GB2143355A - Apparatus for and method of checking credit cards - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for checking the validity of a credit card includes a casing 2 incorporating a micro-computer and carrying a display 17 and a keyboard 16, a printing device 4 and a reading unit 3 whereby the information on the card can be read magnetically or optically and passed to the computer. In use, a card to be checked is passed along a card channel 6 set in a work area 15 of casing 2, the lengthwise edges of channel 6 being provided with slots 7,8 for holding and guiding the edges of a credit card. The micro-computer compares the data read from the card with the data in its memory bank, and thereafter either permits the card to continue forward to a printing position chosen by the computer, based on which type of card was read as well as the appearance of the corresponding sales slip, or retains the card and provides, on display 17, an indication as to why the transaction is not to be allowed to proceed. The retaining of the card in the respective positions in the channel 6 is effected using electromagnetically driven blocking devices (11, Fig. 3) hidden from view in one of the tracks 7,8. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for, and method of, checking credit cards This invention related to apparatus for, and a method of, checking credit cards.

In keeping with the rapidly increasing number of credit cards and automatic payment cards the demand has grown for a convenient means of checking the validity of a card. In general, this is currently done by personnel comparing the usually 16-digit number on such a card against a list of numbers of invalid cards which is prepared about once a week.

In shops, for example, such a check is generally carried out by the salesperson attending to a customer using the card. If the check in such a case indicates that the credit card is invalid, it is the responsibility of the salesperson to confiscate the card. This is usually quite distressing due to the conflict situation which develops; thus many shop clerks are unable to cope mentally with this task. In an effort to recover as many invalid credit cards as possible, despite the above noted factor, the credit card companies have offered rewards for the confiscation of invalid cards, but this has not solved the problem.

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide an apparatus for checking the validity of credit and the like cards and facilitating the confiscation of invalid cards detected.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for checking credit and the like cards, including a computer, means defining a card track including guide means whereby a credit card can be slid along said track whilst being guided and retained, by said guide means, in at least an intermediate portion of said track, against transverse movement relative to the track for removal of the card from the track, a reading unit disposed adjacent said track for reading a card mounted and guided in said track and for supplying electrical signals, bearing information read from a card, to the computer, and electrically operable blocking means operable to trap a card in said intermediate section of said track by preventing movement of the card along the track, said blocking means being electrically operable by the computer in response to computer commands dependant upon a checking procedure performed by the computer on the information supplied by the reading unit.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of checking a credit or the like card, utilising the apparatus of the invention, comprising passing the card along said card track, past said reading unit, performing said checking procedure by the computer on the basis of the information read by the reading unit, and subsequently either releasing the card or retaining the card depending upon the outcome of the checking procedure, subject to, or without, the performance of further procedures.

An embodiment of the invention is described below, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying the present invention, Figure 2 is a view in vertical section showing a detail of the apparatus of Figure 1, and, Figure 3 is a view of another detail in vertical cross-section, along the line A-A in Figure 2, to an enlarged scale as compared with Figure 2.

Figure 1 shows a complete checking and printing unit embodying the invention. As shown, the apparatus includes a casing accommodating a microcomputer and associated circuitry and carrying a display 17, and a keyboard 16. The casing provides a generally flat, work surface 15 in which the key board 16 is disposed.

Adjacent the upper end of the work surface there is formed a card track 6, in the form of a relatively shallow channel with a flat bottom parallel with the work surface and parallel side walls, perpendicular with the flat bottom and extending longitudinally across the casing. Each of these side walls of the shallow channel has a respective further channel or slot 7,8 formed therein, with its "sides" lying parallel with the bottom wall of the shallow channel, and the slots or further channels 7,8 on each side of the shallow channel facing one another across the open channel.In fact, each said further channel or slot 7,8 has one of its side walls formed as a co-planar continuation of the bottom wall of the shallow channel, so that the shallow channel is effectively wider adjacent the bottom wall thereof than at its mouth. The depth, measured perpendicular to said bottom wall, of each said slot 7,8 is such as to receive the edge portion of a standard credit or the like card as a free sliding fit.

At the right-hand end of the channel 6 a card intake recess 26 is formed in the work surface, the recess 26 having a bottom co-planarwiththe bottom of channel 6, the recess 26 being, however, widerthan the channel 6 and the slots 7,8 opening, at their right ends, into recess 26. The slots 6, 7 andlor the bottom wall of the channel 6, may be coated with p.t.f.e to reduce friction. The credit or the like cards may be likewise coated.

A printing unit 4, in the form of an elongate bar generally perpendicularto the longitudinal extent of channel 6, extends across the work surface 15 and channel 6 and is guided in the casing for movement manually across the work surface, parallel with the longitudinal extent of channel 6.

In use in this embodiment a credit card to be checked and have its number and other text printed onto a sales slip or invoice is placed in card intake recess 26 flat against the bottom surface of the recess and facing upwardly and then slid to the left into the card track 6 whereby the top edge of the card enters the upper slot 7 and the lower edge of the card enters the lower slot 8. The card is thus retained against transverse movement relative to channel 6, for removal of the card, but is free to slide along the channel 6. The movement of the card along the card track 6 can be done either manually or by a motorised conveyor (not shown). In moving to the left the card passes a reading unit 3 mounted in the bottom wall of the channel and which may be equipped with either a magnetic reading head 9 or a number of optical reading heads 13, 14 or both.

When the card has completely passed the reading unit 3, it passes a reverse blockingdevice 22 (Figure 3) located in either the upper slot 7 or the lower slot 8 (or corresponding devices located in both slots). The device 22 is arranged to prevent passage of the card in the reverse direction, i.e. towards recess 26, and is so contrived that it cannot be counteracted readily by a tool. The reverse blocking device thus prevents the card from being moved backwards and taken out once it has passed the reading unit.

As shown in Figure 3, the reverse blocking device 22 comprises a pavJl 32 housed in a recess in the lower "side" wall of the slot 7, for example, the pawl 32 having one end pivotally mounted in the lastnoted recess at a point upstream (i.e. to the right as viewed in Figures 1 and 3) of the tip of the pawl. The pawl 32 is urged pivotally, by a spring 32, into a raised position in which its tip projects across the slot 7 and engages the upper wall 29 of the slot. The pawl 32 provides, on its upstream side, when in its raised position, a sloping ramp face whereby a card eoge bearing against said ramp face during leftward progress of a card along the track 6, in the direction of arrow 35, can readily displace the pawl 32 downwardly, out of the slot, against the bias of the spring 23 to allow passage of the card.However, the pawl 32 provides, on its downstream side, when in its raised position, an abutment face extending substantially perpendicularly across the slot, so that upon reversal of movement, a card 1 which has previously passed the pawl from right to left will strike said abutment face and be arrested thereby.

Also associated with the track 6 is a plurality of further blocking devices 11, each in the form of a cylindrical pin extending perpendicular to the planes of the side walls of the slots 7,8 and movable axially, through an aperture in the casing, in the lower wall of the respective slot (the slot 7 in the arrangement illustrated) between a projected position shown in Figure 3 in which it extends across the slot 7 to engage the upper wall 29 thereof, and a retracted position in which it is withdrawn from the slot. Each device 11 is movable by means of a respective electromagnet or solenoid 10 controlled, in turn, by the computer, and is normally in its projected position, but can be withdrawn, at the command of the computer, to allow passage of a card.Thus, in the absence of positive action by the computer, a card traversed along the track 6 past the reading unit, from right to left will slide readily past the device 22 but will be arrested by the first device 11 encountered and will be trapped between that device 11 and device 22 until allowed to pass further to the. left by that first device 11.

Further blocking devices 11, of the same type, are provided at various other longitudinal positions along track 6, in one or other of the slots 7, 8.

While the card is being read, by unit 3, the information stored in the card and obtained therefrom by such reading, effected magnetically and/or optically, is fed into the computer 2 in electrical form.

The computer 2 then presents either the entire information or parts of the information read on display 17 in alpha numeric form. In addition, the data read is compared with information stored in the computer memory bank and which is periodically updated. If, upon comparison, it is shown that the card is invalid, expired, or overdrawn, etc., the computer takes the following steps: it blocks further movement of the card in the card channel 6 by not releasing the first blocking device 11; it indicates by an indicator light 18 andlor by sounds that the charge has not been approved; and it shows on display 17 the reason for these measures.

In this situation, the card is trapped between the reverse blocking device 22 and the first blocking device 11, and cannot be released until a release code is entered into keyboard 16 whereupon the computer will cause withdrawal of the first blocking device. This code can be changed and need not be known by the clerk normally operating the terminal, thus relieving him or her of the responsibility of making a decision about confiscating the card.

A second indicator lamp 19 is lit if the computer approves the charge. The computer then releases all blocking devices 11 but one, the exception being selected in accordance with which credit card has been read, the device 11 selected being located in accordance with how the invoices or sales slips 12 for that particular credit card are arranged and or the layout of the embossed text etc. on the card type.

When the card is moved further along the card channel 6, it is thus stopped in such a position that the embossed symbols on the card are positioned directly under the corresponding printing area on the appropriate sales slip 12.

This facility presents a solution to the growing problem presented bythe increasing number of credit cards and the fact that a number of these have sales slips with different formats and with different positionings of the printing area. This has hitherto sometimes required a number of different printing machines to be provided at each cash register; this is both expensive and space consuming.

By the facility described it is possible to use only one printing device for several different credit cards.

The sales slip is placed on the work area 15 of the checking unit, with the left edge thereof in a slot (not shown), which in a known way opens when printing unit 4 is in its extreme left position. When the printing unit 4 is then moved to the right, the slip is held in its slot (not shown) and as shown in Figure 2, spring-biased rollers 27, 28 mounted on the underside of the printing unit 4 are moved over the slip 12 and press it against the projecting embossed symbols 5 on the credit card 1 and onto a matrix 24 arranged in the work area with the name and address of the company also formed in embossed characters 25. Figure 2 also illustrates a blocking device 11 in its projected position, and the associated controlling electromagnet 10.

When the clerk has fed in the information which helshe deems necessary, and this is written on the sales slip, either manually or by a printer (not shown), the computer checks whether it has received sufficient information. If this is not the case, it indicates on the display panel 17 what type of information is missing. When everything is ready, the last blocking device 11 is released and the card is moved out of the left end of the channel 6 and can be returned to the customer after he or she has signed the sales slip.

For cards which have the signature of the customer written on the back, an optical scanner in the reading unit can, via the computer, transfer an image of the signature to the display whereby the clerk can in good time study the signature before the customer signs it and the customer's card is released.

In a variant of the apparatus illustrated in Figure 1, the card channel 6, instead of being effectively open at both ends, may be closed at, for example, its right end, so that in use, a card is inserted into the card channel from the left to a final position, during which movement information is read, and the card is retained in this final position by blocking devices until the operation is completed, whereupon the blocking devices are withdrawn and the card slid out again from the left end of the card channel. The possibility of adapting the card position, priorto printing, to the various layouts of the sales slips for different cards in somewhat limited, in this variant but the work area 15 can be made larger and free from the insertion recess 26 etc. at the right end of the card channel in the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1.

rhe apparatus described may be self-contained, in the casing shown, or may be in the form of a computer terminal connected with a remotely located computer.

In a further variant, of use where a separate printing unit is employed, the printing device 4 may be omitted and only one blocking device 11, (in addition to the reverse blocking device) used, as in this case the number of predetermined positions in which it may be desired to lock the card is reduced to one.

In summary, in use of the apparatus described with reference to the drawings, data from the credit card is fed into a micro computer by the use of a magnetic and/or optical reading unit. The apparatus is also equipped with a printing device which can print the text embossed on the credit card onto a sales slip or other forms of verification. The credit card, while being checked and printed, is passed, either manually or mechanically, through the card channel 6, so that the card can be scanned as it moves, whereby the information read, after being entered into the microcomputer, causes electromagnets to activate blocking devices which lock the card in a conspicuous position, face up, in one of a number of predetermined positions.

The computer is able to assess information as to which of a number of known types of credit card has just been read, and the validity of the card. The former information is used to decide which of the predetermined positions, based on the position of the embossed symbols, is suitable for the sales slip ofthe card identified. The latter information is used, in the event that the identified card is invalid, to activate the aforementioned blocking devices permanently, thus conspicuously causing the card to remain locked in until a release code is fed in.As the release code is not given to the staff who usually use the checking device, but only to supervisory personnel, for instance, the responsibility for confiscating or releasing a card is removed from the shoulders of the salesperson, and therewith a great deal of the distress caused by confiscating a card can be avoided; the salesperson can thus place ali the blame on the computer in the event that a customer's invalid card is confiscated.

Another advantage of the apparatus described with reference to the drawing is that the apparatus locks in a card until a certain minimum number of measures have been taken in each transaction.

Some examples of such measures would be the entering of the amount of the transaction, the entering of the number, weight or volume of the items purchase, or the entering of the account number. With cards containing information about a personal code, the card can be locked in until the owner approves the purchase by entering the necessary code on a keyboard used for that purpose.

Claims (14)

1. Apparatus for checking credit and the like cards, including a computer, means defining a card track including guide means whereby a credit card can be slid along said track whilst being guided and retained, by said guide means, in at least an intermediate portion of said track, against transverse movement relative to the track for removal of the card from the track, a reading unit disposed adjacent said track for reading a card mounted and guided in said track and for supplying electrical signals, bearing information read from a card, to the computer, and electrically operable blocking means operable to trap a card in said intermediate section of said track by preventing movement of the card along the track, said blocking means being electrically operable by the computer in response to computer commands dependant upon a checking procedure performed by the computer on the information supplied by the reading unit.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said card track is in the form of a first channel extending across a work surface, the first channel having a bottom wall in which said reading unit is disposed and opposing side walls in which are formed, facing towards one another across the first channel, respective parallel further channels or slots extending longitudinally along the channel and forming said guide means, whereby a card can be retained in said first channel, and slid therealong with its face exposed, and with opposite edge portions thereof received in respective said further channels or slots.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 including a printing device for printing on a sales slip or the like disposed in a fixed relationship with respect to said card track, the embossed text on a credit or the like card located in the track and wherein said blocking means is operable to hold a card, during its progress along the card track, in any of a plurality of predetermined positions along the track, said computer being arranged to select the mode of operation of said blocking means, and thus the positions in which the card is held, in accordance with the information supplied by the reading unit.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said blocking means includes at least one blocking device movable electromagnetically between an operative position in which it extends across a said further channel or slot, to block the respective further channel or slot, and an inoperative position in which it is withdrawn from the respective further channel or slot.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4wherein each said blocking device comprises a metal rod extending perpendicular to the plane of the bottom of said first channel and thus to the side walls of the respective said slot, the rod being movable longitudinally of itself into and out of the respective slot, by means of a solenoid co-axial with the rod.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein said reading unit includes magnetic and/or optical reading heads.

7. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the computer is arranged to operate said blocking means in such a way as to trap temporariiy in said intermediate section of said track every card passed along the track past said reading unit, but is arranged to perform, for each such card, a checking procedure on the basis of the information read by the reading unit and, for one outcome of said checking procedure, to release the blocking means automatically after a predetermined time or after a predetermined first operation has been carried out, and, for another outcome of said checking procedure, to maintain the blocking means in operation,to hold the card trapped, until a predetermined second operation is carried out.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, when dependent on claim 3, wherein said computer is arranged, for said one outcome of the checking procedure, to release the blocking means only after the printing device has been operated.

9. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said computer is arranged, for said one outcome of the checking procedure, to release the blocking means only after the entry of further information, such as transaction amount, quantity of goods, account number, or the like.

10. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said predetermined second operation comprises the entry, in the computer, of a predetermined release code.

11. A method of checking a credit or the like card, utilising the apparatus of claim 7, comprising passing the card along said card track, past said reading unit, performing said checking procedure by the computer on the basis of the information read by the reading unit, and subsequently either releasing the card or retaining the card depending upon the outcome of the checking procedure, subject to, or without, the performance of further procedures.

12. Apparatus for checking credit or the like cards, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

13. A method of checking credit or the like cards, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. Any novel feature or combination of features described herein.