JP2892292B2 - Card reader card transport mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card transport mechanism of a card reader for recording and reproducing magnetic information on a magnetic card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic card having a magnetic recording layer capable of recording and reproducing magnetic information is sandwiched between a driving roller and a pad roller provided in a card reader and is conveyed along a card conveying path in which a card sensor is arranged. The magnetic information is processed by being sandwiched between a magnetic head and a head pad roller arranged opposite to the magnetic head. The card sensor detects the position of the card in the card transport path,
The stop position of the card, the timing of writing magnetic information, and the like are determined by the detection signal. In some card readers, card transport mechanisms having different transport speeds are continuously arranged in the transport direction to change the transport speed of the card from midway. In a card reader having a card transport mechanism in which the transport speed changes, a pin clutch is provided on the drive roller on the lower transport speed side. Then, when the card straddles both of the transport mechanisms having different transport speeds, the drive roller having the pin clutch is caused to idle by about one rotation,
It absorbs differences in card travel due to differences in transport speed.

[0003]

However, in such a card reader in which the card conveying speed changes halfway, in order to shorten the processing time of the card, it is conceivable to shorten the card conveying interval. Since the drive roller having the lower speed idles about one rotation due to the action of the pin clutch, the card conveyed earlier and the card conveyed later interfere near the drive roller having the pin clutch, There is a possibility that the card processing may not be performed correctly due to a card jam or a card sensor that cannot accurately detect the card position. An object of the present invention is to provide a card reader having a card conveyance path having different card conveyance speeds,
The card transport mechanism of the card reader that can reduce the load on the card and the transport mechanism by absorbing the difference in the amount of travel of the card due to the transport speed difference while keeping the distance between the first transported card and the later transported card constant. To provide.

[0004]

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a first driving means comprising a plurality of first driving rollers and a first pad roller arranged on the upstream side of a card conveying path and driven by a first driving source. And a second driving means, comprising a plurality of second driving rollers and a second pad roller disposed downstream of the card conveyance path, the second driving means being conveyed by a second driving source at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the first driving means. And the first
In a card transport mechanism of a card reader for transporting a card in the card transport path by a drive unit and a second drive unit, the card drive mechanism includes a first drive roller, which is closer to the second drive unit, among the plurality of first drive rollers. A unidirectional rotation transmitting means for transmitting only the rotation of one drive source in the forward rotation direction is provided.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the one-way rotation transmission means for transmitting the rotation of the first drive source in the forward rotation direction is provided to the first drive roller of the first drive means provided on the upstream side of the card transport path. When the first drive source and the second drive source are activated and are driven to rotate in the forward direction, the first drive roller is rotated in the forward direction by the action of the one-way rotation transmitting means, and is moved downstream of the card transport path. The second drive roller of the provided second drive means is also driven to rotate in the forward rotation direction, and the card is conveyed. When the conveyed card straddles the first driving means and the second driving means, the first
The card is pulled to the side of the second drive unit which is transported faster than the transport speed of the drive unit, the first drive roller provided with the one-way rotation transmission unit becomes free with respect to the card, and the card is moved to the second drive unit. Is transported at a transport speed of.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an air boarding pass (hereinafter, referred to as an "ATB ticket") which is an example of a magnetic card. This A
The TB ticket 1 is a flexible soft card made of a thin paper material long in the direction of transport of the ticket, and has print data (not shown) such as a departure place and a destination on the surface thereof. Is displayed, and a magnetic stripe 1a as a magnetic recording layer is provided on one side of the back surface along the longitudinal direction of the ticket.
Data including print data on the front surface is magnetically recorded on the magnetic stripe 1a. The ATB ticket 1 is loaded in a stocker (not shown) in a continuous state, and the first insertion slot 13 or the second insertion slot 1 of the card reader 2 shown in FIG.
4 and cut by the cutter K at the joint C and cut off one by one.

The card reader 2 shown in FIG. 1 includes a card transport mechanism 8 provided in a first card transport path 3 connecting a first insertion port 13 and a discharge port 12, and a second insertion port 14 and a discharge port 12. And a card transport mechanism 9 provided in the second card transport path 4 to be connected. First card transport path 3 and second card transport path 4
Transports the ATB ticket 1 inserted into the first insertion slot 13 and the second insertion slot 14 toward the common ejection port 12 by the card transport mechanism 8 and the card transport mechanism 9. 1st slot 1
3 and the second insertion port 14 are arranged on the upper side surface of the card reader 2, and the discharge port 12 is arranged on the lower side surface of the card reader 2.

In the vicinity of the first insertion slot 13 and the second insertion slot 14, magnetic heads 7A and 7B for reading (reading) magnetic information of the ATB ticket 1 to be inserted are provided between the first card transport path 3 and the first card transport path 3. Two card transport paths 4 are provided facing each other. An evacuation path 11 formed to be inclined downward toward the bottom of the card reader 2 communicates with a junction X between the first card conveyance path 3 and the second card conveyance path 4.

The card transport mechanism 8 includes a first card transport path 3
The first drive means 5 is provided in the vicinity of the first insertion port 13 on the upstream side, and the second drive means 10 is provided in the vicinity of the discharge port 12 on the downstream side of the first card transport path 3. The configuration other than that the card transport mechanism 9 has a drive motor 6A whose transport speed is lower than that of the drive motor 5A,
Since it is formed in substantially the same configuration as the card transport mechanism 8,
The description of the card transport mechanism 9 is omitted.

The first drive means 5 includes a plurality of first drive rollers 23A, 23B, 23 driven by a drive motor 5A.
C, and is mainly constituted by pad rollers 24A, 24B, and 24C that are arranged to face the drive rollers 23A, 23B, and 23C, respectively. The first drive rollers 23A and 23B are
It is fixed to the drive shaft 26 and the support shaft 27, respectively, and is disposed facing the first card transport path 3 near the first insertion slot 13. The first drive roller 23 </ b> C is supported by a drive shaft 28 provided on a frame 29 of the card reader 2 and is arranged between the first drive unit 5 and the second drive unit 10.

The drive shafts 26 and 28 and the support shaft 25 provided on the frame 29 are mounted on a pulley 32A on which a drive belt 32E wound around a drive pulley 32B fixed to an output shaft 5B of a drive motor 5A is wound. 32C and 32D are respectively fixed. Pulleys 30 </ b> A, 3 around which the connecting belt 31 is wound are connected to the drive shaft 26 and the support shaft 27.
OB is fixed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first drive roller 23C has an E-ring 34A, 34B at the end of the drive shaft 28, which restricts movement in the axial direction. Supported through. The one-way clutch 33 employs a well-known configuration that allows the drive shaft 28 and the first drive roller 23C to rotate integrally when the output shaft 5B rotates in the forward rotation direction and the drive shaft 28 is driven. Here, when the drive shaft 28 is rotationally driven in the counterclockwise direction, it rotates integrally.

The first pad rollers 24A and 24B are connected to a support shaft 2 provided on a support 22 fixed to a frame 29.
0, 21 and rotatably supported by the first drive roller 23
A and 23B are arranged above. Pressing plates 18 urged downward by tension springs 19 are in pressure contact with the support shafts 20 and 21, respectively. Pad roller 24C
Is supported by a lever 16 fixed to a rotating shaft 17 which is rotated by an actuator (not shown), and is in pressure contact with the first drive roller 23C.

The driving motor 5A is a stepping motor that can be rotated forward and backward. When the card sensor S1 provided near the first insertion slot 13 detects the insertion of the ATB ticket 1, the driving motor 5A is driven to rotate in the forward rotation direction. When the card sensor S2 provided near the first drive roller 23C detects the leading end of the transported ATB ticket 1, the detected ATB ticket 1 and the next ATB are detected.
The connection portion C with the ticket 1 is stopped at the timing of stopping near the cutter K. Drive motor 5A
Are driven in the reverse rotation direction when an error in reading magnetic information by the magnetic head 7A occurs.
The forward rotation direction is a rotation direction in which the ATB ticket 1 is conveyed toward the discharge port 12 and refers to a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 1, and the reverse rotation direction is a direction in which the ATB ticket 1 is conveyed toward the first insertion slot 13. The direction of rotation is the clockwise direction. The card sensor S1 controls the drive motor 5A and
When the TB ticket 1 is detected, control is performed so that the drive motor 15 as a second drive source that constitutes a part of the second transport means 10 is rotated in the forward rotation direction.

The second transport means 10 mainly comprises a drive motor 15 which can be rotated forward and backward, second drive rollers 35A and 35B driven by the drive motor 15, and second pad rollers 36A and 36B. Output shaft 15a of drive motor 15
In addition, pulleys 38 and 39 around which a belt 37 extends are fixed to the drive shaft 35Aa of the second drive roller 35A. Belt pulleys 40A and 40B around which a belt 40C is wound are fixed to the drive shaft 35Aa and the support shaft 35Ba of the second drive roller 35B, respectively.
The second drive roller 35A and the second drive roller 35B can be integrally rotated. Second pad rollers 36A, 36B
Is pressed against the second drive rollers 35A and 35B by an urging means (not shown). The distance between the second drive roller 35A and the first drive roller 23C is set shorter than the entire length of the ATB ticket 1.

A magnetic head 41 for recording and reproducing magnetic information on the ATB ticket 1 to be conveyed is disposed facing the first card conveying path 3 at a position shifted in the axial direction from the second driving roller 35B. . Above the magnetic head 41, a head pad roller 42, which is urged toward the magnetic head 41 by urging means (not shown), is disposed to face.

Between the second driving rollers 35A and 35B,
A card sensor S3 is provided. The card sensor S3 detects the position of the ATB ticket 1. Here, an error occurs in writing (writing), reprocessing (retry), and reading / reading (verify) of magnetic information on the ATB ticket 1 by the magnetic head 41. At this time, when the trailing end 1B of the ATB ticket 1 is detected, the drive motors 5 and 15 are temporarily stopped, and only the drive motor 15 is driven to rotate in the reverse rotation direction. 15 is driven to rotate in the forward rotation direction.

The drive motor 15 is constituted by a step motor capable of rotating forward and backward, and is driven to rotate faster than the drive motor 5A. In this embodiment, the transport speed of the first transport driving unit 5 is set to approximately 370 mm / sec, and the transport speed of the second transport driving unit 10 is set to approximately 1000 mm / sec.

According to such a configuration, when the ATB ticket 1 is inserted into the first insertion slot 13 and detected by the card sensor S1, the drive motors 5A and 15 are driven in the forward rotation direction to drive the first drive roller 23A. , 23B, 23C and the second drive rollers 35A, 35B rotate counterclockwise, respectively, so that the ATB ticket 1 is taken into the first card feed path 3. When the taken-in ATB ticket 1 reaches the magnetic head 7A, the magnetic information is read, and if there is no reading error, it is transported as it is. When a read error occurs, the drive motor 5A rotates in the reverse direction, and the ATB ticket 1
Is transported back to the first insertion slot 13.

When the card sensor S2 detects the leading end 1A of the ATB ticket 1 conveyed in the first conveying path 3, the ATB
When the cut portion C of the ticket 1 reaches the vicinity of the cutter K, the drive motor 5A stops, and the cutter K operates according to a cut signal from a control unit (not shown), and the ATB ticket 1 which has been in a continuous state is one ATB ticket. It is cut into ticket 1. At this time, the continuous ATB ticket 1 includes the first drive roller 23A,
It is placed in a standby state sandwiched between 23B and first pad rollers 24A and 24B.

When it is time to transport the cut ATB ticket 1, the drive motor 5 is controlled by control means (not shown).
A, 15 are driven in the forward rotation direction to cut ATB
The ticket 1 passes through the first driving roller 23C, and the second conveying means 10
Is transported first toward the second drive roller 35A, and the ATB ticket 1 in the standby state is also transported later. At this time, in the related art, since the pin clutch is used for the first drive roller 23C, even if the ATB ticket 1 in the standby state to be post-conveyed is conveyed, the cut ATB ticket 1 of the previous conveyance is pinned. The ATB ticket 1 is not conveyed until the clutch is actuated and overlaps in the first card conveyance path 3 from the first insertion slot 13 to the first drive roller 23C.
However, in the present embodiment, the rotation of the drive motor 5A in the forward rotation direction is immediately transmitted from the drive shaft 28 to the first drive roller 23C by the action of the one-way clutch 33 in this embodiment. So the drive motor 5
A of the first transport cut along with the forward rotation of A
The TB ticket 1 is immediately conveyed.

FIG. 4 shows the tip 1A of the ATB ticket 1 conveyed earlier.
As shown in FIG. 7, when the first driving roller 23C is sandwiched between the second driving roller 35A and the second pad roller 36A,
It is pulled by the second drive roller 35A rotating faster. Then, the drive shaft 2 is driven by the one-way clutch 33.
The first drive roller 23 </ b> C integrated with the drive shaft 8 rotates faster than the drive shaft 28 and slides on the drive shaft 28.

Therefore, the ATB ticket 1 straddling the first driving roller 23C and the second driving roller 35A having different conveying speeds.
When the leading end 1A is held between the second driving roller 35A and the second pad roller 36A, the second driving means 10 transports the leading end 1A toward the discharge port 12. At this time, since the first drive roller 23C idles with respect to the drive shaft 28 by the action of the one-way clutch 33, the drive force on the ATB ticket 1 is cut off, and the second drive is performed without giving an excessive force to the ATB ticket 1. The ATB ticket 1 is transported according to the transport speed of the means 10.

At the transport speed of the second driving means 10, the discharge port 12
The ATB ticket 1 conveyed toward is ejected from the ejection port 12 as long as the magnetic information does not need to be written. If the ATB ticket 1 needs to be written, the magnetic head 41 and the magnetic head 41 are located downstream of the first card transport path 3. Magnetic information is written while being sandwiched between the head pad roller 42. A
The TB ticket 1 is discharged from the discharge port 12 unless an error occurs in writing.

On the other hand, if an error occurs in the writing of the magnetic information and the rear end 1B of the ATB ticket 1 is detected by the card sensor S3, the drive motors 5A and 15 are stopped once and then the drive motor 15 is rotated in the reverse direction. It is driven to rotate in the direction.
Then, the ATB ticket 1 stopped by being sandwiched between the second drive roller 35B and the second pad roller 36B shown in FIG. When the card sensor S3 detects the leading end 1A of the ATB ticket 1 conveyed in the reverse direction, the drive motor 15 is driven to rotate in the forward rotation direction again, and the magnetic head 41 performs rewriting (retry). The rear end 1B of the reread ATB ticket 1 is used as the card sensor S
When 3 is detected, the drive motor 15 is driven to rotate in the reverse rotation direction, and the ATB ticket 1 is once introduced into the evacuation path 11. Then, when the leading end 1A is detected again by the card sensor S3, the drive motor 15 is driven to rotate in the forward rotation direction, and re-reading (verification) is performed by the magnetic head 41, and the magnetic head 41 is discharged from the discharge port 12.

[0026]

According to the present invention, the first drive roller of the first drive means provided on the upstream side of the card transport path and having a slower transport speed than the second drive means provided on the downstream side has the first drive roller. By providing a one-way rotation transmitting means for transmitting the rotation of the source in the forward rotation direction, the first drive roller also rotates immediately with the rotation of the first drive source in the forward rotation direction. It is possible to prevent the inserted card from being clogged or to detect a bad card position, and to smoothly carry the card. Further, when the card is straddled by the second driving means and the first driving means and the card is pulled by the second driving means, the first driving roller idles by the action of the one-way rotation transmitting means, so that the card is driven by the first driving roller. Is not transmitted, the difference in travel amount of the card due to the speed difference between the first drive means and the second drive means is absorbed, and the load on the card and the first drive means can be reduced. It leads to durability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a card transport mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention and a card reader having the same card transport mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an ATB ticket as an example of a card.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a first drive roller.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing a state of a card straddling a first driving unit and a second driving unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 card 2 card reader 3 first card transport path 4 second card transport path 5 first drive mechanism 5A first drive source 8 card transport mechanism 10 second drive mechanism 15 second drive source 23 (A, B, C) 1 drive roller 24 (A, B, C) first pad roller 33 one-way rotation transmitting means

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] And 1. A first driving means driven by a plurality of first driving rollers arranged on the upstream side of the card transfer path and a first drive source comprises a first pad roller, the downstream side of the card transport path A second driving unit comprising a plurality of second driving rollers and a second pad roller disposed and driven by a second driving source at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the first driving unit; A card transport mechanism of a card reader for transporting a card in the card transport path by the second drive means and the first drive roller of the plurality of first drive rollers which is closer to the second drive means. A card transport mechanism for a card reader, further comprising one-way rotation transmitting means for transmitting only rotation of a drive source in a forward rotation direction.