JP2018002454A - Media processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compact media processing device without having independent conveyance passages for a plurality of discharge parts arranged in one side of the device.SOLUTION: A media processing device comprises: a plurality of discharge parts (a first card discharge part 50 and a second card discharge part 60) arranged at one side of a device casing; and a discharge member (card inversion part 30) which discharges cards C into the respective discharge parts. The first card discharge part 50 is arranged at a downstream side in a discharge direction of the card C in comparison with the second discharge part 60. A guide 53 to discharge the card C into the first card discharge part 50 is formed on a top face of a frame body 61 of the second card discharge part 60.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

  The present invention provides a card-like form in which after a printing process and a data process are performed on a supplied card-like recording medium, the card-like recording medium is distributed to a plurality of types of discharge units such as a discharge stacker and a reject according to the processing contents. The present invention relates to a medium processing apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, card processing apparatuses that perform print processing and data processing on a card-like recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a card) and discharge the processed card to a discharge unit are widely known. In Patent Document 1, a printing process is performed on a supplied card by a printing unit, the printed card is fed into a rotating conveyance body, and the rotating conveyance body is rotated by a predetermined angle, whereby the card is placed in a tray, stacker, or A card processing device that sorts and discharges a reject is disclosed.

JP-A-2005-75603

  In the card processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, in order to discharge the card to a plurality of discharge sections provided on one side of the apparatus, each discharge section is provided with an independent discharge passage. Therefore, when the card is discharged, the processed card is transferred from the rotary transfer body to the discharge passage and discharged to one of the discharge portions.

  In the configuration as described above, since an independent discharge passage is provided for each discharge portion, the apparatus size becomes large. An object of the present invention is to provide a compact medium processing apparatus in a medium processing apparatus having a plurality of discharge units without providing an independent discharge path for each discharge unit.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is a medium processing apparatus that processes a recording medium and discharges the recording medium, and is processed by the apparatus housing, a medium processing unit that performs predetermined processing on the recording medium, and a medium processing unit. A discharge means for discharging the recording medium, and a plurality of discharge portions for discharging the recording medium by the discharge means, wherein the plurality of discharge sections are provided on one side of the apparatus housing in the discharge direction of the recording medium by the discharge means. And a first discharge part having a first frame body and a second discharge part having a second frame body, the first discharge part being downstream of the second discharge part in the discharge direction The second frame has a guide part for discharging the recording medium to the first frame.

  According to the present invention, in a medium processing apparatus having two discharge units arranged in parallel on one side of the apparatus, a discharge unit frame provided on the upstream side in the medium discharge direction is provided on the downstream side. Since there is a guide part for discharging the medium in each part, there is no need to provide an independent discharge path for discharging the medium in each discharge part, and the effect that the apparatus can be made compact can be obtained. .

1 is a schematic perspective view partially illustrating a card processing device according to the present invention. It is a front view of the card processing apparatus of an embodiment. It is a disassembled perspective view of the normal card discharge part and the error card discharge part of the card processing apparatus of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a normal card discharge unit and an error card discharge unit of the card processing device according to the embodiment, as viewed from an angle different from FIG. 3. It is a figure which shows the state in which the card processing apparatus of embodiment is performing the information recording process. It is a figure which shows the state in which the card processing apparatus of embodiment is performing the printing process. It is a figure which shows the state which the card processing apparatus of embodiment discharges the processed card | curd to the normal card discharge part. It is a figure which shows the state which the card processing apparatus of embodiment discharges | emits an error card to an error card discharge part. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the control part of the card processing apparatus of embodiment. It is a front view which shows the modification of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a front view which shows another modification of 1st Embodiment of this invention.

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card processing apparatus that efficiently transports a recording medium such as a card so that a desired recording process can be executed efficiently and reliably. It is characterized in that the device is made compact by arranging in a.

  Here, an embodiment in which a card-like plastic substrate is used as a recording medium and various image information such as characters and images are printed or recorded on the surface of the card to create a credit card, a license card, an IC card, etc. will be described below. As will be described, the type of recording medium and the recording method are not particularly limited.

  1 and FIG. 2 shows a card processing apparatus as a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a first transport path p1 disposed substantially horizontally inside a housing 1 and one or more blank cards (recording media) C are provided. The card supply unit 10 that stores the cards one by one to the first transport path p1, the second transport path p2 that is substantially orthogonal to the first transport path p2, that is, the first transport path p2, and the first transport path p2. A third transport path p3 disposed obliquely between the transport path p1 and the second transport path p2, a printing unit 20A for printing various information on at least one surface of the supplied card C, and a first The card inversion unit 30 is provided at the intersection X of the transport path p1, the second transport path p2, and the third transport path p3.

  The card supply unit 10 includes a card stacker 11 that stores one or more blank cards C in a stacked manner, a kick roller 12 that is provided at the bottom of the card stacker 11 and rotates to feed cards one by one from the card stacker 11; It comprises a lid 13 that opens and closes at least a part of the card stacker 11 so that it can be opened.

  The card stacker 11 usually has an open slot that allows only one card to pass through at a position facing the first transport path p1, and rotates the kick roller 12 that is in contact with the lowest card of the stacked card C. Thus, only the lowest card is sent out to the first transport path p1.

  The opening / closing lid 13 is hinged to the upper portion of the housing 1 so as to be openable upward. The opening / closing lid 13 includes a card alignment piece 13a on the inner side. After the opening / closing lid 13 is opened upward, a plurality of blank cards C are stacked in the card stacker 11 and then the opening / closing lid 13 is closed. Thus, the card aligning piece 13a can press the rear end of the card bundle to align the card bundle.

  The printing unit 20 which is the first information recording unit in this embodiment adopts the configuration of a thermal transfer printer which records information such as characters and images by thermal transfer onto one side of a card C which is a recording medium using thermal transfer ink. However, the type of recording information and the recording method are not limited in the present invention.

  The printing unit 20 constituting the thermal transfer printer here includes a platen roller 21 provided at the recording position Sr of the second transport path p2, a thermal head 22 provided so as to be movable back and forth with respect to the platen roller 21, and thermal transfer ink. And an ink cartridge 23 containing a built-in ink ribbon R. A pair of transport rollers 25 and 26 that rotate synchronously so as to move the card back and forth with respect to the recording position Sr are provided along the second transport path p2.

  The ink ribbon R stored in the ink cartridge 23 passes between the platen roller 21 and the thermal head 22 from the ribbon supply reel 23a and is taken up by the ribbon take-up reel 23b. When information such as characters or images is thermally transferred and recorded on the card moving along the second transport path p2, the heating element of the thermal head 22 is used while pressing the thermal head 22 with the ink ribbon R interposed on the surface of the card. By selectively operating, the thermal transfer ink component applied to the ink ribbon R can be transferred to the surface of the card and desired information can be drawn.

  The thermal head 22 moves back and forth with respect to the platen roller 21 as follows: a holder 24a for detachably holding the thermal head 22, a driven roller 24b fixed to the holder 24a, and a non-circular cam 24c that rotates while contacting the driven roller 24b. And an advancing / retreating drive unit 24 comprising a spring 24d for bringing the holder 24a into contact with the cam 24c. In the illustrated embodiment, a configuration in which the head unit holding the thermal head 22 inside is detachable from the holder 24a is employed, but the configuration is not particularly limited to this configuration.

  Such a structure of the thermal transfer recording method and the thermal transfer printer is not particularly a new technology, and a conventional printer unit such as a thermal melting thermal printer or a thermal sublimation thermal printer can be used according to the purpose. Further, the structure of the advancing / retreating drive unit for advancing / retreating the thermal head 22 relative to the platen roller 21 is not particularly limited.

  The third transport path p3 is provided with an IC reader / writer 20B that is a second information recording unit. The IC reader / writer 20B includes an information writing head 27 such as an IC writer terminal unit for recording information on an IC chip formed on the surface of a card such as a credit card.

  The information write head 27 may be an information write head for writing information to the magnetic stripe in the card if the recording target is a magnetic card. Further, it may be a non-contact IC reader / writer that performs non-contact IC recording processing.

  In order to position the IC chip of the card on the information writing head 27 of the IC reader / writer 20B, the card reversing unit 30 is rotated to the IC read / write position shown in FIG. 5 while holding the card C with the pinch rollers 31a and 31b. Move. The pinch rollers 31a and 31b are driven at this position, and the other end of the card C enters the IC reader / writer 20B with one end of the card C held by the pinch rollers 31a and 31b.

  When the IC chip of the card is conveyed to a position where it contacts the information writing head 27, information recording processing is started by the information writing head 27. When the information recording process is completed, the pinch rollers 31a and 31b are driven in the reverse direction to pull the card C back to the card reversing unit 30, and the process proceeds to the next process. If communication with the IC chip is not possible for a certain period of time, a communication error occurs and the card is determined to be an error card.

  The card reversing unit 30 located at the intersection X of the first transport path p1, the second transport path p2, and the third transport path p3 is from the first transport path p1 to the second transport path p2 and from the first transport path p1 to the first transport path p1. 3 has a function of sending the card C to the transport path p3 or vice versa, and a function of rotating the card to turn the card C upside down for printing on any one or both sides of the card by the printing unit 20.

  Here, the card reversing unit 30 supports the pinch rollers 31a and 31b and the pinch rollers 31a and 31b, which are paired so as to be able to hold the card therebetween, so as to be rotatable between the first conveyance path p1 and the second conveyance path p2. The rotating frame 32 rotates around the intersection point X.

  The pinch rollers 31a and 31b are in pressure contact with each other with the rotary frame 32 sandwiching the first transport path p1 in the horizontal state, and are in pressure contact with each other across the second transport path p2 in the vertical state. Press together with p3 in between. One of the paired pinch rollers is a drive roller, and the other is a driven roller.

  The rotation of the rotary frame 32 and the rotation of the pinch rollers 31a and 31b can be executed by operating a drive system (not shown) that drives them synchronously. If the rotating frame 32 is rotated while the card is sandwiched between the pinch rollers 31a and 31b, the pinch roller also rotates together to displace the card. Therefore, when rotating the rotating frame 32, the pinch roller is rotated at the same angle. Reverse the rotation amount. In order to prevent the pinch rollers 31a and 31b from rotating together when the rotating frame 32 rotates, the rotating frame 32 and the pinch rollers 31a and 31b may be driven independently.

  However, in the present invention, it is not particularly limited to the above-described means, and the function of transferring the card between the first transfer path, the second transfer path, and the third transfer path, or rotating or reversing the card. Any configuration may be used as long as it has a configuration.

  The card reversing unit 30 of the present embodiment is rotated to the following four positions to deliver the card. The first is the initial position shown in FIG. This position includes a card receiving position for receiving a card transported from the card stacker 11 through the first transport path p1, and a normal card discharge position for discharging a normally processed normal card to the discharge stacker 51 (FIG. 7). Reference). This position is defined as a rotation angle of 0 degree.

  The second is the IC read / write position shown in FIG. This position is a position where the rotary frame 32 is rotated 325 degrees counterclockwise from the above-described card receiving position. In this state, the card is conveyed to the IC reader / writer 20B via the third conveyance path p3.

  The third is the printing position shown in FIG. This position is a position obtained by rotating the rotary frame 32 by 90 degrees counterclockwise from the above-described card receiving position. In this state, the card is conveyed to the printing unit 20 via the second conveyance path p2. When performing double-sided printing on the card, the rotating frame 32 is rotated 180 degrees from the state where the card is placed in order to reverse the front and back of the card.

  The fourth is the error card discharge position shown in FIG. This position is a position where the rotary frame 32 is rotated 35 degrees counterclockwise from the above-described card receiving position, and the card is discharged to the error card discharge unit 60 in this state.

  That is, the card reversing unit 30 according to the present embodiment also functions as a direction changing member that changes the direction of the card C and a discharge member that discharges the card C to the outside of the housing 1.

  In the figure, 40 is a cleaner for cleaning the card surface. The cleaner 40 is composed of a cleaning roller 41a such as an adhesive rubber material and a pressure contact roller 41b facing each other across the first transport path p1, and the card discharged from the card supply unit 10 is paired. Dust and the like can be removed when passing between cleaner rollers.

  In this embodiment, the card that has completed the predetermined processing is discharged to the normal card discharge unit 50 or the error card discharge unit 60 provided on the opposite side of the card supply unit 10 with respect to the card reversing unit 30. The normal card discharge unit 50 discharges a card that has been successfully processed for the card, and the error card discharge unit 60 discharges a card that has detected an error during the processing for the card (hereinafter referred to as an error card). To do.

  The card discharge unit 50 includes a housing opening 50 a, a discharge stacker 51, and a guide 53. The normal card is ejected from the housing opening 50a by the card reversing unit 30, slides down the guide 53, and is accumulated in the ejection stacker 51 (see FIG. 7). The error card discharge unit 60 includes a housing opening 60 a and a frame body 61. The lower surface of the frame 61 is an opening, and the error card that has passed through the frame 61 is discharged to the outside of the housing 1 as it is, as shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, the upper surface of the frame 61 also serves as the guide 53, and the guide 53 is inclined downward from the housing opening 51 a toward the stacker opening 52 of the discharge stacker 51. In this embodiment, the inclination angle of the guide 53 is set to 10 degrees, but it can be set to an optimum angle depending on the slidability and the card ejection speed.

  The frame body 61 has a frame body opening 62, a pair of hooks 63, and a screwing portion 64, and the hook 63 is provided with a pair of housing hooks provided between the housing opening 50a and the housing opening 60a. The frame body 61 is installed in the housing 1 by being hung in the hole 65. In this state, the frame body 61 and the housing 1 are fixed by screwing with a screwing portion 64.

Further, the discharge stacker 51 has a stacker opening 52 for receiving a normal card and a pair of hooks 54 for fixing to a frame 61, and hooks into a frame hook hole 66 provided in the frame 61. 54, the discharge stacker 51 is fixed to the frame body 61.
In this way, by fixing the frame body 61 to the casing and the discharge stacker 51 to the frame body 61, the frame body 61 (error card discharge section 60) and the discharge stacker 51 (normal card discharge section 50) are carded. Can be installed in parallel in the discharge direction.

  In the present embodiment, the discharge stacker 51 and the frame 61 have different width dimensions, which are the same direction as the card discharge direction. The width direction of the discharge stacker 51 is 116 mm wider than the card width (length in the longitudinal direction of the card: about 86 mm) because normal cards must be stacked. On the other hand, since it is not necessary to stack the discharged error cards in the error card discharge unit 60 of the present embodiment, the frame 61 does not need to secure a space for the card width. Therefore, the dimension of the frame body 61 in the width direction is 50 mm. Thereby, the discharge stacker 51 and the frame body 61 can be arranged in parallel in a space-saving manner. In the state shown in FIG. 8, this dimension is such that when the rear end of the card passes through the pinch rollers 31a and 31b on the downstream side in the transport direction of the card reversing unit 30, the front end of the card is on the side surface on the downstream side in the card discharge direction of the frame 61. It is set so as to be in a positional relationship where it does not touch (card does not get caught).

  Here, the ejection of the normal card and the ejection of the error card will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state when the normal card is discharged. Cards normally processed by the printing unit 20 and the IC reader / writer 20B are discharged to the discharge stacker 51 and accumulated. At this time, the card reversing unit 30 rotates to the normal ejection position (the same position as the card receiving position) with the normal card nipped.

  Then, the pinch rollers 31 a and 31 b of the card reversing unit 30 are driven to discharge the card toward the discharge stacker 51. When the rear end of the card passes through the pinch rollers 31a and 31b on the downstream side in the card discharge direction, the discharged card is guided by the guide 53 (sliding on the upper portion of the guide 53) until it reaches the stacker opening 52. The card that has reached the stacker opening 52 is dropped and collected in the discharge stacker 51.

  Since the normal card is discharged to the discharge stacker 51 in this manner, the frame 61 of the error card discharge unit 60 must be overcome by the conveying force of the pinch rollers 31a and 31b of the card reversing unit 30. For this reason, the card conveyance speed when a normal card is discharged is set to 360 mm / second. The card transport speed when transporting the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2 and the card transport speed when discharging the error card are set to 300 mm / second, and the card transport speed when discharging the normal card is Is set to be faster. Note that the card conveyance speed when the normal card is discharged may be increased so that the card does not contact the guide 53. That is, the guide 53 may take any form as long as it can prevent the card from falling before the discharge stacker 51 before reaching the discharge stacker 51.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state when the error card is discharged. As described above, the card in which the error is detected is discharged to the error card discharge unit 60 as an error card. Here, error detection will be described. The following four main errors are applicable. (1) A communication error in the IC reader / writer 20B. When a card is conveyed to the IC reader / writer 20B and IC read / write processing is performed, if communication cannot be performed for a certain period of time, an error is determined. (2) An error during printing processing by the printing unit 20. Specifically, an error is determined when the ink ribbon R is cut during the printing process, printing cannot be continued due to winding failure of the ink ribbon R, or the card is jammed.

  (3) Transport error during card transport. It is determined that an error occurs when the card is jammed during card transport. (4) Forced termination by opening a cover or the like before the processing for the card is terminated. If the cover of the housing 1 is opened during card conveyance or processing, the processing is forcibly terminated. Even if the cover is closed and returned after forcible termination, the card being conveyed or being processed becomes an error card. When the control unit 100 described later receives the above information, the control unit 100 determines that an error has occurred, and determines that any of the first transport path p1, the second transport path p2, the third transport path p3, and the reversing unit 30 is an error card. .

  Thus, the card determined to be an error between the time when it is supplied from the card supply unit 10 and the time when it is discharged to the outside of the housing 1 is discharged to the error card discharge unit 60 as an error card. However, the error card includes a card that can be transported after it is determined as an error and a card that cannot be transported. For example, if an error card due to card jam is forcibly transported, the device may be damaged. For error cards that cannot be transported, the user must be alerted and the card must be removed manually. There is. Therefore, the error card discharged to the error card discharge unit 60 is a card that can be transported after it is determined as an error.

  Hereinafter, an error card that can be transported after error detection will be described. First, when an error is detected after the card is supplied, the card C is conveyed to the card reversing unit 30. Thereafter, the card reversing unit 30 rotates to the error card discharge position shown in FIG. In this state, the pinch rollers 31a and 31b of the card reversing unit 30 are driven to convey the error card toward the housing opening 60a. The card conveyance speed at this time is set to 300 mm / second, which is slower than the card conveyance speed (360 mm / second) at the time of normal card ejection.

  If the error card is discharged at a high speed like a normal card, the error card may collide with the side of the frame 61 and the card may be damaged. Therefore, the card may contact the side surface of the frame 61, but it is necessary to suppress the card conveyance speed to such an extent that the card is not damaged due to a collision. However, since this has a relationship with the angle when the card when the error card is discharged enters the housing opening 60a and the size in the width direction of the frame 61, the card transport speed can be set as appropriate. In the present embodiment, the error card passes through the frame body 61 and is dropped and discharged as it is, and the error card is directly below because the slower card transport speed can use gravity more effectively. Easy to fall. Therefore, the card conveying speed is slowed to such an extent that the rear end of the card can pass through the frame opening 62 after passing through the pinch rollers 31a and 31b on the downstream side in the card conveying direction of the reversing unit 30 and the productivity is not lowered. Is desirable. Moreover, the lower surface of the frame 61 is not an opening, and the discharged card C may be stored in the vertical direction (standing position).

  All the operating parts of the above processing apparatus can be driven by a simple drive control system. As an example, the kick roller 12 of the card supply unit and the rotation frame 32 of the card reversing unit 30 are driven by one motor, and the pressure contact roller 41b and the pinch roller 31b of the cleaner are driven by another motor. . Each actuating element may be driven and controlled by any driving system, and power transmission means, an electromagnetic clutch or the like may be used as appropriate. A head drive source that rotates the cam 24c of the advance / retreat drive unit 24 of the information recording unit 20 is also used independently. However, if an electromagnetic clutch or the like is used, power such as a conveyance drive source can be used. In addition, while processing the first card in the second transport path p2 or the third transport path p3, the next blank card is sent from the card supply unit 10 to the first transport path p1 to be put on standby to be processed in the continuous processing of cards. In order to shorten the time, each driving source capable of independently driving the first transport path p1 and the second transport path p2 may be provided.

  Next, the control unit and power supply unit of the card processing apparatus will be described. As shown in FIG. 9, the card processing device includes a control unit 100 that controls the operation of the entire device, and a power supply unit 120 that converts commercial AC power source to DC power source that can drive / operate each mechanism unit, control unit, and the like. have.

(1) Control Unit The control unit 100 includes a microcomputer unit (MCU) 102 (hereinafter abbreviated as MCU 102) that performs control processing for the entire apparatus. The MCU 102 includes a CPU that operates with a high-speed clock as a central processing unit, a ROM that stores programs and program data for the card processing unit, a RAM that functions as a work area for the CPU, and an internal bus that connects these.

  An external bus is connected to the MCU 102. On the external bus, an interface (not shown) for communicating with the host device 201, print data for forming an image on the card C, a magnetic stripe on the card C, and a magnetic or electrical recording on the accommodating IC should be recorded. A memory 101 for temporarily storing recording data and the like is connected.

  The external bus also includes various sensors (not shown), a drive motor for the card reversing unit 30, a signal processing unit 103 for processing signals from the encoders of the card transport motor and ink ribbon transport motor, and a drive pulse and drive power for each motor. An actuator control unit 104 including a motor driver for supplying the thermal head, a thermal head control unit 105 for controlling thermal energy to the heating elements constituting the thermal head 22, an operation display control unit 106 for controlling the operation panel unit 5, and The information recording unit A described above is connected.

(2) Power Supply Unit The power supply unit 120 supplies operation / drive power to the control unit 100, the thermal head 22, the operation panel unit 5, the information recording unit 20B, and the like.

  The card recording processing operation by the processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, print data for printing an image on the card C from the image input device 204 and the input device 203 of the host device 200 and IC record data for inputting electronic record information to the IC chip of the card C are input, and the processing device Stored in the memory 101. Upon receiving these pieces of information (print / information recording command), the MCU performs a printing process and an IC recording process (information recording process) on the card C. In this embodiment, the IC recording process is performed in advance, and then the printing process is performed. Note that only the printing process may be performed on the card C, or only the IC recording process may be performed, or the IC recording process may be performed after the printing process.

  FIG. 2 shows an initial state in which a plurality of blank cards C are loaded in the card stacker 11 of the card supply unit 10. When a card creation command is given, the kick roller 12 starts rotating, and only the lowest card is in the first transport path. It is sent out from the card stacker 11 along p1. The IC chip of the card C is assumed to be arranged on the lower surface side of the card in the drawing.

  When the center of the card C moving along the first transport path p1 is fed until it reaches the intersection X of the first, second, and third transport paths, the card C is rotated while being gripped by the pinch rollers 31a and 31b. The frame 32 is rotated to the IC read / write position (see FIG. 5). In the present embodiment, the rotating frame 32 rotates counterclockwise, and thus rotates 325 degrees from the initial state. However, when the card reversing unit 30 is configured to be able to rotate in both directions, it rotates clockwise. What is necessary is just to rotate 35 degree | times.

  When the rotary frame 32 rotates 325 degrees and the card C coincides with the third transport path p3 in parallel, the pinch rollers 31a and 31b of the card reversing unit 30 are driven to send out the card C toward the IC reader / writer 20B. IC information recording processing to the card C is executed.

  When the IC information recording process is completed, the pinch rollers 31a and 31b are driven in reverse to return the card C to the rotary frame 32. When the card C is fed until the center of the card C reaches the intersection X, the rotary frame 32 is rotated to the printing position while the card C is held by the pinch rollers 31a and 31b (see FIG. 6). When the rotation frame 32 is positioned at the printing position, the pinch rollers 31a and 31b are driven to convey the card C to the printing unit 20 along the second conveyance path p2.

  When the card C is transported to the printing start position, the head advance / retreat drive unit 24 of the printing unit 20 operates to move the thermal head 22 toward the card. As a result, the thermal head 22 presses the ink ribbon R against the card surface f, and the heating element of the thermal head 22 is selectively heated while moving the card toward the card reversing unit 30 in this state, thereby causing the ink ribbon to move. The ink component is thermally transferred to the card surface, whereby the desired image information is printed on the card surface.

  When the printing process on the card surface is completed, the card C is transported toward the card reversing unit 30, and when the card C is fed until the center of the card C reaches the intersection point X, the rotating frame 32 of the card reversing unit 30 rotates counterclockwise. The card C is rotated 90 degrees in the direction, and the card C is discharged to the normal card discharge unit 50 at the end of the first transport path p1 with the surface thereof facing upward (FIG. 7). At this time, the MCU 102 controls the actuator control unit 104 so that the card conveyance speed by the pinch rollers 31a and 31b is 360 mm / second.

  In the above process, the desired information recording process is performed on one side of the card. However, when recording on both sides of the card, the card C conveyed from the printing unit 20 is rotated 180 degrees by the card reversing unit 30 and again. Double-sided recording is realized by feeding the printing unit 20 as shown in FIG.

  Since the card C in which an error is detected before discharging the card C to the normal card discharging unit 50 is discharged to the error card discharging unit 60, the card C is once transported to the card reversing unit 30 when an error is detected. The rotating frame 32 of the card reversing unit 30 is rotated to the error card discharge position shown in FIG. 8, and then the pinch rollers 31a and 31b are driven to discharge the card C toward the housing opening 60a. At this time, the MCU 102 controls the actuator control unit 104 so that the card conveyance speed by the pinch rollers 31a and 31b is 300 mm / second.

  In the above embodiment, the card C sent from the card supply unit 10 is rotated counterclockwise by the card reversing unit 30 and sent to the IC reader / writer 20B and the printing unit 20, but the card reversing unit. The rotation direction of 30 is not limited, and the rotation direction may be determined as necessary.

  In the present embodiment, in order to eject two types of cards from the same surface of the apparatus housing 1, a second ejecting unit (error card ejecting unit) disposed on the upstream side (close position) in the card ejecting direction from the housing 1. 60) and a first discharge unit (normal card discharge unit 50) arranged on the downstream side (distant position) in the card discharge direction from the housing 1 are arranged in parallel in the same direction as the card discharge direction. At that time, by making the card conveying speed when discharging the card to the first discharging section faster than the card conveying speed when discharging the card to the second discharging section, the same discharging member (card reversing section 30) When discharging the card, it is possible to discharge the card to the first discharge unit disposed at a position far from the housing 1.

  In other words, when the card C is ejected, the first one having the longer distance from the ejection member that is driven so as to apply the transport force to the card C last (on the most downstream side of the transport path) to the discharge unit is the first. The second discharge unit has a shorter distance from the discharge member to the discharge unit as the discharge unit, and increases the card conveyance speed when discharging the card C to the first discharge unit. In the present embodiment, the pinch rollers 31a and 31b on the left side of the card reversing unit 30 in the drawing serve as discharge members, the distance from the discharge member to the stacker opening 52 of the normal card discharge unit 50, and the frame of the error card discharge unit 60 from the discharge member. Comparing with the distance to the body opening 62, the distance from the discharge member to the stacker opening 52 of the normal card discharge unit 50 is longer, so the normal card discharge unit 50 becomes the first discharge unit. Therefore, the card conveying speed when discharging the card C to the normal card discharging unit 50 is set to be high.

  As a result, two types of cards, such as a normal card and an error card, can be discharged to the same surface side of the apparatus housing, and at that time, the card C is inserted into the normal card discharge unit 50 located far from the discharge member. Even when the cards are discharged, the alignment of the cards C to be stacked is improved.

  In the present embodiment, when the normal card C is discharged to the discharge stacker 51, the card C is guided by the guide 53 provided on the upper surface of the frame body 61. Since the guide 53 is inclined downward from the housing opening 50a (position where the card C is discharged by the pinch rollers 31a and 31b) toward the stacker opening 52, the card C is smoothly discharged to the discharge stacker 51. .

  In the first embodiment, the width dimension of the ejection stacker 51 of the normal card ejection section 50 (dimension in the same direction as the card ejection direction) and the width dimension of the frame body 61 of the error card ejection section 60 are different. The width dimension of the discharge stacker 51 is shorter than the width dimension of the discharge stacker 51. However, as shown in FIG. 10, the width dimension of the discharge stacker 51 and the width dimension of the frame 261 may be the same. In that case, the frame body 261 (discharge stacker 261) may have a stacker shape (the lower surface is not open), and error cards discharged through the opening 60a may be stacked. In this case, the normal card may be discharged to the discharge stacker 261 and the error card may be discharged to the discharge stacker 51. As in the above-described embodiment, the upper surface of the discharge stacker 261 is provided with a guide 53 for discharging the card C to the discharge stacker 51. The card C slides down the guide 53 and is discharged to the discharge stacker 51. .

  In such a case as well, it is desirable that the card transport speed when transporting the card C to the discharge stacker 51 is faster than the card transport speed when discharging the card C to the discharge stacker 261. This is because the discharge stacker 51 is far away from the housing 1 (card reversing unit 30 for discharging the card), and the card C may not reach the discharge stacker 51 unless the card is ejected vigorously. Further, when cards are stacked on the discharge stacker 261, if the cards C are discharged to the discharge stacker 51 vigorously, the card alignment in the discharge stacker 261 may be deteriorated. It is desirable to make a difference in the card conveyance speed between when the card C is discharged to the discharge stacker 51 and when the card C is discharged to the discharge stacker 261 (when the card C is discharged, the card C is finally given a transfer force. The card conveying speed is increased when the card is ejected to the ejecting unit located far from the pinch rollers 31a and 31b of the card reversing unit 30 which is the ejecting member that is driven to be applied).

  In addition, it goes without saying that the width dimension of the frame body 261 disposed at a position close to the discharge members (pinch rollers 31a and 31b) may be larger than the width dimension of the discharge stacker 51 disposed at a position far from the discharge member. Yes.

  In all the embodiments described above, when the card C is ejected, the ejection members that are driven so as to give the card C the last transport force are the pinch rollers 31a and 31b of the card reversing unit 30, and the normal card Although the discharge member is the pinch rollers 31a and 31b both when discharging and when the error card is discharged, as shown in FIG. 11, when the card C is discharged to the normal card discharge unit 50 as the first discharge unit. When the card C is discharged to the error card discharge unit 60, which is the second discharge unit, the member that finally applies the transfer force to the card is the discharge roller r1, and finally the transfer force is applied to the card. The member may be the discharge roller r2. The discharge roller r1 and the discharge roller r2 may be driven by the same motor or by different motors. When the distance from the discharge roller r1 to the stacker opening 52 is compared with the distance from the discharge roller r2 to the frame opening 62, the distance from the discharge roller r1 to the stacker opening 52 is longer. The MCU 102 controls the conveyance speed of the discharge rollers r1 and r2 so that the conveyance speed is faster than the card conveyance speed by the discharge roller r2.

  As described above, the present invention provides a compact medium processing apparatus, and thus contributes to the manufacture and sale of the medium processing apparatus, and thus has industrial applicability.

C Recording medium (card)
p1 1st conveyance path p2 2nd conveyance path p3 3rd conveyance path X Intersection 10 Card supply part 13 Opening / closing lid 13a Card alignment piece 20 Printing part (1st information recording part)
20B IC read / write unit (second information recording unit)
21 Platen roller 22 Thermal head 30 Card reversing part 40 Cleaner 50 Normal card ejection part (first card ejection part)
51 Discharge stacker (first frame)
52 Stacker opening 53 Guide 60 Error card ejector (second card ejector)
61 Frame (second frame)
150 Normal card ejector (second card ejector)
160 Error card ejector (first card ejector)

Claims (11)

In a medium processing apparatus for processing and discharging a recording medium,
A device housing;
A medium processing unit for performing predetermined processing on the recording medium;
Discharging means for discharging the recording medium processed by the medium processing unit;
A plurality of discharge portions from which the recording medium is discharged by the discharge means,
The plurality of discharge units are arranged on one side of the apparatus housing in parallel in the same direction as the discharge direction of the recording medium by the discharge unit, and include a first discharge unit and a second frame having a first frame. And a second discharge part having
The first discharge part is disposed downstream of the second discharge part in the discharge direction,
The medium processing apparatus, wherein the second frame has a guide part for discharging the recording medium to the first frame.   The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide unit is configured by an upper surface of the second frame. The first frame and the second frame are disposed outside the device housing,
The apparatus housing is provided with a first opening for discharging the recording medium to the first discharge unit,
The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide unit guides the recording medium from the first opening to the first frame.   The medium processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the guide portion is inclined downward from the first opening toward the first frame. The apparatus housing is provided with a second opening for discharging the recording medium to the second discharge unit,
The medium processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first opening is provided above the second opening.   The medium processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the second frame is provided with the second opening below the guide.   The discharging means rotates in a state where the recording medium is gripped to discharge the recording medium to the first discharging portion and the first discharging portion to discharge the recording medium to the second discharging portion. The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a direction changing unit that moves to a second position to change a direction of the recording medium.   The medium processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the discharging unit further rotates to a third position for transporting the recording medium to the medium processing unit.   The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a width dimension of the second frame body in the same direction as the discharge direction is narrower than a width dimension of the first frame body. Error detection means for detecting whether or not the recording medium has been normally processed by the medium processing unit;
The first discharge unit includes a discharge stacker that accumulates the recording media that have been normally processed by the medium processing unit, and the second discharge unit discharges the recording medium in which an error is detected by the error detection unit. The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medium processing apparatus is a medium processing apparatus. A medium supply unit for supplying the recording medium;
11. The medium processing according to claim 1, wherein the medium supply unit is provided on a side opposite to the first discharge unit and the second discharge unit with respect to the discharge unit. apparatus.

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