JP3321395B2 - Automatic ticket gate - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic ticket gate suitable for a case where a plurality of tickets are required for one passenger.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for one passenger (user),
The main body (hereinafter referred to as the “main body”) of a multi-function automatic ticket gate that is used when multiple tickets are required, such as a standard ticket and an express ticket, has a plurality of cards inserted into the main body. There is provided a pool section for temporarily holding tickets.

[0003] That is, when a user inserts a plurality of tickets one by one into the slot of the main body, the user collectively collects a plurality of tickets until all the tickets are inserted. When the card is inserted into the main body, entry and exit data cannot be written to the previously inserted ticket until the one-sheet feeding from the separation unit is completed. A pool is provided for temporarily holding tickets.

A ticket pooled in the pool is performed when it is determined that the ticket is valid in a reading process by a reading head provided on the upstream side of the transport path of the pool, and is determined to be invalid. When this happens, the door is closed and entry and exit are refused, and the ticket that was previously determined to be a valid ticket and that has been pooled in the pool section is discharged to the discharge port without any processing and returned.

[0005]

By the way, the above-mentioned automatic ticket gate corresponding to plural sheets has a pool part for temporarily holding the ticket inserted into the main body, so that one user Requires more processing time than a single-leaf ticket that can be entered and exited with a single ticket, and the required number of cards to be inserted varies, such as two, three, or more. Has the property that the processing time is not constant.

In addition, when the pool of the ticket of the first customer is completed, the shutter of the slot is opened and the ticket of the next customer can be inserted, so that the ticket of the second customer remains in the pool. At that time, the ticket of the next customer is in a waiting state at the stopper in front of the separating section, but even in this state, the next customer continues to enter the ticket gate passage, so that the next customer is There is a drawback that the user is ahead of the ticket position and the user stays in the ticket gate passage.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to adjust the opportunity for a next customer to insert a ticket so that a user stays in a ticket gate passage. It is to provide an automatic ticket gate without any.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An automatic ticket gate according to the present invention is an automatic ticket gate that requires a plurality of tickets for entry and exit processing of one user in order to achieve the above object. There is a shutter for opening and closing an input port for inserting a ticket into the main body, a pool portion for temporarily storing the ticket inserted into the main body, and a predetermined ticket such as printing the temporarily stored ticket in the pool portion. Calculating means for calculating a processing time until the processing is performed, and shutter control means for opening the shutter based on the calculated processing time so that a next user can insert a ticket. It is characterized by.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a card handler A portion of a main body a. The main body a is configured so that a plurality of (two in FIG. 1) tickets can be stacked and put in a lump. Have been.

A transport path L for a ticket driven by a motor M is provided between the slot 1 of the main body a for inserting a ticket and the outlet 2 for returning the ticket to the user. The slot 1 is provided with a shutter 3 driven by a solenoid (not shown) so that the slot 1 can be opened and closed, and the reception of a ticket into the main body a can be controlled. Have been. Regardless of the presence or absence of the shutter 3, the reception of the ticket can be substantially stopped by stopping the insertion port motor m that drives from the insertion port 1 to the separation unit 4 described below.

In the transport path L, an inlet 1 to an outlet 2
, A stopper S1 driven by a solenoid (not shown) for temporarily holding the ticket inserted into the slot 1 before the separating section described later, and a plurality of sheets stacked and inserted into the slot 1 at once. The ticket is changed by changing the peripheral speed of a pair of upper and lower feed rollers driven by a motor m.
A separating unit 4 for separating the individual tickets, an aligning unit 5 for adjusting the posture of the separated tickets while transporting them, and read heads H1, H1 for reading data recorded on the tickets.
', A write head H2 for writing new data obtained by the arithmetic processing, a verify head H3 for checking the written data,
W1 driven by a solenoid (not shown) for guiding the vehicle to the pool section P, a punching unit for punching a used hole in the ticket, if necessary, and a predetermined information such as an entry station name for the ticket, if necessary. A punch / printing unit 6 comprising a printing unit for printing the contents, and a stacking unit 7 including a stopper S2 driven by a solenoid (not shown) for stacking and returning a ticket from the discharge port 2 are returned. Is provided.

The pool portion P is provided so as to bypass the transport path L where the write head H2 and the verify head H3 are provided, and the ticket introduced by the wing W1 is inserted with its back face up. A reversing mechanism 8 for reversing the ticket in a switchback manner when the vehicle is inserted into the vehicle 1
And multistage holding mechanisms P1 and P2 each having stoppers S3 and S4 so that a plurality of (two in the illustrated example) tickets can be temporarily held individually. Incidentally, W2 of the pool portion P is a wing for guiding a ticket requiring reversal to the reversing mechanism 8, and W3 is a wing for guiding the ticket to the holding mechanism P1 at the upper stage. The wings W2, W3 and the respective holding mechanisms P1, P
The second stoppers S3 and S4 are configured to be driven and controlled by a solenoid (not shown).

In the figure, reference numeral C denotes a controller mainly composed of a microcomputer which controls the main unit a in a centralized manner. Similar to a well-known automatic ticket gate, a controller C operates based on data read by the magnetic head H1. It is configured such that a door (not shown) can be opened and closed based on the result of the arithmetic processing.

Hereinafter, the opening / closing control operation of the shutter 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. For simplicity of explanation, a plurality of tickets (here, tickets) inserted by one user will be described as all valid tickets.

Now, when there is no customer in the ticket gate passage, the user enters a plurality of tickets,
(Step 100; hereinafter, the step is referred to as "S"). In addition, when another user exists before this user, that is, when there is another user in the ticket gate passage, the next customer described later becomes this user.

The inserted plurality of tickets are separated one by one by a separation unit 4, data is read by a magnetic head H1, and each of the holding mechanisms P1, P2 of the pool unit P is read.
Each piece is pooled on P2. When the tickets are inserted one by one, the open state of the shutter 3 is continued until all the tickets are inserted (No at S102, No at S104, S106). When all the tickets have been inserted, the shutter 3 is closed (S1).
04 affirmative, S108).

When all the tickets are pooled in the pool P (Yes at S102), the time T is stored in a RAM (not shown) of the controller C (S110). Although omitted in the flow chart of FIG. 2, from the pool section P, the tickets are sequentially conveyed one by one to the write head H2, the verify head H3, and the punch / print section 6, and the input / output data is written. Then, punching and printing processing are performed as necessary, and the sheet is held by the stopper S2. And all the tickets,
Is held, the stopper S2 is released, and the ticket is discharged to the discharge port 2 and returned. In addition,
The ticket whose main body a is for participation and does not need to be returned is collected in a collection box (not shown) provided in the main body a.

As described above, when all the inserted tickets are pooled in the pool section P, a series of processing times t1 such as printing on the ticket pooled in the pool section P are calculated. (S112). This processing time t
1 means that if the number of input sheets increases, the processing time usually increases in proportion to the number. However, when a ticket that does not require printing or punching, such as a commuter pass, is included in the ticket, the processing time t1 becomes shorter only by that amount.
The processing time t depends on the combination of the type of the inserted ticket.
1 is different. The processing time t1 can be simply determined by the number of sheets to be supplied.

By the way, if all the tickets are conveyed from the pool section P, it is possible to accept the ticket of the next customer. That is, after the processing time t1 has elapsed after all the tickets in the pool section P have been pooled, it is possible to accept the ticket of the next customer, so that the shutter 3 of the slot 1 can be opened. .

The shutter 3 can be opened after the above-mentioned processing time t1 has elapsed. However, in order to minimize the waiting time for the next customer to enter, the shutter 3 must be opened from the insertion port 1 before the processing time t1 has elapsed. (If the stopper S1 is provided as shown in the figure, the passenger ticket can be accepted up to the stopper S1). Therefore, the transport time T2 required from the slot 1 to the separation unit 4 is determined by the processing described above. A shutter time t3 for opening the shutter S is obtained by subtracting from the time t1 (S114). The transfer time t2 is determined by the distance from the inlet 1 to the separation section 4 (stopper S1) and the speed of the transfer path L.

Therefore, all the tickets are pooled in the pool P, and the tickets,
When the shutter opening time t3 has elapsed from the time T at which the transfer of the vehicle has started, the shutter 3 is opened, so that the next customer's ticket can be inserted (Yes at S116, S118).

[0022] Therefore, the ticket of the next customer is held near the slot so as not to be behind the position of the next customer, and it is possible to effectively prevent the user from staying in the ticket gate passage. it can. Therefore, smooth entry / exit processing can be performed.

In the above example, the number of tickets has been described as two. However, the number of tickets may be three or more. In this case, the pool portion P is increased so as to correspond to the number of inserted tickets.

[0024]

The automatic ticket gate according to the present invention has a shutter for opening and closing a slot into which a ticket is inserted into the main body, a pool for temporarily storing the ticket inserted into the main body, and a temporary storage for the pool. Calculating means for calculating a processing time until the reserved ticket is subjected to a predetermined process such as printing, and the shutter is operated based on the calculated processing time so that a next user can insert the ticket. With the shutter control means for opening, the passenger's ticket is held near the slot and does not come behind the next customer's position, and the user stays in the ticket gate passage. Can be prevented beforehand. Therefore, smooth entry / exit processing can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a card handler portion of an automatic ticket gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input port 2 Output port 3 Shutter 4 Separation part 5 Alignment part 6 Punch / printing part 7 Stacking part 8 Reversing mechanism P Pool part S1-S4 Stopper H1, H1 'Read head H2 Write head H3 Verify head L Transport path C control Container M Motor a Automatic ticket gate main body (body) A Card handler

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An automatic ticket gate in which a plurality of tickets are required for entry / exit processing of one user, wherein a shutter for opening / closing an entrance for inserting a ticket into a main body of the automatic ticket gate. Calculating a processing time until a predetermined processing such as printing is performed on the ticket temporarily stored in the pool, and a pool for temporarily storing the ticket inserted in the main body of the automatic ticket gate; An automatic ticket gate comprising: calculation means; and shutter control means for opening the shutter based on the calculated processing time so that the next user can insert a ticket.