium; reversing means for reversing the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means in the first direction; A collection unit that collects the ticket medium whose data has been read by the reading unit; and a case where the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detection unit is the first size and the ticket medium is collected. Control means for controlling the collection means to recover the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means without being reversed by the reversing means to the first direction. An automatic ticket gate device is provided.

According to claim 8, a receiving means for receiving the ticket media in the first direction and the second direction, and a size of the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means. Is a first size or a second size, and it is determined whether the ticket medium received by the receiving unit is in the first direction or the second direction. Reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium; reversing means for reversing the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means in the first direction; Writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction;
Collection means for collecting the ticket medium from which data has been read by the reading means, and the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detection means is the first size,
When it is not necessary to write data to the ticket medium and the ticket medium is collected, the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means is inverted by the reversing means. Control means for controlling the collection means so as to recover the first direction without inverting the first direction.

According to the ninth aspect, the receiving means for receiving the ticket media in the first direction and the second direction, and the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means. Size detecting means for detecting whether the size is the first size or the second size; and first reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium in the first direction received by the receiving means. Second reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium in the second direction received by the receiving means, and transferring the ticket medium on which data is read by the second reading means to the second And if the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detection means is the first size, the reversal means for reversing the ticket medium from which data has been read by the second reading means. Automatic gate apparatus characterized by comprising a controller that controls so as not to invert the first direction by the inverting means.

According to the tenth aspect, the first orientation and the second orientation
Receiving means for receiving the ticket medium in the first direction and detecting whether the size of the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means is the first size or the second size. Size detecting means, first reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium in the first direction received by the receiving means, and the ticket in the second direction received by the receiving means Second reading means for reading data recorded on the medium, and the ticket medium from which data has been read by the second reading means.
Reversing means for reversing the first direction; writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction;
Collecting means for collecting the ticket medium from which data has been read by the second reading means; and the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detecting means is the first size, and In the case where it is not necessary to write the data and the ticket medium is to be collected, the ticket medium from which the data has been read by the second reading means is not inverted by the reversing means in the first direction. And a control means for controlling collection by means of the automatic ticket gate.

According to claim 11, the first orientation and the second orientation
Receiving the ticket medium in the direction of, determining whether the received ticket medium is the first direction or the second direction, reading the data recorded on the ticket medium, Based on the read data, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to write data to the ticket medium, it is determined that the ticket medium is in the second orientation, and the data is written. If it is determined that it is necessary, the ticket medium is reversed in the first direction, the ticket medium is determined to be in the second direction, and it is not necessary to write data. If it is determined, a ticket gate method is provided in which the ticket medium is not inverted in the first direction.

According to the twelfth aspect, the first orientation and the second orientation
Receiving the ticket medium in the direction of, determining whether the received ticket medium is the first direction or the second direction, reading the data recorded on the ticket medium, Based on the read data, it is determined whether to collect the ticket medium, if the ticket medium is determined to be in the second orientation, and if it is determined not to be collected, the Flip the ticket medium in the first direction, and when it is determined that the ticket medium is in the second direction and it is determined that the ticket medium is to be collected, the ticket medium is turned in the first direction. A ticket gate method characterized by not being reversed is provided.

According to claim 13, the first orientation and the second orientation
And determines whether the size of the received ticket medium is the first size or the second size, and the received ticket medium is the first direction. Or the second orientation, reading data recorded on the ticket medium, determining that the ticket medium is in the second orientation, and determining that the ticket medium is of the second size. If it is determined that the ticket medium is reversed in the first direction, the ticket medium is determined to be in the second direction, and if it is determined to be the first size, A ticket inspection method is provided in which the ticket medium is not inverted in the first direction.

According to claim 14, the first orientation and the second orientation
And determines whether the size of the received ticket medium is the first size or the second size, and records the size on the ticket medium received in the first orientation. Reading the data recorded on the ticket medium received in the second orientation, reading the data in the second orientation on the ticket medium, and reading the data in the second orientation. When it is determined that is, the ticket medium is reversed in the first direction,
The data is read from the ticket medium in the second orientation;
In addition, there is provided a ticket gate method wherein the ticket medium is not reversed in the first direction when it is determined that the ticket size is the first size.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an automatic ticket gate according to the present invention and a ticket gate method applied to the device will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an appearance of an automatic ticket gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, it is assumed that the automatic ticket gate can execute the ticket inspection process and the ticket collection process, respectively.

This automatic ticket gate can cope with the combined use of a plurality of ticket media. For example, at a transfer station between a Shinkansen and a conventional line, the automatic ticket gate installed at the transfer station includes a conventional line ticket starting or ending at the transfer station and an end point or starting point at the transfer station. The ticket and the limited express ticket of the Shinkansen are accepted, and based on these data, it is possible to check whether or not there is any irregularity in the boarding section, and to perform a ticket collection process.

Hereinafter, such a collection ticket processing will be described in detail. Note that the above-described continuous ticket medium of the ticket section is referred to as a related ticket. The main body 10 of the automatic ticket gate is provided with an insertion port 12 into which a ticket medium is inserted when entering the inside of the station premises or when exiting the outside of the station yard.
And a discharge port 14 for discharging the ticket media accepted by the vehicle. The ticket media includes regular tickets,
There are types such as regular tickets, limited express tickets, coupon tickets, prepaid cards, and the like.Predetermined information such as expiration date information and available travel section information are magnetically recorded in a predetermined format on such a ticket medium. ing.

In this embodiment, the insertion port 12 can receive a plurality of ticket media at once. The insertion slot 12 can of course also accept the insertion of one ticket medium at a time. Combinations of a plurality of ticket media include a regular ticket and a regular ticket, a regular ticket and an express ticket, and a regular ticket and a regular ticket. Further, the discharge port 14 of this embodiment is capable of simultaneously discharging a plurality of ticket media when a plurality of the ticket media are input at a time, and the plurality of the ticket media is discharged while being superposed. This batch discharge will be described later in detail.

In the vicinity of the insertion slot 12, a shutter for preventing insertion of a ticket medium is provided. The shutter prohibits the insertion of another ticket medium for a predetermined period after a predetermined time has elapsed after the insertion of the ticket medium. The function of this shutter prevents another person's ticket medium from being continuously inserted.

In front of the slot 12, there is provided a slot vicinity display section 16 for displaying various kinds of guidance to the user. The insertion port vicinity display unit 16 displays, for example, the remaining amount of a prepaid card or the like. Further, a passage guidance display unit 13 for displaying guidance of the passage of the automatic ticket gate is provided below the slot 12. Outlet 14
A display 18 near the outlet is provided for displaying various kinds of guidance to the user.

A door portion 20 is provided on a side surface of the main body 10 of the automatic ticket gate to close the main body 10 to prevent a passer of a ticket medium from passing therethrough. Further, a frame 22 serving as a partition for distinguishing a passage corresponding to the main body 10 of the automatic ticket gate is provided on the upper part of the main body 10 of the automatic ticket gate. A child ticket is inserted into this frame 22,
A display 26 is provided for notifying a user of an invalid ticket or an abnormal ticket or an abnormality of a device. Further, a plurality of human detection sensors 24 for detecting passage of a user are provided on the side surface portion of the main body 10 and the frame 22. The human detection sensor 24 detects the passage of a user, and is a transmission type,
A reflection type or the like is used.

Note that an invalid ticket is a ticket that cannot be used even when combined with another ticket medium. For example, an expired ticket medium corresponds to this. What is an abnormal ticket?
The ticket cannot be read by this automatic ticket gate.
For example, credit cards having different recording formats, and tickets without magnetic recording correspond to this.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an internal mechanism of the automatic ticket gate shown in FIG. Inlet 12 and outlet 14
A main transport path 32 for transporting the ticket medium inserted from the input port 12 to the output port 14 is formed between the main transport path 32 and the input port 12. On the main transport path 32, a sensor for detecting a ticket medium transported on the transport path 32, for example, an input port sensor 90 for detecting a ticket medium inserted from the input port 12, and discharging to an output port Exit sensor 9 for detecting the printed ticket medium
2 and the like are provided.

At the entrance from the insertion port 12 to the main transport path 32, a shutter 28 for prohibiting the insertion of a ticket medium for a predetermined period is provided.
Is provided. The predetermined period is a period until the inserted ticket medium is received from the outlet 14. The shutter 28 closes at the moment when the ticket medium is inserted. As a result, a distinction is made between the first inserted ticket medium and the next inserted ticket medium.

The input port 12 is located on the transport path of the main transport path 32.
A take-up roller 33 for taking in the ticket media, which has been put in batch or one by one, one by one along the discharge port 14, and an aligning unit 34 for arranging the taken-in ticket media are provided. A size detection sensor 35 for detecting the size of the ticket medium is provided between the take-in roller 33 and the alignment unit 34.

Here, the type and size of the ticket medium will be described. Examples of the ticket medium include a small ticket called a so-called Edmonson ticket such as an ordinary ticket and a connecting ticket, a medium-sized ticket such as a commuter pass and a prepaid card, and a large ticket such as an express ticket. These sizes (in mm) are 30 × 57.5 for small tickets, 57.5 × 85 for medium tickets, and 57.5 × 120 for large tickets.

The size detecting sensor 35 detects the size of the ticket medium according to the sensor output. In the aligning section 34, a predetermined direction of the ticket medium inserted into the insertion port 12 is set as a transport direction and is aligned so as to be a one-side reference.

Even if the ticket medium is loaded on the downstream side of the alignment section 34 in the main transport path 32, that is, with the surface on which the entry station information and the fare information are to be printed, facing up, The back side of the ticket medium, so that the magnetic information can be read even when the ticket medium is inserted in the back side, that is, when the surface having the magnetic recording section where the magnetic information such as the entrance station information and the fare information is recorded is turned upward. Read heads 36a and 36b for reading information magnetically recorded on the magnetic recording layer provided on the transport path are provided above and below.

The reading head 3 in the main transport path 32
On the downstream side of 6a and 36b, there is provided a pre-writing pool section 42 which includes a reversing section 38 for unifying the front and back of the ticket medium and pools the ticket medium before writing information.

The reversing section 38 is provided with a sorting gate 39, so that the ticket medium can be separated by the sorting gate 39 as needed to unify the front and back of the ticket medium.
2 to the reversing unit 38. The ticket medium drawn into the reversing section 38 is reversed by being transported on the reversing path 40 and returned to the main transport path 32. The necessity of drawing the ticket medium into the reversing unit 38 is determined based on the size of the ticket medium and information on the ticket medium read by the reading head 36a or 36b.

The pre-writing pool section 42 pools the ticket media in order to check the validity of the ticket media by combining a plurality of tickets, for example, whether or not the operable sections are continuous. .

The pre-writing pool section 42 is provided with a distribution gate 43, a pool transport path 44, a stopper 45 and the like. When pooling the ticket media, the distribution gate 43 transfers the ticket media from the main transport path to the pool transport path 44.
The drawn-in ticket medium is pulled into the stopper 45.
Pooled by being stopped by At this time, the sorting gate 43 is operated so that a plurality of ticket media do not overlap each other in the pool transport path 44, that is, one by one is pooled in another pool transport path 44. The pooled ticket media is returned to the main transport path 32 in a predetermined order as needed.

On the downstream side of the pool section 42 before writing in the main transport path 32, a write head 4 for recording predetermined magnetic information on a magnetic recording layer provided on the back surface of the ticket medium.
6. a read head 48 for confirming information recorded by the write head 46; punch processing units 50 and 52 for punching a ticket medium; a first ticket detection sensor 54 for detecting passage of the ticket medium; A thermal head 56 for thermally transferring the ink contained in the ink ribbon 55 to a ticket medium for printing and printing, a thermal head 58 for heating and printing a heat-sensitive layer of the ticket medium to print and record a plurality of tickets. A batch pool unit 60 is provided for stacking and aligning a plurality of ticket media discharged when a medium is inserted, for example, such that a large-sized ticket media is placed below.

When print recording is required on a ticket medium having no heat-sensitive layer, the inserted ticket medium is conveyed to the thermal head 56 by the distribution gate 51. And
The ink is transferred from the ink ribbon 55 to the ticket medium by the thermal head 56.

When print recording is required for a ticket medium having a heat-sensitive layer, the inserted ticket medium is conveyed to the thermal head 58 by the distribution gate 51.
Then, the ticket medium is heated by the thermal head 58, and the heat-sensitive layer is colored, whereby printing is performed on the ticket medium.

The batch pool section 60 is provided with a pool section 61, a distribution gate 62, a second ticket detection sensor 63, and the like. The collective pool unit 60 sorts a plurality of ticket media having different sizes in order of size so that a specific ticket media is not lost when collectively discharging a plurality of ticket media having different sizes, that is, not overlooked. This is a mechanism for rearranging and aligning.

As described above, when a plurality of related tickets having different sizes such as a small ticket, a medium-sized ticket, and a large ticket are processed, the related tickets are discharged one by one at the time of discharging. If it is, it will hinder smooth ticket gate processing. However, when trying to discharge them all at once, a small-sized ticket may be overlooked behind a large-sized ticket and may be missed.

Therefore, the collective pool section 60 arranges and discharges the ticket media as follows. For example, it is assumed that an ordinary ticket as a small-sized ticket and a commuter pass as a medium-sized ticket are put together or one by one and are pooled in the pool section 42 before writing. At this time, the main transport path 32 is discharged from the pool section 42 before writing in the order of larger ticket media, that is, in the order of a commuter pass and a regular ticket.
Conveyed above.

First, when a large ticket is conveyed and this large ticket is detected by the first ticket detection sensor 54, the conveyance mechanism 64 is driven, and the commutation ticket is taken into the pool portion 61 by the distribution gate 62. Done. When the taken commuter pass is detected by the second ticket detection sensor 63, the transport mechanism 6
4 is stopped, and the commuter pass is temporarily pooled at a predetermined position in the pool section 61.

Next, when the ordinary ticket is detected by the first ticket detection sensor 54, the transport mechanism 64 is moved so that the leading end of the pooled commuter pass coincides with the leading end of the ordinary ticket.
Is driven, and the normal gate ticket is taken into the pool portion 61 by the distribution gate 62. As a result, the pool portion 61 is taken in a state where the end of the commuter pass coincides with the end of the ordinary ticket and the ordinary ticket is overlaid on the commuter pass. When the ordinary ticket and the commuter pass taken into the pool portion 61 are detected by the second ticket detection sensor 63, the driving of the transport mechanism 64 is stopped. That is, the ordinary ticket and the commuter pass are overlapped at a predetermined position of the pool portion 61,
In addition, the pools are temporarily pooled with the ends matched.

If the ticket medium is not pooled in the pool section 42 before writing, the discharge roller 65 is rotated, and the entire ticket medium taken into the pool section 61 is conveyed toward the discharge port 14. .

When a plurality of related tickets stacked in this manner are discharged, all the tickets can be confirmed from the side of the person who receives these related tickets. Therefore, by arranging the ticket media having different sizes in order of size and discharging the ticket media at once, it is possible to realize a smooth ticket inspection process and prevent the ticket media from being lost.

The sorting gate 66 is a gate for sorting between discharge and collection depending on the type of the ticket medium. For example,
At the time of bill collection, commuter passes are discharged, and ordinary tickets for entry from the station yard are collected. The ticket medium collected by the sorting gate 66 is sorted and collected by the sorting gate 68 into the first ticket collection box 70 and the second ticket collection box 72 according to the type of the ticket medium.

Further, the main body 10 of the automatic ticket gate includes:
A plurality of motors for driving each unit are mounted. For example, a main motor (stepping motor, servo motor, etc.) 74 that drives a transport roller that transports the ticket medium, and an induction motor 78 that transports the ticket medium to the outlet 14 are provided.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a control system of the automatic ticket gate shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The entire automatic ticket gate is controlled by the CPU 100. The CPU 100 includes a ROM 102 that stores a control program of the CPU 100, a RAM 104 that stores information read from a ticket medium and stores information as a buffer of the control program, and a station from an entrance station to a station where the automatic ticket gate is installed. Memory 106 storing the fare information of each of the above, a read circuit 108 for controlling the read heads 36a and 36b, and a write circuit 1 for controlling the write head 46.
10 and a reading circuit 112 for controlling the reading head 48 are connected. The CPU 100 includes the read head 3
Based on the information read in step 6a or 36b, passability determination processing is performed, and the type of the ticket medium is identified.

The CPU 100 includes a distribution control circuit 114 for controlling the distribution gates 39, 43, 51, 59, 62, 66, and 68, and a thermal head control circuit 11 for controlling the thermal heads 56 and 58.
6 and a signal from each sensor such as the size detection sensor 35, the first ticket detection sensor 54, the second ticket detection sensor 63, the slot sensor 90, the exit sensor 92, etc., to detect the transport status of the ticket medium. Detection circuit 118, conveyance control circuit 120 for controlling main motor 74 for conveying the ticket medium
And a passage detection circuit 122 for detecting the passage of the passer of the ticket medium by an output from the human detection sensor 24, a door control circuit 126 for controlling a door opening / closing mechanism 124 for driving the door unit 20, and the like. . The CPU 100 detects the size of the ticket medium based on the detection signal from the size detection sensor 35.

Further, the CPU 100 includes a display control circuit 12 for controlling each display unit such as a passage guide display unit 13, an input port display unit 16, and an output port display unit 18.
8, a display control circuit 130 for controlling the display 26,
A punch processing control circuit 132 for controlling the punch processing units 50 and 52; a shutter control circuit 134 for controlling the drive of the shutter 28; a collective pool control circuit 136 for controlling the drive of the collective pool unit 60; And a monitoring panel interface 138 for connecting to a monitoring panel 140 that collectively monitors the information.

Next, the traffic judgment processing will be described. This traffic judging process is a traffic judging process capable of performing a ticket collection process using a plurality of related tickets. Note that the ticket collection processing by the traffic determination processing is controlled by the CPU 100.

Hereinafter, with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 to 6, the ticket collection processing by the traffic judgment processing will be described. The collection ticket processing is started when a ticket medium is inserted. When the discharged ticket medium is no longer detected by the discharge sensor 92 (ST10, YES), the shutter 28 is turned off.
Is opened (ST12), and the insertion of the ticket medium into the slot 12 is permitted. That is, when the ticket medium discharged to the outlet 14 is received, the next ticket medium is permitted to be inserted.

When the discharged ticket medium is detected by the discharge port sensor 92 (ST10, NO), the shutter 28 is closed (ST14), and the insertion of the next ticket medium into the insertion port 12 is prohibited. . This is to prevent equipment failure or confusion at the time of receiving the ticket medium due to the insertion of another ticket medium while the ticket medium is being held at the outlet 14.

When a ticket medium is inserted into the slot 12 (ST16, YES), the ticket medium is detected by the slot sensor 90 (ST18), and the shutter 28 is closed (ST20). Is prohibited. When only one ticket medium is inserted, this one ticket medium is taken into the main transport path 32 by the take-in roller 33 (ST22). When a plurality of ticket media are inserted in ST14, the plurality of ticket media are separated and taken into the main transport path 32 by the take-in roller 33 one by one (ST22).

The ticket medium taken in by the take-in roller 33 is aligned by the aligning section 34 (ST24).
The aligned ticket medium is transported along the main transport path 32, and the magnetic data recorded on the ticket medium is read by the read heads 36a and 36b (ST).
26). At this time, if the data cannot be read, it is determined that the inserted ticket is an abnormal ticket (ST28, YE
S), the ticket determined to be an abnormal ticket is immediately discharged (ST31). In addition, if there is a ticket that has been inserted at the same time as the ticket determined to be an abnormal ticket, this ticket is also immediately discharged. If it is determined that the inserted ticket is an abnormal ticket, passage through the automatic ticket gate is not permitted.

If the inserted ticket is not an abnormal ticket (S
T28, NO), the CPU 100 determines whether or not the front and back of the ticket medium is necessary (ST30),
Inversion processing is performed by the inversion unit 38 as necessary (S
T32). Then, the batch-inserted ticket media are all pooled one by one in the pool section 42 before writing (ST3).
2). At this time, the taking-in of the ticket medium held in the insertion port 12 and the pooling process to the pool section 42 before writing are repeated until the ticket medium is no longer detected by the insertion port sensor 90 (ST36). In this traffic determination process, if only one ticket medium is inserted at a time,
The ticket medium is conveyed through the main conveyance path 32, and the subsequent processing is executed on the ticket medium without being pooled in the pool section 42 before writing.

When all of the batch-inserted ticket media are pooled in the pool 42 before writing, that is, when all the data of the batch-inserted ticket media are read, the data of the batch-inserted ticket media is used. A traffic determination process is performed (S
T38). The content of the traffic determination processing includes a boarding section and a boarding time limit.

As a result of the traffic judging process, when the traffic is permitted (ST40, YES), the passage is not blocked by the door unit 20 (ST42). When the passage is not permitted (ST40, NO), the passage is blocked by the door unit 20 (ST44).

Along with the above-described traffic determination processing, the discharge processing of the ticket media pooled in the pool section 42 before writing is started (ST46). The ticket media pooled in the pool section 42 before writing is sent out to the main transport path 32 in descending order of size, for example. At this time, predetermined information is written by the write head 46 on the ticket medium for which data writing is required (ST48, YES) (ST50). The written information is read by the reading head 48, and the written contents are confirmed (ST52).

Further, a punching process is performed on a ticket medium requiring punching (ST54, YES) (ST54).
56). The ticket medium that has been processed as necessary is conveyed through the main conveyance path 32 and is detected by the first ticket detection sensor 54, and then the conveyance mechanism 61 of the batch pool unit 60 is driven, and the ticket medium is The data is taken into the batch pool unit 60 (ST58).

When the ticket medium conveyed from the pool section 42 before writing still exists (ST60, YE
S), and are subsequently taken into the batch pool unit 60. And
The leading edge of the imported ticket media is pooled.

When there is no ticket medium conveyed from the pool section 42 before writing (ST60, NO), all the ticket media arranged by the collective pool section 60 are discharged (ST62). At this time, all the ticket media are discharged so as not to be lost, that is, in such a state that the small-sized ticket media is not hidden behind the large-sized ticket media. Further, during a period in which the discharged ticket medium is detected by the discharge sensor 92 (ST64), the shutter 28 prohibits the insertion of the next ticket medium.

As described above, according to the automatic ticket gate apparatus according to the above-described embodiment, when processing a plurality of ticket media, the ticket media are inserted at a time and the traffic determination process is performed. After that, the inserted ticket media is discharged in a lump.

In the ticket collection processing, the ordinary ticket is
The bills are not discharged and are collected by the distribution gates 66 and 68 in the first bid collection box 70 or the second bid collection box 72. Next, a case where it is not necessary to unify the front and back of all the ticket media when the ticket media is inserted, particularly when the ticket media is subjected to a ticket collection process. That is, when the ticket medium is loaded on the back side, it may not be necessary to reverse the ticket medium in the reversing unit 38 after the magnetic data of the ticket medium is read by the read heads 36a and 36b.

In the ticket collection processing, when the inserted ticket medium is a medium-sized ticket such as a commuter pass or a prepaid card, as described with reference to FIGS. After performing a predetermined magnetic writing process in this manner, it is necessary to discharge. For this reason, the ticket medium inserted into the back side is reversed in the reversing section 38, and the back side, that is, the magnetic recording surface is directed to the write head 46 side, and the main transport path 32
Conveyed above.

On the other hand, in the ticket collection processing, if the inserted ticket medium is a small-sized ticket of Edmonson ticket size and is a medium ticket that does not require magnetic writing processing like an ordinary ticket, There is no need to invert in the inverting section 38.

In such a case, the boarding inspection medium is processed based on the flowchart as shown in FIG. First,
The processing of taking in the ticket medium inserted from the insertion port 12 into the main transport path 32 is executed (ST100).

The size of the ticket medium guided onto the main transport path 32 by the take-in roller 33 is detected by the CPU 100 based on the output signal from the size detection sensor 35 (ST102).

If the CPU 100 determines that the size of the taken ticket medium is not the Edmonson ticket size (N in ST104), the read head 36a or 36b records the data on the magnetic recording surface. A reading process for reading the stored data is executed (ST10).
6).

In the reading process, the read head 3
When the data is read in 6a, that is, when the back side of the ticket medium is transported upward (ST108,
Y), the CPU 100 determines that the ticket medium has been inserted on the back side. Then, the ticket medium is taken into the reversing section 38 and returned to the main transport path 32 via the reversing path 40, whereby the reversing process of the front and back is executed (ST109).

Then, the processing step A shown in FIG. 5 is performed subsequently. In the reading process (ST106), when the data on the magnetic recording surface is read by the read head 36b, that is, when the ticket is conveyed with the front side of the ticket facing upward (ST108, N), the CPU 100 sets the It is determined that the ticket medium has been loaded on the surface. Then, the ticket medium is not taken in the reversing section 38 and the main transport path 3
2 is conveyed, and the processing step A is executed.

In other words, if it is determined that the inserted ticket medium is a non-Edmonson ticket-size ticket medium such as a commuter pass or a prepaid card, as in the prior art,
The reading process discriminates the front and back sides of the ticket medium, and if the front side is inserted on the back side, reverse processing is performed to unify the front and back sides of the ticket medium and perform the subsequent processing.

On the other hand, when the CPU 100 determines that the size of the taken-in ticket medium is the Edmonson ticket size by the size detection process (ST102) (ST1).
04, Y), the read head 36a or 36b executes a read process for reading data recorded on the magnetic recording surface (ST110).

In the reading process, the read head 3
CPU based on the data read in 6a or 36b
100 determines whether or not the reversal processing of the ticket medium is necessary (ST112).

That is, although the taken-in ticket medium is the size of an Edmonson ticket, it requires a magnetic writing process in the subsequent stage and further needs to be discharged, for example, a ticket medium such as a transit ticket. If there is (S
T112, Y), based on the read data by the read heads 36a and 36b, the CPU 100 determines whether or not the ticket medium is inserted on the back side (ST108).

Then, after the reversal process (ST109) as described above is performed on this ticket medium as required, the processing step A is performed. On the other hand, the captured ticket medium is the size of an Edmonson ticket, and does not require magnetic writing processing by a subsequent magnetic writing head, and a ticket medium to be collected, for example, a specific ticket such as an ordinary ticket In the case of a medium (ST112, N), the reversing process is not executed regardless of the direction of the insertion of the ticket medium, that is, whether the rear side is inserted or the front side is inserted. Is performed (ST114).

In the traffic judging process, when the user is allowed to pass, the CPU 100 controls the distribution gates 66 and 68 to execute the ticket collection process (ST11).
6). That is, the specific ticket medium is conveyed to the first ticket box 70 or the second ticket box 72 and collected.

That is, when it is determined that the inserted ticket medium is an Edmonson ticket-sized ticket medium, it is determined whether or not the ticket medium requires a magnetic writing process.

For an Edmonson ticket-size ticket medium that requires magnetic writing processing, for example, a transit ticket, the front and back sides of the ticket medium are discriminated by the reading processing. By performing the processing, the front and back sides of the ticket medium are unified, and the subsequent processing is performed.

On the other hand, for a specific ticket medium of the Edmonson ticket size that does not require magnetic writing processing, for example, a normal ticket, the inversion processing is not executed regardless of the front and back of the ticket medium. In other words, even if the ticket medium is loaded on the front side or on the back side, the reversing process is not executed unless it affects the processing at the subsequent stage. And this specific ticket medium is
It is collected without being discharged.

As described above, according to the automatic ticket gate of the present invention and the ticket gate method applied to the automatic ticket gate,
At the time of ticket collection processing of the ticket medium, the specific ticket medium of the Edmonson ticket size inserted in the back side, that is, inserted with the magnetic recording surface facing upward, does not execute the front and back inversion processing in the inversion unit, and the subsequent stage. Is being executed. Therefore,
Since all the processing is performed on the main transport path, the processing time can be reduced, and the processing capacity of the apparatus at the time of a rush or the like can be increased.

In addition, since the structure of the reversing portion is complicated, when the extremely deformed ticket medium is guided to the reversing portion, there is a possibility that the ticket may be jammed. There is no need to guide the specific ticket medium to the reversing unit, and the ticket medium guided to the reversing unit can be limited. For this reason, the probability of occurrence of ticket jams is reduced, the reliability of the apparatus is improved, and efficient bill collection processing can be realized.

[0091]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an automatic ticket gate that enables efficient ticket collection processing and a ticket gate method applied to the automatic ticket gate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an external appearance of an automatic ticket gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an internal mechanism of the automatic ticket gate shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a control system of the automatic ticket gate shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a ticket collection process by a traffic determination process applied to the automatic ticket gate according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a ticket collection process by a traffic determination process;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a ticket collection process by a traffic determination process;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining processing of a specific ticket medium at the time of ticket collection applied to the automatic ticket gate according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Automatic ticket gate main body 12 ... Input port 14 ... Discharge port 32 ... Main conveyance path 33 ... Intake roller 34 ... Alignment part 35 ... Size detection sensor 36a, 36b ... Read head 38 ... Reversing part 42 ... Pool part before writing 46 ... Write head 60... Batch pool part 70... First billing box 72.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. Receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, wherein the ticket medium received by the receiving means is the first type.
Reading means for determining whether the direction is the second direction and reading data recorded on the ticket medium; and the ticket determined to be the second direction by the reading means. Reversing means for reversing the medium in the first direction; writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction; and the ticket medium based on the data read by the reading means. When it is not necessary to write data in the writing means, the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means is not inverted by the inverting means in the first direction. Automatic ticket gate device comprising: control means for performing control as described above. 2. A receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, and wherein the ticket medium received by the receiving means is the first type.
Reading means for determining whether the direction is the second direction and reading data recorded on the ticket medium; and the ticket determined to be the second direction by the reading means. Reversing means for reversing the medium in the first direction; collecting means for collecting the ticket medium from which data has been read by the reading means; and the ticket medium based on the data read by the reading means. When collecting the ticket medium, the control is performed such that the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means is collected by the collecting means without being inverted by the inverting means in the first direction. An automatic ticket gate device comprising: 3. Receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, wherein the ticket medium received by the receiving means is the first type.
Reading means for determining whether the direction is the second direction and reading data recorded on the ticket medium; and the ticket determined to be the second direction by the reading means. Reversing means for reversing the medium in the first direction; writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction; and collecting the ticket medium from which the data has been read by the reading means Collecting means, based on the data read by the reading means, when it is not necessary to write data to the ticket medium and when collecting the ticket medium, the reading means sets the second And control means for controlling the collection means to recover the ticket medium determined to be in the direction without being reversed by the reversing means to the first direction. Automatic ticket gate apparatus. 4. A receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, wherein the size of the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means is a first size. Size detecting means for detecting whether the ticket is present or a second size; reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium; and reading the ticket medium received in the second direction by the receiving means. Reversing means for reversing in the first direction; and if the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detecting means is the first size, the ride received in the second direction by the receiving means Control means for controlling the ticket medium so as not to be reversed in the first direction by the reversing means. 5. A receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, wherein the size of the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means is a first size. A size detecting means for detecting whether the size is the second size or a second size;
Reading means for determining whether the direction is the second direction and reading data recorded on the ticket medium; and the ticket determined to be the second direction by the reading means. Reversing means for reversing the medium in the first direction; and when the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detecting means is the first size, it is determined by the reading means to be in the second direction. Control means for controlling the determined ticket medium so as not to be reversed in the first direction by the reversing means. 6. A receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, wherein the size of the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means is a first size. A size detecting means for detecting whether the size is the second size or a second size;
Reading means for determining whether the direction is the second direction and reading data recorded on the ticket medium; and the ticket determined to be the second direction by the reading means. Reversing means for reversing the medium in the first direction; writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction; and the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detecting means is the second When it is not necessary to write the data to the ticket medium by the writing means with one size,
Control means for controlling the reversing means so that the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading means is not reversed in the first direction. . 7. A receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, and wherein the size of the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means is a first size. A size detecting means for detecting whether the size is the second size or a second size;
Reading means for determining whether the direction is the second direction and reading data recorded on the ticket medium; and the ticket determined to be the second direction by the reading means. Reversing means for reversing the medium in the first direction; collecting means for collecting the ticket medium from which the data has been read by the reading means; and In the case of collecting the ticket medium of one size, the ticket medium determined to be in the second direction by the reading unit is collected without being inverted in the first direction by the reversing unit. Control means for controlling collection by means of the automatic ticket gate. 8. A receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, wherein the size of the ticket medium in the first or second direction received by the receiving means is a first size. A size detecting means for detecting whether the size is the second size or a second size;
Reading means for determining whether the direction is the second direction and reading data recorded on the ticket medium; and the ticket determined to be the second direction by the reading means. Reversing means for reversing the medium in the first direction; writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction; and collecting the ticket medium from which the data has been read by the reading means A collection unit, wherein the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detection unit is the first size, and there is no need to write data to the ticket medium, and the ticket medium is collected. Reads the ticket medium determined to be in the second orientation by the reading means in the first direction by the reversing means.
And a control means for controlling the collection means to collect without reversing the direction of the automatic ticket gate. 9. Receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, and said first or second means received by said receiving means.
The size of the ticket media in the direction of the first size or the second size
Size detecting means for detecting whether the size is the size; first reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium in the first direction received by the receiving means; and Second reading means for reading data recorded on a ticket medium in a second direction; reversing means for reversing the ticket medium from which data has been read by the second reading means in the first direction; If the size of the ticket medium detected by the size detecting means is the first size, the ticket medium from which data is read by the second reading means is reversed by the reversing means in the first direction. An automatic ticket gate device comprising: a control unit configured to perform control so as not to cause the automatic ticket gate. 10. Receiving means for receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, and said first or second received by the receiving means.
The size of the ticket media in the direction of the first size or the second size
Size detecting means for detecting whether the size is the size; first reading means for reading data recorded on the ticket medium in the first direction received by the receiving means; and Second reading means for reading data recorded on a ticket medium in a second direction; reversing means for reversing the ticket medium from which data has been read by the second reading means in the first direction; Writing means for writing data to the ticket medium in the first direction; collecting means for collecting the ticket medium from which data has been read by the first and second reading means; and If the size of the detected ticket medium is the first size, and it is not necessary to write data to the ticket medium and collect the ticket medium, the second reader Automatic gate apparatus characterized by comprising a controller that controls so as to recover in said recovery means, not by inverting the first orientation by said inverting means tickets medium on which data is read by. 11. Receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, determining whether the received ticket medium is in the first direction or the second direction, Reading the data recorded on the ticket medium, determining whether or not it is necessary to write data on the ticket medium based on the read data; If it is determined that the direction is the direction and it is determined that the data needs to be written, the ticket medium is reversed to the first direction, and the ticket medium is the second direction. If it is determined that it is not necessary to write the data, the ticket medium is not inverted in the first direction. 12. Receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, determining whether the received ticket medium is in the first direction or the second direction, Reading the data recorded on the ticket medium, determining whether to collect the ticket medium based on the read data, determining that the ticket medium is in the second orientation, If it is determined that the ticket medium is not to be collected, the ticket medium is reversed in the first direction. If the ticket medium is determined to be in the second direction, and it is determined that the ticket medium is to be collected, Wherein the ticket medium is not inverted in the first direction. 13. Receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, determining whether the size of the received ticket medium is a first size or a second size, Determining whether the ticket medium is in the first direction or the second direction, reading data recorded in the ticket medium, and determining that the ticket medium is in the second direction; If it is determined, and it is determined that the size is the second size, the ticket medium is reversed to the first direction, the ticket medium is determined to be the second direction, and the A ticket gate method, wherein if it is determined that the ticket size is the first size, the ticket medium is not inverted in the first direction. 14. Receiving a ticket medium in a first direction and a second direction, determining whether the size of the received ticket medium is a first size or a second size, Reading the data recorded on the ticket medium received in the second direction, reading the data recorded on the ticket medium received in the second direction, The data is read in the orientation,
And when it is determined that the second size, the ticket medium is inverted in the first direction, the data is read in the ticket medium in the second direction,
In addition, when it is determined that the ticket has the first size, the ticket medium is not inverted in the first direction.