JP2007034394A - Non-contact ic card reader device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a non-contact IC card reader device having a format of wiring equipment attached to a wall wherein an antenna which is regardless of a conventional in-housing arrangement is used to improve communication performance such as a communicable distance. <P>SOLUTION: The non-contact IC card reader device 1 is equipped with a primary body control section which controls the operation of the whole card reader, a radio circuit which modulates and demodulates transmitted and received data, a housing 5 which houses the primary body control section and the radio circuit, a loop antenna 2 which generates an AC magnetic field to supply electric power to and communicate with an IC card, and a fitting frame 6 for fitting the housing to a wall surface, and communicates with the IC card in a non-contact state, wherein the fitting member 6 is provided with the loop antenna 2 formed by winding a linear conductor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an IC card reader device that performs contactless communication with an IC card. For example, an ID card, a management card, a commuter pass, a coupon ticket, a cash in an entry / exit management system, an automatic ticket gate system, electronic money, etc. The present invention relates to a non-contact IC card reader device that performs non-contact communication with a non-contact IC card such as a card.

  Conventionally, in a non-contact IC card reader device that is embedded in a wall surface, a loop antenna that communicates with the IC card, a modulation / demodulation of transmission / reception data, a control unit that controls the card reader, and a housing that stores these are provided. There is something to have. And in order to embed the housing in the wall surface, a mounting panel and a decorative panel for protecting the front surface are provided.

  In the non-contact IC card reader as described above, a loop antenna for communicating with the IC card is provided in the housing. In addition, the size of the housing must be made relatively small with respect to the size of the mounting member and the decorative panel. Therefore, the size of the loop antenna stored in the housing has been reduced.

  The size of the loop antenna is an important factor that determines the readable distance of the IC card, and there is a problem in that the readable distance of the IC card is shortened by reducing the size of the loop antenna.

  In addition, when the mounting member is a conductor such as metal, there is a problem in that an eddy current is generated due to an alternating magnetic field generated from the loop antenna, the antenna characteristics are deteriorated, and the reading distance of the IC card is shortened.

  Also, from the aesthetic point of view, the housing including the loop antenna is arranged behind the mounting frame to avoid protrusion from the wall surface, which causes the IC card reading distance from the wall surface to be shortened. ing.

  For example, Patent Document 1 has been proposed as a technique for stably maintaining an antenna mounting method of a non-contact IC card reader device without greatly shifting the positional relationship of the antenna.

  The non-contact IC card reader device of Patent Document 1 transmits an electromagnetic wave from a transmission antenna and receives the electromagnetic wave transmitted from the non-contact IC card with a reception antenna. At least one of these antennas is a coil, and has an insulating substrate for holding the coil, and attachment means for fixing the coil to the substrate. The attachment means is for fixing the coil at a predetermined position of the substrate, and crosses the coil and engages with a through hole provided at the coil arrangement position of the substrate, thereby fixing the coil at the predetermined position.

Also, a non-contact IC card reader device in which a metal body in the vicinity of the surface on the operation surface side of the antenna does not affect the communicable distance of the antenna is known for the antenna of the wall surface embedded type non-contact IC card reader device. (For example, Patent Document 2). Patent Document 2 discloses a technique in which a decorative member is cut so as not to affect the reading distance by a metallic decorative member near the operation surface side surface of the antenna.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-126036 JP-A-4-86974

  According to the non-contact IC card reader device of Patent Document 1, it is disclosed that the antenna can be efficiently fixed. However, in Patent Document 1, in a non-contact IC card reader embedded in a wall surface, the communication distance from the wall surface to the IC card can be extended as much as possible by putting out the antenna as far as possible. There is no mention of enlarging the antenna to make money.

  Patent Document 2 relates to a non-contact IC card reader that does not affect the distance (communication distance) at which an IC card can be read by a metallic decorative member in the vicinity of the operation surface side surface of the antenna. A technique of cutting a decorative member is disclosed. However, there is no description about extending the communicable distance from the wall surface to the IC card as much as possible, or increasing the antenna to increase the communication sensitivity and communicable distance.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. In order to prevent deterioration of antenna characteristics, the communicable distance from the wall surface to the IC card can be extended as much as possible, and the size of the antenna can be increased. An object is to provide a contact IC card reader device.

In order to achieve the above object, a non-contact IC card reader device according to the first aspect of the invention includes a main body control unit that controls the operation of the entire card reader, a wireless circuit unit that performs modulation / demodulation of transmission / reception data, A housing for housing the main body control unit and the wireless circuit unit; a loop antenna for generating an alternating magnetic field for communicating with an IC card; and an attachment member for attaching the housing to a wall surface. A non-contact IC card reader device that performs non-contact communication with a card,
The loop antenna is provided as a linear conductor wound so as to be integrated with the mounting member.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the non-contact IC card reader device according to the first aspect, the attachment member is made of resin, and the linear conductor is provided on a side surface of the attachment member on the wall surface. A loop antenna is formed by forming a groove in which a wire is wound, and winding a linear conductor in the groove.

  According to the non-contact IC card reader device of the first aspect of the present invention, the antenna is provided on the mounting member having a front dimension larger than that of the housing and disposed on the front surface. Degradation can be reduced, and communication performance can be improved.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the non-contact IC card reader device according to the first aspect, the groove for winding the linear conductor is provided on the side surface of the mounting member. It becomes easy to install on the member, and it becomes easy to manufacture a non-contact IC card reader, and the cost can be reduced.

  Next, the best mode of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a non-contact IC card reader device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state in which it is attached to a wall surface, and FIG. It is.

  As shown in the figure, a non-contact IC card reader device 1 of this embodiment includes a loop antenna 2 for supplying power to and communicating with an IC card (not shown), and a main body for controlling the operation of the entire card reader. A control unit 3, a radio circuit unit 4 that modulates and demodulates transmission / reception data, and a housing 5 that stores the main body control unit 3 and the radio circuit unit 4 are provided. Furthermore, it has the attachment member 6 for attaching the housing | casing 5 to the wall 8 surface.

  The loop antenna 2 functions to generate an AC magnetic field for feeding and communicating with the IC card, and is provided on the mounting member 6 on the IC card reader side.

  The main body control unit 3 is a part that controls the operation of the entire card reader, and is provided on the IC card substrate and stored in the housing 5. The radio circuit unit 4 performs modulation / demodulation of data transmitted / received by the loop antenna 2, and is also provided on the substrate and stored in the housing 5 like the main body control unit 3.

  The casing 5 has a box shape, stores the main body control unit 3 and the radio circuit unit 4 provided on the board, and is fixed to the mounting member 6, most of which is installed inside the wall surface. .

  The attachment member 6 is made of plastic, and has a central portion that is open, and is provided with a locking member 6a that faces the opening and biases toward the center. The outer surfaces of the front surface and the rear surface are formed wide at the flange portions 7a and 7b, and a loop antenna 2 is formed by winding a conductive wire a plurality of times in a groove between the flange portions 7a and 7b. Each end of the loop antenna 2 is connected to the lead wire 11 and led out to the back side. At this time, as a method of winding the conducting wire, the next winding conducting wire is wound around the groove without overlapping the previously winding conducting wire, and is wound at a uniform conducting wire interval to form the loop antenna 2. A thing is preferable in terms of performance.

  The housing 5 is fitted into the opening of the attachment member 6 and fixed. Further, an insertion hole 9 to be attached to the wall 8 is provided on a pair of opposing sides of the attachment member 6. Then, the screw 10 is inserted into the insertion hole 9 and the attachment member 6 is fixed to the wall 8. Thereby, the housing | casing 5 fitted to opening is attached to a wall.

  Although not shown, the decorative panel is fixed by covering the front surface of the attachment member 6 to prevent the appearance of the screws and the like from being exposed.

  In the IC card reader device 1 configured as described above, the housing 5 is fitted to the mounting member 6, the mounting member 6 is fixed to the wall 8 surface with screws 10, and further illustrated on the front surface of the mounting member 6. Install no makeup panel.

  And it operates as an antenna when a current flows through the loop antenna. When the IC card is held over the decorative panel surface of the non-contact IC card reader device 1, a current flows through the antenna of the IC card by the alternating magnetic field generated from the IC card reader device, and power is supplied. Then, the control circuit of the IC card is driven, the recorded information signal is emitted and received by the loop antenna 2, the information signal is analyzed by the radio circuit unit 4, processed by the main body control unit 3, and processed Output a signal.

  If the loop antenna is provided on the mounting frame arranged on the front surface in a larger size than the housing as in this embodiment, the communication performance can be improved.

  In the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the above-described example, but can be easily changed. For example, although an example in which a coil is wound around an attachment member to form a loop antenna has been described, it may be provided by being attached to the attachment member, sandwiched and bonded, or integrally formed. In addition, although the example in which the connection between the loop antenna and the wireless circuit unit is performed using a lead wire has been described, another connection method may be used. Moreover, in the said Example, although fixation of a housing | casing and an attachment member is implement | achieved by fitting, it is not limited to this, Other means, such as a screw stop and an adhesive tape, may be sufficient.

  In each of the above embodiments, as an IC card, a back electromotive force is generated in an internal circuit by reciprocating magnetic flux from a loop antenna of a housing of a non-contact IC card reader device at a high speed, and this back electromotive force is generated. Although the type used for the internal power source has been illustrated, the present invention is not limited to this, and the internal power source of the IC card may be generated independently by a power source built in the IC card. That is, the main body control unit, the radio circuit unit, and the loop antenna of the non-contact IC card reader device may send only the magnetic magnetic flux as a radio signal to the IC card without supplying power to the IC card.

1 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of a non-contact IC card reader device according to the present invention. FIG. FIG. It is front sectional drawing which shows the structure of the housing | casing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Non-contact IC card reader apparatus 2 Loop antenna 3 Central control part 4 Wireless circuit part 5 Case 6 Mounting member 8 Wall 11 Lead wire

Claims (2)

A main body control unit that controls the operation of the entire card reader, a wireless circuit unit that modulates and demodulates transmission / reception data, a housing that stores the main body control unit and the wireless circuit unit, and an alternating current for communication with the IC card A non-contact IC card reader device that has a loop antenna that generates a magnetic field and an attachment member for attaching the housing to a wall surface, and performs non-contact communication with an IC card,
The non-contact IC card reader device, wherein the loop antenna is provided as a linear conductor wound so as to be integrated with the mounting member.   The attachment member is made of resin, and a groove around which the linear conductor is wound is formed on a side surface of the attachment member that attaches the casing to the wall surface. The non-contact IC card reader device according to claim 1, which is configured.

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