GB1175300A - An Apparatus for Changing the Information Recorded on Cards. - Google Patents

Abstract

1,175,300. Statistical apparatus; vending machines. TATEISI ELECTRONICS CO. 22 May, 1967, No. 23589/67. Headings G4M and G4V. In a vending machine the amount of credit remaining on a credit card is read and stored, an amount corresponding to a selected article is subtracted from the stored amount if the amount of credit remaining is sufficient, and the new remaining credit is recorded on the card after erasing the original amount. A credit card 1 placed on a drawer is inserted in a vending machine and when a ferrite mark 2 on the card is sensed by detector 5, a bi-stable circuit 7 is set to energize a solenoid 9 which locks the card against withdrawal and causes the card to be pressed against magnetic heads 17- 19. A contact 9s closes to set bi-stable circuit 11 and energize a motor 12, which through a rack and pinion, drives heads 17-19 relative to two tracks of magnetic marks 23, 24. Clock marks 23 are sensed by head 18 and advance a counter 26-28, the outputs of which are applied to a diode matrix 39 serving to distribute the data bits from track 24 (sensed by head 17) to respective stages of a counter 48-51, these bits representing the amount of credit remaining on the card. The outputs of counter 48-51 energize one or more of relays 67-70 via diode matrix 60, the relays 67-70 being energized if the amount of credit remaining is greater than 10, 20, 30 or 40 cents, for example, and a visible indication of the credit remaining is given by lamps 71-74. When one of articleselection buttons 56-59 is pressed, the corresponding relay 75-78 and article dispensing solenoid 79-82 are energized, provided that the credit remaining is sufficient for the article selected. Energization of any one of relays 75-78 triggers a pulse generator 86 feeding pulses to counters 48-51 and a further counter 87. At the end of the read scan a switch 22s, Fig. 5, was closed, so that counter 48-51 is counted down by the pulses from generator 86 until counter 87 energizes the output corresponding to the energized relay 75-78, thus effecting subtraction of the appropriate sum for the article selected. At the end of the subtraction operation, motor 12, Fig. 5, is reversed and relay 36 is energized to energize erase head 19 and connect head 17 to the output of AND gate 109. As the heads again traverse the card, clock pulses 23 step counter 26-28 backwards and the stages of counter 48-51 are read out in the reverse order by matrix 39 so as to record the new remaining balance on the card by means of head 17. At the end of the recording scan, switch 21s, Fig. 5, is closed to reset the apparatus to its initial condition and allow the card to drop out under gravity.