JP2002236887A - Card inspection device having printing part - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for printing a card in a visible state by encoding a determining result of a defective card for further surely issuing a magnetic card, an IC card, and a composite card thereof. SOLUTION: A card inspection device is provided with a printing part composed of a card having an information recording part, a card feeder for delivering the card, a driving part for driving the card, a reading writing unit for reading recorded information by recording the information on the card, a determining unit for converting the determining result into image information by determining the quality of a recording state of the information, a printing unit for printing the card as visible information, and a card stacket for discharging the card, and characterized in that the unit is arranged along a continuous processing flow of the card.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of printing an error code on a card having an information recording section so that the cause of the error card can be easily analyzed in a card issuance process. Cards, especially contactless I
The present invention relates to an inspection technique as a means for promoting the improvement of a complicated card such as a C card and a means for preventing an abnormal card from being accidentally shipped.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, IC cards have begun to be put to practical use in many fields as IC chips have been reduced in size and cost. In particular, with the increase in the amount of damage caused by forgery of credit cards, a plan to switch from a conventional magnetic stripe card to an IC card is in progress. In addition, since IC-related components are packed in a thin card base, many special technologies for stabilizing quality are mounted on IC cards. On the other hand, with the spread of IC cards, development of related devices such as IC cards and in-line information processing devices for composite cards has been advanced.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in order to more reliably issue and process magnetic cards, IC cards, and these composite cards, the judgment result of a defective card is coded so that the card can be visually recognized. An apparatus for printing is provided.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a card inspection apparatus having a printing section according to the present invention comprises: a card having an information recording section; a card feeder for feeding the card; A driving unit for driving;
A read / write unit that records information on the card and reads the recorded information; a determination unit that determines whether the information is recorded in a good state and converts a determination result into image information; and prints the information as visible on the card. And a card stacker for discharging the card, wherein the unit is arranged along a flow of continuous processing of the card, and is also visible to print on the card. The information is information in which the content of the error is coded, and is printed on the front surface or the side surface of the card by a laser method. The cards to be printed are a contact type IC card, a non-contact type IC card, or a contact type / non-contact type IC card.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a card inspection apparatus having a printing unit according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a unit configuration of a card inspection apparatus having a printing unit according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining details of a card stacker unit, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a state in which the side face of the card is printed by a laser printing apparatus, FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a printed state on the side face of the card, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a state printed by a laser printing apparatus.
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a state in which the cards shown in FIG. 6 are stacked and viewed from the side, FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of an IC card, and FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a method for manufacturing a laminated card. FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a card inspection apparatus 1 having a printing unit.
3 is a block diagram for explaining the inline processing function of the first embodiment. In the case of the inline processing apparatus, in many cases, the card does not return in the reverse direction during the movement, but is driven in the direction of the arrow in the figure. Many of the cards to be processed are ISO7811, J, in which an information recording section such as a magnetic stripe or an IC module is formed on a plastic substrate.
This is a card manufactured based on ISX6301 and 6302. These cards were internationally standardized early on,
Standards are defined for the material, size, thickness, characteristics of the magnetic recording unit, characteristics of the IC chip, shapes of the connection terminals, and the like. The card will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

If the card is manufactured in accordance with the standard as described above, information can be processed by the card inspection device 1 having the printing unit shown in FIG. Is done. 2 for feed form
There are types. One is a configuration in which the cards are stacked in the thickness direction and the cards are driven in a state parallel to the floor, and the other is a configuration in which the cards are driven in a state vertical to the floor. There are two methods of loading and feeding in parallel with the floor as in the former, such as feeding from the top and feeding from the bottom.However, it is difficult to load a large number of Is better, but if space allows, the latter is better.

The unit indicated by A is a magnetic information R / W (R
(head / write) unit 12. A magnetic recording head is attached to the magnetic information R / W unit 12, and it is often possible to simultaneously support two types of cards, one for the ISO standard and the other for the ISO. When recording information, it is necessary to always read back the information after recording the information to confirm whether or not the recording was correctly performed. In addition, when it is necessary to display visual information in an uneven character on the front surface of a card, such as a credit card, the embossing unit is added to this device and the magnetic information is displayed in another device. There are two methods for reading and processing emboss information.

[0010] The unit indicated by B is the IC information R / W (R
(head / write) unit 13. The IC information R / W unit 13 is provided with a contact for writing IC information so as to correspond to the front surface of the card. The contacts are composed of six to eight protruding pins arranged to correspond to the separated terminals of the IC module formed on the front surface of the IC card. Each of the pins is independently provided with a spring so as to absorb fine irregularities of a contact substrate of an IC module formed on the card and to make accurate contact. Depending on the device, it may be a leaf spring-like “pin”. Even in this unit, the information once written is read back under the same contact state, and it is confirmed that the information has been written correctly. This unit is compatible with a contact type IC card and a contact type / non-contact type dual-purpose card. Contact-type and non-contact type dual-purpose cards are also called “combi cards” and share an IC chip mounted on an IC module. Therefore, information may be written to this combination card by the IC information R / W unit 13 (contact type card compatible unit) or written by the IC information R / W unit 14 described below.

The unit indicated by C is the IC information R / W (R
(head / write) unit 14. The IC information R / W unit 14 is provided with an antenna for transmitting a signal to an antenna mounted on the card. While the IC information R / W unit 13 described above is a unit corresponding to a contact type IC card, this unit corresponds to a non-contact type IC card. Even in this unit, the information once written is read back by the same antenna, and it is confirmed that the information has been written correctly. This unit is compatible with a non-contact type IC card and a contact / non-contact type dual-purpose card.

The unit indicated by D is the determination unit 15, and the information from the magnetic information R / W unit and the IC information R / W
An error code is determined based on information transmitted from the W unit 13 and the IC information R / W unit 14. The main causes of errors in the magnetic recording unit are dust adhering to the magnetic recording unit, bit dropping (output reduction) due to scratches parallel to the short side, and rarely deformation of the card, magnetic The stripe is bent or misaligned. Causes of errors in the IC recording section include wire bonding failure, disconnection, dust adhesion on the module, card distortion, IC chip cracking, antenna connection failure, antenna disconnection, antenna short, and rarely an antenna position failure. . Coding is performed for these failure factors.

The unit indicated by E is the printing unit 16, and is used to write a serial number for management in a discreet manner on a card which is packed as a non-defective product in the final process using a laser. . In the present invention,
The image data from the above-described determination unit 15 is diverted for the purpose of printing characters or symbols that can be visually determined on the side surface or the front surface of the card. The case of printing on the side of the card will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, and the case of printing on the surface of the card will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

The unit indicated by S is the card stacker 1
7, which will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As described above, the card inspection device 1 having the printing unit according to the present invention is generally constituted by the units as described above.
Elements that are inconvenient to perform additional processing in a separate step as in the above-described embossing unit are additionally incorporated into these constituent elements.

Referring to FIG. 2, the card stacker 17 displayed in S of FIG. 1 will be described. In this embodiment, for the inspection target card S1 that has passed through the printing unit, the error card S3 is replaced with a defective card box (S3
Are stored in the storage box S5), and the normal card S2 is stored in the storage small box S5 to be delivered. The inspection target card S1 that has passed through the printing unit is conveyed as indicated by an arrow F2, and in the case of a defective product, a pusher (not shown) is driven by a command from the determination unit 15 to drive a defective product box as indicated by an arrow F3. Will be repelled. The normal card moves on the extension of the arrow F2 and is packed in the storage box sent by the arrow F4.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, a description will be given of the printing unit indicated by E in FIG. According to the instruction from the judgment unit,
The card 10 is sent from the determination unit C to the printing unit E under the control of the computer unit E1 of the card inspection device. When the card 10 is driven from the position a to the position b, a card edge is detected by the optical sensor E2, and the computer unit E1 issues a command to the laser head E3 to start printing after n seconds. As the card moves and begins to pass in front of the laser head E3, information is recorded on the side of the card by the horizontal movement of the card and the vertical movement of the laser beam E31. In FIG. 3, printing is performed on the side surface of the card. However, when printing is performed on the front surface (front surface or back surface) of the card described in FIG. 6, printing is performed via a mirror (not shown). I do. The printed card c is discharged to the card stacker S (state d).

Next, the laser will be described. A typical laser excites a laser medium contained in an optical resonator to operate in a population inversion state. Depending on the type of medium, there are a solid laser, a gas laser, a semiconductor laser, a dye laser, an excimer laser, and the like. The laser light is a coherent light having a perfectly aligned phase, has a very narrow spectral width, has remarkable coherence, and is a thin beam with sharp directivity in many cases. Continuous transmission power from 10μW to 100kW, peak power from 1W to 100T
There are even W's. The pulse width is usually 1 μs to 1 ps. Widely used lasers include a gas laser such as a CO2 laser, a solid-state laser such as a Nd: YAG laser, and a Nd: YVO4 laser.

In the present invention, a solid-state laser using vanadium-yttrium oxide as a medium, Nd: YVO
4 Print information on the side of the card using a laser.
The general specifications are: laser emission wavelength 532 nm, output 2 W, pulse width 20 nsec, pulse energy 1 m
j, maximum peak power 5 kW, beam diameter 0.3 mm, focal length of printing section 100 mm, maximum spot size 20 μ
m, printing speed 300 characters / sec, power supply 100V.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the printing on the side surface of the card substrate will be described. The height of the side surface of the card is 0.55 mm to 0.73 mm (a portion corresponding to the thickness of the core sheet 105 in FIG. 5) except for the transparent portion. Can be displayed in two or three lines. Error code 2
A six-digit bar code including a related code is repeatedly printed three times so that 0 can be read by a machine, and even if one cannot be read due to scratches or stains, it is read by the other two. In FIG. 5, the two-digit error code 88 is a bar code and
It is printed with numbers.

Conventionally, the following materials are used as the card base material. For example, vinyl chloride, vinyl chloride vinyl acetate copolymer, polyester, polypropylene, polyethylene, acrylic, polystyrene, polycarbonate,
A single layer of various resins such as ABS, metal, synthetic paper or the like, or a laminated sheet composed of one or more of these can be used. Examples of the laminated sheet include a three-layer structure in which a white resin sheet containing a white coloring material is used as a core sheet, and a transparent sheet is laminated on the front and back surfaces of the core sheet. The thickness of the core sheet may be appropriately selected depending on the combination.

When the above material is printed with a laser, the resin becomes clearer as the glass transition point becomes higher. For example,
Comparing polyvinyl chloride and polycarbonate, the glass transition point of polyvinyl chloride is 70 ° C. to 87 ° C., and the glass transition point of polycarbonate is 140 ° C., so that the printing quality is clearly better for polycarbonate. When a laser beam is radiated onto plastic, the irradiated part is initially darkened black, and as the power is increased, the density is darkened to the maximum for each type of plastic. If you increase the power further, the plastic will melt. Therefore, when the material to be printed is determined, a test for setting conditions is performed. Vinyl chloride is also inferior to polycarbonate in terms of quality, but it is sufficient in color density because, for example, a bar code or the like is printed and a bar code reader performs a reading test to sufficiently read the data. Raw material mixing of vinyl chloride core sheet,
Since the white inorganic material is mixed at the time of extrusion, if the concentration is not sufficient, a coloring material may be mixed with the inorganic material at that time.

In FIG. 5, the card 10 has a transparent sheet 101, which is usually a transparent print protection layer, bonded to the front and back. A magnetic recording layer 122 is formed on the transparent sheet, and a printing layer is provided below the transparent sheet 122. The printing ink 121 is usually printed on the surface of the core sheet, and the transparent sheet is provided thereon. As the printing method used,
Many are offset printing and screen printing,
In special cases, printing methods such as gravure printing, letterpress printing, octopus printing, flexographic printing, and electrostatic printing are also used.

A case where error information is printed on the surface of a card will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 6, when the error code is printed on the surface of the card base 3 on which the IC module is mounted, the error code is printed in the lower right corner in a display form 4 that can be visually discriminated, such as “E08”. Alternatively, the bar code 5 may be printed on the long side edge of the card at the lower right, or both may be printed. The bar code 5 can be read from the front surface, but when the cards are stacked, it can also be read from the side surface of the card as shown in FIG. In the case of laser printing, the power of the laser can melt the surface of the plastic that makes up the card base, both shallow and deep, and it is also possible to color the surface of the core material only by mixing a color former into the plastic. it can. As a result, the meaning of the barcode can be read from the side by overlapping the cards as shown in FIG.

As a display method, as shown in the example of FIG. 6, "E08" (error 08) and a display meaning "error in writing to IC chip" are given by visual information, and the long edge of the card below it is displayed. Along the section, a bar code 5 meaning "08" is laser-printed. The bar code displays 32 error codes as a 5-bit display. For example, the error code "08" in FIG. 6 has long bars at the left and right ends of the barcode 5, and five bars are formed at regular intervals therebetween. When meaning 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 from the left, if the bar is formed only at the fourth from the left, it means "8" from the above, and it is recognized even from the side. be able to. By the way, in FIG. 7, the error codes of the stacked cards are
“08” 51, “05” 52, “07” 53, “05”
54 and “08” 55.

Contact / non-contact dual-use card 1 shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 0 denotes an external terminal 40 on which a card base, an antenna 40 included in the card base and stacked, and an IC chip are mounted. In this type of card, the antenna 30
The number of turns is often about 3 to 10 times.
An antenna connection terminal is formed on the back surface of the IC module 40 called a “combi” type capable of coping with both contact and non-contact, and two ends of the antenna 30 are joined.

A method of manufacturing a laminated card will be described with reference to FIG. The front and back designs are printed on each of the front and back milky sheets 102, which are usually printed in multiple impositions and are front and back printing sheets. Although the printing method is properly used depending on the design, as described above, most of the methods are based on offset printing, and fine lines and photographic objects are printed using a UV (ultraviolet) curable ink, or rarely an oxidation polymerization type ink. The UV ink is dried instantly by irradiating ultraviolet rays, and the oxidation polymerization type ink is dried by exposing the printing surface to air and leaving it to stand for a certain period of time. A heavy design and a deep design are printed by a screen printing method. Since the ink for screen printing is usually dissolved in a solvent, the solvent is volatilized and dried.

After the printing ink has dried, the milky white sheet 1 serving as a core is formed between the front and back milky white sheets 102 as shown in FIG.
The transparent sheet 101 is stacked on the printing ink surfaces on the front and back sides with the sheet No. 03 interposed therebetween. When a magnetic recording unit is required, a plurality of rows of magnetic stripes are previously transferred to the surface of the transparent sheet 101 on the front side. Lamination is usually performed by heat and pressure, and when using an adhesive, both sides of the printing sheet 102, or
Both sides of the milky white (core) sheet 103 and the printing ink side of the transparent sheet are coated with a heat-reactive type adhesive. When using vinyl chloride as the material, the heat for lamination is 110 to 150 degrees Celsius, the pressure is 2 to 3 MPa,
The heating / cooling time is 30 to 80 minutes. When an adhesive is used when laminating the sheets, a thermoplastic adhesive is coated on each of the bonding surfaces, and pressure and heat are applied at 80 to 140 ° C. Multi-layered laminated sheet 1 after lamination process
10 is sent to a die-cutting process to form one card.
In the case of an IC card, a two-step recess (not shown) for mounting the IC module (40 in FIG. 6) is formed by a counterbore machine as an additional process, and an adhesive is applied to the shallow recess. Then, the bonding allowance of the IC module and the bonding allowance of the concave portion are bonded by heat and pressure.

Usually, a card has a signature field, and is called a signature panel. The signature panel is usually made permeable because it is signed with a fountain pen, a ballpoint pen or the like, and is prescribed to have a rough surface. In some cases, a tint block is applied to the surface so that the signature once signed for tampering cannot be deleted or erased with an eraser. Some credit cards have the above-mentioned hologram transferred thereon for the purpose of preventing forgery. In addition, in many cases, a face photograph is printed as a more reliable means of certifying a person on a company employee card, credit card, or various certificate cards.

[0029]

Conventionally, even if an error occurs when information is recorded on the IC chip, the cause of the error and the code of the card are simply written in the data storage section of the device, and the relationship with the card itself is clearly defined. Although not done according to the present invention,
Since the error code is recorded on the card, the cause of the error can be easily found. In addition, since the error is clearly displayed on the side, even if the errored card is ejected to the normal stacker, the error card is no longer delivered because the final check can detect the mixing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a unit configuration of a card inspection device having a printing unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining details of a card stacker unit;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a printing unit.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a state in which a side face of the card is printed by a laser printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a printing state on a side surface of the card.

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining a state in which the surface of the card is printed by a laser printing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a state where the cards shown in FIG. 6 are overlaid and viewed from the side;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an IC card.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a method of manufacturing a laminated card.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 The card inspection apparatus which has the printing part of this invention 3 The card base 4 The display which can be distinguished visually 5 Barcode 10 Card (contact type, non-contact type, both contact type and non-contact type) 11 Card feeder 12 Magnetic information R / W Units 13, 14 IC information R / W unit 15 Judgment unit 16 Printing unit 17 Card stacker 20 Error code (by laser printing) 30 Antenna 40 IC module 51 Barcode meaning "08" 52 Barcode meaning "05" 53 Barcode Meaning “07” 54 Barcode Meaning “05” 55 Barcode Meaning “08” 101 Transparent Sheet 102 Milky White Sheet (for Printing) 103 Milky White Sheet (for Core) 105 Core Sheet 110 Laminated Sheet 121 printing ink layer 122 magnetic stripe layer E printing unit E1 printing unit control unit E2 Optical sensor E3 Laser print head E31 Laser beam F2 Flow of inspection card F3 Flow of error card F4 Flow of storage small box S1 Test card S2 Normal card S3 Error card S4 Storage card

Claims (7)

[Claims] A card having an information recording section, a card feeder for feeding the card, a driving section for driving the card, a read / write unit for recording information on the card and reading the recorded information; A recording unit that determines whether the information recording state is good or not and converts the determination result into image information; a printing unit that prints the information as visible information on the card; and a card stacker that discharges the card. A card inspection apparatus having a printing unit, which is arranged along a continuous processing flow of the card. 2. The card inspection apparatus having a printing unit according to claim 1, wherein the viewable information is information in which an error content is coded. 3. The card according to claim 1, wherein the visible information is printed on a front surface or a side surface of the card.
3. A card inspection device having the printing unit according to any one of 2. 4. A card inspection apparatus having a printing section according to claim 1, wherein a printing method for printing on said card is a laser method. 5. The card inspection device having a printing unit according to claim 1, wherein said card is a contact type IC card. 6. The card inspection device having a printing unit according to claim 1, wherein said card is a non-contact type IC card. 7. The card according to claim 1, wherein said card is a contact-type / non-contact-type dual-purpose IC.
A card inspection device having a printing unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is a card.