JP2569949B2 - Card payment device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Overview] Regarding a card payment device for performing card payment, when the remaining amount of a transaction data storage memory for storing transaction data becomes low, the number of cards usable in one transaction is limited to 1 The purpose is to store in the transaction data storage memory all transaction data by a predetermined plurality of cards used in the transaction, a transaction amount registration unit for registering the transaction amount, and a card input and registered in the transaction amount registration unit. A card payment processing unit for deducting the amount from the card and recording the remaining amount on the card; a transaction data storage memory for storing one transaction data settled by the card payment processing unit for each transaction of the card; A memory monitoring unit for detecting that the remaining amount of the storage area of the memory has fallen below a predetermined amount and / or has reached a predetermined amount; And a transaction data transmission unit for transmitting the contents of the transaction data storage memory to a higher-level device. The configuration is such that the number of spare storage areas corresponding to the number is provided.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a card payment device for performing card payment.

Here, the card is a card that initially has a value corresponding to a predetermined amount, and when the settlement is performed using this card, the value corresponding to the settlement amount decreases.

In recent years, in the field of commerce, forms of using cards as substitutes for cash have been increasing. For this reason, a card payment device that registers a transaction amount and inserts the card to withdraw the amount from the card has become widespread. When the card payment device has a higher-level device, it is necessary to transmit transaction data to the higher-level device when card payment is performed.
When the card payment is made, the host device is inquired at that point and the transaction data is sent.If it takes too much time to send and receive the data, a certain amount of transaction data is stored in advance. It is necessary to store it in a transaction data storage memory prepared so that it can be transmitted, and to transfer it at once when transmitting. Also, 1 is stored in the transaction data storage memory.
If one transaction data is stored, one data is stored for one card settlement. If multiple cards are settled in one transaction, the same number of data as the number of cards is created. It is necessary to store all the data.

[Conventional technology]

With the conventional card payment device, if the card payment is made, it is necessary to manage the total amount of the issued card in the world or to guarantee the amount of the card if a failure occurs in the card etc. You need to manage your card for the reason
No., transaction amount, etc.) is stored in a transaction data storage memory prepared so that a certain amount of transaction data can be stored in advance, and one data is stored for one card settlement.
When a transaction is made with a plurality of cards, all the data is stored. The data stored in the transaction data storage memory is collectively sent to a higher-level device in a predetermined period unit, and is tabulated as management data by the higher-level device.

However, since the transaction data storage memory can only store a certain amount of transaction data, when the remaining memory of the transaction data storage memory is small, when a transaction is made using a plurality of cards in one transaction Means that when the remaining memory is exhausted, the payment data by the card thereafter is not stored.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and when the remaining amount of the transaction data storage memory for storing transaction data is low, the number of cards that can be used in one transaction is limited to one transaction. It is an object of the present invention to provide a card settlement device in which all transaction data of a predetermined number of cards to be used are stored in a transaction data storage memory.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, a card settlement apparatus of the present invention comprises a settlement amount registration unit for registering a transaction amount, a card input and the amount registered in the settlement amount registration unit is subtracted from the card, and the remaining amount is recorded on the card. A card payment processing unit, a transaction data storage memory for storing one transaction data settled by the card payment processing unit for each transaction of a card, and the remaining amount of the transaction data storage memory storage area is less than a predetermined amount. And / or a memory monitoring unit for detecting that a predetermined amount has been reached, a card settlement number limit count for limiting the number of cards usable per transaction to a predetermined number at this time, and A transaction data transmission unit for transmitting the transaction data to the apparatus, wherein a number of spare storage areas corresponding to the predetermined number are provided at the end of the transaction data storage memory. One in which the.

(Operation)

With the above configuration, when the remaining amount of the storage area of the transaction data storage memory reaches a predetermined amount, the number of cards that can be used per transaction is limited to the predetermined number, and an area that can store only the transaction of the last card remains. Then, even if one transaction using the predetermined number of cards is stored, the transaction data of the first card is stored in the remaining one transaction storage area, and the transaction data of the remaining cards is stored in the last card. After the area for storing the transaction data, it is stored in the spare area of the number (predetermined number minus one) provided in accordance with the predetermined number, so that all the transaction data by the card used for one transaction is stored in the transaction data storage memory. Will be. When the last one transaction is settled with a predetermined number of cards or less, the remaining spare area remains unused.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an amount registering unit for registering an amount for each transaction. Reference numeral 2 denotes a card for settlement of this transaction, and reference numeral 3 denotes a card settlement processing unit which reads the present amount of the card 2 and records the remaining amount obtained by subtracting the amount registered by the amount registration unit 1 from the present amount of the card. Reference numeral 4 denotes a transaction data storage memory for storing transaction data settled by the card settlement processing unit 3 as one transaction data per transaction of one card.
A near-end detection circuit 5 detects a near-end provided near the end of the storage area of the transaction data storage memory 4. Reference numeral 6 denotes a card settlement number limiting circuit, which detects the near end from the near end detecting circuit 5 and limits the number of cards used in one transaction after this detection to a predetermined number. Reference numeral 7 denotes a transaction data transmission unit 7 which transmits transaction data stored almost completely in the transaction data storage unit 4 to the host device 8.

FIG. 2 shows a storage area of the transaction data storage memory 4.
The storage area of the transaction data storage memory 4 includes a management record at the top of the memory 4 for storing management data, and a transaction data record for storing transaction data.

FIG. 3 shows a management record format. The management record stores a completion pointer, a near end pointer, an end pointer, and an edit pointer. The completion pointer is a record N in which the latest transaction data is written (edited).
o., and the edit pointer indicates the column (digit) position in the record in which the next transaction data is to be edited. The near end pointer is a record number indicating the near end of the file (transaction data storage memory 4). If the record number of the stored transaction data is equal to or exceeds the near end pointer, a file near end alarm is issued. The size of this file is 64KB as shown in Fig. 2,
Considering the number of transaction data and the file capacity, the near-end pointer is record No. 249. The end pointer is a record number indicating the end of the file. The end pointer of this file is No.254.
Transaction data can be stored only up to the record of the end pointer 254-1 = 253.

FIG. 4 shows a data creation buffer provided in the card settlement processing unit 3 shown in FIG. 1. When this buffer becomes full, it is stored in the transaction data record of the transaction data storage memory 4 in the same format. .

FIG. 5 shows an example of use of the memory area after the near end. If the near end of the file is detected, the settlement data of all transactions stored in this file is created (data on the number of transactions in this file and how much was settled), and the contents stored in this file are ranked higher. The process of transmitting to the device 8 has priority. However, since it takes some time to transmit the data, and customers often appear during this time, transactions that can be stored in five records between the near-end pointer and the end pointer (one transaction corresponds to one transaction)
If processing is performed with one card, processing of 10 transactions) and logging of transaction data can be performed. Record No. 254 is reserved for one transaction (using one card) and an unused area. Record No. 255 is an adjustment data storage area. Record No. 256 cannot be used, and data indicating that it is the last one is to be included in the transmission.

In the present embodiment, an area for one transaction by one card is taken as a spare area. Therefore, when only the area where one transaction data can be stored in the second half of record No. 253, that is, the last card remains, Even if a customer who uses two cards for one transaction appears, the transaction using the second card uses a reserve, so that all of this transaction data (two data in total) can be securely stored in a file. I can do it.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment. First, the amount required for the transaction is input to the amount registration unit 1, and the card 2 is inserted into the card settlement processing unit 3 in order to settle this amount with a card. It is determined whether or not the insertion of the card 2 is an error (step 61). If an error is detected, error processing is performed (step 62), and the card is ejected. If there is no error (step 61), card settlement is performed, and the balance of the card 2 is updated to a value obtained by subtracting the amount entered from the amount registration unit 1 from the balance of the card (step 63). Next, if the entered amount cannot be settled using only the card that has been settled, a check is made (step 64) because a settled account remains, and if there is no settled card, the card is ejected and the process is terminated (step 65). If there is any remaining payment (step 64), a check is made by the near-end detection circuit 5 as to whether or not the transaction is in the near end of the transaction data storage memory 4 (step 66). Process the remaining payment with the card. If it is near end (step 66), the number of cards used for this transaction is counted after entering the near end (step 67), and this is 2
If the number has not been reached, the card is ejected and the next card is settled. If the number is two or more (step 68), the card is ejected, and the settlement by the card for this transaction is terminated. The unsettled portion will be settled by a method other than a card such as cash.

In the above description, the number of cards that can be used for the settlement of one transaction after the near-end is detected is two. However, the number of cards that can be used may be limited to n. In that case, n-1 spare areas are provided one less than the limited card number n.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, after detecting that the remaining amount of the transaction data storage memory falls below a certain amount, the transaction can be performed by limiting the number of cards used in one transaction to a predetermined number. By increasing the number of cases and providing a storage reserve area corresponding to the predetermined number, card payments up to the predetermined number can be stored in one transaction. Thus, it is possible to eliminate an inconvenient state in which transaction data cannot be stored in the transaction data storage memory during one transaction and use of a predetermined number of cards.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of a transaction data storage memory, FIG. 3 shows a management record format of the transaction data storage memory, FIG. 4 shows a record format of a data creation buffer, and FIG. 5 shows transaction data storage. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of use of a memory area after the near end of the memory, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation flow chart of the present embodiment. In the figure, 1 ... amount registering unit, 2 ... card, 3 ... card settlement processing unit, 4 ... transaction data storage memory, 5 ... near-end detection circuit, 6 ... card settlement number limiting circuit, 7 ... Transaction data transmission unit, 8 ... higher-level device.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A payment amount registration unit for registering a transaction amount, a card payment processing unit for inputting a card, subtracting the amount registered in the payment amount registration unit from the card, and recording the remaining amount on the card, and a card payment unit The transaction data storage memory for storing one transaction data settled by the processing unit for each transaction of one card, and the remaining amount of the storage area of the transaction data storage memory has fallen below a predetermined amount and / or has reached a predetermined amount. A memory monitoring unit for detecting that a transaction has occurred, a card settlement number limiting circuit for limiting the number of cards usable per transaction at this time to a predetermined number, and a transaction data transmission unit for transmitting the contents of the transaction data storage memory to a host device. And a number of spare storage areas corresponding to the predetermined number are provided at the end of the transaction data storage memory.