JP2653221B2 - Card issuing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a magnetic card issuing apparatus for a prepaid card.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, a cashless sales system for purchasing desired products using a prepaid card has been widely used, for example, in an in-house cafeteria, an in-house store, and the like.

Such a prepaid card is to be purchased at a card vending machine having a special encoding function. Next, a card vending machine for selling prepaid cards which has been conventionally put into practical use, and a card issuing device incorporated in the vending machine Will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG.

First, FIG. 2 is an external view of a card vending machine, in which a bill insertion slot 2, a purchase amount selection button 3, an amount display 4, a purchase confirmation button 5, a cancel button 6, a card reception slot are provided on the front of the main body 1. 7 and the like, and a card issuing device described later is built in the main body. Reference numeral 8 denotes a magnetic card, and 8a denotes a band-shaped magnetic storage unit attached to the card.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a conventional structure of a card issuing device incorporated in a card vending machine. That is, the card issuing device is roughly divided into a card transport mechanism 9 leading to the above-described card receiving port, a card skacker 10 connected to and behind the card transport mechanism 9, and a magnetic head 11 for reading / writing the card. And a control unit (not shown) including a data processing unit. Here, the card transport mechanism 9 is provided with a roller 12 for feeding the card along the card transport path 9a, and sends out the card 8 to the card receiving port 7 or reversely takes in the card 8 by operating the rollers forward and reverse. The card stocker 10 accommodates a number of unused new cards 8, which are commonly called virgin cards, in a stack, and pays out the new cards 8 one by one based on a command. Driven take-out roller 14, guide roller 15, gate plate 1 for cutting cards one by one
6, and a weight 17 and the like.

When newly purchasing a prepaid card with such a card vending machine, the customer inserts a bill, selects a desired purchase amount with the amount selection button 3 and presses the purchase confirmation button 5. As a result, the new card is sent from the card stacker 10 to the card transport mechanism 9, where the money data corresponding to the purchase amount is written into the magnetic storage unit 8 a of the card 8 by the magnetic head 11 and sent out to the card receiving port 7. .

The card issuing device also has the following card updating function in addition to the above-described new card issuing function. In other words, a card in use which has a small or zero balance is inserted into a card vending machine 7 of a card vending machine, and bills are inserted in the same manner as for the purchase of a new card. Is selected, the card issuing device rewrites the amount data of the card into an amount obtained by adding an additional purchase amount to the balance before updating and returns the amount to the customer again. By providing such an update function, the card can be recycled, and the operating cost of the card system can be reduced.

By the way, the magnetic card has a limit in reading and writing data by the update operation in terms of durability. If the number of updates is not limited, the card cannot be read or written due to contamination of the card. Updates may not be possible. Therefore, normally, the number of updates is determined in advance, and it is determined whether or not the number of updates recorded on the card has reached a predetermined limit each time the update is performed, and the number of updates has reached the limit. In such a case, regardless of whether or not there is a balance, the card taken in is replaced with a used card and invalidated, and then the new card is re-issued with the sum of the balance before renewal and the additional purchase amount written. Like that.

That is, in FIG. 3, when the card is updated, the data of the balance and the number of updates of the card taken into the card transport mechanism 9 from the card receiving port 7 are read by the magnetic head 11, and the number of updates reaches the preset limit number. The card is used (unusable) by punching the card with a punch, and the card is sent to the card receiving port 7 and returned to the customer. Then, the card is transferred from the card stacker 10 to the card transport mechanism 9. The data of the sum of the balance before the update and the amount of the additional purchase are written in the new card that has been carried out, and are carried out to the card receiving slot 7.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in the above-mentioned card renewal and issuance method, there is a possibility that the following card receiving trouble may occur with the customer.

In other words, if the number of updates has reached the limited number of times when updating a card that is being used, the customer adds the old card that has been used (the punched hole has been punched out and cannot be used) and the additional purchase amount to the balance. You will receive two cards with the reissued card. However, since the reissued card is sent to the card slot later in time than the old card, the customer mistakes the old card received for the first card as an updated card and replaces the second card Sometimes you leave the place before you leave and forget to get a legitimate card. Further, even if the user does not forget to take the card, there is a possibility that the used invalid card and the valid card may be used incorrectly because the customer has two cards at hand.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and thus avoids the above-described trouble of receiving a card at the time of updating a card, and collects a used invalid card that is no longer needed without handing it to a customer. It is intended to provide an issuing device.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a card issuing device according to the present invention includes a card transport mechanism leading to a card receiving slot, data reading / writing means for the amount of money and the number of updates incorporated in the card transport mechanism, and a card stacker accommodating a new card. in addition,
The card collection box for used cards and a card distribution mechanism for switching the card delivery path between the card transport mechanism and the card stacker or card collection box are additionally provided. If the number of times the card has been updated has reached the predetermined limit, the balance is rewritten to zero and the card is collected in the card collection box. The data of the sum of the balance and the additional purchase price is written and reissued.

[Action]

According to the card issuing device having the above configuration, when the number of times of updating a card taken in at the time of updating the card has reached the limit number, the balance of the card is rewritten to zero and the card is used, and then the card is used. Instead of returning the card to the customer, the card is collected in the card collection box on the plane, and the new card is replaced with the issue amount (the amount obtained by adding the additional purchase amount to the balance before the update) and reissued.

Therefore, the customer receives only one new card that has been reissued, and it is possible to avoid occurrence of trouble such as forgetting to take the card.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a card issuing apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention, and the same members corresponding to FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

That is, in addition to the configuration of FIG.
And a card sorting mechanism 19 are additionally provided.
Here, the card collection boxes 18 are arranged below the card stacker 10 so as to be detachable behind the card transport mechanism 9. The card sorting mechanism 19 is a swinging flapper installed between the card transporting mechanism 9 and the card stacker 10 as shown in the figure, and is lightly spring-biased upward with its rear end as a swing fulcrum. . Therefore, when the card 8 taken into the card transport mechanism 9 is sent out from the transport mechanism 9 in this state, the leading end of the card 8 hits the back surface of the flapper and falls into the card collection box 18 along the slope. On the other hand, when a new card is paid out from the card stacker 10, the leading end of the card 8 hits the upper surface of the flapper and pushes the flapper down to the position indicated by the broken line. Therefore, the card 8 moves straight on the upper surface of the flapper and is transferred to the card transport mechanism 9.

When a new card is issued in such a configuration, the card 8 (new card) unloaded from the card stacker 10 based on the command passes through the card distribution mechanism 19 and is taken into the card transport mechanism 9, where the magnetic card is transferred. The amount data corresponding to the purchase amount is written on the card 8 by the bed 11 and then transmitted to the card receiving port 7.

When updating a card in use, the card transport mechanism 9 takes in the card 8 inserted from the card receiving slot 7, and then the magnetic head 11 firstly updates the balance of the amount data recorded on the card 8 by updating the balance. The number of times is read, and the data content is sent to the data processing unit. The data on the balance of the card is stored in the storage unit of the temporary data processing unit. Here, if the number of card updates has not reached the limit number, the amount data of the card is rewritten to the total amount obtained by adding the additional purchase amount to the balance before update, and the number of updates is also rewritten at the same time (the number of updates is “1”). ), The card transport mechanism 9 is turned over, the card 8 is sent out to the card receiving slot 7, and returned to the customer.

On the other hand, if the number of times the card has been updated reaches the preset number of times, the balance of the card is rewritten to zero amount data to make it a used card, and the card transport mechanism 9 sends the card backward. Thereby, the card 8 is turned downward by the card sorting mechanism 19 and is collected in the card collection box 18. The card unloading sensor 20 detects that the card 8 has passed the distribution mechanism 19. Subsequently, unused new cards are unloaded from the card stacker 10,
It is taken into the card transport mechanism 9 via the card distribution mechanism 29. Then, after writing the total amount data of the balance before the update (stored in the memory) and the newly purchased additional purchase amount into the new card by the magnetic head 11, the card 8 is inserted into the card receiving slot 7. Take it out.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the card issuing device of the present invention, when the number of card updates reaches the limited number of times at the time of card update, the card is used and collected without returning to the customer. Then, instead, the data of the issuance amount, which is the sum of the balance and the additional purchase amount, is written in the new card and reissued. In other words, the customer receives one card. Therefore, it is possible to surely prevent the trouble of forgetting to remove the card, which can occur when returning the used old card to the customer as in the conventional device and re-issuing the regular renewed card again, which is no longer necessary. Since the used invalid card is not returned to the customer, there is an advantage that the customer can be prevented from mistakenly using the invalid old card and the newly reissued new card.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the structure of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of a card vending machine, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the structure of a conventional card issuing device. In the figure, 7: card slot, 8: magnetic card, 9: card transport mechanism, 1
0: card stacker, 11: magnetic head, 18: card collection box,
19: Card distribution mechanism.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A card issuance device for a prepaid card or the like, a new card issuance function for writing and issuing amount data corresponding to a purchase amount to a new card, and a card amount for a card in use. A card with a card renewal function that rewrites the data to the sum of the pre-update balance and the additional purchase price and returns the data. The card transport mechanism that leads to the card slot, the amount of money incorporated in the card transport mechanism, and data reading of the number of updates Card distributing means for switching the card transfer path between the card collection box for used cards and the card transport mechanism between the card stacker and the card collection box, in addition to the card stacker for storing / writing new cards. When a card update operation is performed, the number of card updates taken into the aircraft reaches the specified limit. If the card has been used, the card is discarded and collected in the card collection box. A card issuance device characterized by issuing.