JP2011079217A - Card printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card printer which enables one IC reader/writer to authenticate an IC card, write security information to the IC card at a card issuance unit and read information of an IC chip of a housing cassette for consumable. <P>SOLUTION: The card printer includes: a card cassette on which the IC cards are loaded; a security authentication card holder for holding the IC cards; an encoding unit for writing security information to the IC card; a print consumable cassette housing part for housing a print consumable to which an IC chip stored with manufacture history information of the print consumable is attached; a printing unit for printing graphics, characters or the like to the IC card; and a card stacker. The card printer further includes the IC reader/writer for reading security authentication information of the card, writing the security information and reading the IC chip information of the print consumable cassette. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a card printing apparatus for issuing an ID card. Specifically, communication with an IC card and communication with a consumables cassette are performed with the same IC reader / writer and stable, and a face image is also displayed on the card. The present invention relates to a card printing apparatus that prints figures and characters such as names and names.

  In recent years, in the service industry fields such as government offices, banks, companies, medical institutions, and schools, identification cards, passports, alien registration cards, library cards, cash cards, credit cards, automobile driver's licenses, employee ID cards, ID cards such as employee cards, membership cards, medical cards, and student cards are widely used. This type of ID card is printed with a face image for identity recognition and character information such as characters and symbols related to the owner. In recent years, an IC card is used for an ID card because of its high security reliability. Increasing use.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a process for issuing a conventional IC card. The IC card 1 is a printing apparatus in which various security information is recorded by the card issuing unit 3 after the card authentication unit 2 authenticating that the person who issues the card is an appropriate person, and further includes the printing unit 4 Then, characters and figures such as names and face images are printed. When there is no card in the card authentication unit 2, the printing unit 4 is controlled not to operate.

  As will be described below, each of the card authentication unit 2, the card issuing unit 3, and the printing unit 4 uses an IC reader / writer separately.

  That is, the card authenticating unit 2, the card issuing unit 3, and the printing unit 4 communicate with the IC card via the IC reader / writer, but the IC reader / writer is built in the printing apparatus or attached to the outside. The IC card is conveyed to the IC reader / writer and communicates with the IC card.

  FIG. 2 shows the positional relationship between the conventional IC reader / writer and the issued card. The issue card 41 is held between the card guides 42, and the information of the issue card 41 is read by the IC reader / writer 44 fixed to the fixing jig 43, and the information is written to the issue card 41.

  In this case, depending on the type of the IC card, communication may become unstable depending on the positional relationship between the IC card 41 and the IC reader / writer 44 and the communication distance. In order to stabilize communication, there is a technology that uses a plate-shaped weak magnet, but when the type of card changes, it is necessary to manually adjust the positional relationship and communication distance, and until the specific adjustment method Not proposed.

  In the process of issuing an IC card conventionally performed in FIG. 1, the authentication of the IC card in the card authentication unit 2 and the writing of the security information to the IC card in the card issuing unit 3 are performed for each IC. This is done using a reader / writer.

Typical examples of the printing method used in the printing unit 4 include an ink jet printing mechanism and a thermal transfer printing mechanism. FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams showing the thermal transfer printing mechanism. Printing methods using a thermal transfer printing mechanism include a direct transfer method and an intermediate transfer method. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of a direct transfer type thermal transfer printing mechanism. A thermal transfer ribbon 11 is supplied from a ribbon unwinding roll 12;
After passing through the roll 13, the thermal transfer ribbon 11 is pressed from the ribbon substrate surface by a thermal head 14 in which a plurality of heating elements that generate heat by applying a voltage are arranged. The printing paper 15 is supplied from the printing paper unwinding roll 16 and is in contact with the thermal transfer layer of the thermal transfer ribbon 11 pressed on the platen roll 17, and the transfer layer is transferred onto the printing paper 15 to form an image. After being transferred, the thermal transfer ribbon 19 passes through the roll 18 and is then wound around the ribbon winding roll 20.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of an intermediate transfer type thermal transfer printing mechanism. The thermal transfer ribbon 21 is supplied from a ribbon unwinding roll 22, passes through the roll 23, and then is transferred from the ribbon base surface of the thermal transfer ribbon 21 by the thermal head 24. Pressed. The intermediate transfer film 31 is supplied from the intermediate transfer film unwinding roll 32, passes through the roll 33, and then contacts the thermal transfer layer of the thermal transfer ribbon 21 pressed on the platen roll 27 to transfer the transfer layer. The printing paper 25 is supplied from the printing paper unwinding roll 26, and the transfer layer transferred to the intermediate transfer film is transferred to the printing paper 25 by the roll 35 and the roll 36 of the secondary transfer unit 34, and is transferred via the roll 37. An image is formed on the printed paper 25. After being transferred, the intermediate transfer film 39 passes through the roll 38 and is then wound around the intermediate transfer film winding roll 40. In addition, the thermal transfer ribbon 29 after being transferred on the platen roll 27 is wound around the thermal transfer ribbon winding roll 30 via the roll 28.

  As the consumables used in the printing unit 4, for example, the thermal transfer ribbon 11 in the case of the direct transfer system shown in FIG. 3 and the thermal transfer ribbon 21 in the case of the intermediate transfer system shown in FIG. Variations in the printed colors of characters, figures, etc., due to variations in the color forming material, the amount of addition, and the composition and viscosity of other additives.

  In recent years, an IC chip storing consumable manufacturing history (used materials, manufacturing conditions, and quality information) is often used in the consumable storage cassette. There has been proposed a method of reading the information on the IC chip and setting printing conditions to perform printing with no variation in printing color. However, reading the information on the IC chip and security for the IC card in the card issuing unit are proposed. Information is written using each IC reader / writer.

JP 2004-322496 A Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-2637

  The present invention relates to a card printing apparatus capable of performing authentication of an IC card, writing of security information on the IC card at a card issuing unit, and reading of information of an IC chip of a consumable storage cassette with a single IC reader / writer. It is an issue to provide.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention encodes security information on an IC card and prints a graphic and a character such as a face image and a name. A card cassette for loading an IC card, a card holder for security authentication for holding the IC card, an encoding unit for writing security information to the IC card, and an IC chip for storing manufacturing history information of printing consumables. A printing consumable cassette storage unit for storing attached printing consumables, a printing unit for printing figures, characters, and the like on an IC card, and a card stacker, and further reading the security authentication information of the card and security information And an IC reader / writer for reading the IC chip information of the consumable cassette for printing A card printing apparatus characterized.

  The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is the card printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the IC reader / writer is one IC reader / writer having a rotatable mechanism.

  The invention according to claim 3 of the present invention is characterized in that the IC reader / writer has a movable mechanism, and the distance and position between the IC reader / writer, the IC card, and the print consumable cassette are variable. The card printing apparatus according to 1 or 2.

  Since the IC reader / writer has a rotatable mechanism, reading of card authentication information, writing of security information, and reading of consumable cassette information for printing can be performed by one IC reader / writer. The number of reader / writers can be reduced to one. Furthermore, when the type of IC card is changed, the distance and position between the IC card and the IC reader / writer can be changed by having a mechanism in which the IC reader / writer can move. Communication with the card can be performed. Similarly, stable communication can be performed even when the printing consumable cassette is changed by changing the distance and position of the printing consumable cassette.

The figure which shows an example of the process in the case of issuing the IC card conventionally performed. The figure which shows the positional relationship of the conventional IC reader / writer and issued card. The figure which shows the outline of the thermal transfer printing mechanism of a direct transfer system used for an IC card printing apparatus. The figure which shows the outline of the thermal transfer printing mechanism of an intermediate transfer system used for an IC card printing apparatus. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a card printing apparatus according to the present invention, and a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus using a direct transfer type thermal transfer mechanism. The figure which shows the positional relationship of IC reader / writer based on this invention, and an IC card. The figure for demonstrating changing the distance of the IC card which concerns on this invention, and an IC reader-writer, and the position of an IC reader-writer. 1 is a diagram illustrating a card printing apparatus according to the present invention, and is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus using an indirect transfer type thermal transfer mechanism.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a card printing apparatus according to the present invention, which is an example of a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus using a direct transfer type thermal transfer mechanism. After the IC card 51 loaded in the card cassette 50 is moved to the security authentication card holder 52, it is held by the card guide 58, and the IC reader / writer 53 is at position 1 to authenticate the card. Thereafter, the IC reader / writer 53 is moved to the encoding unit 54, and the security information is encoded. Next, after information such as characters and figures is printed by the thermal head by the printing unit 55, the information is stored in the card stacker 56. Printing consumables used in the printing unit 55 are stored in a printing consumable cassette storage unit 57. The printing consumable cassette contains a printing consumable, for example, a thermal transfer ribbon, and an IC chip storing manufacturing history information on the production of the thermal transfer ribbon is attached to the cassette. The manufacturing history information stored in the IC chip is read by the IC reader / writer at position 3.

  FIG. 6 shows the positional relationship between the IC reader / writer 53 and the IC card 51 according to the present invention. The IC reader / writer has a rotatable mechanism 60. The IC reader / writer can be rotated to position 1, position 2, and position 3 by the rotatable mechanism 60. As a result, the authentication information of the authentication card is read at the position 1, the security information is encoded into the IC card issued at the position 2, and the IC chip attached to the consumable cassette at the position 3. The manufacturing history information can be read by one IC reader / writer. Further, since the IC reader / writer has a movable mechanism (not shown), as shown in FIG. 7, even when the type of the IC card is changed, the distance between the IC card and the IC reader / writer and the IC reader / writer are changed. By changing the position in the direction of arrows 61 and 62, communication with the IC card can be performed stably.

  The distance between the IC reader / writer and the IC card and the position of the IC reader / writer, and the distance between the IC reader / writer and the IC chip attached to the consumable cassette and the position of the IC reader / writer are determined in advance for each type of IC card. It is set for each type of consumable cassette, and is controlled to the set distance and position by selecting the type of IC card and the type of consumable cassette.

  A known mechanical mechanism can be adopted as the rotatable mechanism and the movable mechanism provided in the IC reader / writer.

  Further, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a card printing apparatus according to the present invention, and is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus using a thermal transfer printing mechanism of an indirect transfer system, and is a direct transfer according to the present invention shown in FIG. Compared with a card printing apparatus using a thermal transfer printing mechanism of the type, a printed image is once formed on the intermediate transfer film 63 by a thermal head, and the printed image is further transferred to an IC card at a secondary transfer portion.

  The thermal transfer mechanism is an example of an embodiment for carrying out the present invention, and an ink jet printing method may be adopted.

  As described above, according to the present invention, encoding of security information to the IC card to be issued, reading of the authentication information of the authentication card, and further reading of the manufacturing history information of the IC chip attached to the consumable cassette. Since it can be performed by one IC reader / writer, three reader / writers conventionally used can be reduced to one.

  The IC reader / writer includes the distance between the IC reader / writer and the IC card, the position of the IC reader / writer, and the distance between the IC reader / writer and the IC chip attached to the consumable cassette and the position of the IC reader / writer. Therefore, the communication between the IC reader / writer, the IC card, and the IC chip attached to the consumable cassette can be stably performed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... IC card 2 ... Card authentication part 3 ... Card issuing part 4 ... Printing part 11 ... Thermal transfer ribbon 12 ... Ribbon unwinding roll 13 ... Roll 14 ... Thermal Head 15 ... Printing paper 16 ... Printing paper unwinding roll 17 ... Platen roll 18 ... Roll 19 ... Thermal transfer ribbon 20 ... Ribbon take-up roll 21 ... Thermal transfer ribbon 22 ... Ribbon unwinding roll 23 ... roll 24 ... thermal head 25 ... printing paper 26 ... printing paper unwinding roll 27 ... platen roll 28 ... roll 29 ... after being transferred Thermal transfer ribbon 30 ... Thermal transfer ribbon winding roll 31 ... Intermediate transfer film 32 ... Intermediate transfer film unwinding roll 33 ... Roll 34 ... Secondary transfer section 35 ... Roll 36 ... Roll 37 ... Roll 38 ... Roll 39 ... Intermediate transfer film 40 after transfer ... Intermediate transfer film take-up roll 41 ... Issuing card 42 ... Card guide 43 ... Fixing jig 44 ... IC reader / writer 50 ... Card cassette 51 ... IC card 52 ... Security authentication card holder 53 ... IC reader / writer 54 ... Encoder 55 ..Printing section 56... Card stacker 57... Printing consumable cassette storage section 58... Card guide 59... IC reader / writer fixing jig 60.・ Arrow 63 indicating the direction of changing the position of the IC reader / writer

Claims (3)

  A card printing machine that encodes security information on an IC card and prints face images, names and other figures and characters, a card cassette for loading the IC card, a security authentication card holder for holding the IC card, and issuance Encoding unit that writes security information to the card, printing consumable cassette storage unit that stores printing consumables with IC chips that store manufacturing history information of printing consumables, and graphics, characters, etc. printed on IC cards An IC reader / writer that reads the security authentication information of the card, writes the security information, and reads the IC chip information of the consumable cassette for printing. A card printer characterized by that.   2. The card printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the IC reader / writer is one IC reader / writer having a rotatable mechanism.   3. The card printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the IC reader / writer has a movable mechanism, and the distance and position between the IC reader / writer, the IC card, and the printing consumable cassette are variable.

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