JP2007015113A - Card processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card processing apparatus which can set a temperature of an erasing head conformed to an actual temperature of a rewrite card, and can also prevent erasing remains because of erasing energy insufficiency to the rewrite card or coloring because of erasing energy excess by changing a card conveyance speed as well. <P>SOLUTION: The rewrite card processing apparatus which erases printing on a card surface and reprints includes a card conveyance path where the card is conveyed, a motor which conveys the card on the conveyance path, a temperature sensor which detects the temperature of the card during conveyance, the erasing head which heats the surface of the card during conveyance, and a controlling part which controls the motor to variably control the conveyance speed of the card in accordance with the temperature detected by the temperature sensor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a card processing device, and in particular, rewrite for reprinting on a magnetic card or IC chip built-in card (IC card) used as a commuter pass or a boarding ticket in transportation such as railways and buses. The present invention relates to a card processing device.

  This type of rewrite card processing device that handles cards such as commuter passes that are currently in circulation is the contents printed on the card surface and operation information when the operation of cards such as commuter passes is changed. After erasing the magnetic data or the content data of the IC chip, the printing on the card surface is updated and the data re-recording process is performed.

  The main functions of the rewrite card processing apparatus include an erasing function for erasing the printed content on the card surface and a printing function for printing on the card surface. The erasing function has an erasing head composed of a heating resistor and a heating resistor temperature detection thermistor, and when a certain temperature (for example, about 130 ° C.) is applied to the card surface, the originally printed characters can be erased. . In addition, the printing function has a print head composed of a plurality of heat generating elements, and when a certain temperature (for example, about 180 ° C.) is applied to the surface of the card for each dot, characters or the like to be rewritten can be printed.

  In order to erase the card surface printing without any unevenness, it is necessary to keep the temperature of the erasing head during erasing at a constant temperature. For example, when a card that has been in a low ambient temperature is processed by a rewrite card processing device, the temperature of the erase head drops immediately after the heated erase head touches the card. Unfilled parts cannot be completely erased, and surface printing disappears due to insufficient erasing energy to the rewrite card.

  As a method for solving this remaining unerased problem, it is conceivable to perform control in which the temperature setting value of the erasing head is increased in advance by an amount corresponding to the temperature assumed to be cooled by the card. However, when processing a card that was under a high ambient temperature, the temperature higher than the original card surface erasing temperature is transmitted to the card surface as soon as the erasing head touches the card. If the value is too high, the erasing energy will be excessive and the card surface will be colored.

  As a conventional technique, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-179945 discloses a technique for measuring the temperature of the outside air and controlling the temperature of the erasing head in accordance with the outside air. According to this technology, there is a sensor that detects the outside air temperature, and by selecting the optimum erasing head temperature and card transport speed at the time of surface printing erasing depending on the outside air temperature, disappearance due to lack of erasing energy to the rewrite card Although it is intended to prevent coloration due to the remainder or excessive erasing energy, the outside air temperature detected by the apparatus does not necessarily match the temperature of the inserted card.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-179945

During the card surface printing erasing process, there is no problem with the surface printing erasing quality as long as the temperature of the erasing head does not fluctuate in any case and the temperature is always kept constant.
It is known that the surface print erasure quality affects the card temperature, and it is assumed that the card temperature is almost the same as the outside air temperature around the device, and has a mechanism that constantly monitors the outside air temperature around the device. Is disclosed in JP-A-11-179945.

  In a conventional device that measures the temperature of the outside air and determines the temperature of the erasing head, in the case of a business such as a station window, the outside air temperature of the device in an environment where the device is installed in an air-conditioned room partitioned by glass Since (indoor temperature) does not vary greatly regardless of the season, the set temperature of the erase head does not change significantly. However, the temperature of the card is affected by the place where the cardholder was, so it is assumed that the fluctuation is large, and the above-mentioned conventional technology that controls the temperature of the erasing head by measuring the ambient temperature around the device is optimal for some cards Thus, it is impossible to completely control the erasure temperature and the disappearance of the rewritable card due to the lack of erasing energy and the color development due to excessive erasing energy.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a card processing apparatus that improves the erasing quality by a heating type erasing head.

The present invention relates to a rewritable card processing apparatus capable of erasing and reprinting the card surface, a card transport path for transporting the card, a motor for transporting the card in the transport path, and a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the card being transported. And an erasing head that heats the surface of the card being transported, and a controller that controls the motor and variably controls the card transport speed according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor. It is.
In a preferred example, the temperature sensor is installed in the vicinity of the erasing head to detect the temperature of the rewrite card during the card surface character erasing process.
In another preferred example, the control unit controls the temperature of the erasing head or the relationship between the temperature of the erasing head and the card transport speed in accordance with the temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to directly detect the temperature of the rewrite card, and it is possible to detect the temperature of the rewrite card during the card surface print erasing process as needed. For this reason, the temperature of the erase head can be set to match the actual temperature of the rewrite card, and by changing the card transport speed, it is possible to prevent unerasing due to lack of erase energy to the rewrite card and color development due to excessive erase energy. A rewrite card processing apparatus with improved quality can be obtained.

[Example 1]
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an internal configuration diagram of a rewrite card processing apparatus according to an embodiment.
The rewrite card processing apparatus 1 includes a card insertion slot 2, a card temperature detection sensor 3, a card transport path 4, a main control unit 5, and an erasing head 6. The card insertion slot 2 includes a sensor (not shown) such as an infrared sensor that detects that a card has been inserted. The card temperature detection sensor 3 is a contact-type or non-contact-type temperature sensor, and the temperature detected by the sensor 3 is converted into a voltage and transmitted to the main control unit 5.

  The card conveyance path 4 is provided with a rubber roller (not shown) for conveyance, and this rubber roller is rotated by a gear and belt transmission from a main drive motor (not shown) to convey the card. The main drive motor is, for example, a pulse motor, and the conveyance speed can be changed according to the pulse period transmitted from the main control unit 5.

  The main control unit 5 includes a processor and a memory (not shown) therein, and controls the entire rewrite card processing apparatus. In particular, what is characteristic of the present embodiment is that a table representing the relationship between the card surface temperature, the set temperature of the erasing head, and the card transport speed is held in the memory as shown in FIG. The set temperature of the erase head and the card transport speed are controlled in accordance with the detected temperature of the card.

  The erasing head 6 includes a heating resistor and a heating resistor temperature detection thermistor. The heating resistor temperature detection thermistor converts the detected temperature into a voltage and transmits the voltage to the main control unit 5. Based on the temperature information detected by the thermistor, the current flowing through the heating resistor is changed to control the amount of heat generated by the resistor.

Next, the control operation of the rewrite card processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
The card 7 is taken in from the card insertion slot 2 (S1), and the tip of the card 7 is detected by an infrared sensor (S2). At this time, by preheating the erasing head 6 in advance (S3), the processing time can be shortened. Next, the temperature of the card is measured by the temperature sensor 3 from the tip of the card 7 (S4). The control unit 5 determines the temperature of the erasing head 6 to be added to the card surface based on the measured temperature information (S5). However, for example, when the card is at a low ambient temperature until just before, the temperature of the erase head may suddenly decrease at the moment when the erase head 6 touches the card. There is a possibility that a portion at which a large erasing temperature cannot be obtained may occur. In that case, by controlling the main drive motor so as to set the card transport speed to a low speed, it takes time to recover the temperature of the erasing head that has dropped sharply, and then gradually increases the transport speed. Make the total erase energy uniform.

  The card transport speed is set by selecting a pattern corresponding to the detected temperature of the card from a plurality of card surface temperature / transport speed / erase temperature patterns registered in advance in the table shown in FIG. 5 (S7). For example, when the card surface temperature is 17 ° C., the temperature of the erase head is set to 140 ° C., and the card is transported at a speed of 30 mm / s (normal speed). As another example, when the card surface temperature is −5 ° C., the temperature of the erasing head is set to the upper limit of 150 ° C. However, in this case, the unerased portion is generated at the normal speed, so the conveyance speed is 25 mm / s. The erase process is performed until late.

The temperature of the erasing head and the conveyance speed are set before the erasing process starts. When it is detected that the leading end of the card 7 has reached the erasing head (S8), the erasing head 6 is brought into contact with the card 7 and the erasing process is started according to the relationship between the erasing head temperature set in advance in the memory and the conveying speed ( S9). When the erasing head 6 detects the rear end of the card (S10), the erasing head 6 is released from the card and the erasing process is finished (S11).
[Example 2]
Next, an internal configuration of a rewrite card processing apparatus according to another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
In this example, the card temperature detection sensor 3 is installed immediately before the erasing head 6 as compared with the first embodiment. The reason for installing the card temperature detection sensor 3 in the vicinity of the erasing head 6 is to detect the temperature of the card during the erasing process as needed, and the temperature information from the card temperature detection sensor 3 is sent via the main control unit 5. The card temperature detection sensor 3 is installed immediately before the erasing head 6 in consideration of the time reflected in the temperature of the erasing head 6.

In the case of this example, a table as shown in FIG. 6 is prepared in advance in the memory of the main controller 5. This table is a setting table for changing the temperature of the erasing head and the conveyance speed in accordance with the detected surface temperature of the card.
The basic control is to set the temperature of the erasing head so that the card surface temperature + the temperature setting value of the erasing head is 160 ° C., and the conveyance speed at that time is 30 mm / s. Thereafter, the surface temperature of the card during the erasing process gradually increases due to heat storage, but when the surface temperature of the card increases due to heat storage, the temperature of the erasing head is lowered to a total of 160 ° C. A method of controlling the conveyance speed to be constant (30 mm / s) is easy and preferable from the viewpoint of temperature management, but it is often difficult to instantaneously lower the temperature because of the structure of the heating element of the erasing head. Therefore, without reducing the temperature of the erasing head, the overall erasing energy is made substantially constant by increasing the conveyance speed.

Next, a control operation in the rewrite card processing apparatus of this example will be described with reference to FIG.
A card is taken in from the card insertion slot 2 (S1), and the tip of the card 7 is detected by an infrared sensor (S2). At this time, by preheating the erasing head 6 in advance (S3), the processing time can be shortened. The temperature of the card from the front end of the card is measured by the temperature sensor 3 (S4). When it is detected that the tip of the card 7 has reached the erasing head 6 (S12), the erasing head 6 is brought into contact with the card to start erasing (S13). In this case, based on the temperature information measured in step S4, the temperature of the erasing head and the card transport speed are changed at any time so as to match the temperature transition (S14). As for the temperature change of the card due to the contact of the erasing head 6 with the card, the temperature of the erasing head and the card transport speed are changed at any time so as to follow the change.

For example, when the card surface temperature (initial) is 17 ° C., the temperature of the erasing head is set to 143 ° C., and the card is conveyed at a speed of 30 mm / s. If the card surface temperature is in the range of 20-30 ° C. due to subsequent heat storage, the temperature of the erasing head is kept at 143 ° C., and the card transport speed is changed to 35 mm / s. Further, when the card surface temperature is in the range of 30 to 40 ° C. due to the subsequent heat storage, the temperature of the erasing head is kept at 143 ° C., and the card transport speed is changed to 40 mm / s. Such control is performed until the erasing process is completed.
When the erasing head detects the trailing edge of the card (S15), the erasing head is separated from the card and the erasing process is terminated (S16).

  According to the present embodiment, by combining a fine temperature change at each part of the card with a control pattern of the relationship between the temperature control of the erasing head and the conveyance speed, the optimum and uniform erasing energy for cards of various temperatures. Erasure quality can be improved.

The side view which shows the internal structure of the rewrite card processing apparatus by one Example. The side view which shows the internal structure of the rewrite card processing apparatus by another Example. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the erasure | elimination control in the rewrite card processing apparatus by one Example. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the erasure | elimination control in the rewrite card processing apparatus by another Example. The figure which shows the structural example of the table showing the relationship between the card | curd surface temperature in the rewrite card processing apparatus by one Example, the preset temperature of an erasing head, and card | curd conveyance speed. The figure which shows the structural example of the table showing the relationship between the card | curd surface temperature in the rewrite card processing apparatus by another Example, the setting temperature of an erasing head, and card | curd conveyance speed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rewrite card processing apparatus 2 Card insertion slot 3 Card temperature detection sensor 4 Card conveyance path 5 Main control part 6 Erase head 7 Rewrite card

Claims (4)

In a rewritable card processing apparatus for erasing and reprinting the card surface, a card transport path for transporting the card, a motor for transporting the card in the transport path, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the card being transported, and transport A rewrite comprising: an erasing head for heating the surface of the card inside; and a control unit for controlling the motor and variably controlling the card conveyance speed in accordance with the temperature detected by the temperature sensor. Card processing device. 2. The rewrite card processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor is installed in the vicinity of the erasing head to detect the temperature of the card during the card surface character erasing process. In a rewritable card processing apparatus for erasing and reprinting the card surface, a card transport path for transporting the card, a motor for transporting the card in the transport path, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the card being transported, and transport An erasing head that heats the surface of the card inside, and a controller that changes the temperature of the erasing head or the relationship between the temperature of the erasing head and the card transport speed in accordance with the temperature detected by the temperature sensor. A rewrite card processing apparatus. The control unit controls the temperature of the erase head or the card transport speed by referring to a table prepared in advance in the memory and representing a relationship between the card surface temperature, the set temperature of the erase head, and the card transport speed. The rewrite card processing device according to claim 1.

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