JP3012818U - Prepaid card insertion detection mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide a prepaid card insertion detection mechanism that makes it easy to confirm whether or not the inserted prepaid card is in a predetermined direction and on a predetermined surface, and that enables quick determination of the insertion state. To do. [Structure] Prepaid card 1 to be inserted into the prepaid card insertion opening of the prepaid card reader / writer 10.
The convex portion detector 4 is provided at a position corresponding to the short side position of the convex portion detector 4, and the convex portion detector 4 includes a light emitter portion 5 and an optical receiver portion 6.
In addition, the light emitter section 5 emits light to the surface of the prepaid card 1, the light is reflected on the surface of the prepaid card 1, and the reflected light is received by the optical receiver section 6.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a prepaid card insertion detection mechanism, and more particularly, to a prepaid card insertion detection mechanism that facilitates identification of a prepaid card that has been inserted erroneously on the front and back, front and back, and detects and eliminates erroneous insertion into a reader / writer. Is.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Recently, prepaid cards have become popular. Such a card-type medium requires filling and updating of recorded contents, and is generally inserted into a reader / writer to perform an update regardless of whether it is a print card, a magnetic card, or an optical card. Is. By the way, card-type media are similar in terms of structure and shape, and the front and rear sides of the card are also similar. Therefore, in order to prevent erroneous insertion into the reader / writer, for example, a method of printing a mark such as an arrow indicating the front direction on the front side is widely adopted. However, in most of the cards having the above-described structure, the printed insertion direction instruction mark is difficult to see, and the usability is extremely poor. For this reason, a prepaid card is proposed, in which only one short side of either side of the card is provided with a convex portion that can be easily confirmed by palpation or visual inspection along the short side. It has been done.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, the conventional prepaid card reader / writer device does not have an insertion detection mechanism for a prepaid card having such a configuration.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such a current situation, and the purpose thereof is to easily confirm whether or not the inserted prepaid card is in a predetermined direction and on a predetermined surface, and is quick. It is to provide a prepaid card insertion detection mechanism that enables the determination of the insertion state.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The prepaid card insertion detection mechanism according to the present invention is such that only one short side of one side of a prepaid card having a pair of long sides and a pair of short sides can be easily confirmed by palpation or visual confirmation. The short side of the prepaid card to be inserted at the prepaid card insertion opening portion of the prepaid card reader / writer, in which the shape part is applied to the prepaid card having a direction detection structure provided along the short side. A convex portion detector is arranged at a position corresponding to the position, and the convex portion detector is provided with both a light emitter portion and an optical receiver portion, and the light emitter portion emits light to the surface of the prepaid card, Light is reflected on the surface of the prepaid card, and the reflected light is received by the optical receiver unit.

[0006]

[Action]

 In the prepaid card insertion detection mechanism of the present invention configured as described above, when a prepaid card in an erroneous insertion state in which the front and back sides and the front-back direction are different from the predetermined one arrives, in such an erroneous insertion state, the light of the convex portion detector is detected. The light emitted from the emitter to the surface of the prepaid card is reflected by the surface of the prepaid card without the convex portion, so that the strongly reflected light returns and the light amount received by the optical receiver becomes large. On the other hand, when a prepaid card comes in with the front and back, the front and back direction is predetermined, a convex portion appears at the tip, so the light emitted from the light emitter of the convex detector on the surface of the prepaid card is convex. The light is scattered and reflected on the surface, so that the reflected light is dispersed and returns. As a result, the amount of light received by the optical receiver unit becomes small. Normal insertion and erroneous insertion are discriminated by the above-mentioned change in the light amount.

[0007]

【Example】

 FIG. 1 is a top view of an embodiment of the prepaid card insertion detection mechanism of the present invention. 2 is a sectional view of the prepaid card insertion detection mechanism of FIG. Further, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view for explaining the change of the detected light amount in the prepaid card insertion detecting mechanism of the present invention. The prepaid card to be inserted will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The prepaid card 1 to be inserted into the prepaid card insertion detecting mechanism of the present invention is provided on either one of the short sides of either side of the prepaid card having a pair of long sides and a pair of short sides. The convex portion 3 which can be easily confirmed by touching or visually has a direction detecting structure provided along the short side.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The prepaid card insertion detection mechanism D of the present invention is provided at a position corresponding to the convex portion 3 provided on the short side of the tip of the prepaid card 1 inserted into the prepaid card insertion opening portion of the prepaid card reader / writer 10. The detector 4 is provided. The convex portion detector 4 is for detecting the convex portion 3 optically, and is a reflected light sensor of a combined synchrotron radiation type, which is provided with both a light emitter portion 5 and an optical receiver portion 6. The light emitter section 5 emits light to the surface of the prepaid card 1, the light is reflected by the surface of the prepaid card 1, and the reflected light is received by the optical receiver section 6.

With the configuration as described above, it is possible to easily determine whether or not the prepaid card is correctly inserted in the front / back / front and back. For example, if the prepaid card 1 is correctly inserted in the front / back / front and back, the convex portion 3 appears at the tip of the prepaid card 1 and on the convex portion detector 4 side. At this time, the light emitted from the light emitter portion 5 of the convex portion detector 4 to the surface of the prepaid card 1 is dispersed by the convex portion 3 of the prepaid card 1, so that the reflected light becomes weak, and as shown in FIG. Thus, the received light amount IP of the optical receiver unit 6 decreases to pb. Then, when the prepaid card 1 moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 and the convex portion 3 passes the convex portion detector 4, the lowered received light amount IP of the optical receiver portion 6 is recovered.

On the other hand, if the prepaid card 1 is not normal or front / back, that is, if it is in the wrong insertion state, the light emitter 5 of the convex detector 4 is on the surface of the prepaid card 1. The emitted light is reflected by the surface of the prepaid card 1 without the convex portion 3 and strong reflected light returns, so that the optical receiver unit 6 receives a large amount of light. Moreover, this light amount does not change with the movement of the prepaid card 1. Normal insertion and erroneous insertion are discriminated by the above-mentioned change in light amount.

In this way, the different front / back / front and rear insertion states of the prepaid card are very easily distinguished. In addition, since the detection can be performed only by inserting the front end of the card slightly, it is not necessary to take all the cards into the device, and the time can be reduced. When the wrong insertion is detected, the prepaid card is immediately ejected from the reader / writer.

[0013]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, since the prepaid card insertion detection mechanism of the present invention is configured to detect the change in the light amount corresponding to the different insertion states of the front and back, the front and back directions, the correct front / back surface and the front and back direction can be detected. It can be easily confirmed. Therefore, there is an effect that the erroneous insertion by the user can be detected in an extremely short time after the card is inserted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of an embodiment of a prepaid card insertion detection mechanism of the present invention.

2 is a front view of the prepaid card insertion detection mechanism of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of changes in the amount of detected light in the prepaid card insertion detection mechanism of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Prepaid Card 3 Convex Part 4 Convex Part Detector 5 Optical Emitter 6 Optical Receiver 10 Prepaid Card Reader / Writer D Prepaid Card Insertion Detection Mechanism

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A short side having a convex portion that can be easily confirmed by palpation or visual inspection on only one short side of either side of a prepaid card having a pair of long sides and a pair of short sides. Which is applied to a prepaid card having a direction detection structure provided along with, at a position corresponding to the short side position of the prepaid card to be inserted, in the prepaid card insertion opening portion of the prepaid card reader / writer. A convex portion detector is provided, and the convex portion detector is provided with both an optical emitter portion and an optical receiver portion,
The pre-paid card insertion detecting mechanism, wherein the light emitter section emits light to the surface of the prepaid card, the light is reflected on the surface of the prepaid card, and the reflected light is received by the optical receiver section. .