JP2000011099A - Magnetic card reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it unnecessary for a user to reinsert and reeject a magnetic card when defective reading occurs. SOLUTION: Inserting direction data read out when a magnetic card 1 is inserted are previously stored in a 1st memory 33, an error judging means 36 judges the format and vertical and horizontal parities of ejecting direction data read out at the time of ejecting the card 1, and when there is an error in the ejecting direction data, a data restoring means 37 restores the ejecting direction data based on the sort of the error and the inserting direction data stored in the 1st memory 33.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for reducing the frequency of occurrence of reading errors of a magnetic card reader.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Among card readers which read data from magnetic cards on which data that does not need to be rewritten, such as credit cards, are magnetically recorded, the structure is such that a magnetic card is inserted and removed by hand. In some cases, the structure is simplified by eliminating the need for a transport mechanism for pulling in and sending out.

When a magnetic card is manually inserted and removed as described above, the card withdrawing speed is generally more stable than the card inserting speed, and it is easy to stabilize mechanically. Therefore, in this type of conventional magnetic card reader, data is read when the magnetic card is inserted to a predetermined position and then pulled out.

[0004]

However, as described above, in a conventional magnetic card reader that reads data when a card is pulled out, if a read error of 1 bit occurs in the read data, the user is inconvenienced. The data must be read again by re-inserting and re-pulling the magnetic card.

The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and actively reads data when a card is inserted, and uses the data at the time of insertion to reduce the frequency of occurrence of card reading defects. It is an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic card reader which is reduced.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a magnetic card reader according to the present invention comprises: a card receiving portion for receiving a magnetic card to a depth where the magnetic card can be later pulled out; A magnetic head that is arranged at a predetermined position and reads data recorded on a magnetic card passing through the predetermined position; a reproducing circuit that converts a read signal of the magnetic head into a data signal; Insertion direction data storage means for storing a data signal output from the reproduction circuit when inserted, and a pull-out direction for storing a data signal output from the reproduction circuit when the magnetic card is pulled out of the card receiving portion. Data storage means, and error determination means for determining whether there is an error in the extraction direction data stored by the extraction data storage means, When it is determined by the error determination means that there is an error in the pull-out direction data, based on the error content of the pull-out direction data and the insertion direction data stored in the insertion direction data storage means, the pull-in direction data is extracted. Data recovery means for recovery.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a magnetic card reader according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, this magnetic card reader has a specific start code (STX) indicating the start of text, text data, TX _1-
TX _M , a specific exit code (E
TX), a horizontal parity code (LRC), and a magnetic card 1 on which data is recorded in a format following the horizontal parity code (LRC).

As shown in FIG. 1, the mechanism section 20 of the magnetic card reader has a card insertion slot 21 and a depth slightly shorter than the long side of the magnetic card 1 from the card insertion slot 21. Magnetic card 1 inserted in card slot 21
And a card accommodating portion 22 for receiving the card to a depth position where the card can be later pulled out.

At a predetermined position near the card insertion slot of the card storage portion 22 and at a predetermined position on the back side of the card storage portion 22,
A first and a second for detecting passage of the leading end of the magnetic card 1
Sensors 23 and 24 are arranged.

Further, the card insertion slot 2 of the card accommodating section 22 is provided.
At a predetermined position between the first sensor 23 and the first sensor 23, a magnetic head 25 for reading data by bringing the head surface into contact with the magnetic recording surface of the magnetic card 1 passing this position is arranged. The magnetic head 25 is arranged on a track on which the magnetic track of the magnetic card 1 inserted into the card accommodating section 22 passes and at a position where all data of the magnetic track can be read. The output of the first and second sensors 23 and 24 and the analog read signal output from the magnetic head 25 are reproduced by the reproduction circuit 31 into 0 and 1 data signals.

The data signal output from the reproducing circuit 31 is input to the insertion direction data writing means 32 and the extraction direction data writing means 34.

The insertion direction data writing means 32 includes a memory 3
3, together with the output of the first and second sensors 23 and 24 and the data signal from the reproducing circuit 31, and the leading end of the magnetic card is moved to the first position. The data signal output from the reproducing circuit 31 between the time when the sensor 23 passes through the position of the sensor 23 in the insertion direction and the time when the signal passes through the position of the second sensor 24 in the insertion direction is used as the insertion direction data Da in the first memory 33. To memorize.

The pull-out direction data writing means 34
The pull-out direction data storage means of this embodiment is constituted together with the memory 35, and the first and second sensors 2
In response to the outputs of the magnetic cards 3 and 24 and the data signal from the reproducing circuit 31, the leading end of the magnetic card passes through the position of the second sensor 24 in the drawing direction and then passes through the position of the first sensor 23 in the drawing direction. The data signal output from the reproduction circuit 31 until the operation is completed is stored in the second memory 35 as the extraction direction data Db.

The error judging means 36 receives the output of the first sensor 23, reads out the pull-out direction data Db from the second memory 34 after the magnetic card has passed the position of the first sensor 23 in the pull-out direction, and reads out the data. Then, it is determined whether or not the data has an error.

The error determining means 36 has a format determining section 36a, a vertical parity determining section 36b, and a horizontal parity determining section 36c.

The format judging section 36a has a specific start code (STX) indicating the beginning of the text at the beginning of the extraction direction data Db, and a specific end code (STX) indicating the end of the text at the end of the extraction direction data Db. ET
X) is checked, and if both are read, it is determined that the format of the pull-out direction data Db is normal. If neither of them is read, the format of the pull-out direction data Db is changed. It is determined to be abnormal.

The vertical parity judging unit 36b determines the start code (STX) and end code (ET) of the pull-out direction data Db.
X), a parity check is performed based on the parity bit included in each piece of text data, and if the parities of all the text data match, it is determined that the vertical parity of the extraction direction data Db is normal. When there is text data whose parity does not match, it is determined that the vertical parity of the pull-out direction data Db is abnormal.

The horizontal parity determination unit 36c determines the start code (STX) and end code (ET) of the pull-out direction data Db.
X), the parity of the data at the same bit position of each piece of text data is obtained, and this parity code is compared with the last horizontal parity code (LRC) of the extraction direction data Db. Then, it is determined that the horizontal parity of the extraction direction data Db is normal,
If they do not match, it is determined that there is an abnormality in the horizontal parity of the extraction direction data Db.

The error judging means 36 performs a format judgment, a vertical parity judgment and a horizontal parity judgment on the pull-out direction data Db in this order. When it is received, the process following the instructed determination process is performed.

The data restoring means 37 includes an error determining means 36
When it is determined that there is an error in the extraction direction data, the extraction direction data Db in the second memory 35 is restored based on the type of the error and the insertion direction data Da in the first memory 33.

The data restoration unit 37 has a format restoration unit 37a, a vertical parity restoration unit 37b, and a horizontal parity restoration unit 37c corresponding to the error judgment unit 36. When it is determined that the pull-out direction data Db stored in the second memory 35 has been determined, a restoration process described later is performed.

The data output means 38 outputs the second data when the error determination means 36 determines that there is no error with respect to the pull-out direction data Db and when it receives a data output instruction from the data recovery means 37. The pull-out direction data of the memory 35 is output to another device (not shown) as data recorded on the magnetic card 1. When the data cannot be restored by the data restoration unit 37, an alarm signal is output to another device.

Next, the operation of the magnetic card reader will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, when the card is inserted, the insertion direction data Da is stored in the first memory 33, and when the inserted card is removed, the removal direction data Db is stored in the second memory 35. (S1-S
4).

Then, the format is determined for the pull-out direction data Db. If the format is normal, the vertical parity is determined. If the vertical parity is normal, the horizontal parity is determined and the horizontal parity is determined. If normal, the pull-out direction data Db is output to another device as if the magnetic card was read correctly (S
5 to S11).

When it is determined that there is an error in the format determination, a format restoration process is performed (S12). When it is determined in the vertical parity determination that there is an error, a vertical parity repair process is performed (S1).
3) When it is determined that there is an error in the horizontal parity determination, horizontal parity repair processing is performed (S1).
4).

The format restoration process is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. That is, if the position of the STX in the pull-out direction data Db is unknown, it is determined whether or not the STX has been read by the insertion direction data Da. If the STX has been read, the pull-out direction data Db and the insertion direction data Da are compared. Then, it is determined whether or not there is a part that matches continuously for a predetermined number of bits (S12a to S12d).

Here, for example, as shown in FIG.
If there is a part that matches the predetermined bits continuously, the STX is written at the position of the pull-out direction data Db corresponding to the STX of the insertion direction data Da at that time (S12).
e).

If the position of the ETX is unknown, it is determined whether or not the ETX has been read from the insertion direction data Da. If the ETX has been read, the extraction direction data Db has been determined.
And the insertion direction data Da, it is determined whether or not there is a part that continuously matches predetermined bits. If there is a part that matches, the extraction direction data Db corresponding to the ETX of the insertion direction data at that time is determined. ETX is written at the position, the format is restored, and the process proceeds to the vertical parity determination (S
12f to S12j).

In the process S12b, the insertion direction data Da
If there is no STX, the insertion direction data D
If there is no ETX in a, or if a portion where predetermined bits continue is not found in steps S12d and S12h, the position of STX and ETX in the pull-out direction data Da cannot be specified, the restoration becomes impossible, and an alarm signal is output (S12k). ).

The vertical parity repair processing is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, from the text data of the insertion direction data Da, the text data at the same position as the text data having the wrong vertical parity of the extraction direction data Db is extracted,
If the vertical parity of all the extracted text data is correct, the extracted text data is replaced with the text data having an error in the vertical parity of the extraction direction data Db, and the extraction direction data is restored (S13a to S13).
c).

If any of the extracted text data has an error in the vertical parity, the error becomes unrecoverable and an alarm signal is output (S13d).

The horizontal parity repair processing is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. It should be noted that no error is detected in the format and vertical parity but only in the horizontal parity. The reason is that the text data of the extraction direction data Db has an even number of bit errors or the LRC value itself has an error. It is. In this case, in order to shorten the restoration waiting time, a case where a plurality of pieces of text data each have an even number of bit errors or a case where the LRC value itself is incorrect together with the bit errors is not considered as a restoration target.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, among the text data of the insertion direction data Da, those having a normal vertical parity and not matching the text data of the extraction direction data Db are extracted (S14a, S14b) and extracted. One of the text data is selected and replaced with the text data of the pull-out direction data, the LRC after the replacement is calculated, and when the calculation result does not match the original LRC, the data is returned to the data before the replacement, The process of replacing other data is performed for all of the extracted text data (S14c to S14).
i).

While the processes S14d to S14i are repeated, the result of the LRC calculation is changed to the extraction direction data Db.
, The data restoration ends at that point, and the process proceeds to step S11.

If the text data cannot be extracted in step S14b or if the LRCs do not match even after all text data has been replaced, the LRC of the original pull-out direction data Db is calculated. If the calculation result matches the LRC value of the insertion direction data Db, the LRC of the extraction direction data Db is replaced with the calculated LRC (or the LRC value of the insertion direction data), and the data restoration is completed. Then, the process proceeds to step S11 (S14j to S14).
l).

If the LRCs do not match in the processing S14k, the recovery becomes impossible, and an alarm signal is output (S14m).

As described above, in the magnetic card reader of this embodiment, if there is an error in the data read at the time of card removal, the data in the removal direction is restored based on the data read at the time of card insertion. Therefore, the reading accuracy is remarkably improved, and it is not necessary for the user to perform the operation of re-inserting and re-pulling the card due to a slight reading error when the card is pulled out.

In the above embodiment, the format, the vertical parity, and the horizontal parity of the magnetic card are repaired. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the repair is performed only for two or one of them. It may be performed.

In the horizontal parity repair processing of the embodiment, text data in which the vertical parity of the insertion direction data is normal and does not match the extraction direction data is selected and replaced. Data replacement may be performed mechanically. Although only one piece of text data has been replaced, if the time required for the repair process can be extended, if replacement cannot be achieved by replacing only one piece of text data, replacement is performed using a combination of a plurality of pieces of text data. It may be restored.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the magnetic card is detected by the sensor disposed in the card accommodating portion and the data is stored. However, the running of the card is detected by the read signal from the magnetic head and the data is stored. You may make it memorize | store.

[0041]

As described above, according to the magnetic card reader of the present invention, if there is an error in the data read at the time of card removal, the data in the removal direction is restored based on the data read at the time of card insertion. As a result, the reading accuracy is significantly improved, and it is not necessary for the user to perform the operation of re-inserting and re-pulling the card with a slight reading error when the card is pulled out.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data format of a magnetic card.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an overall operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a format restoration process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a data diagram for explaining a format restoration process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a vertical parity repair process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a data diagram for explaining a vertical parity repair process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a horizontal parity repair process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a data diagram for explaining horizontal parity repair processing according to the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Card insertion slot 22 Card accommodating part 23, 24 Sensor 25 Magnetic head 31 Reproduction circuit 32 Insertion direction data writing means 33 First memory 34 Extraction direction data writing means 35 Second memory 36 Error determination means 36a Format determination part 36b Vertical parity determination unit 36c Horizontal parity determination unit 37 Data recovery unit 37a Format recovery unit 37b Vertical parity recovery unit 37c Horizontal parity recovery unit 38 Data output unit

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission Date] July 27, 1998 (1998.7.2)
7)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All figures

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 2

FIG.

FIG. 3

FIG. 5

FIG. 7

FIG. 4

FIG. 9

FIG. 6

FIG. 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A card storage portion for receiving a magnetic card to a depth position where the magnetic card can be later pulled out, and a data storage device disposed at a predetermined position of the card storage portion and passing data recorded on the magnetic card passing through the predetermined position. A magnetic head for reading, a reproducing circuit for converting a read signal of the magnetic head into a data signal, and an insertion direction data storage for storing a data signal output from the reproducing circuit when a magnetic card is inserted into the card receiving portion Means, a pull-out direction data storage means for storing a data signal output from the reproducing circuit when the magnetic card is pulled out of the card storage section, and presence or absence of an error in the pull-out direction data stored by the pull-out data storage means. Error determination means for determining whether or not the extraction direction data has an error Can, based on the insertion direction data stored in the insertion direction data storage means and the error content of the pultrusion direction data, a magnetic card reader and a data recovery unit for repairing the retraction direction data.