JP2693232B2 - Card reader / writer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to an improvement of a card reader / writer device used in an automatic vending device or an automatic service device using a prepaid card in which money amount information and the like are stored. .

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in a card reader / writer device used in an automatic vending device or an automatic service device in which this type of prepaid card is used, a card is inserted once into a card insertion slot of the device. When a predetermined transaction is made, payment information is written on the card, and then the card is returned to the user. In this case, the card is stopped and held at a position (front of the device) where it can be pulled out by the user's hand.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the conventional card reader / writer device having the above-mentioned configuration, the card user tries to receive the purchase of goods or the provision of a service again from the vending machine or the like. In this case, a predetermined transaction cannot be performed unless the card is once removed from the card insertion port of the card reader / writer device and then the extracted card is reinserted into the card insertion port.

Therefore, when the card user wants to make repeated transactions with the card, the card has to be removed and inserted as many times as desired for the transaction, which is troublesome and inconvenient. was there.

Therefore, for the purpose of eliminating the above-mentioned inconvenience, an entrance sensor is provided at the end of the card insertion opening, and a sensor for card detection is provided further inside the apparatus main body than the entrance sensor. Is a card reader / writer device configured to drive a card conveying mechanism when a predetermined detection signal is output when the sensor detects the card, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-187578 (Japanese Utility Model Application No. 62-158579).
No.) was proposed.

According to the proposed device, when a card is inserted into the main body of the device through the card insertion slot and one transaction is completed, payment information and the like due to the transaction is written on the card. Then, the card on which the payment information and the like are completed is returned to the card insertion port side by the card transport mechanism and one end thereof is held, and the other end of the card on the opposite side passes through the card insertion port. Is held in a state of protruding outside the main body of the apparatus. Therefore, when the card user wants to make repeated transactions with the automatic vending machine or the like, it is possible to omit the troublesome work such as withdrawal and insertion of the card, which improves usability.

However, in the card reader / writer device described above, the inertia caused on the card by driving the card transport mechanism is used to return the card to the so-called standby state as described above. In other words, when returning the card at a position with the sensor for detecting a card provided further inside the entrance sensor, the card is stopped at a position beyond the position where the sensor for detecting the card is provided. I had to. Therefore, the card may not return to the preset standby position, and the reinserted state was not reliable. Furthermore, since a plurality of card detection sensors must be provided in the main body of the device, the card reader / writer device becomes large in size, making it difficult to incorporate the card reader / writer device into a vending machine or the like. There was also a problem that the number of parts of the product was large and the cost was high.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to surely stop the positioning of a card to a preset standby position every time one transaction action is completed. Thus, it is possible to reliably detect re-insertion, and to provide a card reader / writer device that can be downsized and reduced in cost by reducing the number of parts.

[Configuration of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, the device main body having an internal space according to claim 1, and a card insertion provided in the device main body so as to communicate with the internal space. An opening, a card insertion detecting means for detecting insertion of a card inserted in the card insertion opening, and a card inserted in the internal space and fed from the card insertion opening toward the internal space, and A card transport mechanism that transports from a space to the card insertion port, a transport amount detection unit that detects and outputs a transport amount of the card transport mechanism, and a card that is provided in the internal space and transported by the card transport mechanism. Card information reading / writing means for reading information stored in the card or writing necessary information to the card, and the card information reading document. After the reading or writing of the information by the inserting means is completed, the card is conveyed to the card insertion opening side by the card conveyance mechanism and the insertion side end of the card is held in the card insertion opening. Is detected by the card insertion detection means, and the transfer amount detected by the transfer amount detection means by being pushed toward the internal space exceeds a predetermined value. 3. A card reader / writer device, comprising: a card carrying control device that is operated to carry the card again into the internal space. 3. The transfer amount detecting device in the card reader / writer device according to claim 1, wherein: , The card transport belt that constitutes the card transport mechanism is interlocked with a drive motor that moves in the forward and reverse directions, The card reader / writer device, which is a pulse encoder that outputs a pulse signal according to the rotation amount of the drive motor based on the operation of the printer, and the predetermined value in the card reader / writer device according to claim 2, In the standby state in which the card is conveyed and returned to the card insertion slot side and held, the count value of the pulse signal output from the pulse encoder corresponding to the movement of the card conveyance belt when the card is removed The present invention provides a card reader / writer device that has a slightly larger count value.

(Operation) In the above configuration, when the card user wants to carry out transactions using the card continuously, if the end of the card protruding from the card insertion slot is pushed into the internal space,
Due to the friction between the card and the card transport belt caused by the pushing of the card, the card transport belt is rotated, and the amount of movement is detected by the pulse encoder linked with the drive motor. Output, the card transport mechanism is driven to give the card to the card information read / write means, the card information read / write means reads and writes the information again, and then the card is set to the position as described above. Will be retained.

Therefore, by ensuring that the card is positioned and stopped at the preset standby position each time a transaction is completed, the reinsertion can be reliably detected and the number of parts can be reduced. It has become possible to reduce the size and cost.

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

1 and 2 are diagrams showing the overall configuration of a card reader / writer device according to an embodiment of the present invention. First
The card reader / writer device shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 2 is used when reading or writing data stored in various cards such as a magnetic card, an optical memory card, and an IC card.

1 and 2, a card insertion port 2 is formed at the left end portion of the card reader / writer device body 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the card insertion port in the internal space of the device body 1 is formed. Two sets of entrance sensors 3 are arranged in the vicinity of 2. At the center of the internal space of the card reader / writer device main body 1, a card transport mechanism 6 and a card information reading / writing device 7 are arranged.

The above configuration will be described in more detail below. That is, the two entrance sensors 3 are set so that the card penetration space portion thereof coincides with the card entrance passage continuing to the card insertion opening 2 (note that, for convenience of explanation, the entrance sensor 3 is described in this embodiment). However, the number is not limited to two). When the card A as described above is inserted into the apparatus main body 1 through the card insertion slot 2, the two entrance sensors 3 detect this and are turned on to output a card detection signal. It has become. The card transport mechanism 6 receives the card A inserted into the apparatus main body 1 from the card insertion opening 2 through the card entrance passage and holds the card A, whereby the card carrying mechanism 6 is in the right direction or the first direction in FIGS.
FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is to be conveyed in the left direction. The card transport mechanism 6 has pulleys 63a, 64a that are provided to face each other in the vertical direction in the vicinity of the card insertion slot 2 with their outer peripheral portions being close to each other.
And pulleys 63b, which are provided to face each other in the vertical direction at positions on the right side in FIGS.
64b, an endless conveyor belt 61 wound around pulleys 63a and 63b, and an endless conveyor belt 62 wound around pulleys 64a and 64b. Conveyor belt 61 and conveyor belt
The reference numeral 62 is for grasping and carrying the card A inserted into the apparatus main body 1 from the card insertion port 2 through the card entrance passage. The pulley 63b is a conveyor belt driving motor attached to the outside of the apparatus main body 1 via the rotary shaft 10.
It is connected to Mo8 and is rotated by receiving the driving force of the transport belt driving motor Mo8, thereby transmitting the rotational driving force of the transport belt driving motor Mo8 to the entire card transport mechanism 6.

The conveyor belt drive motor Mo8 is configured to be rotatable in forward / reverse directions, and is configured to rotate normally or reversely according to a drive command signal output from an arithmetic processing unit described later.

A pulse encoder 9 is attached to the conveyor belt driving motor Mo8. The pulse encoder 9 interlocks with the rotation of the conveyor belt drive motor Mo8 and outputs a number of pulse signals proportional to the rotation speed.

In this embodiment, the amount of movement of the conveyor belts 61, 62 is detected based on the output pulse signal, and the position of the card A inserted into the device body 1 from the card insertion slot 2 in the device body 1 is detected. By also detecting
It is used to determine the length of the portion of the inserted card A that is inserted into the apparatus main body 1 and the carrying position of the card. In the apparatus main body 1, there may be arranged additional sensors required for the length, positioning, punching, etc. of these cards, but these are outside the scope of the invention of the present application, and therefore detailed description thereof will be given here. The description is omitted.

The card information read / write device 7 is inserted from the card insertion port 2 through the card entrance passage under the control of the arithmetic processing means, and reads the data recorded in the card A carried by the card carrying mechanism 6 or the card A. Data is written to the two conveyor belts 6
Card transport mechanism 6 on the side where the outer peripheral surfaces of 1,62 are in contact with each other
Is provided substantially at the center. The card information read / write device 7 has a magnetic head when the card A is a magnetic card, an optical read / write means when the card A is an optical card, and an IC card when the card A is an IC card. IC card contacts are adopted respectively. In this embodiment, since a magnetic card is adopted as the card A, the card information reading / writing device 7 uses a magnetic head capable of reading / writing the magnetic card.

The conveyor belt drive motor Mo drive means is configured to rotate the conveyor belt drive motor Mo8 forward / reversely under the control of the arithmetic processing means.

The arithmetic processing means performs arithmetic operations and logical operations, and for the arithmetic processing means, for example, a microcomputer including a CPU, ROM / RAM, an input / output interface, etc. is used (not shown). The arithmetic processing means receives the detection signals from the pulse sensor 9 and the input sensor 3, and outputs drive command signals to the conveyor belt driving motor Mo driving means and the like. The arithmetic processing means is further configured to control the card information reading / writing device 7 to read the data recorded in the card A by the card information reading / writing device 7 or write the data to the card A. There is.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b).

Now, when the card user inserts the card A into the card insertion slot 2, the entrance sensor 3 is turned on, and a detection signal is output from this entrance sensor 3 (S1). A drive command signal is output to the drive means to rotate the motor Mo8 in the forward direction, whereby the card A is sent in the forward direction (rightward in FIGS. 1 and 2).

When the conveyor belt driving motor Mo8 rotates in the normal direction, the card conveyor mechanism 6 reads the card A from the card information reading / writing device 7
To the installation position. When the card A inserted by the card transport mechanism 6 is given to the card information reading / writing device 7, the magnetic data recorded on the card A becomes
It is read by the card information reading / writing device 7. In addition, the length data of the inserted card A is
It is grasped by reading the count value of the pulse signal output from the pulse encoder 9. After reading these data, by controlling the motor Mo driving means, the motor Mo8 is turned off, and the card A shown in FIG.
Fig. 2 Stop the conveyance to the left, and convey belt drive motor
The process of reversing Mo8 and returning the card to the holding position will be performed (S2: card data processing).

In step (S2), by reading the data regarding the inserted card A, it is determined whether or not the inserted card is a compatible card (S3). If it is determined in step (S3) that the card is a compatible card, it is determined whether or not there is a return instruction from the CPU of the main body side of the vending machine or the like to which the card reader / writer device according to the present embodiment is attached. Do (S
Four). The determination process in step (S4) is, for example, a determination process when a return instruction is issued to the inserted card on the way. In step (S4), if there is no return instruction, it is judged whether or not various goods can be sold or services can be provided based on the record information (for example, balance, remaining number, etc.) written on the card, If possible, sell goods or provide services. After these operations are completed, the payment amount is obtained by subtracting the price of the sold article or the price of the provided service from the record information (balance information, remaining number information, etc.) read from the card A by the card information reading / writing device 7. Is calculated and a command to update the data is output (S5). Based on the data update command output in step (S5), when the motor Mo8 rotates in the reverse direction, the card information reading / writing device 7 is controlled to write the payment amount to the card A. Then, a verify operation is performed to confirm whether the written data is correct (S6). When the processing shown in step (S6) ends,
After performing display processing of balance information or residual information recorded on the card A, or punching the residual number like the telephone card for a telephone used as a prepaid card. Then, the process proceeds to the step (S4) (S7). In step (S4), if there is a return instruction, processing for returning card A to card insertion slot 2 is performed (S8). That is, in the card returning operation executed in step (S8), the conveyor belt drive motor Mo is held so that the card A is held at the predetermined position waiting for card removal.
The reverse rotation amount of 8 is adjusted. That is, here, as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, with the entrance sensor 3 turned on at the card insertion opening 2, the end portion of the card A on the internal space side is slightly moved up and down the conveyor belts 61, 62. It is held in a state of being held in between (S9). Here, the detection counter that holds the count amount of the pulse signal output from the pulse encoder 9 according to the reverse rotation amount of the motor Mo8 is reset (S10).

In the state of waiting for the removal of the card A shown in steps (S9) and (S10), it is considered that the card user only needs to receive the sale or service once, and the card insertion port 2 is held. If the card A on which the card is present is taken out, the series of operations is ended thereby (S11).

Here, when the card user intends to continuously receive the sale of goods or the provision of services, it is confirmed that there is a card in the card insertion slot 2, that is, the entrance sensor 3 is in the ON state. Then, (S11), the card user lightly pushes the card A held in the card insertion slot 2.
As a result, the card transfer mechanism 6 starts to rotate due to the friction generated between the card A and the transfer belts 61 and 62, and the rotation of the card transfer mechanism causes the motor Mo to interlock with this.
The rotary shaft 10 of 8 moves, and a signal corresponding to the rotation is output from the pulse encoder 9. The count value of the pulse signal at this time is a predetermined value A (A: this predetermined value A is from when the card A is waiting for card removal until when the card is removed, that is, when the entrance sensor 3 is in the state of waiting for card removal. By the time the card A is pulled out and turned off, the belts 61 and 62 are moved by the card A, and the number of pulses is slightly larger than the count value of the pulse signals output from the pulse encoder 9 due to the movement. If it is larger than the value (S12), it is determined that the card A has been pushed in from the state of waiting for removal and the drive of the transport drive motor Mo8 is started (normal rotation) (S13). After the rotation of the carry motor Mo8, the process returns to step (S2) to perform card data processing. That is, as a result, similarly to the first process when the card A is inserted, the card A is again transported to the right in FIG. 1 by the card transport mechanism 6, and the sale of goods or the provision of various services are repeated. Can receive.

As described above, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a device that can be continuously used without pulling out the card each time and that continuously sells goods or provides services by the card,
For example, like a ball lending device installed between pachinko machines
If you perform a ball lending operation in units of 0 yen or use a timer for time service equipment, etc., keep the card held in the card insertion slot and continue to sell or service by simply pressing gently if necessary. It is effective for such equipment.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when the card user wants to perform transactions using the card continuously, if the end of the card protruding from the card insertion port is pushed to the internal space side, On the condition that there is an output signal in the ON state of the card insertion detection means, the card transport mechanism is driven based on the output signal and the output signal from the movement amount detection means, and the card becomes the card information read / write means. After the card information is read and written by the card information read / write means, the card information read / write means is held again in the waiting state for extraction as described above. Therefore, each time a transaction is completed, the card can be reliably held in the predetermined waiting position for removal, and the number of parts can be reduced to achieve downsizing and cost reduction. It is possible to provide a new card reader / writer device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a mechanism of a card reader / writer device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a II-II of FIG.
A sectional view taken along the line and FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. 1 ... Device main body, 2 ... Card insertion port, 3 ... Entrance sensor, 6 card transport mechanism, 7 ... Information reading / writing device,
8: Motor Mo for driving the conveyor belt, 9: Pulse encoder.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A device main body having an internal space, a card insertion opening provided in the device main body so as to communicate with the internal space, and a card insertion detection for detecting insertion of a card inserted in the card insertion opening. Means, a card transfer mechanism that is provided in the internal space, sends a card inserted from the card insertion port toward the internal space, and transfers the card from the internal space toward the card insertion port; Transfer amount detecting means for detecting and outputting the transfer amount of the card, and a card for reading information stored in the card carried by the card carrying mechanism provided in the internal space or writing necessary information to the card After reading or writing of information by the information reading / writing means and the card information reading / writing means, The card is detected by the card insertion detection means in a state in which the card is conveyed to the card insertion opening side by the card conveyance mechanism and the insertion side end of the card is held in the card insertion opening, and When the transfer amount detected by the transfer amount detecting means by being pushed toward the internal space exceeds a predetermined value, the card transfer mechanism is operated to move the card toward the internal space again. A card reader / writer device equipped with a card transport control means for transporting. 2. The card reader / writer device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer amount detecting means is interlocked with a drive motor for moving the card transport belt constituting the card transport mechanism in forward and reverse rotation directions, and the card transport belt. A card reader / writer device that is a pulse encoder that outputs a pulse signal according to the amount of rotation of the drive motor based on the operation of. 3. The card reader / writer device according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined value is a value when the card is removed in a standby state in which the card is conveyed and returned to the card insertion slot side and held. A card reader / writer device having a count value slightly larger than the count value of a pulse signal output from a pulse encoder in response to movement of a conveyor belt.