JP3439431B2 - Card transport device and method - 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 carrier and method, and more particularly to a card on a carrier surface provided with a head for reading information from or writing information to a prepaid card, a point card, a rewrite card or the like. The present invention relates to a card transport device that allows a vehicle to travel at a constant speed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a card transport device, a card which has been manually fed onto a card transport surface from a card slot is pressed by a transport roller which is rotationally driven so as to run on a reading head.

In the conventional card transport device, in order to stabilize the card transport, the rotational speed of the transport roller is detected, the card transport speed is calculated from the data, and the feedback is performed to feed back the speed of the drive roller. There was a device to adjust.

There has also been a card transport device in which a thickness detecting sensor is provided on the roller of the card insertion portion to detect the thickness of the card and feed it back to keep the gap of the transport roller appropriate.

[0005]

However, of the above-mentioned two card transporting devices, the former card transporting device can keep the contact between the card and the transporting roller when the thickness of the card is thinner than expected. As a result, there is a problem in that a sufficient card conveying force cannot be obtained, so that the card conveying speed is jittered.

In the latter card carrier, when the coefficient of friction on the surface of the card is different from the expected one, the carrier force varies due to slippage between the card and the carrier roller.
After all, there is a problem that jitter occurs in the card transportation speed. That is, there is a problem in that the transport speed has a jitter due to the difference in the thickness and material of the card.

The card transporting apparatus and method of the present invention aims to overcome such drawbacks and enable stable transport of cards having different card thicknesses and different friction coefficients on the card surface.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A card carrier according to the present invention comprises a carrier surface (10 in FIG. 2) on which a card (12 in FIG. 2) is carried, and information read from and written to the card provided on the carrier surface. Head (4 in FIG. 2), and a transport roller (2 in FIG. 2) that is placed on the transport surface and runs on the head with respect to a card sent onto the transport surface.
And a first sensor, a second sensor, and a third sensor (FIG. 2), which are provided in order to detect a card to be run by the carrying roller, in the carrying direction of the card on the carrying surface.
13, 14, 15) and the running time between the time points at which the first and second sensors or the second and third sensors detect a running card, the time between the first and second sensors or the time when the first and second sensors are detected. In accordance with a calculation unit (5 in FIG. 2) for calculating the transfer speed of the card traveling between the second and third sensors, and the transfer speed of the card between the first and second sensors calculated by this calculation unit. A gap adjusting mechanism that adjusts the gap between the carrying roller and the carrying surface according to the carrying speed of the card between the second and third sensors after adjusting the gap between the carrying roller and the carrying surface (FIG. 2). 3) and are included.

The card carrier of the present invention is a card (Fig. 2
No. 12) of FIG. 2 is transported, a head (4 of FIG. 2) provided on the transport surface for reading and writing information from and to the card, and disposed on the transport surface. A carrying roller (2 in FIG. 2) that runs on the head with respect to the card sent to the paper, and a card that is carried by the carrying roller and is located apart from each other in the carrying direction of the card on the carrying surface. Two or more sensors (13, 14, and 15 in FIG. 2) provided and the adjacency of the plurality of sensors from the running time between the times when adjacent cards of the plurality of sensors detect a card running. And an arithmetic unit (5 in FIG. 2) for obtaining the transportation speed of the card traveling between the respective ones, and a card carrying unit for each of the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors. Characterized in that it comprises a gap adjusting mechanism for adjusting the gap between the conveying roller and the conveying surface (3 in Fig. 2) in accordance with the speed.

The card carrier according to the present invention is a card (see FIG. 2).
No. 12) of FIG. 2 is transported, a head (4 of FIG. 2) provided on the transport surface for reading and writing information from and to the card, and disposed on the transport surface. A carrying roller (2 in FIG. 2) that runs on the head with respect to the card sent to the paper, and a card that is carried by the carrying roller and is located apart from each other in the carrying direction of the card on the carrying surface. Two or more sensors (13, 14, and 15 in FIG. 2) provided and the adjacency of the plurality of sensors from the running time between the time points at which the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors detect running cards. And an arithmetic unit (5 in FIG. 2) for obtaining the transportation speed of the card traveling between the respective ones, and a card carrying unit for each of the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors. A card conveying device, comprising: a gap adjusting mechanism (3 in FIG. 2) for adjusting so that the gap between the conveying roller and the conveying surface becomes smaller as the shortage of the speed with respect to a predetermined conveying speed becomes larger. .

The card carrier of the present invention comprises a card (see FIG.
No. 12) of FIG. 2 is transported, a head (4 of FIG. 2) provided on the transport surface for reading and writing information from and to the card, and disposed on the transport surface. A carrying roller (2 in FIG. 2) that runs on the head with respect to the card sent to the paper, and a card that is carried by the carrying roller and is located apart from each other in the carrying direction of the card on the carrying surface. Two or more sensors (13, 14, and 15 in FIG. 2) provided and the adjacency of the plurality of sensors from the running time between the time points at which the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors detect running cards. And an arithmetic unit (5 in FIG. 2) for obtaining the transportation speed of the card traveling between the respective ones, and a card carrying unit for each of the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors. A gap adjusting mechanism (3 in FIG. 2) for adjusting the gap between the carrying roller and the carrying surface to be smaller by a predetermined constant distance when the speed is lower than a predetermined carrying speed. Characterize.

In the above card carrier, an optical sensor or a magnetic sensor can be used as the sensor.

[0013]

[0014]

[0015]

The card transport method of the present invention is a card (see FIG. 2).
Head for reading / writing information from 12) (4 in FIG. 2)
The card fed onto the carrying surface (10 in FIG. 2) provided with is run by the carrying roller (2 in FIG. 2), and the card run by the carrying roller is carried by the card on the carrying surface. Traveling between three or more sensors (13, 14, 15 in FIG. 2) provided separately from each other in the direction, and when adjacent ones of these sensors detect a traveling card. The transport speed of the card traveling between the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors is obtained from the time, and the transport roller and the above described according to the transport speed of the card for each of the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors. It is characterized in that the gap with the transport surface is adjusted.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a card carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a card transfer surface 10 is provided following the card slot 11. Card transport surface 1
A reading head 4 is provided at the back of 0, and a pair of conveyance rollers 2 is arranged above the conveyance surface 10 with a gap.
Are attached to the gap adjusting mechanism 3. The gap adjusting mechanism 3 moves up and down by a mechanism (not shown) to adjust the gap between the carrying roller 2 and the carrying surface 10.

The carrying roller 2 carries the card 12 on the carrying surface 1.
The card 12 is pressed toward 0 to run on the transfer surface 10 by a frictional force. For this reason, the outer periphery is covered with elastic rubber or the like, and a constant rotation speed for running the card 12 at a predetermined speed. Is rotated by a mechanism (not shown).

Two photosensors 13 and 14 which are separated from each other are provided between the reading head 4 and the one on the side of the feeding roller 2 on the feeding surface 2 on the feeding slot 2 of the feeding roller 2. The optical sensors 13 and 14 detect the edge of the card 12 carried by the carrying roller 2. Arithmetic circuit 5
Receives the signals from the optical sensors 13 and 14, and calculates the transport speed of the card 12 from the running time obtained from the difference between the times when the optical sensors 13 and 14 detect the card 12 and the distance between the optical sensors 13 and 14. .

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

In the initial state in which the card 12 has not yet been fed onto the carrying surface 10, the gap between the carrying roller 2 and the carrying surface 10 corresponds to the maximum value of the thickness of various cards that are supposed to be used. I will leave it to you. Person is card 1
When the card 2 is inserted into the card slot 11, the card 12 is carried by the carrying roller 2 toward the reading head 4. However, when the thickness of the card 12 is small or the surface of the card 12 has a small friction coefficient, the rotation of the carrying roller 2 is not sufficiently transmitted to the card 12, and the speed of the card 12 is slow. There is.

When the card 12 is inserted and the transportation by the transportation roller 2 is started, the transportation speed of the card 12 is determined by the optical sensors 13 and 14 and the arithmetic circuit 5. When the calculated transport speed of the card 12 is slower than the set value, the gap adjusting mechanism 3 lowers the transport roller 2 by a certain height to reduce the gap between the transport roller 2 and the transport surface 10 for transport. The card 12 is conveyed by increasing the frictional force of the roller 2. This gives card 12
The data portion of (1) passes over the read head 4 at the set speed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a card carrier according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The card carrier shown in FIG. 2 is different from that shown in FIG. 1 in that an optical sensor 15 is further provided between the optical sensor 14 and the reading head 4.

The arithmetic circuit 5 includes optical sensors 13 and 14
From the light sensors 13 and 14 to determine the transport speed of the card 12 between the light sensors 13 and 14, and the signals from the light sensors 14 and 15 to determine the transport speed of the card 12 between the light sensors 14 and 15.

When the conveying speed between the optical sensors 13 and 14 is slower than the set value, the gap between the conveying roller 2 and the conveying surface 10 is further reduced by the gap adjusting mechanism 3 so that the optical sensors 14 and 15 are connected to each other. Even when the card 12 is conveyed at a low speed, the gap is reduced by one step and the frictional force of the conveying roller 2 is further increased so that the card 12 can be conveyed at the set speed.

By providing a large number of optical sensors in this manner, the gap between the carrying roller 2 and the carrying surface 10 can be adjusted more finely. 4 if dimensionally possible
It is also possible to provide one or more photosensors for finer gap adjustment.

In the above embodiment, when the transport speed of the card 12 detected by the optical sensors 13, 14 and 15 is smaller than the set value, the transport roller 2 and the transport surface 1 are used.
Although the gap with respect to 0 is reduced by a predetermined height, the gap may be reduced with a size proportional to the difference between the detected transport speed of the card 12 and the set value.

In addition, the light sensor 1 is used to detect the card 12.
Although 3, 14, and 15 are used, the present invention is not limited to this, and other sensors can be used. For example, a plurality of magnetic sensors may be provided on the transport surface 10, and the magnetic mark for detection written on the card 12 may be detected by these magnetic sensors.

[0032]

The card transporting apparatus and method of the present invention are
There is an effect that it is possible to deal with jitter-free for various cards with different materials and thickness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a card carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a card carrier according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Transport rollers 3 Gap adjustment mechanism 4 reading head 5 arithmetic circuit 10 Transport surface 11 Card slot 12 cards 13-15 Optical sensor

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 5/06 B65H 7/06

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A carrying surface on which a card is carried, a head provided on the carrying surface for reading and writing information from and to the card, and a card arranged on the carrying surface and fed to the carrying surface. A carrying roller that runs on the head, and first, second, and third sensors that are provided separately from each other in the card carrying direction of the carrying surface to detect the card carried by the carrying roller. , Between the first and second sensors or between the second and third sensors from the running time between the time points at which the first and second sensors or the second and third sensors detect running cards, respectively. An arithmetic unit for obtaining the conveying speed of the card traveling on the card, and the conveying roller and the front roller according to the conveying speed of the card between the first and second sensors obtained by the arithmetic unit. A gap adjusting mechanism for adjusting the gap between the conveying roller and the conveying surface according to the conveying speed of the card between the second and third sensors after adjusting the gap with the conveying surface. Card carrier. 2. A carrying surface on which a card is carried, a head provided on the carrying surface for reading and writing information from and to the card, and a card arranged on the carrying surface and fed to the carrying surface. A carrying roller that runs on the head, three or more sensors that are provided apart from each other in the card carrying direction of the carrying surface to detect a card carried by the carrying roller, and a plurality of the sensors. An adjacency of the plurality of sensors, and an arithmetic unit that obtains the transport speed of the cards traveling between the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors from the traveling time between the times when the adjacent ones of the sensors detect the traveling cards. The gap between the transport roller and the transport surface is adjusted according to the transport speed of the card obtained by the calculation unit for each of the two. A card transport device including a cap adjusting mechanism. 3. A carrying surface on which a card is carried, a head provided on the carrying surface for reading and writing information from and to the card, and a card arranged on the carrying surface and fed to the carrying surface. A carrying roller that runs on the head, three or more sensors that are provided apart from each other in the card carrying direction of the carrying surface to detect a card carried by the carrying roller, and a plurality of the sensors. An adjacency of the plurality of sensors, and an arithmetic unit that obtains the transport speed of the cards traveling between the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors from the traveling time between the times when the adjacent ones of the sensors detect the traveling cards. When there is a shortage of the card transportation speed obtained by the arithmetic unit with respect to the predetermined transportation speed for each of the And a gap adjusting mechanism for adjusting a gap with the carrying surface to be small. 4. A carrying surface on which a card is carried, a head provided on the carrying surface for reading and writing information from and to the card, and a card arranged on the carrying surface and fed to the carrying surface. A carrying roller that runs on the head, three or more sensors that are provided apart from each other in the card carrying direction of the carrying surface to detect a card carried by the carrying roller, and a plurality of the sensors. An adjacency of the plurality of sensors, and an arithmetic unit that obtains the transport speed of the cards traveling between the adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors from the traveling time between the times when the adjacent ones of the sensors detect the traveling cards. When the transport speed of the card obtained by the arithmetic unit is smaller than the predetermined transport speed for each of the And a gap adjusting mechanism for adjusting the gap to be smaller by a predetermined constant distance. 5. The card transport device according to claim 1, wherein an optical sensor is used as the sensor. 6. The card transport device according to claim 1, wherein a magnetic sensor is used as the sensor. 7. A card sent on a carrying surface provided with a head for reading and writing information on the card is run by a carrying roller, and a card run by the carrying roller is a card on the carrying surface. Three or more sensors provided separately from each other in the transport direction detect the adjacency of the plurality of sensors from the traveling time between the time points at which the adjoining ones of the plurality of sensors detect a traveling card. Obtaining the transport speed of a card traveling between each of the plurality of sensors, and adjusting the gap between the transport roller and the transport surface according to the transport speed of the card between adjacent ones of the plurality of sensors. A method of transporting a card.