JP2743205B2 - Card reader / writer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a card reading / writing device such as a prepaid card, and more particularly to a device for detecting a data rewriting abnormality due to a disconnection of a writing head, processing of a card, etc. The present invention relates to a card reading / writing device that automatically executes abnormality processing.

(Prior Art) Recently, vending machines employing prepaid cards have been developed. Such a vending machine inserts a prepaid card into the vending machine to purchase a desired product, and calculates a new balance by subtracting the amount of the purchased product from the balance stored in the inserted prepaid card. , Rewrite the contents of the prepaid card with this calculated new balance,
Thereafter, the prepaid card is returned.

By the way, if the rewriting of the prepaid card is not performed normally due to the disconnection of the write head or the processing of the prepaid card in the vending machine, it causes unexpected damage to the user of the vending machine or the administrator of the vending machine. Sometimes. For example, even if a product is purchased from a vending machine using a prepaid card, the amount of the purchased product is not subtracted from the remaining amount stored in the prepaid card, or the product is purchased from the remaining amount stored in the prepaid card. If only less than the value of the product is deducted, the vending machine user will eventually purchase the product at a lower price than the set price, which will damage the vending machine administrator . In addition, when purchasing a product from a vending machine using a prepaid card, if the amount of the purchased product is subtracted from the remaining amount stored in the prepaid card, the vending machine user As a result, the user purchases the product at a higher price than the set price, which causes damage to the vending machine user.

Therefore, after writing data to the prepaid card, re-read processing is performed, and if the written data does not match the re-read data, the card is held in the vending machine as a writing error and the function of the vending machine is performed. There is proposed an apparatus configured to stop the operation. However, in the case of such a configuration, a vending machine user has to hold a card having a remaining balance, which is extremely undesirable. However, here, without stopping the function of the vending machine,
In addition, if a configuration in which a card having a writing error is returned as it is is used, unexpected damage is given to a user of the vending machine or an administrator of the vending machine as described above.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, if the rewriting of the prepaid card is not performed normally due to disconnection of the write head or processing of the prepaid card, the user of the vending machine using the prepaid card or the automatic It may cause unexpected damage to the vending machine administrator and cause trouble.

Therefore, the present invention is intended to prevent unexpected damage to a user of a vending machine or an administrator of a vending machine even when rewriting of a prepaid card is not normally performed due to disconnection of a write head or processing of a prepaid card. It is an object of the present invention to provide a card reading and writing device which does not have any card.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention reads data recorded on an inserted card, performs predetermined processing on the read data, and A card reader / writer that updates the data of the card by writing the data subjected to the processing of (1) to the card, wherein the data read at the time of insertion of the card is stored, and the data is updated. Error processing means for reading the update data written on the card and returning the card as a write error if the data stored when the card is inserted matches the read update data; It is characterized by.

(Operation) The data read when the card is inserted is stored, the update data written on the card is read for updating the data, and the data stored when the card is inserted and the read update data are updated. Compare.

If the two match in this comparison, it is considered that the data on the card has not been updated normally due to an abnormal writing of the device to the card.

Therefore, in this case, there is a possibility that the data of the card can be updated normally by retry. Therefore, the card is returned without abnormally stopping the apparatus, and the card can be reused.

According to such a configuration, even when there is a cause on the device side such as a writing error on the device side, the device does not stop complicatedly, thereby preventing unnecessary troubles with the customer.

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a card reading / writing apparatus according to the present invention. The card reader / writer of this embodiment is applied to a vending machine using a prepaid card, and includes sensors 1 and 2, a read / write head 3, a control unit 4, a transport motor 5, and a memory 6. . The sensors 1 and 2 are disposed along the card transport path 7 as shown in FIG.
Is detected. As the sensors 1 and 2, for example, a known sensor that includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element and detects the card CA by detecting that the card CA has blocked light from the light emitting element with the upper light element is used. Can be. Here, the sensor 1 detects that the card CA has been inserted into the card transport path 7, and the sensor 2 detects the reading start position of the card CA.

The read / write head 3 reads necessary data from the card CA transported through the card transport path 7 and writes necessary data to the card CA transported through the card transport path 7. In this embodiment, a read / write head 3 in which a read head and a write head are integrally formed.
However, a head formed separately from the read head and the write head may be used.

The transport motor 5 moves the card along the card transport path 7.
For transporting CA, for example, card transport path 7
(Not shown) is driven. The transport motor 5 is a motor that can rotate forward and reverse.
By rotating the card CA in the forward direction, the card CA is transported in the direction of arrow A on the card transport path 7, and by rotating the card CA in the reverse direction, the card CA is transported in the direction of arrow B on the card transport path 7.

The control unit 4 performs a read / write operation of the read / write head 3 based on the detection outputs of the sensors 1 and 2,
Control the operation of.

The memory 6 stores data required by the control unit 4, and stores data read from the card CA by the read / write head 3, and stores data obtained by performing predetermined processing on data read from the card CA. And a storage unit C for storing data re-read from the card CA.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the diagram showing the transport state of the card CA shown in FIG. 2 and the flowcharts shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. When the card CA is inserted into the card transport path 7 and the sensor 1 is turned on, the control unit 4
Detects this (step 101) and gives a forward rotation command to the transport motor 5, whereby the transport motor 5 rotates forward (step 102). When the transport motor 5 rotates forward, the card CA is in the second position.
It is transported in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. When the leading end of the card CA reaches the position where the sensor 2 is provided, the sensor 2 is turned on (step 103), and the card CA is further advanced and the sensor 2 is turned off (step 104) (see FIG. 2 (b)). Part 4
Starts a read operation by the read / write head 3,
The data read from the card CA, that is, the balance of the card CA is stored in the storage section A of the memory 6 (step 105).
When the reading of the data from the card CA is completed (see FIG. 2C), the control unit c issues a reverse rotation command to the transport motor 5 to place the card CA in a predetermined holding position (the card CA shown in FIG. 2B). (The position where the rear end reaches the position where the sensor 2 is disposed) (step 106). The operation of step 106 is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is,
First, the transport motor 5 is reversed (step 201), and when the rear end of the card CA reaches the position where the sensor 2 is provided and the sensor 2 is turned on (step 202), the transport motor 5 is stopped.

Here, when there is a subtraction command input based on the product sale (step 107), the subtraction amount, that is, the selling price of the sold product is subtracted from the remaining amount of the card CA stored in the storage unit A, and the subtracted value is stored in the memory 6. It is stored in the storage unit B (step 108). Subsequently, the transport motor 109 is rotated forward (step
109) When the sensor 2 is turned off (step 110), the read / write head 3 is driven to write the contents of the storage section B to the card CA (step 111). When the writing of the data of the card CA is completed, the card CA is held at the holding position (see FIG. 2B).
(Step 112). The operation of step 112 is the same as the operation of step 106 described above, and details thereof are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

When the card CA is returned to the holding position, the transport motor 5 is rotated forward (step 113), and when the sensor 2 is turned off (step 114), the read / write head 3 is driven to re-read the data of the card CA. The data is read and the re-read data is stored in the storage section C of the memory 6 (step
115). Then, the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is executed to return the card CA to the holding position (see FIG. 2B) (step 116).

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the content of the storage unit C is equal to the content of the storage unit A (step 117). Here, the content of the storage unit A is the first content of the inserted card CA, and the content of the storage unit C is the content of the card CA rewritten to the content of the storage unit B in step 111 in step 115. Since the contents are read again, the contents of the storage unit C should be different from the contents of the storage unit A if the rewriting in step 111 has been performed normally.

However, if the contents of the storage unit C and the contents of the storage unit A match, it is determined that the normal rewriting of the card CA in step 111 has not been performed normally, and the main control (not shown) for controlling the sending of the product is performed. (Step 118). As a result, conveyance of the product to be sold is prohibited. Subsequently, the contents of the balance read from the card CA, that is, the contents of the storage section A of the memory 6 are set to 0 yen (step 119), and the card CA is returned (step 1).
20). Then, the value ERC indicating the number of times of occurrence of abnormality is increased by 1, and set as a new value ERC.

Next, it is determined whether or not this value ERC has exceeded 5 (ERC> 5). If ERC> 5 is not satisfied, a standby state is set. In the standby state, the card CA can be inserted again.

By the way, if the rewriting of the card CA is not normally performed even though the insertion of the card CA is repeated a predetermined number of times (five times in this embodiment), ERC> 5 is satisfied in step 122. In this case, the selling operation is stopped as an abnormality such as disconnection of the read / write head 3.

If the contents of the storage section C do not match the contents of the storage section A in step 117, it is determined that at least the contents of the card CA have been rewritten, and then the contents of the storage section C are replaced with the contents of the storage section B, That is, it is checked whether or not the contents match the contents to be rewritten (step 123). Where card CA
If the rewriting has been performed normally, the contents of the storage section C and the contents of the storage section B should be equal.

However, in this case, if the contents of the storage unit C and the contents of the storage unit B do not match, it is assumed that the rewriting in step 111 is not performed correctly, or that an abnormality such as a failure in rereading in step 115 has occurred. to decide. In this case, since the data of the card CA is indefinite, a merchandise transport permission signal is sent to the main control (not shown) (step 124). After the merchandise is paid out, the selling operation is stopped as a failure. In this case, the card CA is not returned. In this case, the card CA itself may be configured to perform an alarm (abnormal) punch or print and return the card. In this case, an abnormality display may be performed at the same time.

If the contents of the storage section C and the contents of the storage section B match in step 123, it is determined that the rewriting operation in step 111 has been performed normally. In this case, a product transport permission signal for permitting product transport is sent to the main control (not shown) (step 125). Thereby, the goods are paid out. Thereafter, the card CA is returned (step 126), and the value ERC is returned.
Is cleared to 0 (step 127), and a standby state is set.

As described above, according to this embodiment, (1) the contents of the storage unit C and the contents of the storage unit A match, and if the number of times is less than five, the card is returned without selling the product.

(2) When the contents of the storage section C and the contents of the storage section A match, and the number of times exceeds 5, the operation stops as a head disconnection.

(3) If the contents of the storage unit C and the contents of the storage unit A do not match, and the contents of the storage unit C and the contents of the storage unit B do not match, the card is not returned and stopped as a failure (or a card that is abnormally displayed). Will be returned).

(4) If the contents of the storage unit C and the contents of the storage unit A do not match, and if the contents of the storage unit C and the contents of the storage unit B match, a normal product selling operation is performed.

Works like that. This prevents unexpected damage to the user of the vending machine or the manager of the vending machine.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, if data on a card is not rewritten, the card is automatically returned, and the card can be inserted and used again. The configuration has the advantage that unnecessary trouble with the customer can be prevented, and the configuration for that can be processed by software, so that it is very simple.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a card transfer state for explaining the operation of this embodiment, and FIGS. 3 to 5 explain the operation of this embodiment. FIG. 1, 2,... Sensor, 3... Read / write head, 4.
Control unit, 5: transport motor, 6: memory.

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for reading data recorded on a card from an inserted card, performing predetermined processing on the read data, and writing the data on which the predetermined processing has been performed on the card. In a card reading / writing device for updating data of the card, while storing data read at the time of insertion of the card, reading updated data written on the card for updating the data, A card reading / writing device comprising: an error processing unit that returns the card as a writing error when the data stored at the time of insertion matches the read update data. 2. The card according to claim 1, wherein the card is a prepaid card on which a predetermined balance is recorded, wherein the abnormality processing means includes: first reading means for reading the balance of the card from the card; First storage means for storing the balance of the card, calculation means for subtracting the amount of the desired product from the balance stored in the first storage means, and calculating a new balance for the card; Second storage means for storing the calculated new balance of the card; writing means for updating the balance of the card by writing the new balance of the card stored in the second storage means to the card; Second reading means for reading the new balance written by the writing means from the card; third storage means for storing the new balance of the card read by the second reading means; First comparison means for comparing the new balance of the card stored in the third storage means with the balance of the card stored in the first storage means, and the first balance stored in the third storage means A second comparison means for comparing the new balance with the new balance of the card stored in the second storage means, and a comparison result of the first comparison means is inconsistent and the second comparison means If the comparison result by the comparing means is identical, the card is returned after outputting the sale permission signal for the product, and the first card is returned.
2. The card reading / writing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a processing unit that returns the card without outputting the sales permission signal when the comparison result of the comparing unit is the same. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: counting means for counting the number of times of the abnormal processing by the abnormal processing means; and abnormal stopping means for abnormally stopping the apparatus when the count value of the counting means reaches a predetermined value. The card reading / writing device according to claim 1. 4. A card read / write comprising a transport motor for transporting a card, a read head for reading data from the card transported by the transport motor, and a write head for writing data on the card transported by the transport motor. In the apparatus, a predetermined process is performed on the data read by the read head, the data subjected to the predetermined process is written to the card by the write head, and the data written by the write head is read from the card by the read head. An error processing means for re-reading the data by the head, comparing the re-read data with the data read first by the read head, and returning the card as a write error of the write head when the two match. A card reading / writing device characterized by the above-mentioned. 5. A card read / write comprising a transport motor for transporting a card, a read head for reading data from the card transported by the transport motor, and a write head for writing data to the card transported by the transport motor. In the apparatus, a predetermined process is performed on the data read by the read head, the data subjected to the predetermined process is written to the card by the write head, and the data written by the write head is read from the card by the read head. The card is re-read by the head, the re-read data is compared with the data read first by the read head, and if they match, the card is returned as a write error of the write head, and the re-read data is returned. And the data read first by the read head In the case of the,
Further, a card reading / writing device comprising an error processing means for comparing the re-read data with the data subjected to the predetermined processing and, if the two do not match, abnormally stopping the device as a failure.