JP2522602B2 - Card processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a card processing device for processing payment of a prepaid card or the like.

[Prior Art] For example, in a retail store that enables payment of goods using a prepaid card, a large amount of prepaid cards are purchased in advance from a card sales company. This prepaid card has a card number, card sales company code, store code,
Information such as expiration date and balance can be magnetically recorded. Then, when a prepaid card is purchased from a card sales company at a retail store, necessary information such as a card issuing company code, a card number and a store code is magnetically recorded on the card using a card processing device. Such work is called a primary issuing work. After that, when the customer offers to purchase the prepaid card, the store side uses the above card processing device to magnetically record the necessary information such as the expiration date and the balance on the prepaid card that has already been issued, and then sells it to the customer. Such work is called secondary issuance work.

The customer who purchased the prepaid card pays the price of the purchased product with the balance of the prepaid card each time the product is purchased at the retail store, and the balance of the prepaid card is processed by processing the payment with the card processing device. The payment amount is deducted from. Such a business is called a payment business. Then, when the balance is exhausted, the prepaid card becomes invalid. Also, if the card expires despite the balance remaining, the card needs to be renewed. In this case, the balance of the expired old card is added to the balance of the new card using the card processing device to invalidate the old card. Also, when there is no more area on the card to print the card balance, the same processing and operation are performed. Such work is called update work.

By the way, in the conventional card processing device that processes a prepaid card according to each business such as the above-mentioned primary issuance, secondary issuance, payment, and renewal, the information recorded on the card prior to executing the processing of each business. Was read, and the effectiveness of the processing to be executed was judged by comprehensively judging several kinds of information. Therefore, it takes time to determine the effectiveness. For example, in card payment business, the expiration date data and balance data recorded on the card and the print line number data for the print area are read, and the balance data is not less than zero and the expiration date has not expired. If I confirmed that there was space, I had enabled the card payment process. . Similarly, in the card renewal work, the expiration date data, the balance data, and the print line number data for the print area recorded on the card are read, and the balance data is greater than zero and the expiration date has expired or the print area has a vacancy. If it was confirmed that it was not there, the card renewal process was enabled.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, in the conventional card processing apparatus of this type, it takes time to determine the effectiveness of the processing on the card, and the processing efficiency is poor.

Therefore, the present invention is intended to provide a card processing device capable of shortening the time required for determining the effectiveness of processing on a card and improving the processing efficiency.

[Means for Solving the Problem] According to the present invention, the expiration date data and the balance data recorded on the card are read, and when the expiration date is not expired, the price data is subtracted from the balance data and the rest is recorded on the card as new balance data. In the card processing device that executes the card payment business and the card renewal business that reads the balance data recorded on the card and adds the balance data to the balance data of another card to issue this other card The card attribute determination means for determining the attribute of the card by reading the recorded attribute information for identifying at least three types of attributes of "in use", "updatable" and "unusable", and the attribute of the card is "used" When it is "Medium", the card payment operation control means that allows the card payment operation by the card and the card payment operation When the card has expired, the attribute information of the card is "in use".
To "renewable" from in-use / updatable rewriting means, and when the new balance data of the card becomes 0 or less in the card payment business, the attribute information of the card is rewritten from "in use" to "unusable" The in-use / unusable rewriting means, the card update operation control means that allows the card update operation by the card when the card attribute is "updatable", and the attribute information of the card that has read the balance data in the card update operation. It is equipped with renewable / unusable rewriting means for rewriting from "updatable" to "unusable" and in-use setting means for setting the attribute information of the card issued in the card renewal work to "in use". is there.

Further, the present invention reads the balance data recorded on the card, deducts the price data from the balance data, records the rest as new balance data on the card, and displays the payment information such as the payment amount and the payment date and time on the card printing area. In a card processing device for executing a card payment operation to be printed on a card and a card renewal operation for reading the balance data recorded on the card and adding the balance data to the balance data of another card to issue the other card. , Card attribute determination means for determining attribute of the card by reading attribute information recorded on the card for identifying at least three types of attributes of "in use", "updatable" and "unusable", and card attribute Card payment business control means that allows the card payment business by the card when the card is "in use", and the card payment business If there is no space in the print area of Oite card, and use in / update can rewrite means to rewrite the attribute information of the card from the "in use" to "renewable",
In the card payment business, when the new balance data of the card becomes 0 or less, a busy / unusable rewriting means for rewriting the attribute information of the card from “in use” to “unusable”,
When the attribute of the card is "updatable", the card renewal operation control means that allows the card renewal operation by the card and the attribute information of the card whose balance data is read in the card renewal operation from "updatable" to "unusable" The rewritable / unusable rewrite means for rewriting to and the in-use setting means for setting the attribute information of the card issued in the card renewal work to "in use".

[Operation] According to the present invention having such a configuration, information necessary for data processing is recorded on the card as well as information indicating the attribute of the card. Then, when executing the process for the card, first, the information indicating the attribute of the card is detected from the card information read by the card reader / writer.
Then, the effectiveness of the process to be executed is determined by the attribute of the card, and the execution of the corresponding process is controlled according to the determination result. Then, when the corresponding process is executed, the information indicating the attribute of the card is updated to the information indicating that the card has executed the corresponding process.

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a POS (point of sale information management) terminal capable of paying for a product using a prepaid card will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 2 is an external view showing the overall structure of the POS terminal. This terminal is an HD host computer.
Terminal body 2 connected via communication line 1 such as LC (high-level data link control) line
And a card reader / writer 4 connected to the terminal body 2 via a signal cable 3.

On the terminal body 2, a keyboard 6 on which various keys are arranged for inputting data on sold products, data on the prepaid card 5, etc., "registration", "inspection"
A mode switch 7 for selecting various business modes such as “payment” and “setting”, an operator display 8 and a customer display 9 for displaying product sales data and the balance of the prepaid card 5, a receipt, etc. Printer for printing
10, a drawer 11 for storing cash, etc. is provided.

On the front surface of the card reader / writer 4, there is formed a card insertion / removal slot 12 into / from which the prepaid card 5 is inserted / removed. Then, the magnetic head reads information from and writes information to the magnetic recording portion provided on one surface of the card 5. Information is printed by a print head on a printing unit provided on the surface opposite to the magnetic recording unit.

Here, in the magnetic recording portion of the prepaid card 5, as shown in FIG. 1, information a such as a card number, a card issuing company code, a store code, an expiration date, a balance, and the number of printed lines a
In addition to ~ f, information g indicating the current attribute of the card 5 is recorded.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the terminal body 2. The CPU 21, which constitutes the control unit main body, has a built-in arithmetic circuit, memory control circuit, etc., and performs various arithmetic processing based on the input data from the keyboard 6 and the like, and the bus line.
A ROM 23, which stores program data, character generator data, and the like, and a RAM 24, which stores various input data, arithmetic processing data, and the like are controlled via 22. Further, a clock circuit 25 for measuring the date and time, an I / O port 26 for receiving a signal from the mode switch 7 and outputting an open signal to the drawer 11, and a host computer 27 via the communication line 1 A communication interface 28 for controlling data transmission / reception carried out between the keyboard 6, a keyboard controller 29 for fetching key data corresponding to input keys from the keyboard 6, a display controller 30 for driving and controlling the respective displays 8, 9, the printer 10 Each unit of a printer controller 31 for driving and controlling the card reader and a card reader / writer interface 32 for controlling data exchange with the card reader / writer 4 via the signal cable 3 is connected to the CPU 21 via the bus line 22. Has been done.

Then, the CPU 21 uses the key input on the keyboard 6 to perform the business (primary issuing business,
When the secondary issuing work, payment work, renewal work, etc.) is instructed, the processing shown in FIG. 4 is executed. That is, first, it waits for the prepaid card 5 to be inserted into the card reader / writer 4. If inserted, the card information is read via the card reader / writer 4 and stored in the RAM 24. Then, the information g indicating the attribute is detected from the card information stored in the RAM 24 (attribute information detecting means). If the information g is the information indicating the attribute “unusable” (for example, 9), the prepaid card 5 cannot be used.
Performs error processing such as displaying error messages and ejecting cards.

If the above information g is information other than the attribute "unusable", the instructed work is processed. Here, the business process for the prepaid card 5 will be described along with the movement of the card 5.

First, when a retail store purchases a prepaid card 5 from a card issuing company, necessary information such as a card issuing company code, a card number, and a store code is magnetically recorded on the card 5. This work is called a primary issuing work, and when this work is instructed, the primary issuing process shown in FIG. 5 is executed. Here, prepaid card 5 purchased from the card issuing company
In the magnetic recording unit, the information (for example, 0) indicating the attribute “raw card” is recorded as the information g indicating the attribute, and the other information has an initial value (for example, all 0). That is, first, it is confirmed that the information g indicating the attribute of the card 5 is information indicating the attribute “raw card” (for example, 0).
It is also confirmed that the information f indicating the number of print lines is “0”. When the above confirmation is made, since the card 5 is a card that can be subjected to the primary issuing process, "1" is added to the information f indicating the number of print lines, and the card number and the card issuing issued by the primary issuing operation are added. The information a, b, and c of the company code and the store code are printed on the print line corresponding to the information f indicating the number of print lines of the print section of the prepaid card 5. Further, the information a, b, and c of the card number, the card issuing company code, and the store code are written in the magnetic recording section of the prepaid card 5. (Data processing control means) After that, the information g indicating the attribute of the card 5 is updated to the information indicating the attribute "primarily issued" (for example, 1), and this processing ends. (Attribute information updating means) Next, when the customer offers to purchase the prepaid card 5,
At a retail store, necessary information such as expiration date and balance is magnetically recorded on the pre-paid card 5 that has been issued first, and sold to customers.
Such work is called a secondary issue work, and when this work is instructed, the secondary issue processing shown in FIG. 6 is executed.
That is, first, it is confirmed that the information g indicating the attribute of the card 5 is the information indicating the attribute “primarily issued” (for example, 1). Also, it is confirmed that the information f indicating the number of print lines is “1”. When the above confirmation is made, since the card 5 is a card that can be subjected to the secondary issuing process, "1" is added to the information f indicating the number of print lines, and the expiration date and time entered by the secondary issuing operation and The balance information d and e are printed on a print line corresponding to the information f indicating the number of print lines of the print unit of the prepaid card 5. Further, the information d and e of the expiration date and the balance are written in the magnetic recording portion of the prepaid card 5. (Data Processing Control Unit) After that, the information g indicating the attribute of the card 5 is updated to the information indicating the attribute “secondarily issued” (for example, 2), and this processing ends. (Attribute Information Updating Means) Thus, each time a customer who purchases the prepaid card 5 purchases a product at the retail store, the customer pays for the purchased product with the balance of the prepaid card. in this case,
At the retail store, payment can be completed by subtracting the price of the purchased product from the balance of the prepaid card 5 presented by the customer. Such work is called a payment work, and when this work is instructed, the payment process shown in FIG. 7 is executed.

Here, when the customer presents the unused prepaid card 5, it is first confirmed that the information g indicating the attribute of the card 5 is the information indicating the attribute “secondary issued” (for example, 2). When the confirmation is made, since the card 5 is a card capable of payment processing, the information d indicating the expiration date and the date of the clock circuit 25 are compared next. And the clock circuit
When the date of 25 has passed the expiration date, since the expiration date of the card 5 has expired, the information g indicating the attribute is updated to the information indicating the attribute “updatable” (for example, 4), and The process ends.

On the other hand, when the date of the clock circuit 25 is within the expiration date, the payment amount input by the payment operation is deducted from the information e indicating the balance of the card 5. Also, "1" is added to the information f indicating the number of print lines. Then, the payment amount, the payment date and time, and the balance after the payment amount is deducted are printed on the print line corresponding to the information f indicating the above-mentioned print line number of the print unit of the prepaid card 5. In addition, the information e indicating the balance after being deducted from the payment amount is written in the magnetic recording portion of the prepaid card 5. (Data processing control means) Next, it is determined whether or not the information e indicating the balance after deducting the payment amount is larger than “0”. When it is "0", the information g indicating the attribute is set to the attribute "unusable".
Is updated to information (for example, 9) indicating this, and this processing is ended. If the information e indicating the balance is larger than "0", then it is determined whether or not the information f indicating the number of print lines matches the preset bottom line of the print section of the prepaid card 5. Then, if they match, the information g indicating the attribute is updated to the information indicating the attribute “updatable” (for example, 4), and this processing is ended. If the information f indicating the number of print lines does not match the bottom line of the print section, the information g indicating the attribute is updated to the information indicating the attribute “in use” (for example, 3), and this processing is ended. (Attribute Information Updating Means) Further, in the payment operation, when the customer presents the prepaid card 5 in use, first, the information g indicating the attribute of the card 5 is the information indicating the attribute “in use” (for example, 3). Make sure that. When the confirmation is made, the card 5 is a card capable of payment processing, and therefore, the same processing as in the case where the unused prepaid card 5 is presented is executed.

In this way, when the payment for the product by the prepaid card 5 is made, the balance of the card 5 eventually becomes "0". Then, as described above, the information g indicating the attribute becomes the information (for example, 9) indicating the attribute “unusable”.
After that, even if the card 5 is used to process various card tasks, an error occurs due to the check of the information g indicating the attribute.

On the other hand, the balance of the prepaid card 5 is larger than "0", but when the printing area of the printing unit is exhausted or the expiration date has expired (the information g indicating the attribute of the card becomes the attribute "updatable"). Card) cannot be used. In this case, the balance of the old card is accumulated and updated in another secondary issued or used card. Such work is called update work, and when this work is instructed, the update process shown in FIG. 8 is executed. That is, it is confirmed that the information g indicating the attribute of the old card 5 is the information (for example, 4) indicating the attribute “updatable” as the processing for the old card that is initially usable. Then, when confirmation is made, information e indicating the balance of the old card 5 is displayed.
The data is stored and held in the RAM 24 (data processing control means), and the information g indicating the attribute is updated to the information indicating the attribute “unusable” (for example, 9) (attribute information updating means), and this processing ends.

Next, as processing for the update destination card 5, the information g indicating the attribute of the update destination card 5 is information indicating the attribute "secondary issued" (for example, 2) or information indicating the attribute "in use" (for example, 3). Make sure that. Also, it is confirmed that the update destination card 5 has not expired. When the above confirmation is performed, the update destination card 5 is a card that can be updated, so the information e indicating the balance of the update destination card 5 is the information indicating the balance of the old card stored and held in the RAM 24. Is added. Also, "1" is added to the information f indicating the number of print lines. Then, the update date and time and the balance after the balance of the old card are added are printed on the print line corresponding to the information f indicating the number of print lines of the print unit of the update destination card 5. Further, the information e indicating the balance after the balance of the old card is added is written in the magnetic recording unit of the update destination card 5. (Data Processing Control Unit) Next, it is determined whether or not the information f indicating the number of print lines of the update destination card 5 matches the preset bottom line of the print unit. Then, if they match, the information g indicating the attribute is updated to the information indicating the attribute “updatable” (for example, 4),
This process ends. On the other hand, when the information f indicating the number of print lines does not match the bottom line of the print portion, the information g indicating the attribute is updated to the information indicating the attribute “in use” (for example, 3), and this process is performed. finish. (Attribute Information Updating Means) In this way, in the POS terminal of the present embodiment, when various business operations are instructed to the prepaid card 5, the attributes recorded in the prepaid card 5 prior to executing the processing of the business. Is detected, and whether or not to execute the process is determined according to the content of the information.
That is, instead of comprehensively determining a plurality of pieces of fragmentary information recorded on the prepaid card 5 as in the conventional case to determine the validity of the card 5, information g indicating an attribute
Since the validity of the card 5 is determined by checking, it is possible to shorten the time required for the validity determination,
As a result, the processing efficiency of business for cards can be improved.

Although the card processing device (POS terminal) for the prepaid card is illustrated in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to, for example, a card processing device for processing a credit card. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the number of printing lines of the printing portion of the prepaid card 5 is managed on the side of the terminal body 2, but the number of printing lines may be managed on the side of the card reader / writer 4.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, attribute information for identifying at least three types of attributes of "in use", "updatable" and "available" is recorded on a card together with balance data and the like. However, if the attribute information is "in use", the card payment business is allowed, and if it is "updatable", the card renewal business is allowed. It is possible to provide a card processing device that can be shortened and can improve processing efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a POS terminal. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a data format of a magnetic recording unit in a prepaid card, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of the POS terminal. 3, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the control circuit of the terminal body, FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the processing for the card business of the CPU, FIG. 5 is a flow chart concretely showing the primary issuing processing of FIG. 4, and FIG. Is a flow chart specifically showing the secondary issuance processing of FIG. 4, FIG. 7 is a flow chart specifically showing the payment processing of FIG. 4, and FIG. 8 is a flow chart specifically showing the update processing of FIG. is there. 2 ... Terminal body, 4 ... Card reader / writer, 5 ... Prepaid card, 6 ... Keyboard, 21 ... CPU, 23 ... ROM,
24 ... RAM, 25 ... clock circuit.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A card payment business for reading expiration date data and balance data recorded on a card, subtracting price data from the balance data and recording the rest as new balance data on the card when the expiration date has not expired. In a card processing device that reads the recorded balance data, adds the balance data to the balance data of another card and issues the other card, and at least the "use" recorded in the card. The attribute information for identifying the three attributes of "medium", "updatable", and "unusable" is read, and the attribute determined by this card attribute determination means is "use". When it is "Medium", the card payment operation control means for allowing the card payment operation by the card, and the card payment In-use / updatable rewriting means for rewriting the attribute information of the card from "in use" to "updatable" when the expiration date of the card has expired in the card payment business permitted by the business control means When the new balance data of the card becomes zero or less in the card payment business permitted by the card payment business control means, the attribute information of the card is rewritten from "in use" to "unusable" in use / unusable A rewriting means, a card updating work control means for permitting the card updating work by the card when the attribute judged by the card attribute judging means is "updatable", and a card updating work permitted by the card updating work controlling means Renewable / useable by rewriting the attribute information of the card that has read the balance data from “updatable” to “unusable” in business And No rewriting unit, the attribute information of the card to be issued in the allowed card renewal work by the card renewal operations control means "in use"
A card processing device, comprising: an in-use setting means for setting the above. 2. The balance data recorded on the card is read,
The balance data is deducted from this balance data, the rest is recorded as new balance data in the card, and the payment information such as the payment amount and the payment date and time is printed in the print area of the card, and the card is recorded in the card. In a card processing device that reads balance data, adds the balance data to the balance data of another card, and issues a card that is another card, at least "in use" recorded in the card, The attribute information for identifying the three types of attributes, "updatable" and "unusable", is read, and the attribute determined by this card attribute determining means is "in use". Card payment operation control means for permitting the card payment operation by the card at a certain time, and this card payment operation control In the card payment business permitted by the means, when the printing area of the card becomes full, the attribute information of the card is rewritten from "in use" to "updatable", a renewable / in-use renewal means, and the card payment. In the card payment business permitted by the business control means, when the new balance data of the card becomes 0 or less, the in-use / unusable rewriting means for rewriting the attribute information of the card from “in use” to “unusable” , A card update operation control means for permitting the card update operation by the card when the attribute determined by the card attribute determination means is “updatable”, and a balance in the card update operation permitted by the card update operation control means Renewable / unusable book that rewrites the attribute information of the card that read the data from "updatable" to "unusable" And means, the attribute information of the card to be issued in the allowed card renewal work by the card renewal operations control means "in use"
A card processing device, comprising: an in-use setting means for setting the above.